Milestones - 1600

Today we found our 1600th geocache.  We actually had a pretty good month because I think we did about 100 this month alone. 

When we left for work this morning I grabbed my caching bag and told Louie that I wanted to stop and grab 5 caches today so we'd hit 1600 on the last day of August.  In between seeing clients we managed to grab 3 caches by lunchtime.

This one was in a nice park, underneath the bench....

 Can you see it?

We still had 2 more to go, so after dinner (homemade pepper steak and it was good!)  Louie told me to get the bag and we'd try to go get the last 2.  One was in a pine tree in a park - fast and easy.

The 1600th one was a good one.  It's hidden in a cemetery, amongst graves from the 1800's, way up in a huge old tree.  But we were prepared....

Louie had his collapsible ladder in the back of the cachemobile, so he went back to the car and grabbed it.  He set it up against the tree......

I scampered up and made the quick grab, signed the log, he snapped my picture and we were in and out of there in less than 5 minutes!

Woo-hoo!!  1600!

Caching in Wisconsin

Yesterday was such a nice day that we decided to drive up to Wisconsin and do a little caching.  We ended up finding 8 caches and got a DNF on 2 others.  I hate when we DNF (did not find) a cache.   One of them was one we had tried for before too.  I don't know what we are missing and it's so aggravating to not be able to find one.  But we'll be back.  Eventually we will find the little suckers!

We did several that I really liked. 

The first one we did was a TB hotel and I dropped off 5 TB's that I'm moving along for other cachers.  The little yellow chicken one is a TB I picked up a couple of months ago.  The cache owner has little kids who like to see pictures, so I told the owner I'd hold onto it for awhile and take it with me over the summer.  That TB went back and forth to Kentucky several times, to Florida, to Colorado and to Wisconsin at least twice.  I dipped it in and out of caches and posted pictures for them and ended up putting a couple thousand miles on it.   The kids really enjoyed it.  They live in Wisconsin, so I finally dropped the TB off in hopes it will make its way back to them. 

The next one was good too - it was a camoflagued PVC pipe, just large enough to hold swag items, TB's and a log book.

The next one was my favorite of the day.  It was hidden on the CO (cache owners) property.  It was a huge box, built to look like a birdhouse, complete with a bird hole in front with a nest sticking out.  The side of it opened up and there was a combination lock that we had to figure out how to open, based on hints on the geocache page.

Once we figured out the combination, the door swung open and inside was an ammo box with the log book and lots of swag.  A seperate container held all the TB's.  Another container held the stamp for a letterbox if you were also doing a letterbox cache.  It was really nicely done.

We did another cache that was located on a piece of land out in the country.  Orginally there was a house there, but suposedly the property was haunted and now the house is gone and all that remains is bits and pieces of the foundation.  All around this vacant piece of land there are industrial buildings and this sad little spot remains between them.  We saw 2 hawks flying over the cache location and lots of butterflies, but no ghostly sightings for us.  We did have some fun with the huge cement blocks that were scattered across the driveway....

And we took a phooning photo!

Our last stop was at a cemetery where the cache was hidden outside the fence.

By then it was lunch time and when I'm in Wisconsin I will go out of my way to eat at The Brat Stop.

As we left the restaurant I ran smack-dab into one of my cousins.  He was there with his kids eating lunch too!  What are the chances of that?  We had a good laugh, chatted a bit and then we were on our way.  I wish I would have thought to take a picture of me and Billy.  Next time!

We jumped back into the car and headed to Kenosha, where we wanted to see The Civil War Museum.  I'll tell you about that tomorrow.

Nevadaville & Central City

Nevadaville, Colorado was once a gold mining town but is now pretty much a ghost town.  Its claim to fame is that it was the location of the first lode gold.  We drove to see it because it had a couple of geocaches hidden there.  I have to say that it was pretty cool to walk around the old town.  It only stretches about 2 blocks in length along a dusty road in the mountains.

We grabbed a couple of caches, one of which was hidden in an old crumbling wall.

We saw no ghosts but Mr. Chipmunk came out to investigate and see what we were up to.

After that we decided to run over to Central City and check out the casino's.  Central City is another historic mining town from the mid 1800's.  The old buildings were fabulous to see and there is a lot of renovation going on.  We breezed into one of the casino's, played on the slots for awhile (where I won a whopping
$ 8.00) and we were back out the door and on our way.

