Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012
3:36 pm - Prussian Kings again and CFF Point Pleasant
Saturday and Sunday were warm, sunny days, although it looked like rain late Sunday afternoon. On Saturday, I decided it was time to do some of the new geocaches that have been accumulating to the north. So I started geocaching near West Chester and worked my way towards Malvern, Tredyffrin, and King of Prussia. There were half a dozen caches near the King of Prussia Mall and the most interesting novelty I came across was a big vacuum cleaner. Then I returned to Exton/Uwchlan and found a few more geocaches going from there through Downingtown and back to West Chester. So it was a big triangle. Had to stop just a bit earlier to go to Home Depot near home to pick up an online order I made that very morning, but I was still in plenty of time for dinner at Ruby Tuesday in Bear.
Sunday was the day of the Hi-4 mascot gig at the CFF Great Strides event in Point Pleasant Beach. I joined![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1)
mejeep and lowen_kind at the event site. freakylynx and Damian K arrived a bit later because they'd been doing another gig in Northern New Jersey that morning. I was a bit late myself so I missed the first part of the event when the walkers were leaving the event site but I got into fursuit and was ready when they returned from the walk. For a small event area, it was quite a busy event. However, it ended a bit earlier than the scheduled closing time because of the hot weather. After that, our group had a late lunch at a nearby Jersey Mike's. Then I went off on my own to do some geocaching around the area. For the short time I had, I actually did quite a number of geocaches because most of them were on the Edgar Felix Bike Path from Allenwood to Allaire State Park. It's nice to be able to park in one place and do a series of geocaches all in a row.
( The caches... )
Saturday and Sunday were warm, sunny days, although it looked like rain late Sunday afternoon. On Saturday, I decided it was time to do some of the new geocaches that have been accumulating to the north. So I started geocaching near West Chester and worked my way towards Malvern, Tredyffrin, and King of Prussia. There were half a dozen caches near the King of Prussia Mall and the most interesting novelty I came across was a big vacuum cleaner. Then I returned to Exton/Uwchlan and found a few more geocaches going from there through Downingtown and back to West Chester. So it was a big triangle. Had to stop just a bit earlier to go to Home Depot near home to pick up an online order I made that very morning, but I was still in plenty of time for dinner at Ruby Tuesday in Bear.
Sunday was the day of the Hi-4 mascot gig at the CFF Great Strides event in Point Pleasant Beach. I joined
mejeep and lowen_kind at the event site. freakylynx and Damian K arrived a bit later because they'd been doing another gig in Northern New Jersey that morning. I was a bit late myself so I missed the first part of the event when the walkers were leaving the event site but I got into fursuit and was ready when they returned from the walk. For a small event area, it was quite a busy event. However, it ended a bit earlier than the scheduled closing time because of the hot weather. After that, our group had a late lunch at a nearby Jersey Mike's. Then I went off on my own to do some geocaching around the area. For the short time I had, I actually did quite a number of geocaches because most of them were on the Edgar Felix Bike Path from Allenwood to Allaire State Park. It's nice to be able to park in one place and do a series of geocaches all in a row.( The caches... )
Monday, May 14th, 2012
3:15 pm - Delco, Western Philly, Central Delaware
It was a generally warm and sunny weekend with temperatures peaking at just over 80°F. On Saturday, I went geocaching in Delaware County and Western Philadelphia because I haven't gone that way in a while. Southern DelCo was actually somewhat of a mess with a number of closed roads blocking access to I-95 and a lot of backed up traffic. I did whatever geocaches I could and routed around or away from traffic delays. I skipped past a few geocaches because I didn't see any way I could get over to those in a reasonable amount of time. I passed through Western Philadelphia and did only a few geocaches there. Then I went to Bala Cynwyd to tackle the Cynwyd Heritage Trail (CHT) series of caches. That was the longest walk of the day. I went all the way around to the other end of the trail and followed the sidewalk back to where I parked. After that, I did a few easy ones across the Schuylkill River in Roxborough before calling it a day.
Since I started late on Sunday, I decided to take it easy and just head down to Central Delaware after picking up two easy FTF nearby in Newark. I had a relatively easy time that day. Aside from not planning my routes properly and driving the long way around to some of the cache sites, I didn't have any significant trouble with any of the caches. I was on a bit of a hot streak and was lucky with even the difficult caches that I attempted. "Evil Lake Cache" was the hardest of them all because it was buried in sand, but I dug all the way around the beach shack and got it. (I had some inside info on this cache that was incorrect but at least gave me the right idea.) On the lighter side, I thought some of the caches were rather creative and neat. I saw a frog cache, a dragonfly, a snail, and a spider.
( The caches... )
It was a generally warm and sunny weekend with temperatures peaking at just over 80°F. On Saturday, I went geocaching in Delaware County and Western Philadelphia because I haven't gone that way in a while. Southern DelCo was actually somewhat of a mess with a number of closed roads blocking access to I-95 and a lot of backed up traffic. I did whatever geocaches I could and routed around or away from traffic delays. I skipped past a few geocaches because I didn't see any way I could get over to those in a reasonable amount of time. I passed through Western Philadelphia and did only a few geocaches there. Then I went to Bala Cynwyd to tackle the Cynwyd Heritage Trail (CHT) series of caches. That was the longest walk of the day. I went all the way around to the other end of the trail and followed the sidewalk back to where I parked. After that, I did a few easy ones across the Schuylkill River in Roxborough before calling it a day.
