Geocaching!!!

I canNOT imagine why I haven't started geocaching  before now.   It seems like the PERFECT blend - Biggest Ball of String roadside attractions and Geocaching sites! How many have I missed already???

 

What is Geocaching?  Well, according to the geocaching site, it's: "a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location."

 

Basically, it's a world-wide (185 countries, at least) scavenger hunt! but, instead of taking something from a location, you leave something there!  Someone, at some point (it can be you!) has set up a secret hiding place, with a geocache locator, and the treasure hunter has to find it! (There's GPS coordinates, for the treasure map.)  Once you find the treasure, you can sign the log-in sheet (so carry a pencil with you), log your location (on the geocache site), add a treasure to the "treasure chest" (if that's an option at the location), and put everything back exactly as you found it, so the next person can try to find it!

 

In my research, it seems that hiding places can be anywhere - on a chair in a tree, buried in a hollowed out fence post, basic containers set under a bush, in a fairy house... (see here for "19 Ridiculously Creative Geocache Containers".)

There are some very important rules, especially about leaving things:

~ This is to be an environmentally friendly game, so people are encouraged not only to NOT leave litter, etc., but to pick up any that they encounter.

~ Treasures left in a geocache container must be family-friendly, no food, and no weaponry (it's too bad that these things have to be stated, but completely necessary, I suppose)

~ You can trade a treasure for a treasure, but you have to trade equal or increased value - (no taking an ancient artifact and replacing with a leaf you just picked from the nearby tree.)

I wish I had've started this sooner! I actually accidentally found one while snorkelling in Hawaii.  Well, by "I", I mean one of the kids with us - it was a heavy-duty plastic tube, crammed into a lava rock in the tide pool.  Inside was a few pretty rocks, shells, a doll and a note.   We added a small trinket-y thing we had handy, resealed the tube and hid it, but we didn't realize that it was an international game and we didn't follow-up on it...

 

The other day, my friend and I were trying to make a plan for a day when her daughters had time off school, and she mentioned "geocache" and I've been a fanatic since! (We still haven't had a chance to try it - but we hope to go next week! Come on, mild weather!)

 

I have to figure out what "treasure" we want to leave behind - I've already made up a username I really like, and I've set up an account.   Any ideas on the treasures? I feel like it'd be good to have a variety of things (toys, bandaids (not my idea, but a good suggestion), trinkets, stickers, stamps), but maybe also something representing our journey... (I think a tiny "big ball of string" might look like lint, so I'm going to choose something else...)

 

I feel "renewed" in writing about our Big Ball of String roadtrips, and plan to (hope to) be able to incorporate geocaching "adventures" to come!

Big Island’s June27 Lava Flow and Hurricane Iselle

Hi!  It’s been a long time since I wrote!

 

When I was writing my Biggest Ball of String “adventures” more regularly, I was just finishing up my segment on the Big Island of Hawaii – all I had left was the Village of Kailua-Kona.  (I’ll come back to that.)

 

And, although I’ve thought of my blog often, and the unfinished Hawaii segment, and all the places we’ve been that I didn’t discuss, I was side tracked with “real-life” things.  Last time I wrote, I talked about one of the “real life” things, which was a Cottage we purchased on Lake Michigan! THAT has taken up so much of my time! and I love it! I am inspired to do thing for it – it’s like I have tunnel vision! Everything has to do with that one particular event/thing!

 

Because The Cottage is part of my new adventure, I’ve started a new blog for it.  It’s going to be very specific to that one place – the cottage, the area, the renovations & updates, local business – chocolaterias, wineries, pie & pastry shops, breweries, places to rent boats, etc.   Really, I hope there are people who “browse” and find it,  or maybe it’ll be people who come visit the Cottage and want to know what updates we’ve done, or maybe it will be random people… but, I also just want to remind myself of the journey, and this is a good way!  Come check it out!

…

 

Last time I wrote a blog about travel, and before we bought the Cottage, I was writing about Hawaii…

 

A lot is happening right now on the Big Island – including the relentless approaching lava toward the little village of Pahoa!

 

Kilauea’s newest lava flow is named for the date the lava began erupting from it’s new vent, June 27.   I don’t know much about it but the pictures on-line seem crazy and amazing!!   The National Park’s website says that, as of September 15, “The actual length of the flow, measured along the lava tube axis (so that bends in the flow are considered) is 17.7 km (11.0 miles).”

 

I did wonder (since the lava is advancing kind of slowly, I mean, compared to movies like Dante’s Peak) if there were plans to divert the lava… when I asked, the answer was basically “no”.  I had my own guesses as to the reason, but Huffingpost had this to say:

“But diversion methods can be risky, according to officials. Not only could they make the problem worse, there are also considerable cultural sensitivities at play.” 

Diverting the lava flow — whether by obstructing it, rerouting it or attempting to alter the terrain in its path — is seen as blasphemous to Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes who is believed to live in the Halemaumau crater of Kilauea Volcano.   

“This is a very sacred place,” Hawaii County Civil Defense administrator Darryl Oliveira said in response to one Puna resident’s question about diversion, per footage of the community meeting posted online Sept. 3 by Big Island Video News. “It is important to recognize and respect the culture that was and is still here.”

Oliveira also explained that any kind of diversion could worsen the situation and unintentionally send the lava flow toward another community.”

Culture and uncertainty were my guesses.

 

Maybe something amazing will happen, and there will be a rift that doesn’t affect anyone, and the lava will just drop straight back into the earth and take an underground route to the ocean!

