Midwest Ghostcam Adventure

After the fun of Milwaukee's webcams and the joy of Benny the Beard Fisher Troll in Michigan's UP, plans were afoot to visit more, especially since both were special and in limited supply. With Halloween on the horizon, what would be better than an October Ghostcam adventure? 

Aullwood Audobon - Dayton, OH

After picking up the rental and stopping at the obligatory stop at the local donut shop (Dutch Girl in Detroit), we headed to Dayton! Now, we've been to Dayton a few times, but not in the northern burbs. There we found a family of Dambo Trolls frolicking in Aullwood Audobon park.

It was a nice set of trails, if a little confusing at first. For two hours we navigated marked paths to visit Bo, Bodil, and little Bibbi [featured in their personal story: The Troll that Hatched an Egg]. Even after our Benny adventure, I'm amazed at the construction of these trolls! Look at the curves of their legs & bellies and the uniqueness of each face made from... planks and bits of wood!

This troll story included a nest, which we found at the southern end of the park. This seemed to confuse a lot of visitors who were just there for an afternoon walk.

Satisfied but a bit tired from the climbing paths, we headed to a nearby Earth Cache for International Earth Cache weekend to earn our souvenir. Maybe this one as seen better times or maybe Ohio has suffered a drought, but the waterfall was not as raging as anticipated.

Historic Waterfall GC190MT

Louisville, KY

Night found us back in Louisville! We LOVE Louisville, and we were stoked to see the Irish Rover on (the very hip, very happening) Frankfort Street still open. We stopped here after seeing an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives during the 2017 solar eclipse outside Nashville. This time the food was still delicious, and they even seated us at the same table!

Even though it was late, we did a giant detour on the way to our hotel to see the famed Louisville Slugger! FINALLY, somebody made it a virtual!

The second day of our trip was filled with beautiful sunshine on a very quiet Sunday morning, so we headed back downtown to explore without the crowds. Naked David was still standing watch over Main Street, and we passed him as we enjoyed reacquainting ourselves with the local businesses. There are a lot more bourbon places than before, and they were beautiful in the old storefronts with their gleaming giant windows, dark wood, and brass. 

We headed back to the Slugger just a few blocks away to complete the Virtual.

Louisville Slugger - Batter Up! Virtual GC7B6AP

Then, before heading out of town we detoured to a brand new virtual in Oak Hill, Cemetery. This was our second visit to see Muhammad Ali at his final resting place.

The Greatest Virtual GCAJFHN

And, this time, we had company.

About 45 minutes south of Louisville is Clermont KY. We TaGeez and I found different types of natural wonders to enjoy!

Bernheim Arboretum - Clermont, KY

First up? The Bernheim Forest Giants!

Spending about an hour and a half, we visited with their Forest Giants in a Giant Forest: expectant Mama Loumari and her two children, Little Elina and Little Nis. We have now met 7 giants, and I'm still as fascinated by their uniqueness and construction. Look how beautifully placed they are? 

You can read the Story of the Giants and Thomas Dambo's Fairytale "While the Weather Got Better" here.

As unspoiled as Aullwood was, I preferred Bernheim. Located in Clermont, KY, it was a beautiful mixture of paved pathways, pretty lakes, woodland trails, wooden bridges, prairie, and parkland.

Jim Beam Distillery - Clermont, KY

I was wondering why TaGeez was so excited about going to Clermont. It seemed to me like it was more than just the trolls!

Could it be the caching? 

Jim's Driveway GC468YN

Geocaching is thirsty work!

After a little sipping and a lot of shopping, time to head out to the main objective of this trip: The Ghostcam. We took the two-hour drive from Clermont, KY to Evansville, IN with just a quick detour in Owensboro for 4 unexpected first-to-finds!

Willard Public Library Ghostcam - Evansville, IN

Willard Public Library boasts that they have ghosts! A favorite being the Grey Lady! 

We visited all 6 ghostcams, but no presence made themselves known while we were there!

Ghostcam Webcam Cache GCA4C4

Afterwards, we next headed over to the Webcam Challenge Cache GC44E1R not even a mile away! With time to kill, we enjoyed several local virtuals and adventure labs (including a very nice historic cemetery) before turning in for the night.

Johnson Island Virtual GCAJGT9

Time to rise & shine and head to Casey, Illinois!

Big Things in a Small Town - Casey, IL

We've been so close so many times, and we were determined to make it this trip. You know how we feel about Roadside Americana! And this town is covered in it!

