Isle Bound - It's CITO Week!

CRAWL... WALK...RUN!

That is a simplified description of software development. We're in the midst of a major program and associated training release at work, which has really tapped into our adventure time (and sanity). As a result, I crawl through the week in development affecting a thousand coworkers globally, walk around on Thursdays and Fridays taking care of adult responsibilities so that we can run away to some type of adventure on the weekend.

Knowing that it will be a few months before we can escape to a serious adventure and having our first Spring-like weather to date, these weekend jaunts are so precious. So off to Belle Isle with friends!

You could feel the difference as TaGeez and I pulled onto Belle Isle yesterday. Since the state has taken over Belle Isle as a state park, the Isle is abuzz with new energy. Driving to the Nature Center for the annual Spring CITO, we passed crowds of volunteers raking leaves and piling branches and picking up litter. They were lining every road and even inside the abandoned Belle Isle Zoo! Decked out in color t-shirts, we heard later there were over 2,000 volunteers on hand for Spring cleanup day!

Side note: If I knew there was a chance to explore the old Zoo, 

I would've abandoned our CITO for theirs!

TaGeez and I teamed up with Missy and Dave to work our adopted road.  Amazing to see the improvement on this stretch over the last 6 years - the first time we cleaned here we were dealing with bucketloads of whiskey bottles and condoms (AKA "Belle Isle flowers"), discarded car parts and porcelain accouterments. 

Yesterday we collected 10,000 steps on the Fitbits, two bagfuls of trash and TaGeez scored several empty plastic barrels (probably deposited from picnic areas after the recent high winds).

TaGeez and GSIX

We rewarded ourselves with a hot dog pot luck and a group photo before that other itch took over... geocaching! 

Photo borrowed from Root2tee

Alas, we had lo head out. We were supposed to head towards TaGeez's work to check on his crew, but, typical to us, we were distracted by something bright and colorful! 

Recycle Here! Holden Street in Detroit

Mexicantown

It was a good start, but we need a little more dust on our boots to satisfy that travel itch.

Flowers on Outer Drive

Ah, the beauty you spy while geocaching! Amongst the empty lots and potholes, hope springs up!

Only the Hardiest of Cachers... Belle Isle

Normally this time of year I share the annual Belle Isle event photos. 

Budding green trees, blue skies, red bridges, hundreds of smiling faces. It's a Spring right of passage where we transition from the winter-blahs-cabin-fever to adventure-right-around-the-corner. And we really need it this year after this never ending Winter.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature can't read a calendar and Spring didn't show.

Not blurry -- RAIN!

Mid-30's, freezing ice rain, winds whipping up waves. Conditions so bad that I-75 North and South were closed due to accidents (our side had a flipped SUV). 

But, a few hardy souls, the usual suspects, made their annual appearance!

Team Lareau - TaGeez - scrapcat
GlenSizz - Rambling Rumble - BWY Gang

GlennSixx - Bapman Crew - Scook - CITOcacher - Trustworthy

TaGeez - Warrior Princess - Rambling Rumble - BWY Gang

ProBob - Oneforfortytwo - The Frito Bandito

Kicking off the event was a touching tribute to Othum and Brummelbear, both of which we lost to cancer this year. Both loved this event. In this picture, Rattrak is holding a box of Brummelbear's unactivated coins, raffled off before we hit the trails.

Team Rumble - Rattrak - GlennSix

Team Lareau didn't think they'd be around for the raffle so they gave me their ticket (which I handed back to them when the raffle began). They won and then passed the coin along to me. It's a nice warm and fuzzy owning a coin from the collection of one sweetheart and being gifted it from a pair of sweethearts. 

Red cheeks and rain gear

Unlike the normal 45 caches, the Belle Isle Cachers released 13 this year: 12 puzzles and 1 letterbox. After earning our first FTF, we retired to iHop for a puzzle confab and hot chocolate. We are not a group that lets weather dictate our fun!

puzzle break!

We ended our adventure with the annual lunchtime potluck. In memory of dear, sweet Brummelbear, who was traditionally the keeper of the grill, Mrs. Brummelbear came out to cook hot dogs. 

Speaking of hot dogs... At her side, greeting every returning geocacher, was Leo's pup-pup. She misses him. Look at those sad eyes. But her tail was wagging for us.

Maybe next year Mother Nature will have her act in order.

Thank you, Belle Isle Cachers!

Big and Blue is Beautiful!

Seems like we have the Team Lareau seal of approval! We even scored one of his new path tags as a bonus! Woot!

Is Somebody Watching?

TaGeez and I were at Dinosaur Hill, grabbing our daily, when I heard something uncomfortably close to my years.

Hey! Hey! You see it? It's right there!

Tomorrow is the last full day of the Planetary Pursuits Challenge, and I've been tracking our adventures with my Planetary Pursuits Marble. Oh, the things we do for 10 virtual souvenirs!

Kudos to Geocaching.com for updating the marble's icon from the generic travel bug to something more spacey!  

Halo Top Robot: New Trackable Promotion

Look at this cutie! The latest trackable promotion from geocaching.com. You have 7 days to signup to win one of 1,500 Halo Top robots.

If we win one, hopefully it will go further than my last Magic: The Gathering trackable. It made it to one event and then POOF!

#cacheusifyoucan #sweepstakes

Happy Easter, You Fools!

Today was no joke - I released two geocaches, and they couldn't be more different!

PLEASANT RIDGE WORMHOLE 2018

For the third year in a row, Team Gates pressed us into service to hide the annual April Fool's Wormhole cache! Wormholes puzzles are prevalent in Southeastern Michigan - when you access the geocache page, if you click the image (like the one below), you will navigate to the next puzzle in a series. Each of our wormholes features a specific city in the area. 

I've had no finders to date.

Funny thing, though. See those Indians out front of Hedge's Wigwam? Years before I knew Hedge's ever existed, TaGeez and WikidKriket ran across one (Chief Pontiac) outside the delicious Clarkston Union and posed with it! Nice bonus to the cache page :)

Chief Pontiac with WikidKriket and TaGeez.

FERNDALE RECYCLES

On the polar opposite side of the spectrum, this geocache isn't even hidden!

Yeppers! A Difficulty/Terrain 1/1 Large!

Not only that, but it's filled with stuff! As the sign says: 

This is not a "trade even or trade up" geocache. This is a "take it if you can use it" cache!  

This is how we recycle perfectly good stuff in Ferndale :) One man's trash....

Luckily, Tageez and I have really cool neighbors who will not only keep an eye on the house, but greet any new visitors to it. 

We weren't sure how the new neighbor from the North would take strangers showing up to our porch, but, when we told him about it, his face lit it! "Oh, you do that? I just saw that episode on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit!" Hey, maybe we can corrupt him!

Happy Easter, everyone! 

And don't let any fools get the best of you!