Ann Arbor Impressions

Happy Birthday Jana Louise!

We've been exercising every Monday, Wednesday and Friday here in Ann Arbor at the Von Maur Court in Briarwood Mall. I estimate that there are usually 40 - 50 participants of all kinds - male, female, white, black, and Asian, short, tall, skinny and fat. The oldest one appears to be in her 80s. One of the Asian women appears to be in her 30s or maybe even younger. Everybody is friendly and encouraging - there are all different levels of physical fitness ranging from the perkiest lady who bounces through all of the routines and then bounces out of the mall on her way home to the lady who sits through most of the exercises and does small movements with her arms and legs. The important thing about the fitness class is showing up and making an effort. We can feel it - Dick says the instructor finds all of your arthritis every time! When I get winded or my leg muscles feel too sore, I just sit down and take a mini-break - and it's all OK.

The city of Ann Arbor is in constant transition. It seems that everywhere you look, streets are closed for construction, and buildings are either going up or coming down.

It's hard to navigate in the downtown area - there are so many closed streets, and so many one way streets. We're finding that our little Subaru is maneuverable and easy to get around in.

On country roads in southern Michigan the underbrush and forest areas grow right up to the edge of the shoulders. It makes for very picturesque country roads, but I find that after living for the past 16 years in Grand Traverse County, I'm really used to the trimming, mowing and pruning along our roads. You can have that North Woods feeling, and still feel like you have some elbow room. Also, there are a lot of vines here that grow up into the trees and give them an unusual appearance - sometimes feels like you're driving through a Grimm Brother's fairy tale.

Which restaurant would you expect to be the most fun and delicious - Red Robin, a nationwide chain famous for burgers and spirits or Zingerman's Roadhouse, an offshoot of Zingerman's Deli, a local Ann Arbor favorite... Well, the Red Robin wins, hands down. It was so much fun - and the menu is different and interesting - it makes you want to come back and try something else! Zingerman's food was only so-so. We ate outside on the patio and were assaulted by flies. It was a real turn off.

Our apartment is just grand. I'm not sure what I expected, but it is more than satisfactory. We love it here, and we're having a wunnerful time!

Washtenaw/Ann Arbor Cachapalooza

The best challenge so far has been Fezzik's Views of Ann Arbor. It's a 5 stage multi-cache in Ann Arbor parking structures! The stages are all micros except for the final. They all require something special - decoding, unscrambling, head-scratching, hindu numerals, and research. When Dick discovered the final, we felt triumphant, ecstatic, excited, relieved and joyful! We loved this series so much that we named one of our 50th coins "Ann Arbor" and placed it in the cache. Then we noticed that the coin was picked up by Edward Applebee later the same day!

September 21 by basswoodbend (1407 found)
This has been a blast! Thanks for the imagination and effort that was expended in its creation. We have spent quite a bit of time and effort on this hunt over the past couple of weeks. Only one of the stages resulted in us proceeding directly to the next. The rest required us to sit back and cogitate for a day or two before the light bulbs were turned on and we saw how to proceed to the next goal. Scoring the final today gives us both a great sense of accomplishment. We signed the log, left our card and a geopin. We also took the Red Jeep. Since we are not sure which other Washtenaw County caches we might find, we only “Discovered” the Dilla.
We have created a coin to commemorate our 50th wedding anniversary and have been placing them in selected caches around the state. Since this is our favorite cache in our second favorite city, we traded the one we have named “Ann Arbor” for the coin that was in the cache.
Thanks and kudos to the Rodents for this creation. We greatly enjoyed the hunt.

We've done a couple of other quests in the area. Where the Road Ends was a fairly easy one. I was looking in the wrong place, but Dick came up with it. We really enjoyed doing Victory Mike's caches. The one by his front door was really fun and unique. We were hoping to see him, but he evidently wasn't home.

Found it 9/20/2007 You found Where the ROAD ENDS (Traditional Cache)
Nice park and grab. We traded cards and left a McToy. Thanks for the fun.

Found it 9/20/2007 You found Welcome Home Again (Traditional Cache)
This has been on our list for a couple of years but we just couldn't find our "Round To It". We finally brought it with us today. At the first stage, we traded a game pack and some bug wipes for a screwdriver and a Martha pin. At the final, we went "Knock Knock" but sadly, VM was not home. we are sorry we missed you. Maybe another time. We signed that log and left a geopin. Thanks for the hunt.

After that, Dick did a 4 or 5 stage multi-cache in Lillie Park, Pittsfield Township. It involved a lot of walking, so he dropped me off at home. He was gone for about an hour and a half, so I was glad I wasn't trying to walk it with him! He was successful, and he had a good time doing it.