Since I started late on Sunday, I decided to take it easy and just head down to Central Delaware after picking up two easy FTF nearby in Newark. I had a relatively easy time that day. Aside from not planning my routes properly and driving the long way around to some of the cache sites, I didn't have any significant trouble with any of the caches. I was on a bit of a hot streak and was lucky with even the difficult caches that I attempted. "Evil Lake Cache" was the hardest of them all because it was buried in sand, but I dug all the way around the beach shack and got it. (I had some inside info on this cache that was incorrect but at least gave me the right idea.) On the lighter side, I thought some of the caches were rather creative and neat. I saw a frog cache, a dragonfly, a snail, and a spider.
( The caches... )
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
11:22 pm - Northeast Philadelphia
Cloudy, 60-70°F. There was a geocaching event on Saturday morning in Northeast Philadelphia but I didn't attend it because I didn't like that chicken restaurant chain. Of course, I could've attended the event anyway and not bought anything but I didn't think that would be right either. There's no reason why I couldn't find the caches that were placed for the event though, so off to Northeast Philly I went! It was a pretty full day. I did a mix of caches from the event and caches that were there already. (I hadn't been to the area in a while.) Given the activity in the area, I was surprised that I only ran into other geocachers once. I saw lots of other log entries at the caches I visited so I must have just missed the other groups.
"The Food Here Gives Me Gas!" illustrates the problem with ticking off restaurant folks. I noticed that someone from the nearby pizza place had written the "F" word in black marker on the cache container. "Howe Easy 2" was the funniest cache of the day. When I got to the cache site, I saw something hanging from a fishing line, so I pulled it out. It was cash but not THE cache! There was another decoy in the same spot and then the actual cache was less than two feet away.
On Sunday, after a breakfast at Old Country Buffet, I headed back to Northeast Philly in the afternoon to continue what I started on Saturday. This time, I headed further out to Fox Chase, Bensalem, and Croydon. Although none of the caches were especially noteworthy on this trip, it was a fun time.
( The caches... )
Cloudy, 60-70°F. There was a geocaching event on Saturday morning in Northeast Philadelphia but I didn't attend it because I didn't like that chicken restaurant chain. Of course, I could've attended the event anyway and not bought anything but I didn't think that would be right either. There's no reason why I couldn't find the caches that were placed for the event though, so off to Northeast Philly I went! It was a pretty full day. I did a mix of caches from the event and caches that were there already. (I hadn't been to the area in a while.) Given the activity in the area, I was surprised that I only ran into other geocachers once. I saw lots of other log entries at the caches I visited so I must have just missed the other groups.
"The Food Here Gives Me Gas!" illustrates the problem with ticking off restaurant folks. I noticed that someone from the nearby pizza place had written the "F" word in black marker on the cache container. "Howe Easy 2" was the funniest cache of the day. When I got to the cache site, I saw something hanging from a fishing line, so I pulled it out. It was cash but not THE cache! There was another decoy in the same spot and then the actual cache was less than two feet away.
On Sunday, after a breakfast at Old Country Buffet, I headed back to Northeast Philly in the afternoon to continue what I started on Saturday. This time, I headed further out to Fox Chase, Bensalem, and Croydon. Although none of the caches were especially noteworthy on this trip, it was a fun time.
( The caches... )
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
1:02 am - LVGC Breakfast and Lawrenceville Jubilee
Friday was such a problematic day. If the flat tire wasn't enough, I also seemed to be getting sick. So I wasn't even sure if I would be able to do anything over the weekend. However, I took care of the tire problem and got a new one as it was still under warranty. By Saturday morning, I had recovered completely from whatever illness it was I had. So I went to Borderline Restaurant in Bethlehem for the "LVGC Breakfast in the Lehigh Valley 2012, 2nd Qtr" geocaching event. (I had the creamed chipped beef special.) These LVGC events are pretty good because there's usually a planned hike afterwards. This time, we went to Merrill Creek Reservoir over in Western New Jersey. Our hike covered a few miles and a half dozen or so geocaches on the Visitor's Center side of the reservoir. After that, I went off on my own to do four more geocaches on the far side of the reservoir. I followed those with more geocaches around Western NJ and especially Phillipsburg. I figured I might as well do those since I rarely get out that way nowadays.
On Sunday, I went to Lawrenceville to do a mascot gig with the Hi-4 group at the Lawrenceville Main Street Jubilee. Also in this gig wererapidtrabbit and Damian K. Sunday was a warmer day than Saturday, but I broke the 4-hour gig into 20 to 30-minute sets and I was fine. I wore the husky fursuit for this one and just interacted with the crowd most of the time. After the gig, we went our separate ways. I did a bunch of geocaches in Lawrenceville, Pennington, and Ewing before heading off to dinner.
( The caches... )
Friday was such a problematic day. If the flat tire wasn't enough, I also seemed to be getting sick. So I wasn't even sure if I would be able to do anything over the weekend. However, I took care of the tire problem and got a new one as it was still under warranty. By Saturday morning, I had recovered completely from whatever illness it was I had. So I went to Borderline Restaurant in Bethlehem for the "LVGC Breakfast in the Lehigh Valley 2012, 2nd Qtr" geocaching event. (I had the creamed chipped beef special.) These LVGC events are pretty good because there's usually a planned hike afterwards. This time, we went to Merrill Creek Reservoir over in Western New Jersey. Our hike covered a few miles and a half dozen or so geocaches on the Visitor's Center side of the reservoir. After that, I went off on my own to do four more geocaches on the far side of the reservoir. I followed those with more geocaches around Western NJ and especially Phillipsburg. I figured I might as well do those since I rarely get out that way nowadays.
