And Then There Are The Surprises..

Today was a really interesting day. Geocaching is sort of its own little animal. So much depends on so many varying factors that you can never really set out on a geohunt and "know" how it's going to turn out. Sometimes it turns out way better than you had ever hoped, and sometimes it's nothing like you anticipated. This morning was of the former variety!

 Stephanie texted me the day before about a 20-stage multicache nearby that she'd like to do and wondered if I'd like to come along. I said yes immediately, but later remembered I had an appointment scheduled for that day, so I declined. She went ahead and solved most of the riddles, but due to translation issues wanted to return and gather a few more needed details to solve the final riddle. This time I would be able to go along! I wasn't sure what to expect as it was my first multicache and knowing it had 19 stages, it felt a bit overwhelming. But having good company changes just about anything everything for the better, so I knew if nothing else I'd really enjoy time spent with my friend and time spent learning something I had no previous experience of before. I love learning new things. <3

Hohenheim Castle in the distance,
taken from the Hohenheim "monopteros"

It was such a delightful morning! I have company in town and had stayed up talking well into the night, so I was still waking up a little when we left, but I can not think of any better way to wake up than conversing down beautiful, garden path trails with cool breezes playing through our hair, delightful conversation, and solving little "mysteries" along the way! Even in the dead of winter the numerous plants and mature trees, lakes and ponds, and vivid green grasses were absolutely enchanting.

Hohenheim's very own monopteros.
Who knew!

We hopped from stage to stage, reading plaques and discussing events and times, and learning about a people who have come to this University for hundreds of years. We saw a man made lake that had held a venetian style gondola at one time. We came upon a small building that held a novelist who was so inspired by the Hohenheimer Gardens that he wrote his novel right on site. We climbed a circular path to a very beautiful monopteros and enjoyed the great views all around. We saw Roman Column ruins that had at one time been all upright, but then suddenly fell and the "ruins of the ruins" were left to be exactly as they were, lending their own sort of inspired romanticism that went on to inspire play-writes...

Near the end of the series we walked a beautiful, 200 year old, tree-lined walkway to the Hohenheim Castle and admired the vineyards near by, read of the memorial dedicated to the alumni who had died in both World Wars, and then finally solved the final riddle and made the way to find the actual prized cache container!

The 200 year old "Kopfweiden" tree walkway leading to Hohenheim Castle,
modeled after Italian Poplar trees.

We were gone for a little over an hour, yet it was such a fulfilling way to begin my day. Flower stems and bushes, history, multiple varied gardens, architecture, the sunshine, good company and cool January air reminded me why I love January so much... Because life hangs just around the bend. Beauty and peaceful aspirations, and hope for growth and change and new beginnings... it's all right there. And we get this incredible privilege of experiencing it every year, whispering and dancing in the air around us... showing us little secrets and surprises along the way.

Sometimes life hands you exactly what you expected or wanted, and then there are the surprises. And often times it is those sweet surprises that leave the biggest impressions upon our hearts. Geocaching might have surprised me by how much I fell in love with it back in 2014, but it's these continuous, ongoing "surprises" that I treasure the most and that keep me coming back. It's the new experiences of places I wouldn't have ventured to or learned about in other contexts. It's meeting people and finding something in common when we might not have connected otherwise. And it's the memories, planted like seeds in the gardens of our hearts, that over time can grow into a really beautiful collection of shared experiences, and even friendships.

Thanks for inviting me, my "cacher in crime" friend!
You're a treasure to my heart.

Goodbye 2015 Hello 2016!

To commemorate the end of 2015 and the beginning of the New Year, Geocaching.com released two new souvenirs! Right away we started planning which caches we would like to hunt for December 31st and January 1st. I don't know if it was just the fact we picked great caches to hunt on these days, the wonderfully amazing company on the hunts, the crazy fog that accompanied us, or that the children are a week into their break and all of us are going a little stir crazy to get out and about... (I'm thinking, probably all of the above)... but for whatever the reasons, we had a great time with these finds!



Stephanie and I hunted a 10 cache series along a trail in the Heumadener Forest last June and found all the caches (including the bonus 11th cache!) except for cache #6 which had apparently been muggled. *sad face* I put it on my watch list and finally- 6 months later- it had been replaced! I can't think of a better way to bring a sense of completeness to 2015 than to also "complete" a withstanding, "unfinished" cache series! It was very strange finding ourselves in a forest in mid Winter compared to trailing in Mid Summer... I found myself singing the Mama's and the Papa's "California Dreamin'" on the walk down because it just seemed so fitting. I love fog, I really do. I came to appreciate it during our 4 years living in England and traveling around through the Scottish Highlands. I just find such a beautiful, quiet, unassuming mysteriousness to it. I find it comforting and tranquil, yet with an air of excitement... like an adventure awaiting just around the bend and you can't quite see it until you're right upon it, but you know it's there...so rather, you just feel it. OR... (depending on my mood) foggy days make the BEST "stay in, read a book, and snuggle with a loved-one" days while drinking warm sweetened tea in huggable mugs! Either way, foggy days are winners in my book! (Well, unless it's too many days in a row. Then I feel like I'm going to die via suffocation and no one will ever know because no one would ever find my body lost in the mind-delirium, air-consuming fog.. But! it takes weeks of it for me to get to that point... so I digress) On these two days I felt it added flair to our hunt and I absolutely relished it! Stephanie felt it's the type that serial killers jump out of the woods and drag our terrified, completely doomed bodies away into the midst of foreboding trees. I had to agree that she had a point. So, we agreed it was either going to be great, like really great, or bad, like really, really BAD! I am thankful to report however, it was actually really, really GREAT! *beams* No serial killers or alien UFO abductions or sudden manifestations of any Dean Koontz novels! Yay!

