We survived our first camping trip in 20+ years

Sadly, it has come to an end. But, what fun we had and what memories we will carry with us!

We were out on the lake early this AM. The lake was like glass and we just wanted to sit there and take it all in. We leisurely paddled down to Gary H's favorite fishing hole and watched him try to reel in a gigantic trout. It was a nice one! Unfortunately, it will only be a figment of our imaginations as it made one gallant effort at the last moment and made its escape. Maybe he should put a fishing net on his wish list.

We paddled slowly in the other direction. We didn't see a single magnificent bird this morning. Do you think they knew the weekend crowd had started to arrive? They were probably soaring over the more secluded forest areas.

Check out time and we were all packed. We said our goodbyes to our camping buddies, Gary & Vicky, Jim & Jackie, and Gary and Anne. We thank them for making our adventure so much fun. They showed us we can still enjoy the great outdoors.

Would we do this all again? You bet. We have our list of all the things we will remember next
time: jackets, warm clothes, matches, newspaper, hiking shoes, and much much more. We may even own a tent by then! Wouldn't that be something!

Thanks again dear friends for sharing your spirit of adventure and your enthusiasm. We will continue to strive to make it to 24!

Location:Little Grass Valley Reservoir

Our Geocaching Day Starts with a Paddle and ends with a Game!

Up early and out on the lake! Beautiful! Almost as smooth as glass. The mist was drifting off the lake in the morning sun, creating a feeling of intrigue. One swish of the paddle and the kayaks slid along the water leaving a small ripple in their path. It was quiet and you could hear the call of the birds in the distance.


We headed down the lake, following the shoreline. Our eyes were searching the tree line for any activity. Aahh, a moment of beauty as a bald eagle came swooping from behind. We could only enjoy the moment as the sun was directly behind the eagle, preventing any pictures.

We paddled a little over 2 miles. We saw several osprey along the way. No matter how intently we watched, they always took us by surprise--usually coming from behind. They were so graceful in flight, we couldn't help but be entranced. So mesmerized that by the time we remembered the camera, it was too late. Let's hope the memories linger a while.

We will also have memories of mama duck and her babies all in a row. We encountered them as we pulled into shore at the end of our paddle. They seemed undisturbed to have us so near. We could get close but mama would keep them herded together just out of reach. Never hurried, but certainly avoiding any possible harm. Casual in their movements, they gave us ample time to take plenty of pictures.

The best time of the day to paddle. A moment we wished would last a while. We knew, however, the breezes across the lake would soon increase and our beautiful moments on the water would be over for the day.

Our adventure for the day was a drive to Quincy. A couple of us needed a Quincy cache to complete a Challenge Cache. We were so close, how could we not go. Several of us piled into Gary & Vicky's new car. Our trip was up and down a long windy road with lots of switch backs. Good thing those of us in the very back seat didn't get car sick! This may be a geocaching/kayaking/hiking vehicle, but there are limits on what is acceptable. We managed to pick up several geocaches and saw some points of interest. One old bridge had us intrigued and we had to stop twice before it gave up the cache. We failed to find a couple that must have been missing, but we did find the one Quincy cache we needed. Success.

The fun really began when we arrived back at camp. Gary C. had stayed behind to catch up on his poetry reading and to create a Ladder Golf Tournament Ladder for us. We were all set to play but first, Gary H. & Vicky hosted our cocktail hour and dinner. Another hit with pulled pork sandwiches and home made coleslaw! It was good. Eventually, the game was on. It was a double elimination so we each played at least two games. It went back and forth. Some of the games seemed to take an awfully long time. It wasn't our fault that we missed the ladder or we kept canceling each others scores out. Everyone just had to be patient. So patient, in fact, we were still playing well after dark. We could barely see the ladder against the trees. Time to bring out the lanterns and head lamps. The game kept going. At last, Gary H. was declared the winner. It was a well fought battle between Gary and Jim. They had established their skills practicing the night before. They were definitely at the top of their game.

