Happy Canada Day! 150 Years!

If you live 9 miles from the US/Canada border, it's only right to spend Canada Day (especially their 150th birthday) in Windsor!

TaGeez and I arrived later than usual due to tunnel traffic, but we made a beeline to Heavenly Rest Cemetery to visit our friend, Othum. At his graveside last week, we were told a geocache would be placed "nearby" -- I knew exactly where it would be, and, much to my delight, I was proven right. This is definitely a geocacher's final geocache.

Othum's Memorial Cache (SQ) GC6WV20

That left little time to geocache before heading to eM-Burr's event in Optimist Park. The humidity receded and a lovely breeze came calling. I love the Essex County cachers - they have always been most welcoming. We arrived to the potluck late so we didn't have a dish to pass -- JKBailey insisted we eat as she brought plenty for everyone. PLUS we were greeted at the pavilion with a row of American and Canadian flags!

Essex County Geocachers - Canada Day 150 GC75M6J

TaGeez went off caching with YetiAtLarge and Partsman41 while I scored the coolest temp tattoo! Look how awesome I look! We enjoyed our visit, and we won one of Othum's inactivated trackables.  

We wanted to stay longer, but the celebrants were pouring into Windsor for the big 150th celebration. The tunnel traffic was so bad heading into Canada it was backed up through the entire tunnel, the border checkpoint and spilled onto Jefferson.

DougPeterson was hosting an event, too. We picked up PopLob for a drive out to Farmington. We saw many of the same faced from the earlier event - we love our events in Southeastern Michigan! Good time grabbing shakes and Doug's event cache.

Canada Day Ice Cream GC75D1W

It was a lovely way to start the long holiday weekend -- bookending it between Canada Day and Independence Day! Plus there's more adventures to come!

Point Pelee National Park - Canada

Ah!  Now this is what geocaching is all about... walking on sandy beaches, waves lapping against your ankles, under a beautiful blue sky, cooled off by a Great Lake breeze!  TaGeez and I had the urge to get away so across the border we went!  We have a Canadian National Park just 40 miles from our front door, and Point Pelee National Park was well worth the trip!

Point Pelee is the ninth national park opened in Canada, but it's the first opened for ecological reasons.  With 70% marshland, it is both a bird habitat and a butterfly habit on the southernmost tip of Canada.  That famous tip?  It was once a land bridge that connected Canada to Ohio!

Follow the bouncing ball!
That's us at the tip!

Point Pelee, a 10-kilometre sandspit with its southern point equal in latitude to the northern border of California, contains one of Canada's smallest but most unusual national parks. A thin triangle jutting into Lake Erie at the southernmost point of Canada, the 20 square kilometre landscape boasts a unique blend of vegetation in the marshes, jungle-like Carolinian forest, Savannah grasslands and unpredictable beachfront, supporting a complexity of wildlife. The early attraction the peninsula had for the first people to come in search of game, continues in the overwhelming popularity the park has amongst bird watchers and day visitors.

Here are the highlights of our adventure and the Point Pelee National Park - Canada Earth Cache (GC17DQ5 by ByeTheWay) :

• The entrance gate accepts USD (we missed currency exchange at the bridge). The cost was $13.90 for 2 adults (this includes the tram ride to the point and access to all these beautiful beaches!). We were geeked that the signage and all the rangers greeted us in English and French. Hello! Bon Jour! 

• Orientation: We pulled off to get the lay of the land and plan our day. We lingered over the displays and then moseyed over to the first of four beaches. We discovered the water on the West side of the peninsula is relatively tranquil and summer warm but the water on the East side near the point is refreshingly cool with powerful waves.

#GenerationNature trackable

The North Beach (near Orientation center)

• Boardwalk: Still taking our time, we pulled in to explore the marsh area and bird & butterfly habitats. At first, I wasn't thrilled about the "floating" boardwalk - I have a fear of bridges - but the view was absolutely breathtaking. It wasn't long before TaGeez led me along the entire 1.42 km length. None of our pictures do it justice. I can't wait to bring WikidKriket back here - they do kayak rentals, too!

• DeLaurier House: This peninsula was once occupied by the British.  Eventually, private residences were built on the peninsula.  This one (former residence of the CO's uncle) was a nice little break midway along the peninsula. We read the signs and took pictures. Peaceful.

• Visitor Center: As we approached the main doors, we were greeted by a 2-foot long snake crossing our path. And once we entered, we were greeted by a ranger giving a lecture accompanied by an 8-year old yellow snake. Happily, those were the only snake-sightings we had. After searching for the CO's answers in the museum, we stopped to speak to the ranger (Hello! Bon Jour!) about the land bridge. She pointed on the giant map behind her the approximate location of the bridge that spanned from Canada to Ohio. Fascinating! 

