Mystery at the Museum: The Detective

Woo hoo! Day #1 of Geocaching.com's Mystery at the Museum game, and TaGeez & I found our Detectives at a cache! Next up we need to hunt for a 2 shadows, 2 footprints and 2 fingerprints each. We're not sure what we're doing yet, but we have a lot of new (to us) caches in Holland, MI this weekend to figure it out!

Hider Happiness

Received this cool email from geocaching.com. Wow! Really makes it worth all the hard work and maintenance! 

MSPCGT: Visiting the Upper Lower

Isn't that just a Michigander thing? 

"Where are you going this weekend?"

"Oh, just upper lower."

TaGeez, ShelleyJean and I had a fabulous weekend in upper, lower Michigan (top of the mitten!) doing the Michigan State Park Centennial geotour. This tour included Wilson SP, North Higgins, South Higgins, Hartwick Pines, Otsego Lake, Clear Lake, Onaway, Burt Lake, Aloha SP, Wilderness SP, Petoskey SP, Young SP, and breathtaking Fisherman's Island. 

Starting off early on a Saturday - sunny and clear - we headed off to the first of many beaches and birdhouses. Ah, it's a good sign for a fun time!

Admittedly, this leg of our tour was a little different than the last. The last one was sensory overload of beautiful sites, stunning beaches, blue water. This one started of a little more history-focused, and it was a little eye opening for me. I've read about the Civilian Conservation Corp, loggers & lumber barons, but this was real! We visited CCC villages, the woods they managed, nurseries, logging museums... it sounds like a cliche but the history books came to life. 

North Higgins CCC Village

CCC Woods

North Higgins and South Higgins were so different. North Higgins had the CCC Village & Woods where South Higgins was public beaches, beach ball, and power boats. 

But even South Higgins was a site of contradictions. There were tons of bodies on the beach (above) and in the parking lot and at the concession. Yet on the other side (below) where the cache was hidden was almost ignored and so much more beautiful! That teaches a lesson that if you don't like where you are there is probably a more beautiful site just around the corner!

My favorite pic of TaGeez on the trip

The next surprise was Hartwick Pines, Michigan's oldest growth forest. This was on SJ's bucket list, and, I admit, I had never heard of it. 

We started at the Visitor Center (gift shop/museum), and then took the entire circle tour including the chapel and logging village.

The trees towered! The silence under the canopy was so peaceful. Kudos to the people who designed the information boards - interesting, educational but not too wordy. Sad to see the Monarch lost its crown. 

The Chapel was beautiful in its simple way. I won’t give anything away about the final, but the actual hide was a little unexpected and made me laugh out loud! I know this is one state park I will return to, so peaceful walking among the big trunks.  

Logging Museum/Village

We, of course, had a few novelty stop along the way! We started with SJ's first Michigan Lost Town! Hey, can you guess what it was called? 

MLT - Big Rock GC41G4X

... and who can pass up a 45th parallel cache? Not us!

Halfway There Once Again GC6NZ9F

Oh, this sweet cache was one of my favorite on the trip! It housed a very nice ammo can, where I dropped a sweet little present for the next finder. Woot!

Speaking of novelty. This is the turtle that peed all over TaGeez. Peed and kept peeing. 

Luckily TaGeez survived the shower because we were in the parking lot of one of my favorite places: the Awakon Park - Moran Iron Sculpture Park in Onaway, Michigan. Why is this place not a Virtual in its own right?!?  Check out the nearby You must be a MORAN to miss these!

After a night in a very shady hotel where we ate very yummy pizza (B.C. Pizza in Indian River), we headed out early (before the hotel got raided by the Bunco squad). First stop: Burt's Lake and a House Divided. I made sure I was the last cacher out - GO GREEN!

I think every Michigander knows what Indian River is known for. We detoured to the Cross in the Woods as a tribute for my Mom. This was her favorite stop up North. TaGeez and I walked around looking for her memorial paver, but the place was too big and all the helpers were at service. 

Next, we headed to a different kind of woods. Do you notice what we're wearing in the Aloha State Park picture? Bug nets! OMG! The fish flies coated everything! I will never forget the crunch and squish underfoot as we walked from the car to the sign - ugh. It was like popping zits on Mother Earth.