Fortunately, we were finished just shortly before 10:00. That is "curfew" time in the park. It is time to settle down and avoid any loud noises or celebrations. We calmly took our places around the campfire. Time for more cowboy poetry with Gary C. Ok, some of the choices this evening were questionable. Just take me at my word--you wouldn't want me to repeat them. But one was about friendships and the forming of new ones. So very appropriate for us on this last night of our camping experience. We take home a lot of memories and definitely a more solid friendship with everyone present.

Location:Little Grass Valley Reservoir

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Pancake wine for breakfast?

We were all responsible for one community meal. Our meal was breakfast this AM. Of course, we opted for pancakes (blueberry), bacon, smokey links, and a variety of fruit. In keeping with the spirit, Vicky brought her bottle of wine with a fun label: Pancake wine! It fit right in. We opted to save it for later, but we did enjoy mimosas with our pancakes.

After breakfast we went kayaking on the lake. We actually spotted a bald eagle! It was beautiful! It wasn't long before we also spotted a couple of osprey and then deer on the hillside. What a way to start the day! In addition to our sightings, Anne spotted a Western Tanager and Gary H. and Jim caught their limit of trout!

That afternoon Gary & Vicky, Gary & Anne, and Jim hiked to to top of Mt. Baldy. Jackie, Larry, and I just enjoyed relaxing at the campsite. They told us about the spectacular views and we told them about our experience. We had two military jets fly over. They were so close and so loud we were sure they were coming in for a landing at our campsite. Fortunately, their speed prevented them from staying very long! Quite a sight!

During cocktail hour we brought out our ladder golf game. instant hit. Gary H and Jim quickly established their superiority. It's all in the technique and clearly Larry and I have not mastered it!

Dinner that night was another special treat. Gary & Anne were in charge and they set the standard high. It was Anne's birthday. Their campsite was decorated in the spirit. For dinner we had stew that was delicious. The hit, though, was the wine they brought to the table: Plungerhead. And to go along with that, the birthday party hats were plungers! It was quite a sight to see 8 older adults sitting at the table with plungers on their heads. Even the camp hosts came to see! We asked them to take our picture to commemorate the moment.

The evening ended with a couple of rousing games of the Answer Game (can't remember its real name) and more cowboy poetry from Gary C. Fun! Fun! Fun! And all before park quiet time at 10!

Location:Little Grass Valley Reservoir

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And so it begins

The great camping adventure actually started last week with the planning/packing part. I know we used to have one of every necessary camping item . It must be somewhere, but where! I give up. Guess we will have to buy one and add it to our collection wherever it may be.

The car is packed and we are ready to go. The plan is to meet at Awful Annie's in Lincoln and caravan from there. So far so good. We only had to go back home once before we really truly could say we are on our way. We spotted the others immediately. It is hard to miss a line of vehicles parked along the road with kayaks on top. Lunch was great.

Our destination was Little Grass Valley Reservoir. It is somewhere between Marysville and Quincy off LaPorte Road. It isn't that far away should we want to return. Our kayaks were in the water shortly after our arrival. It was a little wavy because of the afternoon breeze, but we still enjoyed a paddle around.

After our paddle we sat around the campfire and visited. In an earlier discussion we decided that each couple would plan one community meal. In addition, we would bring wine for everyone with unusual labels. We had more fun with that!

For dinner our first night was hosted by Jim & Jackie Spriggs. They make a mean steak with beans and a cucumber salad. I definitely need the recipes!

It was campfire time the rest of the evening. I don't think Larry and I have ever experienced a poetry reading on a camping trip. Tonight was different. Gary C had his Cowboy poetry books with him and read several exerts to us. We all listened intently. The others have enjoyed poetry readings from Gary before (always cowboy poetry). I think we can add this to our list of likes. They did make so much sense when you considered the subjects.

Location:Little Grass Valley Reservoir

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Should We or Shouldn't We?

It has been a while. Is it time to retire our limited art of blogging or is it time to start describing our activities again? We are doing so many more things since we first started geocaching but we seem to be geocaching less. Our emphasis has changed. Numbers are no longer important. What is important is to enjoy whatever it is you are doing. Walk a little slower along the trail between caches. Take time to "smell the roses" and watch the wildlife. Life is too short to rush from one spot to another just so you stay ahead of the rest of the geocachers. It is definitely time to regroup. Enjoy the adventure and if there is a cache nearby, go for it. If not, continue to enjoy the adventure. Take advantage of today as tomorrow may never come!