Found it 9/20/2007 You found Lillie Park Nature Walk (Multi-cache)
This is a great cache! A walk in a great park and challenging set of puzzles, with a traditional container at the finish. When we first came to the area in the 50’s, this was an active gravel pit. At one point in time it was being considered for a garbage dump. This is much better. Because, when given the opportunity, I have a tendency to make the wrong choice, I turned the hunt in to more of a physical challenge than it needs to be. The route I chose led me to walk past the site of the final three times while collecting the clues. Found it this afternoon at about 5:30 and traded bug wipes and sun bloc for a poncho and left a TB. Thanks for the hunt and showing me what has been done to this old gravel pit.

Travel Plans

Sunday the 23rd we're going to Lansing to have lunch with Sharon and John.

Wednesday the 26th we're leaving our cute apartment and going to spend a couple of days caching in the thumb. Spending Wednesday night in Port Huron, and Thursday night in Bay City.

We'll spend Friday night and Saturday night at home in Traverse City, and lucky Dick will have a chance to mow the grass, and I will have a chance to play World of Warcraft - Dylan is waiting! We'll come back down to Oak Valley Drive on Sunday the 30th or maybe on Monday - we'll see how it goes.

We are really enjoying being footloose and fancy free more than I can tell you. Life is good and we're enjoying it. We're planning to rent a condo in Florida sometime in February. We're taking a cruise to the Baltic in May with the Sniders.

Loverly. :)

Laberdee & Lenawee

Today we did some power caching and placed our coin for Monroe County and for Lenawee County. There are so many micros in SE Michigan that it's hard to find a container that can hold the coin!

It was a beautiful day for a drive, and we found some wonderful places. For instance, neat, well-manicured farms with great flower gardens and green, green lawns. Also nice new roads, and pretty new subdivisions. My favorite road name was Laberdee in Lenawee County. It made me giggle to think of how silly it would be if someone named Larabee lived on Laberdee in Lenawee! Whee!

We ate lunch at Tiffany's Pizza in Dundee - another double e word! While we were there, we saw a really attractive family, two of whom were Little People.

In a Lenawee County Park, Dick found 2 caches. It was interesting because there were orange cones all over the place - Dick said that it was probably for a cross country meet. Sure enough, when the cone-setters came by on their utility vehicle, they said that 12 cross country teams would be there at 4 p.m.

We were totally bummed by not being able to find a cemetery cache which was listed as a park and grab, so it should have been the easiest - but even though we went there twice, we couldn't find it. I found a cache in Adrian's Heritage Park, and so that was fun! Altogether we found 7, which is good. We left home at 8:30 and got back at 4:30 - a full day!
Dick's logs:

9/18/2007 You found Amber's Hidden Cache (Traditional Cache)
We are on a quest to find a cache in each of Michigan’s 83 counties. It is interesting to observe the regional differences in cache types. We have been chuckling about what appears to be a micro fetish in the southern part of the state. This cache is in a neat area of a very nice park. It cracked us up. The Ziploc could easily contain a full sized log book and numerous trade items, instead, complying with the regional preference, it contains a micro container. TN,LN,SL,TFTC

Didn 9/18/2007 You couldn't find Team Rod & Tod's First Park & Grab (Traditional Cache)
The cords repeatedly took us to a set of tomb stones and the bushes by them. We found some great spots across the road but couldn't find the cache.

Found it 9/18/2007 You found "R" E.R. (Traditional Cache)
Yeah! A regular sized cache! We are working on finding a cache in each of Michigan’s 83 counties. In each new county that we find we are launching one of our 50th Anniversary coins so we need a container large enough to contain it. The plethora of micros in this area has made it difficult. Thank you for giving us a container large enough for our Lenawee County coin. Launched it and dropped off another. We traded bug wipes and glow sticks for a McToy and hand sanitizer. Thanks for the hunt.

Found it 9/18/2007 You found Tamarack Cache (Traditional Cache)
This summer we established a goal that we want to have found a cache in each of Michigan’s 83 counties by next July. In each new county that we find we are launching one of our 50th Anniversary commemorative coins. Today we placed our Monroe County coin in this cache. This was an easy find and the container was a welcome break from the barrage of micro’s we have been experiencing. The trash in the area of the cache was disconcerting, who but our fellow cachers would come back here? We took a Wizard and a bag of trash, left our coin and a Spiro game. The zip lock was torn so we replaced it. We managed to avoid entering Cabela’s so we took our money with us too. Thanks for placing a cache that was big enough for our coin.