 

 So, speaking of Hawaii, and that side of the Island – did I mention that we have land there…?  The reason I bring it up now is because on that acreage was “Methuselah”.  Methuselah was an O’hia tree on our property, that was estimated to be around 970 years old (hence, the namesake), and right beside the top of our driveway.

 

When we first put in our driveway, we took special care the larger trees and made the road go around them.  Especially Methuselah.

 

O’hia trees grow up to be about 20–25 meters (66–82 feet), but Methuselah probably around 50 feet tall, and had been broken in half by either wind or lightning at some point. Two people could not reach around his trunk.  There was an entire ecosystem growing in his trunk! He was covered in roots from other trees.  In his leaves near the top, you could see flowers and leaves from orchids living and growing in his bark.   He was magnificent.

 

This year, during Hurricane Iselle, he blew down.  Even now, writing it, it makes my eyes water.  I love that tree.

 

The people who told us that he’d fallen (and currently is blocking complete access to our driveway) know that I love the tree, and everyone has wonderful ideas: Maybe we can make it into a beam in our house. Maybe we can make it into a bench. Maybe we can lift it with a crane to the edge of the property, and let the branches grow into new trees (this happens in Hawaii…)

 

It’s hard to find someone with a crane who also appreciates how much I love that tree… also, when O’hias die, they turn to such hard wood, it’s almost like petrified and then …so… I need to decide soon…

 

Hurricane Iselle (a tropical storm?) did a lot of damage to the Island –  trees and power lines were down everywhere, and tens of thousands were without power for weeks, and some communities were without running water, and some people were isolated because of giant trees down blocking the roads.  There are really great stories, though, about communities coming together to help others – which, despite these two major catastrophes, is a really nice part of the story!  It’s worth the Google.

 

…

 

I was going to talk about Kona this time, but I think I’ll save it for next time…which will be sooner than later! (It’s mostly written anyway – just need to add pictures!

 

Stay tuned!

 

LakeShore Haven, our cottage on Lake Michigan

You may or may not have noticed, but I haven’t written a blog lately…

Last time I wrote, though, we were on a boomerang trip to Michigan (visiting Richard and Shannan, and family – they come up in my blogs from time to time) where we stayed for a month.  (More about that trip later.)

 

One night, during our visit, we were all sitting up having some inspirational drinks (wine for the girls, scotch for the boys) and having one of those inspirational conversations that people often have at 2:30 in the morning, and it went something like:

 

 

“Hey! You know what we should do? We should all by a house together and rent it out!”

 

“YEAH! LET’S DO IT!!”

 

and then, it didn’t come up again – I completely forgot, until on the way home.

 

I said to Peter: “I wonder if they thought we were serious about that? Or if they thought it was just one of those fun-to-talk-about-at-the-time conversations?”

 

Not too long after that, we got a text: “Look what we found!”

 

Maybe just the cutest cottage EVER!

 

It’s 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom cottage walking distance (maybe 3-5 minutes) to Lake Michigan. 

 

We can see The Lake from the living room window.

 

It’s right beside a nice park with a playground, and 630 feet of white sand beach!

 

Richard’s family already has a cottage here and he’s been coming for 30+ years to visit the area.  So, we know all the ins-and-outs of the place – where’s the best restaurant, where’s the nearest golfing, where can you find a local chocolateria, and don’t forget the wineries!!   (Also, Michigan has recently voted a #1 place to come for beer connoisseur with all of their local Craft beers!)

 

Basically, there’s something for everyone in Michigan, and especially at our cottage!

 

Let me tell you all about it! (This has been all-encompassing for me, which is one reason I haven’t been around in blog-world.)

 

As soon as we decided to purchase it, I decided I had to make a quilt. Having never had made quilts before, I decided the best thing for a LakeShore cottage was a “rag quilt”.  I could go on and on about rag-quilts, but then my blog would be about quilting.  Suffice it to say: I bought a sewing machine and made my first quilt, and now it’s in Michigan, in the main bedroom.

 

 

 

 

As mentioned, the Cottage has 2 bedrooms. One is on the main level with a super comfy queen size bed, and the second is kind of like a loft bedroom with 4 (also comfortable) twin size beds.

 

 

 

 

 

The most picturesque thing about The Cottage is that it has an enclosed front porch solarium area with summer screen windows – I cannot wait to have a nap out there in the summer.   That is, if the hammock (which will hang between two of the oak trees) is occupied!

Right now, the Cottage is a one bathroom place, but we have big plans for that second bathroom, and there’s talk about an outdoor shower, too.

 

The area is mostly known for summer activities (wine tours, bicycling, hiking, walking around the cute little character towns – Saugatuck, South Haven & Douglas (we are about 5 minutes from Saugatuck, 3 from Douglas, and 10-ish from South Haven) but we all agree that it is gorgeous in the winter and people should be invited to come - maybe cross country skiing, snow shoeing, snow fort building… possibilities are endless!!  (To this end, we’ve added a gas fireplace – well, like a wood stove fireplace.)

 

We have a currently undeveloped basement (home of a future bathroom), but it does have a laundry utility room down there, and we are working on converting the rest into a social place for kids.  (One portion for a TV, DVD player, books, etc – a movie area - and the rest for a playground for smaller children.  So far (because we just have arrived Thursday night and are leaving Monday), we have added those rubber prime colored square puzzle flooring pieces, and it seems to be a hit with Shannan & Richard’s 4-year-old son, so yay!!

 

We’ve installed cable, Wi-Fi, and free long distance phone calls.

 

Let me see… what else!!? Well, I’m sure I’ll have more to say the more I get to know the place and the more the updates continue, but for now:

 

JUST COME VISIT!!

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