On Sunday, I went to Lawrenceville to do a mascot gig with the Hi-4 group at the Lawrenceville Main Street Jubilee. Also in this gig were
rapidtrabbit and Damian K. Sunday was a warmer day than Saturday, but I broke the 4-hour gig into 20 to 30-minute sets and I was fine. I wore the husky fursuit for this one and just interacted with the crowd most of the time. After the gig, we went our separate ways. I did a bunch of geocaches in Lawrenceville, Pennington, and Ewing before heading off to dinner.( The caches... )
Monday, April 23rd, 2012
11:58 pm - Lancaster XXXXVII - Flash Mob Event and Nine is Fine
There was rain in the forecast for Saturday but it turned out to be a sunny day and the thunderstorm didn't hit until the evening when I was about to go for dinner anyway. I headed out to Martic Township in Southern Lancaster for the "Flash Mob Event on the Trail". This was a great little geocaching event because after the meetup, we went out as a group to tackle two of the hardest nearby caches. Of the two, "Flying Instruments" was notable because it was about 15 feet above ground on the pylon of an old railroad bridge. The way to get there was to climb up on the road side of the bridge and crawl out on a beam across the chasm to the next pylon. Ordinarily, I'd have been too nervous to attempt that but with moral support from the group, it was no problem. Four of us went out to the cache, found it, turned around and went back, and no one fell off. After that, I hiked around the rustic areas of Southern Lancaster to get more high-terrain caches before the rain came.
Sunday varied between rain and heavy rain pretty much all day long. I went to "Nine is Fine", a geocaching breakfast event at Shore Diner in Egg Harbor Township. That was a pretty good event for meeting up with some of the New Jersey geocachers I don't see as often any more. After that, I found some geocaches around Egg Harbor Township before heading off to Ocean City to do a series of caches. I hadn't been to O.C. since 2005 because the last time I was there, I had an encounter with the police on the boardwalk and I thought they were rude. I admit I went there on Sunday looking for a reason to extend my boycott another 10 years. Nothing bad happened this time though. Then again, everyone was probably huddled up indoors in that town because of the weather. Many of the new geocaches in O.C. are of the roadside variety. To avoid getting my electronics wet in the rain, I left my phone and GPS in the car. In most cases, I was able to find the cache by zooming in all the way on the aerial photo to see which corner or tree it was near. Sometimes I was lucky and guessed well. After 38 geocaches, I left O.C. because I got tired of the rain and the area was actually starting to flood! However, given travel conditions, it was just the right time to leave to be in time for dinner anyway.
( The caches... )
There was rain in the forecast for Saturday but it turned out to be a sunny day and the thunderstorm didn't hit until the evening when I was about to go for dinner anyway. I headed out to Martic Township in Southern Lancaster for the "Flash Mob Event on the Trail". This was a great little geocaching event because after the meetup, we went out as a group to tackle two of the hardest nearby caches. Of the two, "Flying Instruments" was notable because it was about 15 feet above ground on the pylon of an old railroad bridge. The way to get there was to climb up on the road side of the bridge and crawl out on a beam across the chasm to the next pylon. Ordinarily, I'd have been too nervous to attempt that but with moral support from the group, it was no problem. Four of us went out to the cache, found it, turned around and went back, and no one fell off. After that, I hiked around the rustic areas of Southern Lancaster to get more high-terrain caches before the rain came.
Sunday varied between rain and heavy rain pretty much all day long. I went to "Nine is Fine", a geocaching breakfast event at Shore Diner in Egg Harbor Township. That was a pretty good event for meeting up with some of the New Jersey geocachers I don't see as often any more. After that, I found some geocaches around Egg Harbor Township before heading off to Ocean City to do a series of caches. I hadn't been to O.C. since 2005 because the last time I was there, I had an encounter with the police on the boardwalk and I thought they were rude. I admit I went there on Sunday looking for a reason to extend my boycott another 10 years. Nothing bad happened this time though. Then again, everyone was probably huddled up indoors in that town because of the weather. Many of the new geocaches in O.C. are of the roadside variety. To avoid getting my electronics wet in the rain, I left my phone and GPS in the car. In most cases, I was able to find the cache by zooming in all the way on the aerial photo to see which corner or tree it was near. Sometimes I was lucky and guessed well. After 38 geocaches, I left O.C. because I got tired of the rain and the area was actually starting to flood! However, given travel conditions, it was just the right time to leave to be in time for dinner anyway.
( The caches... )
Monday, April 16th, 2012
3:01 am - Mount Laurel to Berlin
Sunny, 75-80°F. I didn't have any concrete plans for the day other than that I wanted to start geocaching in Mount Laurel to finish the "I work out!" series and end the day in Berlin so I could go to Long John Silver's for dinner. The remarkable thing about today's software is I don't need to plan any more. The Neongeo app stores all the cache info and downloads more as I go along. I just kept checking it to see what's nearby and in the right direction, and I ended the day with 40 cache finds!
