Good morning everyone. The top finders of caches by a Manitoba geocacher on Christmas Day, as of this writing, was Peter and Gloria with eight finds logged. TRAG and Geocacher Ken (that's me) found seven each. For North Dakota, it was greeninfargo with thirty and MinotRanger with fourteen finds.
How was everyone's Christmas? Do you sneak in a find or two between opening presents and being with family? Do you plan a big adventure? For me, it was the latter. Knowing that this year I'd be on my own, I wasn't about to sit at home alone. I could binge watch TV show after TV show, but I'm not really a TV watcher. I can almost guarantee that I'll be sound asleep before the second episode is done. Unless it's your cup of tea, being alone on Christmas is not fun. The first year I was separated, I spent Christmas alone and it wasn't fun at all. Having experienced that and knowing that I'm on my own this year, the wheels were set in motion to plan something. But what? I do see my boys Christmas eve. Once I take them home, I have a 48 hour window to fill. What do I want to accomplish?
One of my goals for this year was to find a cache in a province or state that I haven't found one in yet. Looking East, the first province that I haven't found a cache in is Quebec. According to Google maps, It's a 23 hour drive to Gatineau, Quebec. That's non stop. Twenty three hours of driving, an hour to find a cache or two, and another twenty three hour drive back home. Not sure where I'm going to squeeze sleeping in there and I do like my sleep. Rule out Quebec. Looking West, I have Saskatchewan and Alberta. That leaves British Columbia. Golden, B.C. is a 16 hour drive. A little more doable than Quebec. I could squeeze in some sleep. That's a lot of driving for just a cache or two. Forget about going West. How about South? I have North Dakota and Minnesota. I don't have South Dakota. Google Map says it's a three hour and forty minute drive from Winnipeg to Fargo. Five hours from Winnipeg to Dakota Magic Casino which is on the border of North and South Dakota. This sounds way more plausible. Once I take the boys home, I can grab my stuff and book it to the border. That gives me all of Christmas Day to go caching in South Dakota. I now have a plan. Now I have to factor in two more things. Finances and weather. I don't need a fancy hotel. Something with free wi-fi and a free breakfast. Check with that guy from Trivago to see what's available and for how much. As he says, it's just a click here and there and you'll find what you're looking for. Being that it is Winter on the prairies, a snow storm could blow in at anytime, so keep an eye on the weather forecasts. One more thing to consider, will there be anything open on Christmas Day for me to eat? I might be hauling my own food in for this one. The caching plan is to grab some of the B.L.T. trail that's along the North and South Dakota border. Now I have a secondary goal, get my mystery finds up to six hundred before the end of December. This all sounds great and grand, but when the weekend came just days before Christmas, Winnipeg was getting a decent amount of snow. I didn't feel like driving any great distance with yucky road conditions. Something was saying that I should stay home as well. I think I'll make do with staying in the city and focus on some caches that are in high muggle areas.
Christmas day didn't start off that great. I went after a cache that's in a very high muggle area. Located at the corner of Portage avenue and Main St. The busiest intersection in the city. I searched, I froze, and I searched some more to no avail. I have attempted this one a couple of times with no success to date. Next up was a tribute cache to one of our cachers, AF Girl, who retired from the military and has since moved back to her home province of Nova Scotia. No luck at that one either.
I finally was able to find two caches and had made my way to the River Heights area of the city (South Central ish). I was in the process of looking for a cache when I got notification of three new caches. All three were in different directions and at different corners of the city. Of course I'm right in the middle. Which way do I go. I opted for the one closest to the airport. I had a small drive ahead of me, but I still made it there in decent time, but not quick enough. Missed the First to Find by eleven minutes. Second to find instead. From there, I slowly made my way East, grabbing a few caches that I don't have yet.
This would bring me to animal services. They were holding an event where people could come in and interact with the dogs and play with them. What better way to spend Christmas when you're by yourself than to give a four-legged creature some loving attention. Sadly, in a way, there was too many people and not enough dogs. It's good that the turn out was fantastic, but I never did get to give some loving scratches to a pooch.
The next day, (Boxing Day in Canada), I was going to set out and head East (Transcona, my old stomping grounds), this time to grab one of those new caches from the day before and a couple other newer caches. Before I could leave, another notification of a new cache. It's in the Transcona area as well. Sweet. I headed off to see if maybe I could get the first to find on that one. Nope. Missed the FTF party. By the looks of things, there was five cachers and the two COs at GZ. They had all left by the time I arrived. I searched all by myself. From there, it was off to find the other caches. A much better day than yesterday. No DNFs, although I still froze at some cache locations. Where did these cold temperatures come from?
As for that feeling of not going across the border, I knew Fargo was forecasting snow on the day after Christmas and it looked like a fair amount too. That would mean getting out of Dodge early before the bad weather hit. When I checked the Fargo forecast on the 26th, a Winter Storm Warning was issued for the Fargo area. It eventually became a blizzard warning. I'm glad I listened to what or whoever was telling me to stay home. With Christmas done and over for another year, that means I can listen to the radio in my car again. I've been listening to my Doobie Brothers Greatest Hits CD over and over and over so I wouldn't have to listen to any Christmas songs.
That's my Christmas. It wasn't too bad. Honestly, it felt like any other Sunday. Not much traffic, nothing to watch on TV, and nothing open, which is a throw back to what Sundays use to be like before Sunday shopping was allowed. As for next Christmas, who knows. Too far away to predict. I could be on my own again, or sharing with a special someone (I have a whole year to find that someone), or maybe I'll actually leave the city and go on a geocaching adventure somewhere. We shall see. Until then, be happy, be safe, enjoy, and have fun. Peace out.