Aloha State Park

How can you not love that face?

Finally! Wilderness State Park - Dark Park in Mackinac! Lovely views of Lake Michigan and the bridge, and the site of my face-to-hissing-face confrontation with a thick black snake. As I was dangling over Lake Michigan, looking for a cache at high tide, it slithered back upon itself trying to get away. As I'm floundering and trying not to fall into the lake, SJ shouts out from behind me, "Did you get a picture of it?" Ah, that's friends! 

Go, Super Sexy Trio!

We are doing this tour right. Can you tell how much we're enjoying each park.

Reflective moments...

Enjoying beautiful views...

... and cherishing all the gifts these parks give us.

We ended this segment of the tour with one of the most surprising of State Parks, Fisherman's Island. 

FAVORITE POINT! For a beautiful park, enjoyable letterbox with a fabulous view featuring the best this park has to offer, and the personalized stamp. 

I never knew this park existed, so I’ve told all my family about the amazing campsites at water’s edge. We saw swans, seagulls, and an adorable Beagle near the final. After making the find, we frolicked on the beach, and I, for the first time this trip, got my feet wet! Lovely way to end our last find for the day. We’ll be back!

View from the Letterbox

That's it. Until next time...

Michigan 83 County Challenge

Wow! Look what came today! My Michigan 83 County Challenge pin! This is fabulous! We earned it after our #mspcgt adventure in the UP.

Thank you, MIGO! Thank you, Stephen Fritz, for mailing it! Thank you, Ben Zhang, for telling us about it.

Summer Caching Swag

Look at this great raffle prize! Won it at Frito's I-275 event! I'm hooked up for our adventures this weekend! 

Wow! Have my priorities changed - LOL

MSPCGT: The Bugs are Taking Over

Before heading up North a coworker - a native Yooper - warned me about the clouds. "Look for them off the Mackinaw Bridge. Look to the East. It looks like smoke from a fire. It's bugs."

Ok, admittedly I thought she was pulling my leg, but our first stop at Tawas Point proved her right. Who knew? 

This one's at the Village of Fayette. It doesn't look like much, but that cloud is like a mile away. ShelleyJean has better pictures of the swarms.

And the bugs were bad, but luckily we came prepared. I felt stupid for about 3 seconds and then relief! Soon we were wearing them in town without a second thought because the gnats, midges, mayflies, fish flies, and mosquitoes were bad! We heard we missed the black fly hatching by just a few days! It's been a wet Spring, so it will only get worse.

This is my head net - Sea to Summit. It cost a little more, but I liked it better than the cheaper one TaGeez found in the State Park gift shop. This one has a drawstring around the neck instead of elastic and came with a protective pouch (to avoid unnecessary holes).

With 56 more State Parks to go, this will be our most invaluable tool of the trade. 

MSPCGT: Adding to the Adventure

Our trips so far are more memorable with a few additional tools and toys in our bag.

Cachetur.no

Great tool for planning routes and holding cache details in your hand. Sign up for a free account, import the caches, and arrange the order of your route. The image below includes the cache order with travel distances and times. Click in for more detail.

This was the route up US 23 and the Upper Peninsula. 

Map created on Cachetur.no 

Michigan State Park Stamp & Go Guide

How about a guide to the State Parks? It can be bought at several of the State Parks or on the Peninsulas website.  Driving park to park, we read aloud brief descriptions of the parks. And, at the ranger booths, have the rangers stamp your page!

Purchase at Peninsulas Shop
Actual guide is only about 5" tall

National & State Parks Visitor's Journal

Look what I found on Amazon? Also available in some park gift shops....

Available on Amazon

This journal holds 100 park entries, and a great way to remember our adventures. Each night after a series of finds, I logged my parks, printed keepsake pictures, and adhered my souvenir stickers inside the cover.

Sprocket/Postcards

Speaking of printing pictures... My family likes postcards, but, after awhile, I ran out of things to say! But look at this cool idea! TaGeez and I took a selfie and added it to the back of the postcard to my sister. Now she knows exactly how much we enjoyed the Falls! The photo paper for the HP Sprocket has an adhesive back. 

Let me know if you use any of these ideas!