I didn't exactly go in a straight line from start to end. From Mount Laurel, I went through Medford and Marlton, with a side trip to Lumberton. I hadn't been to the area in quite a while so I did clusters of geocaches where available to cut down on the driving. Two parks had 4 or more geocaches I hadn't found. I covered a variety of terrain from sidewalks to woods (with creek crossings) and open fields. There was a frog geocache ("Creek Side Croaker") today too. It's in a fishing area and the nearby fisherman thought I was looking for snakes. I told him I was looking for frogs and that somehow seemed like a credible story too. I also got to see an E-2 Hawkeye at the Air Victory Museum because the "Air Victory" geocache was nearby.
Dinner was at the Long John Silver's / Taco Bell co-branded restaurant in Berlin. I had a two-fish combo and a caramel apple empanada. (Yes, I ordered from both sides of the menu this time.) And finally, I did the last six geocaches of the night on the way from LJS to the I-295 ramp in Barrington.
( The caches... )
Sunny, 75-80°F. I didn't have any concrete plans for the day other than that I wanted to start geocaching in Mount Laurel to finish the "I work out!" series and end the day in Berlin so I could go to Long John Silver's for dinner. The remarkable thing about today's software is I don't need to plan any more. The Neongeo app stores all the cache info and downloads more as I go along. I just kept checking it to see what's nearby and in the right direction, and I ended the day with 40 cache finds!
I didn't exactly go in a straight line from start to end. From Mount Laurel, I went through Medford and Marlton, with a side trip to Lumberton. I hadn't been to the area in quite a while so I did clusters of geocaches where available to cut down on the driving. Two parks had 4 or more geocaches I hadn't found. I covered a variety of terrain from sidewalks to woods (with creek crossings) and open fields. There was a frog geocache ("Creek Side Croaker") today too. It's in a fishing area and the nearby fisherman thought I was looking for snakes. I told him I was looking for frogs and that somehow seemed like a credible story too. I also got to see an E-2 Hawkeye at the Air Victory Museum because the "Air Victory" geocache was nearby.
Dinner was at the Long John Silver's / Taco Bell co-branded restaurant in Berlin. I had a two-fish combo and a caramel apple empanada. (Yes, I ordered from both sides of the menu this time.) And finally, I did the last six geocaches of the night on the way from LJS to the I-295 ramp in Barrington.
( The caches... )
Sunday, April 15th, 2012
3:29 am - Outlet tour
Sunny, then cloudy. 64-77°F. I'd been meaning to visit the Rehoboth Beach outlet malls for some time because I hadn't been there in a while and I have a sheet of coupons from Tanger. I figured today was as good a day as any since there are new geocaches in Kent County that I could do on the way there.
I thought the first geocache of the day, "Light Cache", was in a neat location. It's between the second and third floors of a lighthouse. Of course, this lighthouse is far from the sea because it's a display lighthouse at a store that sells sheds, play equipment, and other things you can place in your yard. Ordinarily, I'd say that I can't imagine who would buy that, except that I've already seen a lighthouse in someone's front yard.
The other thing I thought was neat is a series of geocaches by Trison78 where all the caches are various plastic animals and the cache names are scientific names for those animals. So "ANURA" was a frog geocache. If you don't recognize the order or genus then it'll be a surprise. I may have to brush up on taxonomy; I knew that "APIS" was a bee but didn't connect "CAELIFERA" to grasshopper. I'm waiting for a "VULPES" cache though. :)
( The caches... )
Sunny, then cloudy. 64-77°F. I'd been meaning to visit the Rehoboth Beach outlet malls for some time because I hadn't been there in a while and I have a sheet of coupons from Tanger. I figured today was as good a day as any since there are new geocaches in Kent County that I could do on the way there.
I thought the first geocache of the day, "Light Cache", was in a neat location. It's between the second and third floors of a lighthouse. Of course, this lighthouse is far from the sea because it's a display lighthouse at a store that sells sheds, play equipment, and other things you can place in your yard. Ordinarily, I'd say that I can't imagine who would buy that, except that I've already seen a lighthouse in someone's front yard.
The other thing I thought was neat is a series of geocaches by Trison78 where all the caches are various plastic animals and the cache names are scientific names for those animals. So "ANURA" was a frog geocache. If you don't recognize the order or genus then it'll be a surprise. I may have to brush up on taxonomy; I knew that "APIS" was a bee but didn't connect "CAELIFERA" to grasshopper. I'm waiting for a "VULPES" cache though. :)
( The caches... )
Monday, April 9th, 2012
2:50 am - South Jersey and the drive-off incident
Sunny, 60-70°F. I had no concrete plans for today so I decided to just continue geocaching where I stopped last Sunday in Moorestown. I started with some hiking geocaches (by the Swedes Run swamp, no less) but switched to easier ones in the interest of time. From Moorestown, I proceeded to Delran, Edgewater Park, Willingboro, and Burlington. Then I returned to Ruby Tuesday in Willingboro for salad and tilapia with onion rings. I never noticed this Ruby Tuesday location before and only saw them because the cache "Willingboro Plaza" is within the same block of buildings. They probably aren't even aware what brought this customer in. :)
After dinner, I did five more geocaches by flashlight. Then I decided to get some of that cheap NJ gas before going home. As I pulled into a BP gas station on US-130, I noticed another car also pulling in behind me. I picked one pump bay and I saw that he picked another bay just so that he wouldn't be behind me. Not terribly unusual, I thought at first. In New Jersey, you're not allowed to pump your own gas. However, if you ask for a full tank and specify that you'll be paying in cash, the pump attendant will pump the gas first before getting payment. It's a courtesy to not require prepay in this situation so that you won't have to guess how many dollars of fuel you need to fill the tank. A few minutes after the pump attendant started the gas pumps, I saw the other car zoom out of the fuel bay, leaving the gas nozzle swinging! The pump attendant yelled out. He was flustered. At that point, I realized that I'd just witnessed a drive-off incident.