Road Trip

It was such a beautiful day and we hadn't had an opportunity to geocache in a bit so we really only had one choice today. Where should we go? We decided to make a road trip up to Lincoln, over to Newcastle, down through Rocklin and back to Roseville.

Along the way we met mama and papa goose and their four little goslings. We met the family in stages: mama and papa first as they walked along the bank; and, the babies one by one as they each peaked their heads out of the grass. It wasn't until they took to the water that we realized there were actually four babies. They cruised along and eventually disappeared under the bridge. This was a great place to relax and enjoy the surroundings. There was a cache nearby but we think it was under the bridge. We never really had the chance to look because the swallows were nesting under the bridge and they certainly were not happy with us being so close. We didn't mind just staying back and watching all the nearby activity.

We checked out another nature preserve in Lincoln. We were restricted to the walkway along the edge but we were able to enjoy the geese and the ducks. The biggest excitement for me (L2) was the two geese on a nearby building roof. I guess I've never seen a goose on a roof before. They are always on the ground, in the air, or in the water. They were honking like crazy the whole time we were there. I was convinced they were calling out for help because they were stuck. L1 (Larry) assured me they were quite capable of getting down by themselves. He turned out to be right. As we were leaving, they flew down to the pond below.

Lunch was at Awful Annie's in Lincoln. This is a favorite spot of the locals and we often stop here if we are in the area. Today, we took a little more time for lunch than expected because the server messed up the order. She blamed it on her allergies. I guess her head was so stuffed she didn't hear me and couldn't see where I pointed on the menu. She also couldn't remember the entire discussion we had about fruit coming with my selection so I didn't need to order it on the side. She apologized and I eventually got what I ordered. As usual, it was delicious.

We traveled on 193 between Lincoln and Newcastle. The wildflowers were out in force, including the beautiful California poppies. Too bad we didn't have a chance to stop for pictures. No place to pull over and there were a lot of people out enjoying the nice weather.

We actually, got lost in Newcastle. That is pretty hard to do as Newcastle is a pretty small town. We kept going in circles and missing the road that we needed. I think the residents were beginning to question our number of trips on this same circuit. Fortunately, we found our way to the road we wanted and headed back to Rocklin. This wouldn't be so unusual, but I pride myself on my navigational skills and they let me down today. I think it was the sun, the heat, and the thrill of the trip that got in my way of finding our way. Good thing I came to my senses before we made that circuit one more time.

Our day was about over. We had one more cache to find near a local nursery. Looks like this was a good day for working in the garden because everyone was trying to get in or out of the parking lot at the nursery. The cache was a multicache and the first stage happened to be in their parking lot. We did get in and find a parking spot fairly quickly. but when it came time to leave, we had a totally different experience. The line to the exit was long and all we could do was join the line and wait our turn. When we finally got to the road, we pulled up, looked both ways, and couldn't believe our eyes. The road was totally clear in both directions!! We quickly pulled out and eventually met the rest of the crowd at the next major traffic light.

We were not the only ones out on a road trip! We were almost home when several turkeys decided to cross the road. This event was occurring a few cars ahead of us but it did result in a few cars swerving and drivers stomping on their brakes. We were one of the brake stompers. Yes, we all had to stop so the rest of the turkeys could proceed across the road. We had a little traffic jam going but it didn't last long. The rest of the turkeys didn't waste any time completing their journey across the road.

It was a beautiful day to be geocaching and a beautiful day to enjoy a road trip! We traveled 54.7 miles in 5 hours and 45 minutes and were entertained at various locations along the way. And, we found 7 caches! Not many for a six hour day, but enough considering the fun along the way.

Snow, Tunnels, and Sage Brush! Great Combination!

Cynthia and Mike have made several visits down our way so it was time to drive up to Reno. We took our time and geocached along the way. We didn’t encounter any spectacular caches that you would write home about, but we did trek through the snow to one. (We were wishing we had snowshoes, but we made it to the cache). We also found a multi that Team Alamo (the California cacher with the most finds) did not find. That made us feel good!

