The Amazing Crosswinds Marsh

It's been a long Winter so an adventure was needed! Off to beautiful Crosswinds Marsh with TaGeez and ShelleyJean. I've written about Crosswinds before. It's an amazing "1,050 acre mitigated wetland consisting of open marsh, wet meadows, forested wetlands, and upland forests" with a very active volunteer community including geocachers.

The Crosswinds Cache Crew (Stan & Ruth, Hooked On U, The Seed Spreaders and the Walkabouts) have made this geocaching heaven: a variety of well-maintained, well-stocked quality containers spread throughout the park. These caches are regularly turned over during various events throughout the year. Which means you can keep going back and going back...

How's this for a welcome party? We spied him across the lake, and I captured this photo with Shelley's 70x zoom! Wow!

ShelleyJean, TaGeez and I arrived around 9 am and started with the inner loop. Through the woods, along the marsh, and down the boardwalks. You can see the icy crust on the water below - we passed by several hours later, and it looked totally different!

No filter!

With the recent thaw plus some rain, some areas of the back trails were still under water or mud. You can see it didn't deter TaGeez. 

Around 11 am we connected with two of TaGeez's sisters and took on more of the trail. The temperatures kept creeping up (as well as the steps on Shelley's pedometer - 13,000 steps!). 

So much wildlife here! We saw 2 eagles, swans, ducks and (we think) a beaver. There was a lot of evidence of beaver inhabitants - trees halved along the boardwalk - and TaGeez & Shelley saw something in the water near the pavilion.

Another ShelleyJean masterpiece

Ok, we're tired, and it's time to go eat. Amazing adventure and a perfect geocaching park.

The day ended at 50 degrees and sunny! We found 24 caches - clearing out the center of the park - and are already planning our trip back!

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Update! I just heard there's a new Crosswinds Cache Crew 2019 from The Seed Spreaders:

This year we have a couple new groups helping out there.  For 2019, it is Stan & Ruth, Golddogs, QX56, gjamison3, and myself (the seed spreaders).  I hope that the 2019 team can live up to expectations and the reputation that we have created so far.  

I have no doubt you will :)

Last Tag was Snagged

Only five days left in the Apprentice Ninja game on SnagtheTag.com, and the latest Michigan ninja has been found. I guess they weren't truly stealthy ninjas!

According to the GCPC podcast, the next games may be in conjunction with larger geocaching events with the Master Ninja game starting up in the summer.

London Abbey Road Webcam Adventure

What a hoot!

I was scrolling through Facebook, waiting on my significant other, when I saw a posting on the You Might Be a Geocacher If…. (YMBAGI) site to piqued my interest and got my inquisitive mind going!

Another Cacher was about to land at Heathrow Airport, and she doesn't have a data plan for the UK. She was heading to the London – Beatles Abbey Road webcamonce she landed, went through customs, and picked up her rental car. Could someone on YMBAGI watch for her and snap her picture? WOW! 1532 Favorite points for that webcam!

How fun! Cachers from all over the world were watching and posting updates – New Zealand, South Australia, Germany, Canada…. With every refresh of the screen, "Is this her?" Almost an hour after her expected arrival, there she was AND I WAS THE FIRST TO SNAP HER AND POST IT!  She's sending me an unactivated geocoin as a reward – woot! She mentioned the community effort in her log.

Rumor has it they may reactivate webcam caches like they did Virtual Rewards – fingers crossed!

Brummelbear's Letterboxes

The Spring before he passed, Brummelbear took me aside during the Belle Isle event. He made me promise that I would host a Letterboxing hybrid geocache event. Then he proceeded to unload boxes of letterboxing supplies into my car. 

This year the Belle Isle event is dedicated to dear Brummelbear, and, with the advent of Geocaching.com's Creation Celebration, it seemed like the perfect time to host this event.

Don't forget the Creation Celebration souvenir!

