50 States of Memory

In my geocaching history, TaGeez and I have enjoyed many fabulous road trips. Trips with ShelleyJean in Ohio, Ratspazum in Pennsylvania, AstroEric in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. Can't forget the annual trips to Ohio with WikidKriket, SnakeyLicks and 3inaTree. Now we have a wonderful way to remember them.

Thunder Bunny Labs sell this amazing 50 State Map on their website and Etsy.com for a very unique collage.

Look at all the states we've visited together! If we added the states we've visited individually we'd have most of the continental US covered!

It's so simple to format your pictures! Go to their free Map Maker tool, click on the state, upload a picture, reposition it so it fits fabulously, and download for printing. Too cool!

Everything is on order so I'll share when it's assembled. When TaGeez saw it, he said, "Uh oh!" He knows this'll spark more trips West!

Favorite Point and Photo Notifications

Oh, the joys of modern technology! Heard a fabulous tip on the GCPC Episode 534 – Useful Apps for Geocaching episode for Project-GC.com and have been reaping the benefits for two months!

Project-GC.com is the easiest way to view your geocaching stats, upload trackable “Discover” logs in bulk, and check if you qualify for local challenges. It has two memberships: free and paid. Admittedly, I’m a big fan, but the $30USD annually does add up. (Makes me chuckle to myself when I see geocaching is touted on all the summer-fun lists as a free past time for spending time with your loved ones. I’m sure that could be done but not by me 😊 THAT’S a topic for another blog post).

These tips are for Paid Project-GC Membership Only - Sorry.

With these two new features, though, I’m hooked even more! As a geocache hider (proud owner of 162 geocaches to date), I will often miss pictures or Favorite Points posted to my cache page unless someone mentions it in their logs. You can’t be everywhere every time, and I wish Geocaching.com had a mechanism to share this info in their “Found It” emails to me.

With a few clicks in your Settings, you can receive email notifications when Favorite Points have been added/removed from your cache, pictures uploaded to a log or if a log has been edited.

GOOD TO KNOW: ShortyKnits from GCPC made a great point about that last one if you are a Challenge Cache owner – Cachers logging a note on Challenge Caches saying they will update it to a Found It log after they qualify. This will catch those who log the note and then return immediately to change it to a Found It log – thinking they’ve slipped something past you as Geocaching.com doesn’t notify you when logs have been edited. Sneaky sneaky!

For paid members of Project-GC, go to Project-GC.com, click the Account Profile drop-down (1) and then click Settings (2).

In the next window, scroll down to the Notifiers section. Check the boxes next to the notification types. As I receive Event notifications from multiple sources in Michigan, I’ve elected to leave that one be. After making your selections, click Update Settings.

Then sit back and wait for the emails! That easy! My first Photo Notification email included all the photos, grouped by geocache, to date. It was a hoot scrolling through them! After that, you only receive emails when someone adds a new photo to one of your caches.

And here’s an example of a Favorite Point notification. This one is a double-edged sword because I’ve watched (with great sadness) some of my friends remove Favorite Points from my caches after they have been archived. If my cache deserved a Fave when you logged it, it still deserved it after I archived it. It earned it, and it messes with my stats (sorry, off my soapbox now).

Never miss a photo or Favorite Point again!

Time for Winter Streaking

Ah, snow. The bane of geocaching cache-a-day streaking. According to the Weatherman (who is a Geocacher and should’ve ordered better weather), Michigan is about to get hit over the next 24 hours. 

Several years ago, I wrote a post about Top Tips for Winter Streaking. Today, I will employ two of them listed below. Now that I think about it, these are excellent tips for caching during high heat, too.

PLANNING

Snow is supposed to start around 4 am tomorrow and continue through Sunday. So, TaGeez and I will grab tomorrow’s cache after midnight – before going to bed – so we can settle in for the rest of the day. If we plan to leave early enough, we can grab today’s cache before midnight, saving two trips.

[Yes, in answer to your thoughts, we don’t cheat. We will physically grab one before the Witching Hour and one after it]

POCKET QUERY – Premium Members Only

This has helped SO many times! Setup a pocket query for geocaches found in the last 7 days [Thank you, Mr. Grundalow!]. Nothing worse than driving from one lamp post to a pine tree cache trying to find one not buried in a mound of snow. If there’s a storm and need your geocaching fix, you will have better luck with a cache found within the last week to target.