So yes, there is actual overt theft in South Jersey, or Pennsauken, to be specific. I wonder if this kind of thing will happen more as gas prices rise. Also, this does explain why gas stations in Carneys Point now insist on cash prepay, even with pump attendant service.
( The caches... )
Sunny, 60-70°F. I had no concrete plans for today so I decided to just continue geocaching where I stopped last Sunday in Moorestown. I started with some hiking geocaches (by the Swedes Run swamp, no less) but switched to easier ones in the interest of time. From Moorestown, I proceeded to Delran, Edgewater Park, Willingboro, and Burlington. Then I returned to Ruby Tuesday in Willingboro for salad and tilapia with onion rings. I never noticed this Ruby Tuesday location before and only saw them because the cache "Willingboro Plaza" is within the same block of buildings. They probably aren't even aware what brought this customer in. :)
After dinner, I did five more geocaches by flashlight. Then I decided to get some of that cheap NJ gas before going home. As I pulled into a BP gas station on US-130, I noticed another car also pulling in behind me. I picked one pump bay and I saw that he picked another bay just so that he wouldn't be behind me. Not terribly unusual, I thought at first. In New Jersey, you're not allowed to pump your own gas. However, if you ask for a full tank and specify that you'll be paying in cash, the pump attendant will pump the gas first before getting payment. It's a courtesy to not require prepay in this situation so that you won't have to guess how many dollars of fuel you need to fill the tank. A few minutes after the pump attendant started the gas pumps, I saw the other car zoom out of the fuel bay, leaving the gas nozzle swinging! The pump attendant yelled out. He was flustered. At that point, I realized that I'd just witnessed a drive-off incident.
So yes, there is actual overt theft in South Jersey, or Pennsauken, to be specific. I wonder if this kind of thing will happen more as gas prices rise. Also, this does explain why gas stations in Carneys Point now insist on cash prepay, even with pump attendant service.
( The caches... )
Sunday, April 8th, 2012
2:09 am - North Wales - The Groupon bakery errand
Sunny, 57-64°F. Today's geocaching trip was sponsored by Groupon! Well, not quite. What happened was they recently sent me a $10 bonus. So I scanned the whole region looking for a suitable Groupon deal to use that $10 bonus on. I found a $20-for-$10 deal at Hot Breads, a bakery in North Wales, so that's what I got. So the primary goal of today's trip was to visit that bakery and use the Groupon deal. Of course, I did a few geocaches on the way there. Then I stopped at Hot Breads and picked up a big bag of bread, toast, and snacks. Not bad for a free Groupon! Hot Breads is an Indian fusion bakery, so the snacks are curry-filled pastries and the bread is masala-flavored. I'm refrigerating the baked goods and reheating those as needed. That should take care of breakfast for at least a week.
After that, I went geocaching around North Wales, Upper Gwynedd, Lansdale, and Colmar. I'd been through the area recently, so this time, I tried some of the harder geocaches. The most difficult one turned out to be a cache that wasn't meant to be difficult. Apparently, a non-geocacher stumbled across "Alex's Excursion", took it, and tossed it about 130 feet from ground zero. I gave up looking for it but then I saw it by chance as I was leaving the park.
I also found the final caches for two puzzles. "What's At Stake? #18 - Sweepstakes" is a logic puzzle, which I like to do ever since I found out that I could do those. :) "Charis Industria" is a simple research puzzle once you find out what the name refers to.
( The caches... )
Sunny, 57-64°F. Today's geocaching trip was sponsored by Groupon! Well, not quite. What happened was they recently sent me a $10 bonus. So I scanned the whole region looking for a suitable Groupon deal to use that $10 bonus on. I found a $20-for-$10 deal at Hot Breads, a bakery in North Wales, so that's what I got. So the primary goal of today's trip was to visit that bakery and use the Groupon deal. Of course, I did a few geocaches on the way there. Then I stopped at Hot Breads and picked up a big bag of bread, toast, and snacks. Not bad for a free Groupon! Hot Breads is an Indian fusion bakery, so the snacks are curry-filled pastries and the bread is masala-flavored. I'm refrigerating the baked goods and reheating those as needed. That should take care of breakfast for at least a week.
After that, I went geocaching around North Wales, Upper Gwynedd, Lansdale, and Colmar. I'd been through the area recently, so this time, I tried some of the harder geocaches. The most difficult one turned out to be a cache that wasn't meant to be difficult. Apparently, a non-geocacher stumbled across "Alex's Excursion", took it, and tossed it about 130 feet from ground zero. I gave up looking for it but then I saw it by chance as I was leaving the park.
I also found the final caches for two puzzles. "What's At Stake? #18 - Sweepstakes" is a logic puzzle, which I like to do ever since I found out that I could do those. :) "Charis Industria" is a simple research puzzle once you find out what the name refers to.
( The caches... )
Monday, April 2nd, 2012
2:50 am - Mission Complete Flash Mob
Cloudy/rainy, 48-50°F. My plan for the day was to head northeast to Moorestown for the "Mission Complete! (flash mob)" geocaching event. Since it was in the evening, I geocached my way up through Westville, Oaklyn, Haddon, Collingswood, and Cherry Hill before heading to the event. The only two geocaches I did today with challenging terrain were "The Tunnel" and "Gully Rats Revisited" because I started late and didn't have time to do more tough caches. Neither were actually that hard once I saw which way I needed to go through the brush. I also did two walks along Newton Lake that weren't too long for "Resolutions" and "A Stroll Around Newton Lake". Those were pretty flat trails.