How was everyone's Christmas? Do you sneak in a find or two between opening presents and being with family? Do you plan a big adventure? For me, it was the latter. Knowing that this year I'd be on my own, I wasn't about to sit at home alone. I could binge watch TV show after TV show, but I'm not really a TV watcher. I can almost guarantee that I'll be sound asleep before the second episode is done. Unless it's your cup of tea, being alone on Christmas is not fun. The first year I was separated, I spent Christmas alone and it wasn't fun at all. Having experienced that and knowing that I'm on my own this year, the wheels were set in motion to plan something. But what? I do see my boys Christmas eve. Once I take them home, I have a 48 hour window to fill. What do I want to accomplish?
One of my goals for this year was to find a cache in a province or state that I haven't found one in yet. Looking East, the first province that I haven't found a cache in is Quebec. According to Google maps, It's a 23 hour drive to Gatineau, Quebec. That's non stop. Twenty three hours of driving, an hour to find a cache or two, and another twenty three hour drive back home. Not sure where I'm going to squeeze sleeping in there and I do like my sleep. Rule out Quebec. Looking West, I have Saskatchewan and Alberta. That leaves British Columbia. Golden, B.C. is a 16 hour drive. A little more doable than Quebec. I could squeeze in some sleep. That's a lot of driving for just a cache or two. Forget about going West. How about South? I have North Dakota and Minnesota. I don't have South Dakota. Google Map says it's a three hour and forty minute drive from Winnipeg to Fargo. Five hours from Winnipeg to Dakota Magic Casino which is on the border of North and South Dakota. This sounds way more plausible. Once I take the boys home, I can grab my stuff and book it to the border. That gives me all of Christmas Day to go caching in South Dakota. I now have a plan. Now I have to factor in two more things. Finances and weather. I don't need a fancy hotel. Something with free wi-fi and a free breakfast. Check with that guy from Trivago to see what's available and for how much. As he says, it's just a click here and there and you'll find what you're looking for. Being that it is Winter on the prairies, a snow storm could blow in at anytime, so keep an eye on the weather forecasts. One more thing to consider, will there be anything open on Christmas Day for me to eat? I might be hauling my own food in for this one. The caching plan is to grab some of the B.L.T. trail that's along the North and South Dakota border. Now I have a secondary goal, get my mystery finds up to six hundred before the end of December. This all sounds great and grand, but when the weekend came just days before Christmas, Winnipeg was getting a decent amount of snow. I didn't feel like driving any great distance with yucky road conditions. Something was saying that I should stay home as well. I think I'll make do with staying in the city and focus on some caches that are in high muggle areas.
Christmas day didn't start off that great. I went after a cache that's in a very high muggle area. Located at the corner of Portage avenue and Main St. The busiest intersection in the city. I searched, I froze, and I searched some more to no avail. I have attempted this one a couple of times with no success to date. Next up was a tribute cache to one of our cachers, AF Girl, who retired from the military and has since moved back to her home province of Nova Scotia. No luck at that one either.
I finally was able to find two caches and had made my way to the River Heights area of the city (South Central ish). I was in the process of looking for a cache when I got notification of three new caches. All three were in different directions and at different corners of the city. Of course I'm right in the middle. Which way do I go. I opted for the one closest to the airport. I had a small drive ahead of me, but I still made it there in decent time, but not quick enough. Missed the First to Find by eleven minutes. Second to find instead. From there, I slowly made my way East, grabbing a few caches that I don't have yet.
(I finally found one)
(There was no going the wrong way to find this one)
(I love Little Free Library hides. They can be very creative, like this one)
(Another creative hide)
This would bring me to animal services. They were holding an event where people could come in and interact with the dogs and play with them. What better way to spend Christmas when you're by yourself than to give a four-legged creature some loving attention. Sadly, in a way, there was too many people and not enough dogs. It's good that the turn out was fantastic, but I never did get to give some loving scratches to a pooch.
(Give me attention)
(Another friendly pooch that's waiting to be adopted)
The next day, (Boxing Day in Canada), I was going to set out and head East (Transcona, my old stomping grounds), this time to grab one of those new caches from the day before and a couple other newer caches. Before I could leave, another notification of a new cache. It's in the Transcona area as well. Sweet. I headed off to see if maybe I could get the first to find on that one. Nope. Missed the FTF party. By the looks of things, there was five cachers and the two COs at GZ. They had all left by the time I arrived. I searched all by myself. From there, it was off to find the other caches. A much better day than yesterday. No DNFs, although I still froze at some cache locations. Where did these cold temperatures come from?
(Missed the FTF party by that much)
As for that feeling of not going across the border, I knew Fargo was forecasting snow on the day after Christmas and it looked like a fair amount too. That would mean getting out of Dodge early before the bad weather hit. When I checked the Fargo forecast on the 26th, a Winter Storm Warning was issued for the Fargo area. It eventually became a blizzard warning. I'm glad I listened to what or whoever was telling me to stay home. With Christmas done and over for another year, that means I can listen to the radio in my car again. I've been listening to my Doobie Brothers Greatest Hits CD over and over and over so I wouldn't have to listen to any Christmas songs.
That's my Christmas. It wasn't too bad. Honestly, it felt like any other Sunday. Not much traffic, nothing to watch on TV, and nothing open, which is a throw back to what Sundays use to be like before Sunday shopping was allowed. As for next Christmas, who knows. Too far away to predict. I could be on my own again, or sharing with a special someone (I have a whole year to find that someone), or maybe I'll actually leave the city and go on a geocaching adventure somewhere. We shall see. Until then, be happy, be safe, enjoy, and have fun. Peace out.
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