We had around 75 Cachers from as far as North Oakland to Ann Arbor to Windsor in attendance!
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Just as the event started, the rain stopped and
a rainbow appeared - good sign! |
I loved how everyone just jumped right in and got into the spirit of the event. We need more puzzle parties in the future! I loved how everyone mingled - CitoCacher puzzling with A2QueenCacher and Mrs Grundalow and Mr Holland-daze. Groupings I've never seen before.
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| Caching Fire is making new friends |
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| oOAMYOo and Chastie from Windsor |
People were rolling in well before the 7pm start time. Larry (Puzzler26) and Bob (Commander Overlord) pulled out their new and existing puzzles for everyone to play with. SO much fun seeing everyone grouped around the table, struggling and plotting and laughing and eating cookies. I loved seeing Clatmandu's puzzle passed around, and Larry & Bob swapping stories.
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| Starting to pull out the toys |
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| LincolnsAunt, A2Queen, ACL, CitoCacher, Scook and Puzzler26 |
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| DarrylW4 trying out the bottle in front of JLieb and TaGeez |
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| You've got this, Mibbs! |
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| Puzzler26, DarrylW4, June17, MPMcGill and Holland-daze |
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| GeoTrekTrio hanging with Fire |
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| Solving two puzzles at a time! |
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That birdhouse really was fascinating!
Can't wait to try it in the field! |
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| A2Queen, Puzzler and June17 trying to solve a CO puzzle |
After playing for about an hour (with everyone getting involved), it took a crowbar to get everyone to settle in for the presentations. After a few words of introduction from me, Doug (DougPeterson), Bob and then Larry took the floor.
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Speakers from left to right:
Puzzler26, Commander Overlord, and DougPeterson |
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Speakers from left to right:
Puzzler26, Commander Overlord, and DougPeterson |
Thank you to the presenters for bringing your toys and sharing your experiences with us. From them I learned:
~DougPeterson: Planning is the key to a good series. DougPeterson has several excellent series including the I-275 Bike trail, Hines Drive Connectors and the Crazy Eights Series. Doug's discussion included: planning for a series, selecting weather-proof containers, and maintaining a series of caches.
~Commander Overlord: Anything can be made into a cache. With over 300 caches hidden, Commander Overlord excels at creative puzzles and finding that perfect hide spot. Commander Overlord brought several of his onsite puzzles for attendees to play with.
~Puzzler26: Don’t create a cache – create an experience. Puzzler26's 25 caches in the Presidential Series have garnered almost 790 Favorite points! Puzzler26 has been working all Winter on new containers & locations, and he displayed a few of his creations for us! He even donated some handmade puzzles as door prizes!
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| Caching Fire was dressed for creativity! |
Afterwards, we had door prize drawings (congrats to the winners including Commander Overlord - he won one of TaGeez's FTF caches). Then attendees grabbed their certificates and coordinates for the event FTF and headed into the night.
Thank you to WikidKriket for the beautiful certificates – they were outstanding!
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| Kriket's Steampunk certificate |
Of course, you cannot forget the help of some talented friends:
- Thank you to June17 to archiving a cache to accommodate the event caches!
- Thank you to Mibbs and PaRaDiZ for the fabulous cookies!
- Thank you to the staff of Panera for allowing us to take over the restaurant and taking good care of us. Manager Steve Porter said we set the record for the “best hour of business” in their 5-month history.
Most of all, thank you to TaGeez for his patience and support in planning this event, for hiding two fabulous FTF caches, and for being such a fabulous co-host! In just the first few days, Maker Madness: Tenderfoot and Maker Madness: Crackerjack have earned a dozen Favorite points so far!
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| Our Maker tags arrived the night before! |
It has been an absolute thrill reading the Attended logs! Plus Alona-Spiegel did a super write-up in her new blog, What's In A Cache?
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