Just before 6pm, I headed over to the flash mob, which was in a strip mall parking lot in Moorestown. There was a meet-and-greet and a raffle for door prizes. Then we went into Bassett's Memphis BBQ. I had a Spicy Tornado, which is a pulled pork, chicken and brisket sandwich.
After the event, I continued geocaching around Cherry Hill and Mount Laurel. It was raining a bit so I picked only geocaches that were close to parking. There were quite a number of those in that area, so I went on a bit late into the night. I got the last cache of the night just a bit past midnight. However, it was near the I-295 on-ramp so I figured why not make one last stop? Anyway, it turned out to be a pretty full day with lots of variety in geocaches plus an event. Couldn't ask for more, except perhaps better weather.
( The caches... )
Cloudy/rainy, 48-50°F. My plan for the day was to head northeast to Moorestown for the "Mission Complete! (flash mob)" geocaching event. Since it was in the evening, I geocached my way up through Westville, Oaklyn, Haddon, Collingswood, and Cherry Hill before heading to the event. The only two geocaches I did today with challenging terrain were "The Tunnel" and "Gully Rats Revisited" because I started late and didn't have time to do more tough caches. Neither were actually that hard once I saw which way I needed to go through the brush. I also did two walks along Newton Lake that weren't too long for "Resolutions" and "A Stroll Around Newton Lake". Those were pretty flat trails.
Just before 6pm, I headed over to the flash mob, which was in a strip mall parking lot in Moorestown. There was a meet-and-greet and a raffle for door prizes. Then we went into Bassett's Memphis BBQ. I had a Spicy Tornado, which is a pulled pork, chicken and brisket sandwich.
After the event, I continued geocaching around Cherry Hill and Mount Laurel. It was raining a bit so I picked only geocaches that were close to parking. There were quite a number of those in that area, so I went on a bit late into the night. I got the last cache of the night just a bit past midnight. However, it was near the I-295 on-ramp so I figured why not make one last stop? Anyway, it turned out to be a pretty full day with lots of variety in geocaches plus an event. Couldn't ask for more, except perhaps better weather.
( The caches... )
Sunday, April 1st, 2012
1:53 am - Central Delaware and DE Furbowl
Cloudy, 48°F. I planned on attending Delaware Furbowl 35 in the evening, which meant I wouldn't be geocaching all the way up to dusk. But I figured that was still plenty of time to shoot down to Kent County to do some of the recently-placed geocaches. Then I found that I actually had time to do some older geocaches as well in the Blairs Pond area near Milford. After a quick dinner of chicken enchiladas and taco at Hardee's in Middletown, I returned home to prepare for the evening's event.
This time, I skipped the dinner portion of DE Furbowl and went directly to the bowling alley. This month's theme is "The 80s". I visited a thrift store a few days ago to look for vintage 80s clothing for the theme. The only thing I found was a Hawaiian shirt that happened to be large enough to wear over my fursuit, so that's what I used. My bowling was rusty from not having gone to Furbowl in a few months, not that it was ever really unrusty. :) I used my right hand in the first game and my left hand in the second. My left hand did a bit better, which is strange because I'm right-handed. Anyway, I had a good time and got to talk to a few folks I haven't seen in a while. (because I hadn't been going to Furbowls, partly :) )
I noticed a few improvements since the last time I was at Furbowl. The fursuit changing area is quite a bit bigger and the curtains have been rearranged so entrance no longer faces the general area, for better privacy. Also, there is now blue tape on the floor so we know where to stand to be within camera view for the group photo. That's what I like about this event. They keep making improvements and solving problems, even problems that I'd never think of mentioning.
( The caches... )
Cloudy, 48°F. I planned on attending Delaware Furbowl 35 in the evening, which meant I wouldn't be geocaching all the way up to dusk. But I figured that was still plenty of time to shoot down to Kent County to do some of the recently-placed geocaches. Then I found that I actually had time to do some older geocaches as well in the Blairs Pond area near Milford. After a quick dinner of chicken enchiladas and taco at Hardee's in Middletown, I returned home to prepare for the evening's event.
This time, I skipped the dinner portion of DE Furbowl and went directly to the bowling alley. This month's theme is "The 80s". I visited a thrift store a few days ago to look for vintage 80s clothing for the theme. The only thing I found was a Hawaiian shirt that happened to be large enough to wear over my fursuit, so that's what I used. My bowling was rusty from not having gone to Furbowl in a few months, not that it was ever really unrusty. :) I used my right hand in the first game and my left hand in the second. My left hand did a bit better, which is strange because I'm right-handed. Anyway, I had a good time and got to talk to a few folks I haven't seen in a while. (because I hadn't been going to Furbowls, partly :) )
I noticed a few improvements since the last time I was at Furbowl. The fursuit changing area is quite a bit bigger and the curtains have been rearranged so entrance no longer faces the general area, for better privacy. Also, there is now blue tape on the floor so we know where to stand to be within camera view for the group photo. That's what I like about this event. They keep making improvements and solving problems, even problems that I'd never think of mentioning.