Before we left town we stopped and grabbed a geocache by their main sign.

After that we headed back up into the mountains.  There are old cemeteries scattered here and there.

 I particularly liked the old family plots that were surrounded by low brick walls or wrought iron fencing. 

Years of neglect have allowed trees to take root in the plots.  I love to wander through the cemeteries and look at the old headstones and the inscriptions. 

There were hundreds of old trees with carvings on them.

My favorite thing is when we come across old buildings or crumbling sections of them.  I can't help but check them out.

We even came across the remains of an old gold mining chute....

This was pretty cool - the gates to this cemetery had been chained and locked, so somebody just built a bridge up over the fence...

By then we were all starving, so we drove to Idaho Springs to a great little restaurant called "Beau Jo's."

BeauJo's is located in an historic building.

The whole town was just a really neat little area of cool shops and restaurants.  We strolled in and out of many of them while we waited 35 minutes for our table.

BeauJo's is famous for their "Mountain Pies" and they did not disappoint!

After you eat the gooey pizza center, you're supposed to eat the thick outside crust dipped in honey.  Sounds kind of strange, but it was actually really good.

On our way home we were blessed with a DOUBLE rainbow.  It's a little hard to see in the picture, but take my word for it - it's there.

I always feel that rainbows are special and lucky.  This is the first time I've ever seen a double.  Maybe that means something really special is going to happen!

Cemeteries are filled with history

One of the things that I like the most about geocaching is the interesting places it takes us.  Two of my favorite places to go are old cemeteries and Memorials.  Cemeteries are filled with history and I have found out some really cool things.  Before I go any further, let me explain that some cemeteries do not allow geocaches in them, so a cache may be hidden near a cemetery in order to get you close to something interesting to see.  IF a cache is hidden in the cemetery itself, then it must be respectfully placed in an area so that it doesn't disturb a grave or a marker.  Cachers are specifically asked to be respectful when in a cemetery and everyone I knows adheres to that request.  So, if you are curious to see some of the neat things I've found, please continue reading....

Ann Brainerd was a charming 9 year old girl who purchased a plot of land on Captiva Island in Florida for the price of a gold piece.  Unfortunately, she passed away shortly after her purchase and was buried on the property.  Read this interesting, true story here.
 

http://www.historicpublications.com/Historic_Sanibel_1.10web.pdf

The gravestone of Charles Jones is one of my favorite finds.  I think the inscription is fascinating.

This section in Woodlawn Cemetery in Illinois was originally established as a final resting place for show people.  Shortly after its creation, a horrible tragedy occurred.  A circus train with over 400 performers and animals was on its way to Hammond, Indiana when it was hit by another train.  Three cars were destroyed and a fire broke out.  An estimated 86 performers were killed, but miraculously, no animals died.  The deceased were gathered and buried in this plot called Showman’s Rest.  Since nobody knew the names of some of the dead, they were buried with headstones marked “Unknown Male” and a number.  Go here to check it out.

http://www.showmensleague.org/showmens-rest

Who hasn't heard of Al Capone, the famous Chicago gangster.  He was buried in Mt. Carmel Cemetery in  Hillside, Illinois.  For more information, go here.

http://www.hollywoodusa.co.uk/GravesOutofLA/capone.htm

Daniel Burnham was a famous American architect, who lived in Chicago.  Not only was he responsible for designing numerous famous American buildings, but he was also the Director of Works for The World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  See more information here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Burnham

If you want to read a fascinating true story about The Columbian Exposition, I suggest you check out “The Devil in the White City” by Erik Larson.  It’s about the link between  Daniel Burnham, a serial killer and the creation of the World’s Fair.  

http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/devilinthewhitecity/home.html

This was a Civil War Veterans grave and those are usually my favorite ones to visit.

This one was in Delavan, Wisc. and is one of the older ones I've found so far.

This was a powerful Memorial to see.  It's located in Skokie, IL.

The following pictures are just interesting crypts and statues that I've seen:

This was just a small group of some really neat things that I have seen by visiting cemeteries and Memorials.  Through them, I learned a lot about history, war, the circus, organized crime and Chicago.  Visiting these places gave me a unique perspective that I would never have gotten otherwise.  I also have a better

appreciation for cemeteries and what the past can teach us if we stop to look and investigate what it is trying to tell us.  The next time you are near a cemetery, stop by and see what interesting things you can learn.