Once we arrived in Reno, we picked up a few more caches before heading to Cynthia and Mike’s house and then on to dinner. Dinner was at the Claim Jumper and, as usual, was good. After dinner we had plenty of time to relax and figure out the plan for today.

We left later than usual Saturday morning because it is COLD up here in the morning. It was in the twenties but I had my squall pants and boots and lots of layers on the top so I survived. We headed into the Virginia Highlands behind their house to find a couple of caches and to watch Geo-Jeeper hide a cache in honor of their dog Brandy. I won’t describe it as I don’t want to give it away, but it is a very appropriate cache. We did take lots of pictures with their camera and I’m sure they will tell you about it if you ask. The views from that entire area were incredible and were worth the “hike” up and down the rocks and across the snow.

In the afternoon we decided to do some caches in the Reno area. We ended up on the northwest side of town and bounced our way over some of the back roads. We had forgotten how much bounce you get in the Golden Retriever (jeep) on the Reno back roads.

Our most challenging cache was “FTF-Tag You’re It! #6”. It was a two stage multi-cache. The first stage was easy. It was right there at the original coordinates. The second stage wasn’t so easy. After entering the new coordinates, we figured out we had to be on the other side of the freeway and there is no access unless you walk through a tunnel (culvert) under the freeway. We had two choices. Mike and I started down the hill to check out the two tunnels. Cynthia and Larry stayed at the top incase they had to go for help.

We surveyed the two tunnels. One had fast flowing water going through it. The other appeared to be dry. We naturally picked the drier tunnel. That turned out to be an error. Shortly after entering the tunnel, we encountered a solid sheet of ice right down the center of the tunnel. We stayed to one side and picked our way along very very slowly. Ice skates would have been great but we had to settle for trying to stay upright with our hiking boots. There were occasional slides. I likened it to the sensation I imagine the kids get with their shoes with wheels--just stay upright and glide! Once we got to the other end of the tunnel, scaled the “wall” and got through the barbed wire fence, finding the cache was easy.

Now we had to make our way back. We decided to go through the tunnel with the running water. The water was not deep, nor was it wide. We could straddle it in parts and walk along the wall in parts. Imagine ducks waddling. I think that pretty much sums it up. Of course, whenever we slipped, we were walking in the water. Fortunately, our boots kept us dry. We were grateful to get back to the original side. One hurdle remained, though. We had to get back up the hill! Determination paid off. I huffed and puffed my way to the top (Mike just strolled) and we shared our story with Cynthia & Larry. We even managed to get a few pictures to prove we were really there!

We found a few more caches before heading home to our glass of wine and fine dining at the Rambo House.

Sunday we headed for Carson City. We headed first to Starbucks and then out the Mt. Rose highway to a cache in Galena Park. The snow was thick and the ice had the roads in the park closed. We had to hike in to the cache and then spend our time on our hands and knees in the snow until we spotted it. Always a good way to start the day.

From then on, it was a pretty unusual day. We spent time among the sage brush looking for different size caches. For some reason, the micro cache is catching on in Reno. Trying to find a micro in the desert in the sage brush is almost impossible. One cache was a shot gun shell in the ground at the base of a large bush. We searched for quite a while before Cynthia finally spotted it. I didn’t think I would ever say this, but I would love to find more ammo cans in rocks and bushes again!

Late afternoon we headed home to Roseville. The four of us had one more cache to find in Verde so Cynthia and Mike led the way. It was hidden along a trail in Del Webs Somerset community (A Reno Sun City). The cache was easy to find but we were amazed that active adults (55+) would want to live here. It is out in the middle of nowhere with only two points of entrance. No matter which way you go, you have a long way before you can get to medical facilities or shopping.

Once we were back on the road again, we were pleased with the light traffic. The Super Bowl was on TV and obviously a lot of people were watching it. We did encounter a little traffic just past the Tahoe entrance back on to the freeway. There were a few other people ignoring the football game and taking advantage of the lighter than usual Sunday homeward bound traffic.

We arrived home safely, put our feet up, logged our caches, and relaxed the rest of the evening. Tomorrow will be a day to unpack and regroup. Another great geocaching weekend.