( The caches... )
Monday, March 26th, 2012
1:09 am - Lancaster XXXXVI - Focus on puzzles
Sunny, 50-55°F. I continued yesterday's tour of puzzle caches but today, I went northwest to Lancaster. My targets were the "Powers of 10" series and the "Lancaster County Quadrangle Challenge". Of course, I threw in a few more puzzle caches in between and did some traditional caches too, for a total of 8 puzzles out of 23 caches.
All three "Powers of 10" puzzles were just math and number systems. No big problem. The Quadrangle Challenge was both a challenge and a simple cipher. The challenge part was having to find at least one geocache in each topo map quad covering Lancaster County. Given how far away I live from Lancaster, I was surprised that I'd already qualified for this challenge. So it was a simple matter of going and finding the final cache.
"Ohm Overload" is probably more of interest to Electrical Engineering folks. (I'm Comp Sci. :) ) In this puzzle, coordinates are derived from the total resistance in two circuits. I knew the formulae from having had Physics class long ago, so all I really needed to do was look up resistor codes and do the math.
"Playfair 6" is a modified Playfair cipher. I decoded the message by hand since there is no software for this Playfair variant yet. However, as I found out, the real puzzle was finding the correct parking lot. It's in an area where none of the parking lots were connected, so I drove in and out a few times until I got the correct one. (I should've studied an aerial photo first.)
( The caches... )
Sunny, 50-55°F. I continued yesterday's tour of puzzle caches but today, I went northwest to Lancaster. My targets were the "Powers of 10" series and the "Lancaster County Quadrangle Challenge". Of course, I threw in a few more puzzle caches in between and did some traditional caches too, for a total of 8 puzzles out of 23 caches.
All three "Powers of 10" puzzles were just math and number systems. No big problem. The Quadrangle Challenge was both a challenge and a simple cipher. The challenge part was having to find at least one geocache in each topo map quad covering Lancaster County. Given how far away I live from Lancaster, I was surprised that I'd already qualified for this challenge. So it was a simple matter of going and finding the final cache.
"Ohm Overload" is probably more of interest to Electrical Engineering folks. (I'm Comp Sci. :) ) In this puzzle, coordinates are derived from the total resistance in two circuits. I knew the formulae from having had Physics class long ago, so all I really needed to do was look up resistor codes and do the math.
"Playfair 6" is a modified Playfair cipher. I decoded the message by hand since there is no software for this Playfair variant yet. However, as I found out, the real puzzle was finding the correct parking lot. It's in an area where none of the parking lots were connected, so I drove in and out a few times until I got the correct one. (I should've studied an aerial photo first.)
( The caches... )
Sunday, March 25th, 2012
1:30 am - Programming Purgatory
Rainy, 60°F. For the longest time, I didn't even do puzzle caches unless the solutions were fairly obvious. I figured I didn't have time to work out ciphers and such. The real problem was I didn't take a close enough look at those puzzles. Recently, I started looking at puzzle caches in the area and found that a good number of those could be solved by logic, by computer algorithm, or by looking up keywords on the web to find decryption software. So in a matter of days, I got solutions to over 70 puzzle caches!
Today, I headed out to Hatfield, Souderton, Sellersville, Perkasie, and Lansdale to do a bunch of puzzle caches for which I had solutions. Of course, I also did any traditional caches I came across along the way just because. In the end, I got 28 caches in that area, 7 of which were puzzles. The group I targeted was the "Programming Purgatory" series. Each PP puzzle is a piece of obfuscated code in an undisclosed programming language and the output is the final cache coordinates. Of course, if you know what language it is, then you can simply get the compiler or interpreter and run it. I was familiar with all those languages, actually. Well, not PP 0011, which was in COBOL, but fortunately OpenCOBOL could handle it! The puzzle that gave me the most trouble was PP 0001. It is VBScript but I assumed it was VB.NET at first and wondered why it failed.
It was slightly rainy the whole day. In the evening, the rain picked up so I decided to leave the area and go to dinner, which was salad and shrimp fondue at Ruby Tuesday in Concord Mall, back in Delaware. As I was leaving the mall, I got a notification that a cache was published just two miles down the road. I wondered if I would be able to do that at night as it's in the woods, although not far from the sidewalk. It turned out to be not too difficult and I got an FTF at 11pm on "Katona's Cache".
( The caches... )
Rainy, 60°F. For the longest time, I didn't even do puzzle caches unless the solutions were fairly obvious. I figured I didn't have time to work out ciphers and such. The real problem was I didn't take a close enough look at those puzzles. Recently, I started looking at puzzle caches in the area and found that a good number of those could be solved by logic, by computer algorithm, or by looking up keywords on the web to find decryption software. So in a matter of days, I got solutions to over 70 puzzle caches!
Today, I headed out to Hatfield, Souderton, Sellersville, Perkasie, and Lansdale to do a bunch of puzzle caches for which I had solutions. Of course, I also did any traditional caches I came across along the way just because. In the end, I got 28 caches in that area, 7 of which were puzzles. The group I targeted was the "Programming Purgatory" series. Each PP puzzle is a piece of obfuscated code in an undisclosed programming language and the output is the final cache coordinates. Of course, if you know what language it is, then you can simply get the compiler or interpreter and run it. I was familiar with all those languages, actually. Well, not PP 0011, which was in COBOL, but fortunately OpenCOBOL could handle it! The puzzle that gave me the most trouble was PP 0001. It is VBScript but I assumed it was VB.NET at first and wondered why it failed.
