OK, so who all is participating in the "Reach the Peak" challenge? ME! And Squinch:) of course lol. So far we have reached them all, but this month kinda
crept up on me. Squinch:) is on a road trip. It's cold outside. I got sick. And then all of a sudden I had 3 days to reach all my points? Heck, it ain't happening. I had resigned myself to the fact that I was not going to reach Denali basecamp, let alone the PEAK! But I held out a small bit of hope, and asked my muggle to take me on a date. Where to he asked. So, I simply said I need to go to River Front Park and walk around and find 3 Adventure Labs to reach my peak! His response? "How cold is it supposed to be?" I agreed that if it was too cold I would forfeit, and we could just go back to the car and come home. So, we got up New Years Day and headed out. If you haven't done an  |
| The Looff Carousel |
Adventure lab yet, you gotta! They are so much fun! Each has 5 stages, and a bonus cache at the end. Your numbers go up and you learn things! Win-Win! So first stop was the Looff Carousel in the park. My kids rode this thing so many times, and I think they all, at some point, grabbed a gold ring. As we left, I happened to look down and there was a green one laying in the snow. Yep, that's gonna be sweet swag. We walk around and find all 5 stages of the first Lab, and I'm tellin ya, it was cold! I had dressed for the challenge, but Jim, not so much. I tried to tell him. Do you want long johns under your jeans? Nah, I got jeans on. OK. I had brought a full hooded cap for him, because I knew he'd want it. And he did. So as I clap my hands and say "ok, one down, 2 to go", he got this look on his face and said "What?" Ummm, yeah, these 5 stages we just found, I have to do two more of those. I told him, we are in the park...go to the car and get warm! My tablet is there, so read your book. I'll be fine. It won't take me very long. Nope, he was a trooper. He stuck with me for the whole  |
| BloomsDay Runners |
adventure. We were all over that park, looking for the object and answering the questions. It was so pretty out, and I have so many memories of our family coming down here, that it was just a special day. These are the BloomsDay Runners. I didn't realize these were actually created from actual RUNNERS!!! How cool is that? We saw the Veterans Memorial, and walked across the bridges. Then back to the carousel to warm up again. Got a couple of souvenirs to take home. I even got pictures of the Goat! This was  |
| The Litter Goat |
one of the things my kids loved about the park. You hold a piece of trash at it's mouth, and the vacuum would come on and suck the trash into it's belly. They would stand and feed this goat for as long as we'd let them. We saw the Clock Tower and walked along the Centennial trail. I found all three Labs, and that gave me enough points to reach Denali Summit, with a couple hundred points to spare. I also enjoyed a nice date day with my muggle, and he said he actually enjoyed it! I know, it's probably silly, it really doesn't matter if I reach all my peaks or not. No one would know except me. And I know that some of you cachers don't really collect or care about the souvenirs. But to me, they are important. You see, it's all about leaving 'footprints'. Whether they are a solid actual thing, or a virtual sticker. I want to leave as many as I can before I'm done on this earth. Oh I know, I'm only 62. But man, time is flyin' by! And what I want the most? I want my future people, my great grandkids, and maybe even my great great grandkids to use these footprints I'm leaving, and know me. To know who I was. I want them to be able to look at a photo of me, and know who I was. To know what kind of life I had.  |
| My wonderful good hearted MUGGLE! |
Maybe they won't be interested. And that's ok. But, maybe they will. And they'll know... That I loved my family. That my Grandkids were the most important thing to me. That I rode horses. I scrapbooked. I owned a bar. I loved dogs. And cats. I loved to go camping. And have smores by a campfire. I loved road trips. I loved my muggle. I did amazing things....
...AND I GEOCACHED!!!!