The 2 Gs

Genealogy and Geocaching! We have spent a lot of time in cemeteries while geocaching. We wander through and read the inscriptions and actually learn a great deal about the area. The markers give us information on families, on time frames for serious disease, on dates the area was established, on the wealth of the area during the early days (elaborate markers), on custom changes as relate to information on grave stones, and much much more. We also learn how important the cemeteries are to the town residents as many of them are in a dilapidated state while others are well tended.

Today we will be going to a cemetery in Rio Vista. Larry’s fifth generation grandmother is buried in the I.O.O.F section of the cemetery. We have been here before and even taken pictures but today we will be recording the coordinates of her grave site. Larry has wanted to do this for a while and today turned out to be the day to just do it. It is a foggy dreary day and that seems appropriate for a visit to a cemetery. Who knows, maybe we will see a ghost or two.

Geocaching is our second objective for the day. We never go anywhere any more without checking for nearby geocaches and we have several in the area. Once we have paid our respects to Olive Wade Bowman, we will branch out and tour the Rio Vista area while searching for our hidden “treasures. It should be an interesting day.

Our first cache of the day was on a guard rail on one of the back roads of Dixon overlooking Barker Sough. T get to the right location, we passed fields of sheep. The babies were frolicking with each other. I always thought lambs were born in the spring, but guess that isn’t true all the time. We do love these back roads but we wish other people didn’t mistake them for garbage dumps! We were somewhere in the Northern Delta Hills and we were rewarded with lot of cows, goats, sheep, and horses

The cemetery (The Rio Vista Odd-fellows & Masonic Cemetery) is a far cry from the cows, goats, sheep, and horses. It is right along highway 12 on the way into Rio Vista. Olive’s grave stone is on the cemetery entrance road right next to the road and next to the metal maintenance shed. The marker is metal and has Olive’s name on it as well as the name of a daughter (Angie--5 years 7 months). It is quite an elaborate metal marker. We have not seen any others like it either here or any where else. This area appears to be one of the older sections and the markers are either right next to each other or far apart. We can’t help wondering if there are unmarked graves here. We may have to do more research to-find the plot map of the cemetery. At least we were able to finally get the coordinates for Olive’s gravesite.

We enjoyed our lunch at Foster’s Bighorn Restaurant. Fosters is sort of a landmark. The original owner was a big game hunter, a taxidermist, and a photographer. He photographed and stuffed all the wild animals he killed. There is quite a story behind his escapades and you can get additional information at: http://www.fostersbighorn.com/history.html. Someone had also hidden a virtual cache at this location. To log the cache, we have to answer some questions about two of the pictures. We knew which two pictures we wanted but we had to find them amongst all the zillion other pictures lining the wall. We eventually found them and learned a bit about Fosters adventures in the process.

Later in the day, we found ourselves at the Ryer Island Ferry. We were ”searching“ for a virtual cache at this location. We again had to answer some questions. Fortunately, the information we needed was available on the side of the delta that we were on. We watched the ferry arrive and the ferry depart. It is a 24 hour operations. The ”drivers“ get 20 minutes for lunch and 20 min for dinner. Otherwise, the are on duty for the entire day and night.

We ended the day with a tour through windmill country. Apparently this can be a pretty windy area at times and there are lots and lots of windmills. They are a little eerie looking in the fog. The look like very large graceful birds. None of them were working but because of their color, their shape, and the fog, they would change shapes depending on our angle. Parts of them would actually disappear and then return. We tried to capture it with our cameras, but I don’t think we were successful. It was, however, a great way to bring our day to a close.

Geo-Jeeper reaches 7000

It was bound to happen! Geo-Jeeper reached a major milestone after leaving us in the dust! We brought them in to the world of Geocaching and managed to stay ahead of them most of the time. Today they found cache #7000 and we are still a couple of hundred behind them.

We had received a recommendation from 2Dee2Dee that we should go to Benicia to do some caching. We thought it was a great idea so we told Cynthia and Mike (Geo-Jeeper) about it and they said they wanted to go with us. They came down for the weekend and we headed to Benicia today. The day promised to be gorgeous weather-wise and it truly was.