The Heumadener Forest Cache #6 ended up being a disguised pathway sign, pointing in 4 different directions and citing the kilometers to reach each destination. Pull off the top of the front however, and it revealed a tightly hidden film canister wedged into an exact film canister sized hole! Have I mentioned before how much I love homemade caches? I mean, don't get me wrong. I have much appreciation for the typical airtight box hidden under a tree stump or wedged inside a hidden pocket of tree branches... but those homemade ones that took just a little more care to disguise the find, or teamed with a quirky, funny, or romantic story just fills this cacher with the happiest of heart vibes! This was one of them! I left happy. Happy this series was officially completed! Happy for the neat-o homemade cache container taking a true geocacher to see it for what it really was, happy for the new souvenir, happy for the fun company... and the successful trek in the woods.. and the fact the big dog on the way out didn't charge us although I know he really wanted to (which led to lively conversations of what to do to stay alive when charged by dogs, and also bears) ...yeah, caching is so much more fun when you return more alive than dead! 1 more for the Happy fog, and 1 less for Killer fog! Happy Happy Happy!

"All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey...
I've been for a walk, on a winter's day..."
Bet you're singing now aren't you?

After finding the perfect way to wrap up 2015, we had to find a perfect way to ring in 2016! I had seen a cache called <3 8.11 <3 that had been placed very recently as an anniversary gift from a wife as a surprise to her geocaching husband. Can't get much more sweeter than that, and can't think of a better way to start the New Year than to find a cache about love! This cache had a higher Terrain rating so we were a little anxious to see exactly why. We started on our trek in the forest and then noticed the pretty quick decline off into the trees. We quickly pocketed our gps's and cautiously started along. About 10 minutes later after negotiating many slippery leaves, small trees, half buried stumps, moss-covered logs, and approximately 3 "holy crap I'm going to fall on my butt" windmill-arm dances, we happened across a small fenced area over what appeared to be an insect hump!


Is this what we came for??

 In the description, it translated something to the effect of "the fence isn't what it seems" so we gave it a swift kick to the side (because you know, just in case it was as it seemed) and it toppled over to reveal the cache! Remember what I said earlier about homemade cache love? Just imagine the squeals of delight that emanated forth when THIS beauty shined forth at us!!

And all the angels in heaven came together and sang, "ahhhhh!"
And all the geocachers came together and sang, "ooooh!"

Upon closer inspection we noticed it opened... and when it opened we discovered how the "key to the heart opened the way to the log"... which was the hint! It was dry erase with a dry erase marker attached to a little red "key"!! There was also a small cotton cloth in the cache container to create new space on the "log" when it was needed. How clever! Talk about a low maintenance cache! No worrying of a log becoming too wet to write or too full and needing replacement! How genius!! We gave it a well earned and deserved favorite point! Truth be told, I would have given more if I could have! This one's a "not-soon-to-forget" favorite for sure. :)

After quite a few squeals and laughter and pictures, checking of trackables, dropping off some homemade swag (told ya I love homemade!) and signing the log, we carefully made our way back to the geo-van and on to the next cache!

Our last cache for the day was just a short drive from the previous one. It seemed like a quick park and grab and although the translation came out a bit rough, we were fairly confident we'd make the find. Thank goodness Stephanie was paying close attention when I read the hint outloud! If she hadn't clued in on the words "raising the container" and looked up, we may have been there for awhile. I was thinking "raising it" from a low position, so I'm on hands and knees while she's climbing on top of benches! Sure enough, she had cache in hand within the first two minutes! I love caching with friends. They make every thing better. <3

There it is! Tiny film canister held by a wire on the beam!
What a great foggy find!

After nailing this one we goofed off a little and joked around while I aimed to get a picture of us for the virtual log. All I wanted was for us to stand on the bench together and act a little silly. Apparently the words "act a fool" are translated in numerous ways to numerous people, which led to many much geocaching shenanigans, which led to many much laughter, which led to my favorite part of the whole thing... many much memories. <3

Hey?! I can't SEE!!

Geocaching 2015 is complete and what a great year! We found 137 caches total for 2015, cached in 7 different countries, added 16 new souvenirs to our collection, achieved our first "night caches", released 6 Travel Bugs out into the wild, made a lot of new friends and some really amazing new memories! 2016: you have some big shoes to fill, and I can't wait to see how you do it! To all the adventures awaiting to be made, I can't wait to meet you! Until next time... "So long and thanks for all the fish."