• The Tram: By the time we loaded into the tram, we were ready for a few minutes of shade and peaceful contemplation. Lovely 2.5 km ride down a tree-lined road, catching glimpses of water through the trees on either side of us. After disembarking, we posed for photos at the Tip Exhibit and then at the 42nd parallel sign. Then, hand-in-hand, we strolled to the point.

So much activity overhead!
Barn swallows everywhere!

"You are now just south of the 42nd parallel, as far south as Rome
 and Barcelona.  Some of Canada's rarest plants and animals
are found at Point Pelee because of its mild southerly climate."

• The Sandspit: You step out of the shady trees onto a beautiful, sandy beach. The waves are powerful here, and, as it's high tide, most of the spit is under water. A nice German family agreed to take our picture (the one at the top of this post), and we stayed to enjoy the point long after our tram-mates returned to the depot. I've lived off the ocean in 3 states, but nothing is as breathtaking as the blue, clear water of a Great Lake.

• Black Willow Beach: Before leaving for the day, we had to make one more stop at one of the lovely beaches for a little more toe-dipping.  Beautiful!

The only disappointments of the day were the biting flies while waiting for the tram and the missed opportunity to eat at big, red double-decker bus outside the main gates.  Apparently, the bus serves the best fish tacos so we will have to come back!

Canadian Caching Adventure!

Can you believe we’re on another adventure?  Just returned from the Chicago weekend, and TaGeez & I packed our… well… lunch bag and headed to Windsor!

Geographically, the river walk of Windsor is less than a mile from the river walk of Detroit.  Throw in Belle Isle, and it’s just spitting-distance away.  (Trivia: Did you know there is a group in Texas called the International Society of Bridge Spitters or ISOBs?  Look it up!)  With passports or enhanced licenses in hand, we paid our $4.50 to tunnel over to the Canadian side.

Funny money!

Where to start?  How about the Mayor’s office?  There’s a really cool letterbox called Welcome to Windsor GCT6TY.  We didn’t get to meet the Mayor but his secretary gave us pins & brochures.

Letterbox complete!

It was at this point that we were in a little bit of a pickle.  You see… we were using smart phone apps that had offline maps.  For my iPhone, turning off my data plan (so I wasn’t charged by Canada’s ROGERS), I could see the maps but couldn’t track my location (using either GeoSphere or the official Groundspeak app).  TaGeez could track his location, but the GZ maps were very fuzzy on his Android.  I’m sure if we tweaked and fiddled, we could’ve figured out how to get around this, but it started to rain.  We put our phones away & pulled out the good old GPSrs. 

Luckily, we didn’t need the GPSrs at the R910.28579 COU GC1KJX1 stop.  I LOVE library caches!  The exterior of this library was a little drab, but we enjoyed ourselves inside.  One good thing to note: we discovered that many of the downtown parking meters accepted both Canadian and American change!

After a few urban caches downtown (boy, are we out of practice urban-caching with a GPSr!), we decided to toddle on over to a nearby Windsor Grove Cemetery.  Fun!  Two really nice caches in there and many older stones – such peace in the middle of the city.

Nearby - SQ Hail Mary GC4ZZ2X

Nearby at a road intersection
SQ - Rock of Ages... Can you see her? GC2WG3F

Enjoying this experience, we filtered our stored caches and found this lovely series of caches in two related Windsor cemeteries.  Team Wiji placed 10 bird-theme caches around 2 cemeteries, each containing a code for the “Nest” final: SQ – SPBH – The Nest GC4FCJE.  

What a lovely way to spend a now-sunny afternoon.  Although these weren’t the historic monument-and-pillars-type cemeteries, they had some interesting features around their flushed headstones.  We even stopped halfway to enjoy our lunch near a pond.

SQ - SPBH - Monkey GC4FCKM

After that, time to head back into downtown.  I’ve been itching to take TaGeez to Jackson Park/Victoria Gardens on Ouellette Blvd. to see the Ontario SQ and those interesting park gates.  We spent quite a bit of time snapping pictures and wandering the gardens.  

TaGeez grabbed Ontario Spirit Quest #1 – Lest We Forget GCNF63 and Gates to…. GC211RB.

After that, we headed a little closer to the Ambassador Bridge to pick up some fast caches and easy puzzle finals like SQ – Assumption GC3QK2M, Wiji Chemistry GC2FKC5, and International Mystery GC31MDY.

SQ - Assumption GC3QK2M

I love this park system along the river.   

There are sculpture gardens and topiary gardens and even a park with a train. Unfortunately, it’s getting dark and the wind is whipping. 

Time to end the day with two more, the Earth Cache Detroit River Watershed GC33MW1 

and a fun Traditional Whimsical Cache #16 – In the Shadow of the Tower GC4YQTB.

 We can't wait to come back when we have a little more time and a lot more sunlight.  In the end, I found 24 and TaGeez logged 26 caches, qualifying us for Team B's Another COUNTRY Cache Challenge GC4MHC9.