World's Largest Wind Chime, Golf Tee, Pitchfork, Rocking Chair, Wooden Shoes, Mailbox, Gavel, Truck Key, Barbershop Pole, Teeter Totter, Golf Driver (now missing), and Swizzle Spoon. Plus, as advertised, many "Big Things"! 

We spent a wonderful few hours walking up and down downtown, taking pictures and completing Adventure Labs. We drove out to see the outliers, too.

We grabbed a fun traditional cache - meet Dave!

Say Hi to Dave GC6QXA6

And claimed quite the populate Virtual, too. Yes, the mailbox is large enough for someone to stand in.

BIG THINGS Are in Store! Virtual GC7B8KF

Lucky for me, TaGeez is always willing to get into the act!

This was a fabulous 3-day adventure, perfect right before Halloween. Now it's only inspired us to see more Trolls, find more webcams, and make take a bourbon tour in our future. 

Colorado Adventure 6 - Cheyenne and Denver

 Day 6 - Friday: Cheyenne and Denver.

After five very full days of sunshine and fresh air, we decided we needed a road trip day. So we packed our bags in Estes Park and left the bugling elk (who bugled all night long) behind for Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Estes Park

Heading out of town we stopped at The Ark, just a few hundred feet from our hotel. What a kooky place!

The Ark GC6AVHF

And, as TaGeez was signing the log, guess who ambled out of the nearby bushes, announcing himself?!? Wow, are they loud! They sound like pressure steam coming out of a hot water heater.

We took the scary, circuitous road out of Estes Park and then headed north to Wyoming.

This is our fourth state on this trip and, again, the landscape was so different! Golden plains stretching out for miles on either side of the highway! We passed bison and prairie dogs! And, yet, you could still see the Rockies purple against the horizon to the west.

Why take pictures of actual bison if you can just
snap a picture of the sign, right? 

Wyoming

I would say, in the over 3 dozen states I've crossed, that few Visitor Centers have impressed me as much as Wyoming's. Modern amenities, great history displays, picnic areas built to mimic local Indian structures.

Signal spending time with Butch Cassidy

And, yes, they had geocaches and adventure labs. We spent quite a bit of time here.

Our other major motivator for heading north was the Cheyenne webcam. Can you believe it? It stopped working the day we landed! And it still wasn't working almost a week later. We went into the weather bureau, but they said they can only report the issue. (Update: It took almost 3 weeks but it's back online).

We don't like claiming webcams that aren't working, but when are we going to be back this way?

Cheyenne Webcam Virtual GC51D4

Next up was a tour of the capital and surrounding historical sites. The whole area had such a community feel to it. I won't post picture here - the Virtuals weren't very exciting, but I don't want to give spoilers away.

Deadwood Stage Start GCEAF6

Is that the capital? YES!

As we turned towards Denver, we spied a First-To-Find opportunity in a nearby Wyoming Park. Looked simple enough, right? Very tall grass concealing cacti and barbed wire. What could go wrong? But we got it!

Clear Creek GCAE6W8 - FTF!

Now is time to head towards our final hotel for the trip in Northglenn plus a little sightseeing in Denver.

Welcome (again) to Colorado!

Prairie dogs just off the freeway!

We wrapped our day visiting touristy spots in the capital of Colorado. I have a personal challenge where I like to grab at least one geocache in every state capital we visit. I should make a challenge of it.

Admittedly we didn't linger downtown because there were so many homeless encampments, but sunset on the steps of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science perfectly wrapped our trip!

The Denver Mint Virtual GC7B7VK

Another capital building

Now, funny thing is we decided to drive over to one more Virtual before turning in for the night. Little did we know that it was at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. I've been carrying around this screenshot from the Denver Travel Guide for months and we wre heading there at sunset!

Isn't it a picture? Ferril Lake in front of downtown Denver in front of the Rocky Mountains at sunset!

The sun was very bright, and we didn't want to photograph right into the sun with our new phones so we moseyed out front to get the Benchmark virtual.

Denver Benchmark Virtual GC52E2

And this is what we saw when we came back. Gorgeous!

City of Denver & Rockies reflected in back of building

We headed back to our hotel in Northglenn and started looking for a place to eat. We randomly picked this Mexican restaurant and are still talking about this meal! Later, a local who is also a coworker, said we happened upon her favorite restaurant in Colorado! So wish they opened a location back home.

Fired up by my amazing fajitas and sopapillas, we decided we had just enough energy to detour to this war memorial virtual nearby before tucking in for the night!

Northglenn Veterans Memorial Virtual GCHHJY

So sad that this amazing adventure is almost over as tomorrow we leave.