Another Saturday, Another Cache Day...

Keeping true to our word, Rick and I planned another geocaching adventure for our family this past Saturday. (Yes, even though it was the release day for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I chose to go on a family day trip and postponed the hour at which I would have the book in my anxious, greedy little hands... See? I'm not so neglectful and wanton when it comes to my own children...)

We decided to try for an area that was a bit far-flung but not quite as far as the previous weekend. After perusing the Geocaching website for some fun-sounding caches located in areas with less than 3-star ratings for "terrain difficulty" we finally decided on a cluster of caches located about 45 minutes away. The best part was the lure of beautiful scenery and plentiful waterfalls, which we knew would appeal to all three kids.

The area we were headed for is in the "hilltowns" where restaurants are not exactly plentiful or even clustered in distinct downtown districts (don't blink you just missed downtown: post office, vet office specializing in large farm animals, and if you are really lucky a gas station with a mom-and-pop convenience store in a building that looks like it is held up by the overgrown shrubs around it...or perhaps by magic like The Burrow?). So, we packed a picnic lunch and a few snacks, consulted the maps and then headed out the door.

The first cache site was supposed to have two separate, yet closely spaced, caches to find. We followed the directions for the first and found a parking area in a state forest that was at the head of the trail. The trail itself immediately went down at a steep angle as it followed the course of the stream. There was fencing all along the edge of the trail to keep people from meeting an untimely demise at the bottom of the ravine. This made the trip to the cache much more enjoyable since I did not have to spend every second telling the girls to be careful and fearing with every ounce of my being that they were about to go careening off the cliff at any moment. As we followed the fence we stopped now and then to enjoy the rushing river and the little waterfalls way down below (on the other side of the very safe fence). At one point we must have missed a slight fork in the trail because we ended up at a dead end where fence met large rocky outcropping:

Hmmmm....the GPS indicated that the cache was still at least a bit further along the trail somewhere. Rick doubled back and yelled for us to follow. I took a quick picture from this dead end overlook and then look up and saw Rick and the girls on the other portion of the trail above me:

After a short period of time Rick consulted the GPS and pointed the direction off the beaten path that we needed to take. The cache was not too hard to find (maybe five minutes of searching...probably a bit less) and the girls found some neat items in the box and traded for a couple of fun treats we brought along for trade. Having found the first one, we headed off in search of the second cache of the day which was supposed to be placed not too far away. We spent a bit longer following the trail and navigating with the GPS but it seemed after a while of walking and finding our way blocked by the rushing stream that the old adage "ya can't get theya from heya" fit the bill. So, we hiked back up to the car and figured we would try to drive back toward the entrance and see if another likely starting point made itself known. On our way back toward the state forest entrance we stopped at the forest ranger's office and purchased a yearly pass for the state parks figuring we'd be stopping a a few more before the season is finished if we keep up with our 'family fun' Saturdays. At the parking area near the ranger's office there was a large grassy area that abutted a small sandy beach and moderate sized swimming hole. It was not a particularly hot day but there were plenty of people enjoying the weather and the water and having picnics. We decided that it looked like the perfect spot to stop and eat our picnic lunch before continuing our caching journey. The girls were very excited by the water and wanted to go swimming but we somehow convinced them that the next stop was worth the wait: a place to splash in the river, climb around some big rocks and see another waterfall! In hindsight, it may have been the better choice to stay and let them swim there and just call it a day but we forged ahead with our plans and still had fun. And now we know that there is a great kid-friendly swimming area that is not too far to visit on another day! That is one of the beautiful things about geocaching. It allows you to explore places that you might have never have known existed!

The next cache was one that we had attempted about 3 years ago. We spent a good deal of time looking for it but could not locate it and upon returning home we realized that the cache had actually been missing for some time (and we learned the important lesson of reading the most recent logs for a cache to find out if it was still 'findable' before heading out to look for it ourselves)! The cache had at some point been replaced and moved to a new location and there were a few people who had reportedly found the cache in the recent past (within the last month or so). So, we drove to the site, unloaded the kids and all the swimming gear and headed for the trail. We hiked for about 20 minutes and we came, according to the GPS, very close to the location of the cache. However, the tree cover was pretty thick and so the GPS was having some technical difficulties picking up signals. After about 15 minutes of looking A decided that she needed to go to the bathroom and her delicate sensibilities were not about to let her attempt to do so in the middle of the woods. So, I took her back to the parking area where there was (thankfully) a port-a-potty and Rick (with E in the backpack) and R continued the search. We agreed to meet back at the parking lot and then head to the falls. As it turns out, Rick and R were never able to locate the cache (strike two for us on that one). But, the girls had a great time splashing in the water and climbing all over the rocks at the stream:



Actually, the older two enjoy the splashing and rock-climbing and Rick and I were able to kick back a bit and relax because the youngest decided to enjoy a much-needed nap at that point:



It was a fun day even if the caching portion of it was a bit of a disappointment. We found only one of the three that we intended to find that day and we had no time and little energy left to go looking for any others. I guess that just means we save those other caches for another day - although I think after two strikes on that last cache we might just not bother looking there again!

On the way home we stopped in at a very old "General Store" in a larger town center located closer to 'civilization'. The older girls got to pick out a bag of candy (formally known as 'penny candy' but the cheapest item was the mini Tootsie Rolls at 2 cents a piece followed by the miniature Smarties at 4 cents a piece and the prices rose rapidly from there) and E and I shared a dish of Raspberry Rocky Road ice cream...yum! Dinner that night was a simple phone call to the local pizza parlor and the girls were in bed fast asleep by no later than 8pm after a fun and eventful day.

Ahhhhh....good times!


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In other news....

I got new glasses recently. My last eye exam was three years ago so I was way overdue for a check-up and my most recent pair of glasses were a bit bent and showing plenty of signs of wear. And as much as I love Harry Potter, I decided to go for a slightly different shape to my glasses to avoid any future comparisons.

Not the greatest picture ever...but it is meant to primarly show off the new eyewear. Thoughts? And please ignore the gray hairs and the crows feet. (Actually, I'm not really asking your opinion so just follow the adage you should have learned at your mother's knee: If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.)

Family Fun Day!

Rick and I recently discussed whether or not to try to fit in another family vacation this summer or not. We talked about the possibility of perhaps spending some time in the White Mountains or going to the New Hampshire shore for a few days. In the end we decided that it might be fun to do a bunch of day trips in the local or semi-local area. So we are making that a priority for this summer in lieu of a longer trip that would potentially be farther away. Some of the possible excursions included geocaching adventures in the surrounding wilds, or longer rides to the Berkshires, southern VT or Boston to do various kid-friendly attractions.

The other night we spent some time looking at the geocaching website for easy cache sites in the Berkshires. We actually found quite a few that looked fun (and had some interesting natural attractions to see) so we downloaded the list to Rick's PDA and decided to 'wing' it from there.

In the morning we made a hearty breakfast of pancakes, sausages, bacon and juice and tanked the girls up for the adventure ahead. We found some small treasures to leave in exchange for new treasures found in the caches and we piled in the car with a bunch of water, some snacks, and the GPS and off we went!

The girls listened to an audio book (Dinosaurs Before Dark, Mary Pope Osborne) on the drive to the Berkshires. And since I had yet to drag all the crap art materials out of the back of the car from our Virginia trip they were able to draw and make artful creations for the remainder of the drive.

The first cache site turned out to be a dud. The write-up about the cache did not include any information on where to start hiking so we used the GPS as our guide, but we were not able to find the trail head. In doing some research once we got home we found that we were actually located on the opposite side of a substantial river from the cache site so we were essentially barking up the wrong tree anyway. We hope to go back in the future and find that cache along with two others that are located in the same general area. Now that we know where to go to find the parking lot and trail head so we should be a tad more successful! So, after a short delay and missed opportunity at that cache site we consulted the PDA and chose a second site to attempt that was a short 10-minute ride away.

The second cache attempt was located on land owned by a private conservation organization and therefore we figured there would be a well-marked trail and probably some decent parking to boot. We found the parking lot easily and got E loaded into the backpack for this hike. It was a loop trail that climbed to the top of a large hill (coming from the land of sand dunes I would personally call it a small mountain but Rick would strongly beg to differ) and back down again and the trail meandered through a large meadow full of cows and even met up for a brief time with the famed Appalachian Trail. On the way up the small mountain hill we came upon this rather large rock alongside the trail that begged to be climbed on...


The girls did great on the climb up the top and once we got up to the overlook we unloaded E from the backpack to let her have a look around.


We searched around for the cache...