We cached our way to downtown. We found some interesting caches as we tried to learn the style of the local cachers. We even ran into the owner of one of the caches. He is a young boy who caches with his friends and is pretty excited about the whole thing. He has found 47 caches and he was all set to give us all kinds of hints about caches in the area. He directed us to one that was just down the street and through the tunnel. It took him 10 times to find it so he told us it was a nano somewhere on the fence posts. We headed through the tunnel and found the cache after a brief search. We didn’t know when we might be back so we were glad for his helpful advice.

After checking out the site of the first California Capitol, the four of us had lunch at the the 1st Street Cafe. It was a small “quaint” place and we enjoyed our lunch. It seems to be a very popular place in town. While we were waiting to be seated, Mike took a stroll down the street to pick up just one more cache! And after lunch we walked down to the water front for another.

The day truly was beautiful! We spent most of the afternoon along the water front. We walked some of the pathways, took pictures, and, of course, found a few caches. We all agreed Benicia would be a great place to retire. Since Larry and I are already retired and settled, we will keep this area in mind for visits if we want to spend a day along the waterfront.

Somewhere along the way, Cynthia and Mike found #7000. I’m not sure exactly which one it was. I do know we took lots of pictures at several of the caches so we were sure to capture the moment. It was an awesome day!

Touring Grass Valley

October 25, 2008: It’s been a while since we have posted any of our geocaching experiences. We have certainly been looking for caches all this time, I just haven’t written about anything. Today we are off to cache in Grass Valley and Nevada City. Cynthia & Mike (Geo-Jeeper) are joining us. It should be an adventuresome day.

We never know what we might encounter in this area. PO and rattlesnakes will be at the top of our alert list. Let’s hope we don’t encounter either. So far we have been lucky. Only the berry bushes have attacked us. We have followed some of the back roads into some interesting places. The environment is woodsy and you think you are far away from everywhere--not so. There are an incredible number of houses in this area. Still, we found beautiful countryside and plenty of places to find hidden caches.

The caches we have found are interesting. Some were challenging. One was a rifle shell. It was in a hole drilled in the bottom of a 1+ inch branch. The branch was placed in a hole drilled into a pine tree. We finally spotted the branch and pulled it out. The bottom of the branch was covered with pitch. So much pitch, in fact, we almost missed the rifle shell stuck in the bottom. Once we cleared away the pitch, we had to use brute force to pull out the shell. Eventually we were able to sign the log. This was a challenging hide. Fortunately, we were up for the challenge.

We were driving on roads such as Clover Valley, Dog Bar Road, Rattlesnake road, town talk road (the early leaders of Grass Valley and Nevada City would meet here to discuss town business), burma road (no burma shave ads), whispering pines, and many many more. They all led us to Round Table Pizza for a geocaching event. Like all the other events, we were able to visit with fellow geocachers and learn more secrets to finding caches.

The day is ending and we are heading home. The wine and dinner awaits us. We will be back tomorrow to see what other roads we can find. We will have to wait to see where they will lead us.


October 26, 2008: We came back! We covered more back roads. We discovered some of the most interesting areas on these back roads. We chatted with alpacas, drove by llamas, donkeys, and horses, and passed field after field filled with horses. We also wandered through old structures. At one point we were looking for a cache along an old wall made of rocks. On the other side of the road was another wall made of rocks. Do you think the road now goes through what used to be an old building? We tried to figure what type of building it could have been. Or, was it two separate buildings? We actually prefer the idea of one building--makes it more interesting that a road runs through it.

We covered the area south west of Grass Valley all the way out to Penn Valley and back. At one point we heard gun shots as we located a cache on a back road. We hollered and they hollered back and the shooting stopped. (It’s deer season you know). We quickly signed the log and headed back to the major roads. We avoided the real back back roads after that.

The day turned out to be worth the trip in more ways than one. At one of the caches, we met another geocacher (Alpha-super Dog). We asked him about a couple of caches that we were unable to find. He provided a few hints. Back we went and we were able to find the caches. We even rechecked some we didn’t have hints for and managed to find those as well! All in all, pretty fun day! Unfortunately the camera was back home!