It was slightly rainy the whole day. In the evening, the rain picked up so I decided to leave the area and go to dinner, which was salad and shrimp fondue at Ruby Tuesday in Concord Mall, back in Delaware. As I was leaving the mall, I got a notification that a cache was published just two miles down the road. I wondered if I would be able to do that at night as it's in the woods, although not far from the sidewalk. It turned out to be not too difficult and I got an FTF at 11pm on "Katona's Cache".
( The caches... )
Monday, March 19th, 2012
12:47 am - Pot O' Gold and all that
Cloudy, then sunny. 60-65°F. I didn't attend the St. Patrick's Day geocaching event in Middletown yesterday but that doesn't mean I couldn't go and do the event caches today. So I did. Then I went further south to Kent County to find all the recent caches and a few not-so-recent ones. In pretty much all respects, this was a minimally-planned day of geocaching that went without a hitch. I got a surprise FTF at "ARANEAE" because I went for a cache that Neongeo auto-downloaded. It was weird that no one else got it first even though I noticed some logs dated today in caches near that one.
"Right Smack Dab In The Center" was interesting for the location. It's a two-stage multicache with the first stage at the Geographic Center of Delaware. I've been meaning to visit this spot and what better reason to do so than as part of a geocache? The second stage was neat too. It's an old-fashioned trunk.
In the evening, I returned to Middletown for chicken and fries at Hardee's. Hardee's published an Android app that allows you to check in at Hardee's locations for rewards. I've had mixed results with the app but this is one time it got me something good.
( The caches... )
Cloudy, then sunny. 60-65°F. I didn't attend the St. Patrick's Day geocaching event in Middletown yesterday but that doesn't mean I couldn't go and do the event caches today. So I did. Then I went further south to Kent County to find all the recent caches and a few not-so-recent ones. In pretty much all respects, this was a minimally-planned day of geocaching that went without a hitch. I got a surprise FTF at "ARANEAE" because I went for a cache that Neongeo auto-downloaded. It was weird that no one else got it first even though I noticed some logs dated today in caches near that one.
"Right Smack Dab In The Center" was interesting for the location. It's a two-stage multicache with the first stage at the Geographic Center of Delaware. I've been meaning to visit this spot and what better reason to do so than as part of a geocache? The second stage was neat too. It's an old-fashioned trunk.
In the evening, I returned to Middletown for chicken and fries at Hardee's. Hardee's published an Android app that allows you to check in at Hardee's locations for rewards. I've had mixed results with the app but this is one time it got me something good.
( The caches... )
Sunday, March 18th, 2012
12:47 am - St. Patrick's Day - Downingtown, Upper Uwchlan, Exton, East Goshen
Sunny, 70°F. I started the day with some yardwork in the front yard. The grass wasn't that long yet but some of the weeds were, so I decided it would be easier to just mow it all down. There'll be time for detail weeding when I get to it. After a brief stop at the yard waste center to drop off some fallen branches and bush trimmings, I went geocaching in Chester County, starting somewhere between West Chester and Downingtown. Most of those were pretty quick but I threw in some longer hikes and multi-caches to build up an appetite for dinner.
The main purpose of this trip was to find the physical containers for some puzzle caches that I solved earlier this week. The way I solve these puzzles is funny. I try those once when they are published. Then I try those again a year later with significantly better results. Why does it take a year? I don't know. Maybe I just got better at searching the web for answers. "EBC Park" is the most interesting one of the three. It's a Kenken puzzle. The biggest hurdle was finding out what kind of puzzle it is. Once I knew, it was a snap to find websites with instructions and solving tips. "1955 Eagles" is a set of questions about football stats. I don't think I know any more about the Eagles in 1955 than I did before doing this puzzle but I now know that this sport has far too many stats! :) "WO-9.2 - Eagleview Oasis - Robin's Egg Blue" was a simpler puzzle. I just Googled for the answers.
Overall, it was a fine day to be outside. I skipped out on some St. Patrick's Day geocaching events but I don't regret doing so. Sometimes, I just want to be alone with the scenery and wildflowers.
( The caches... )
Sunny, 70°F. I started the day with some yardwork in the front yard. The grass wasn't that long yet but some of the weeds were, so I decided it would be easier to just mow it all down. There'll be time for detail weeding when I get to it. After a brief stop at the yard waste center to drop off some fallen branches and bush trimmings, I went geocaching in Chester County, starting somewhere between West Chester and Downingtown. Most of those were pretty quick but I threw in some longer hikes and multi-caches to build up an appetite for dinner.
The main purpose of this trip was to find the physical containers for some puzzle caches that I solved earlier this week. The way I solve these puzzles is funny. I try those once when they are published. Then I try those again a year later with significantly better results. Why does it take a year? I don't know. Maybe I just got better at searching the web for answers. "EBC Park" is the most interesting one of the three. It's a Kenken puzzle. The biggest hurdle was finding out what kind of puzzle it is. Once I knew, it was a snap to find websites with instructions and solving tips. "1955 Eagles" is a set of questions about football stats. I don't think I know any more about the Eagles in 1955 than I did before doing this puzzle but I now know that this sport has far too many stats! :) "WO-9.2 - Eagleview Oasis - Robin's Egg Blue" was a simpler puzzle. I just Googled for the answers.
Overall, it was a fine day to be outside. I skipped out on some St. Patrick's Day geocaching events but I don't regret doing so. Sometimes, I just want to be alone with the scenery and wildflowers.
( The caches... )
