MIGO Winter Social 2017

Blue-haloo! It's winter time, and I'm suffering from cabin fever! The perfect medication is a jaunt to Lansing with ShelleyJean and afishoutawater for the 2017 MIGO Winter Social! I've been told for years this was the social event of the year so early Saturday morning we found ourselves bundled into fish's new SUV and heading west.

First stop: The Flash for Auction flash mob. WOW! Was it cold! Only insane people (and geocachers) hang out in a vacant shopping plaza in February for a group photo.

Source: Cache Page (Periwinkle128, I think)

To warm ourselves, a little caching.  Ah, the joys of caching in winter!

Luckily ShelleyJean and I found it! (Thanks, afishoutawater, for the photo!)

The coolest part is this cache (and several more to follow) were part of the North American Wildlife Series -- each their own unique diorama!

Eventually, time ran down, and we headed to the social (2017 MIGO Winter Social GC6WNBH).

Mrs Grundalow and RayQix striking the 'TaGeez Look"

In actually, Ray and Amanda may've been contemplating, "Who donated the SheWee to the auction?" I know, right? I wonder who bought it?!?

But there were two amazing contributions to the Live Auction. The first was the Geo-opoly game handcrafted by Kneel More (Neil Moore) and bought by Team TopKat. Phenomenal!

The other is the fabulous quilt made by Mrs. Goldfinch (with an assist from the Mister) and purchased by Allenite. It contains replicas of the 10 commemorative path tags from past winter socials.

The coolest part is my sister, WikidKriket's, path tag! She won a path tag design contest several years ago. Awesome!

'The GPS says we're close"

The best moment worth getting up early for was to see Othum again. He's been undergoing so many serious treatments lately and has been sorely missed from our gatherings. Love you, my friend! So glad Yeti brought you across the border and to our capital!

Othum and Signal

Ok, enough seriousness. WINNER!

Prize for Geocacher's Bingo - woot!

And then onto the caching. ShelleyJean just nailed the caches in the cemeteries! Afishoutawater and I were SO glad she nabbed this tricky puzzle final!

I loved the views and assortment of hides. I think fish was just thrilled with the automatic front gates - Every cemetery should have these! Pull up within 2 feet of the gate, and it opens automatically to let you out.

Mount Hope Cemetery

This was my favorite oddity for the day - a fire call box in the middle of the cemetery. As you get closer you realize it's a memorial for the fallen fire fighters.

And then we wrapped the day with a stop at the Cracker Barrel. 

Yes, a very good day.

Thank you, afishoutawater, for driving.

Thank you, ShelleyJean, for finding.

Thank you, MIGO Members, for two fun events.