Pocket Queries are custom geocache queries that can be downloaded from the website. They are in a format you can bring along with you on cache hunts on your GPS and/or smartphone. [Source: Geocaching.com]

I run the following Pocket Query and save it to an offline file within my geocaching app. I’ll include links to larger images for easier viewing.

To start a Pocket Query, go to Geocaching.com and click the Play button (1). From the drop-down menu, select Pocket queries (2). When the Pocket Queries window opens, click the Create a New Query button (3). Click this link for easier viewing.

Complete the form based on your preferences and geographic location. I’ve highlighted a few key points, but this is not all inclusive. Click this link for easier viewing.

Days to Generate	I picked Monday to include the heavier caching traffic over the weekend. I also check the box to run weekly until Winter is over.
Selected Type	Pick and choose based on the types of caches you mind find at -26° F
That (And)	I’m looking for enabled caches I haven’t found or don’t own that have been found in the last 7 days.
Terrain	Let’s face it – I don’t normally do 5 Terrain in summer. Why would I hunt for them in winter?
Output	Check the Include Pocket Query name in download file name box. When it appears in your email Inbox you will know which file it is and update your offline folder on your geocaching app.

Hopefully you will find this a useful guide. Happy Winter Caching!

Thank You, Eliza Howell

TaGeez and I finally cleared Eliza Howell Park in Brightmoor one Cache-a-day at a time! Great series of caches, and we completed them before the first real snow.

The Rogue was a moody witch.

Thank you, SCOOK and CITOcacher, too!

Travelers Risen from the Dead!

You won't believe the emails I received today from Geocaching HQ. Not one but TWO of my duckie trackables have risen from the dead! 

"Good news! Your original duckie has resurfaced! Apparently it was retrieved from Dinosaur Train Corythosaurus Cache on 10 August 2012 and was never logged online. It has been returned to Geocaching HQ. I see you have an active proxy for this TB traveling now, so what would you like to see happen with the original?"

Both Drake-o Malfoy and Moby Duck we're in races against WikidKriket's ducks, with a goal of reaching Tacoma, WA. Both of my duckies arrived within 18 miles of Tacoma within the first week! And then POOF! They went missing! And now they are back 7 years later!

UPDATE: I posted this online and several others had the same experience today! Did HQ get their hands on a super secret stash?!?

MSP100: Talk About Service!

I ordered my centennial t-shirt and sticker on Monday afternoon, and they were delivered Tuesday afternoon by the USPS! Wow!

All the State Park names are on the back of the shirt - so cool! I'm feeling good vibes for this Geotour!

#statepark100

This is Why I Geocache

#mysterysolved

Michigan State Park Centennial Celebration

The Michigan State Park System made a big announcement today! Their Michigan State Park Centennial Website has gone live! 

100 YEARS - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The announcement kicks off a yearlong centennial celebration for the inception of our State Park System. A year of reliving memories, centennial celebrations and even a Geotour! That's right! Scroll to the bottom of the screen because the State Parks, in conjunction with MIGO, has something special planned!

MIGO (Michigan Geocaching Organization) has been hard at work to setup Michigan's first Geotour, kicking off Memorial Weekend and spanning 3 years.

The tour will consist of 100 fun and interesting caches, 25 in each MiGO region.  Achieving 20 of 25 finds in any region will net you a nice, regional pathtag.  Achieving 20 of 25 finds in three of the four regions will net you a nice GeoCoin from the DNR.  Achieving 20 of 25 finds in all four regions will net you a special gold GeoCoin from the DNR.  Finding all 100 caches in the GeoTour will get you recognition from Geocaching HQ. [MIGO Website]

I'm SO excited to have a Geotour in state - so much so I sponsored a geocache on the tour. Plans are already underway to enjoy and conquer the tour this summer. And I'm SO impressed with the changes MIGO has made in the last year that I finally doled out for a supporting membership.

It's shaping up like an amazing year ahead!

Treasure Chest Geo-Art

Look what's publishing now! Commander Overlord published a new GeoArt near Superior Township.

Here's cache #1. TaGeez and I are enjoying solving them at our leisure.