...and managed to find it pretty quickly.


The girls had fun looking through the cache box and choosing a trinket and we left a couple of new trinkets in their place. I signed the log book and then we explored the overlook some more and happened upon a small wild blueberry patch that only yielded a few berries each but was still fun to find. There were a few odd blackberry patches that we found on the way but none were ripe yet. If we make it back next year we'll have to try for early August and get the blackberries in season!

Rebecca took this picture of Rick and I at the overlook...


After the hike back down to the car we drove to nearby Great Barrington to grab some lunch. Rick had done a bit of research and found that there was a local brewery/restaurant in town so we headed there for some grub. Rick enjoyed a nice brown ale called "Old Pluto" with his lunch (and I picked up a growler of the stuff for us to take home and enjoy since I was designated driver for the day). As a treat I got a HUGE slab of chocolate cake after lunch...



... the damn thing was too big to fit on the plate! I ate some of it and shared some with the girls but I literally took home about two-thirds of this piece of cake. Insanity at its best!

With full bellies we got back in the car and decided that we would try for one more cache before heading home. (Nothing like the 18 cache days that Tuxbaby has managed recently, but hey, we do what we can! LOL)

Rick consulted the PDA and found a cache site located near a river with a waterfall. We knew the girls would enjoy a splash in the river and the cache description indicated that the cache was not far from the parking area so we figured it was the perfect end to the day. The cache was indeed fairly close by and we found it without much difficulty. The girls made their trinket trade and I signed the log book and then we got down to the serious business of playing in the river! The first area we chose to let the girls loose in seemed a bit risky for little Miss E so she was stuck in the pack and none too happy about it...



The older girls were having a great time, though...


Then we moved a bit further downstream and found a great little area with a small pool, no rushing water, and large boulder to shelter and more or less contain E (with a little help from Mom-turned-baby-gate). I stripped E down to her diaper and let her have a go at it...



The older girls ventured a bit farther afield and got a bit damp but certainly had a ball...



They really want to go back (or at least to another fun waterfall or two) sometime this summer. We told them that could be arranged and we will plan to bring bathing suits and towels so they could really go to town!

The ride home was uneventful. R read some of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to herself, A ended up napping (guess the hike up that mountain hill did her in!), and E should have been napping but was way too overtired and ended up being kind of whiny and fussy for part of the ride. We got home and made a quick dinner and then got the kids to bed by about 9pm. Both Rick and I were exhausted and so glad to get to bed, but overall I think we all had a great day. And the kids were tired enough to actually sleep in past 8am this morning. Will wonders never cease?

I'm already hoping for more good weather next weekend and looking forward to our next "Family Fun Day"! Time to start scouring the maps and the geocaching website for more fun waterfalls...

Four Bags of Flour Gone!

Yep. I'm now down 20 pounds since Christmas. It feels good. Other than the fact that my jeans are getting ridiculously loose and I can't find a pair of jeans that fit me to save my life. Why must that be so hard? Can anyone tell me? Geesh.

But, if that's my only complaint for the moment I've got it pretty damn good.

Oh yeah, and there's that little beef I have with Mother Nature at the moment. But, I just don't feel like talking about that four-letter word right now. I'm going to enjoy the relatively warm temps (low 50s today) and the sunshine while it lasts.

I've been pretty consistent with my workouts - generally 5 to 6 days a week. I have not been walking much but getting downstairs to do a video in the evenings after the girls are in bed. I have been switching between a few different workout videos. Most recently I've tried some of the P90 workouts and found that the program is a good match for me right now so I'm adding those into my routine. I like to mix it up a bit so I don't get bored doing the same thing every night. I did that for a while with the Slim in 6 videos and started to really hate it so I haven't actually done that workout for a couple of weeks. I'll get back to it at some point but I needed a break from it.

I really hope the weather starts to cooperate a bit more - sooner rather than later. It will be nice to incorporate some hiking into my exercise routine. The girls love to go geocaching so I'm sure that will be part of our weekend fun in the coming months. And speaking of geocaching (check out geocaching.com for more information), I have a friend who is going to be doing some geocaching workshops to tourists this summer. How cool is that? Geocaching is becoming more mainstream!

Miss E. getting decidedly tired so it's time to get her down for her nap (even though she keeps saying "NO!" when I ask if she is ready for a nap...).

Ciao for now.