Located at the First Presbyterian Church in Royal Oak, this event will feature three presenters

Starmps are a part of the celebration so, for fun, I ordered this nifty trackable stamp from Cache-Corner.de (Germany). We will use this stamp at the Brummelbear Letterboxes event and when we visit special caches on our travels.

I can't wait for the event - it's going to be such fun! I hope everyone can attend!

Celebrating 100 Years National Park Service

Look at the new Geocoin TaGeez gave me! It's a beauty! It's 2 1/2" wide and about 1" high. I told TaGeez I'm going to take it to National Parks with me - if I keep it in hand I could probably fend off bears with it!

Cache Down! Cache Down!

Sweet! RayQix is hiding caches at my height again! #ods2

Like-Minded Weirdos

Picture taken by my friend Linda last night at Glenn's new Cache. What a hoot! Love Caching with these Like-Minded Weirdos! 

Larger Than Life Taco Tuesday Cache GC847KN

Here’s Johnny(Cache313)

I love it when people enjoy my caches!

Virtual Happiness in Chicago

Shoes off, bags unpacked, and photos uploaded. I just returned from a fabulous birthday weekend with WikidKriket - The Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and several of the new 2017 Virtuals!

There are no spoilers in this post.

Museum Campus - Chicago GC7B9M3

Our weekend started when we pulled into an exorbitantly priced parking garage to visit the Field Museum.  Although I've been to Chicago five times in my life, it's been 12 years since my last visit to the museum. Brutal cold winds under the beautiful blue sky, Kriket and I decided to spend the entire day in the Museum.   

Scrapcat and the T-Rex called Sue

Of course, as a streaker, I needed my cache fix and there just happened to be a Virtual posted at the back door. To log, you can either stand out in the cold & collect information from ten placards, or you can take a photo in front of one of several waypoints including....

The Field Museum or....

The Shedd Aquarium.  Done!

It was a great first day that ended with Chicago hot dogs, visits to the Lego and Ghirardelli Stores, dinner at Pizano's Pizza, and a birthday dessert with the family. Early next morning we checked out of The Tremont on the Mag Mile, and headed for a delightful day at the aquarium. 

Before heading home, we detoured to the Magnificent Mile for a few more touristy sites and  new VIRTUALS!

The Art Institute of Chicago GC7B6B1

Along the Mag Mile are several new Virtual rewards, but I had to be picky as we needed to hit the road, WOW! It was getting cold so it was good and bad that these were relatively quick. The IAC Virtual just needed a photo in front of the famed lions and a few questions from a sign nearby.

Crown Fountain GC7B9BZ

Literally next door is the Crown Fountain at Millennium Park.  I've wanted to visit this for years, but, of course in the dead of Winter, the fountain wasn't running.  This virtual requires a photo of yourself in front of one of the 50' towers. In summer, the face looks as if the water was spouting from their mouths. 

If the fountain had been running, I would've been standing in the reflective pond. Good thing for me it wasn't or I'd still be frozen in place.

Cloud Gate aka The Bean GCJZDR

Since we were here and this is next door to Crown Fountain, Kriket and I moseyed over to this historic Virtual. It was an amazing trip with Kriket, and I'm glad to add this photo to my geo-gallery. 

Did you notice the large ghost in my hand? He's the latest in my growing Virtual geocoin collection. I actually own 3 more, but two were misplaced during house renovations and one is lost behind a brass plaque at the Beetle People Virtual in Cleveland, OH.

5 geocoins, 1 trackable, and 1 pin
Most glow in the dark

It was an amazing way to spend my birthday weekend - I love my road trips with my sister. I'll have to bring TaGeez back for another go at the new Virtuals. 

Cachly Update: Virtual Answers

This Cachly update pleased me - I LOVE Virtuals! 

When I clicked "Log Geocache", I was given the options of "Send Answers" or "Log Geocache". Timesaver! I haven't checked to see if it does this for Earth Caches, too. 

Anyone know? 

7 Years and Streaking

Big milestone today! SEVEN years of cache-a-day streaking! 

Thank you to TaGeez for riding along in all this craziness and to all the hiders for the wonderful adventure!