Searching for Challenge Caches

A dear friend of mine emailed me - she wanted to know how to pull a list of challenge caches from Geocaching.com. Here is my quick and easy pull, but be aware. Premium members have better filtering rights than Basic members.

1. Access Geocaching.com and execute a search for the State or Region you are interested in.
2. After executing your search (notice the 34,503 results for Michigan), click the Filters button.

3. In the Filters window, deselect all but the Mystery Geocache Type.  This will prevent inclusion of other caches in your query (like a Traditional called "This is a challenge!")

4. Enter the keyword challenge in the Geocache Name Contains... field.

5. (Optional) Select I haven't found to exclude your found caches.

6. (Optional) Select I don't own to exclude caches hidden by you.

7. Click the Search button (or Update Search button, if you are updating your query) to execute your search.

Your search results now appear. Notice we went from 34,503 to 346 results in Michigan (for me).

Trackable FTF Swag

Ooh, my order came in from I.B. Geocaching Supplies!

Unactivated but trackable FTF buttons for my new caches!

That should be a nice surprise for my finders :)

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Check out I.B. Geocaching Supplies from Nova Scotia. 

Unique geocoins, geomedals, trackable ornaments and buttons.

Path tags, t-shirts, banners, and wooden nickels.

They have weekly contests, too.

I've added them to my Fave Sites list on the right.
Happy Caching!

366 Puzzle Grid Challenge

Yesterday I listed the 366 Puzzle Grid Challenge under my geo-resolutions. 

I discovered it on November 4th and decided this was just the ticket for me! Now that Geocaching.com has pretty much castrated challenge caches, putting too many limitations to it and killing the joy, this has added extra flavor to our daily caching.

And TaGeez has embraced it with me.

Started this November 4th - drat! 1 day too late

We made some great headway!

My hope is to complete it within a year, and, then, who knows? Maybe a new challenge will appear in Southeastern Michigan. Until then, there are challenges in several nearby states and countries.

Here's a quick checker - how're you doing? https://project-gc.com/Challenges/GC6XTNK/23739 

WE NEED MORE PUZZLE CACHES PUBLISHED NEARBY!

And So Wraps Another Year...

It's the end of 2018 with a great start to 2019. We know how to celebrate in Southeastern Michigan.

Team Gates held his annual New Year's Eve Flash Mob. Between the Monday midday meet and the downpour, only the diehards were out there freezing.

I'm the lady in red!

And then we migrated to Frito's house for jigsaw puzzles, appetizers and ringing in the New Year in his gorgeous library!

Getting ready for the countdown

Geocachers know how to party!
Captain O's crew, Citocacher, SCOOK and Oneforfortytwo

Getting the bubbly ready
Hawaii Vi, PaRaDiZ, Warrior Princess, afishoutofwater and me!

Ooh, swag bags! LOVE IT!

We were back on the road early Tuesday morning for Glenn's 10th Annual Happy New Year event. 

We hid 15 along the Woodward Heights Corridor

Great turnout of almost 200 geocachers enjoying the 388 new caches published. 

Hanging with MamaJoyce

We had a shorter day than normal (to go pickup my Dad, Poplob), but we still managed 15 FTFs along Hayes! Thank you, Ramblin' Rumble and BWY Gang! And thank you to Geocaching.com for two more souvenirs for my profile!

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

Carni Grewal (who is quite the character) asked, on his You Might Be a Geocaching Stats Junkie If group, "What is your stats goad for 2019?" Mine are off to a good start!

• Pass 2500 days in my Cache-a-day streak - DONE!
• Pass 7 years in my Cache-a-day streak
• Complete my 366 Puzzle Grid
• Complete my 12 months of Virtuals challenge
• FINALLY complete my first Fizzy

2500 Days of Geocaching

Lo, the New Year arrived, and something caught my eye on my stats....

I'm sure somewhere Signal the Geocaching.com mascot is dancing a jig for me.

Or maybe not. Wrong frog.

Oh, here he is! On my sign!

To earn the milestone, TaGeez and I did grabbed our January Virtual in Fraser called Legends of Roseville (no spoilers here).

And I can't quit now - it's supposed to be sunny and in the 40's tomorrow. And just about 6 weeks until I hit 7 years. Guess we'll just have to dig out our snow shovels for awhile longer.