Found it 9/18/2007 You found Dundee's Dam (Traditional Cache)
Long before Geocaching, we visited this area on numerous occasions. The coordinates were about 40 feet off for us. They placed us in the middle of the parking lot. We were looking for a container large enough for a geocoin and thought this park could hold one but overlooked the southern Michigan micro fetish. Found after a short search, wish I’d had gloves or a larger mirror. We signed the log and left a “Luck of the Irish” token to celebrate their 38 zip effort at The Big House Saturday.

Found it 9/18/2007 You found SQ - Piece Of Cake (Traditional Cache)
Fascinating cemetery. We notice that there seem to be a lot of these caches in southern Michigan. Maybe this is because of a lack of public lands down here in the "Flat Lands". LN,TN,SL,TFTC.

Found it 9/18/2007 You found Forgotten, But Not Lost (Traditional Cache)
Wow! A traditional sized container! We loved it! The park was being set up for a CC meet but since they were riding in little ATV’s they couldn’t sneak up on us. Left a box of Crayolas and replaced a torn baggie. Thanks for the break from micros.

Found it 9/18/2007 You found Podunk Michigan (Unknown Cache)
This must have taken a lot of work. Very nice hide. A couple of coaches were setting up a big CC meet and they almost caught us. TN,LN,SL,TFTC.

Found it 9/18/2007 You found Michigan Rt.23 (Traditional Cache)
The container is busted and the contents were on the ground. The log book is soaked. We removed the TB and replaced the cache as best we could but it really needs work. Not sure this rest area needs two.

WooWoo !!

This was a glorious, spectacular day! We were blessed with perfect weather - blue sky with picturesque clouds, temps in the 60s - the perfect football day!

Tim and Susie came around noon for burgers at the apartment. Dick cooked on the grill, Susie brought tasty blondie brownies, and everything was yummy. We had a great time talking about everything from geo-caching to bathroom hardware! Left for the game around 2 p.m., not really knowing what to expect, but ready for anything! Literally!

The game turned out to be as perfect as the day. Michigan won easily, and I had forgotten how much fun it is to win! The colors seemed so vivid today - everything stood out - especially the student section. It was "maize out" day, and they were all wearing yellow, and had yellow shakos, and it was a brilliant sight. I hope that Tim and Susie enjoyed it all as much as we did!

mgoblue:

Defense Dominates as Football Crushes Notre Dame
Powered by Shawn Crable's five tackles for loss Saturday, Sept. 15, the U-M football team blanked Notre Dame, 38-0, in Michigan Stadium. Crable and the defense dominated early, forcing three first-half Irish turnovers to give freshman QB Ryan Mallett -- in his first collegiate start -- and the U-M offense good field position all afternoon. Mallett capitalized, leading Michigan to four first-half touchdowns, including two by Michael Hart -- who racked up 187 rushing yards -- and TD grabs by Adrian Arrington and Greg Mathews.

Afterwards we had pizza back at the apt., and had an afterglow review of the game. It was a fine, fine day.

Showcase

Jan and I met at the Showcase Cinema for movies and popcorn! We saw Rush Hour 3 - it was funny, and full of action. Jan loves Jackie Chan - and he really is fun to watch. The movie went really fast, and it certainly wasn't boring! You try dueling on top of the Eiffel Tower! (Everybody was kung fu fighting.) The outtakes at the end were fun, too.

We met Dick and Bill at Applebee's for dinner, and then those two went to the Belleville football game. Southgate beat Belleville 13-6. This seems to be the year for losing football seasons. I went home and went to bed - time to catch up on some zzzzzz's.

Coldwater Thursday

Today we wanted to place one of our coins in Branch County, which turned out to be much more of a challenge than we expected!

We finally did 5 caches, but a three of them were micros and not big enough for a coin. We attempted more caches, but 2 of them eluded us - very frustrating! Oh well - it was a beautiful day for a drive, we had a nice lunch at Los Tequilas, and we got acquainted with Coldwater - a nice town.

I'm still not feeling 100% (my legs are still worn out from yesterday) but you can have a good time if you've a mind to! We finally did place our Branch County coin in the bee box cache. It was a long drive home. Stopped at Busch's for groceries for dinner.

Here are Dick's logs for today:

9/13/2007 You found bee box (Traditional Cache)
We are on a quest to find caches in all of Michigan’s 83 counties. We are naming one of our coins which commemorate our 50th wedding anniversary for each of the remaining counties we visit. Today we visited Coldwater to log Branch County and to find a cache in which we can launch our coin for this county. We didn’t have a very good day. We had picked out a cache but sadly, it was the first of three DNF’s we had to log today. That was followed by a couple of caches that were too small. Thankfully we found another of The Bucket brigade’s caches. We left our coin and a chalkboard kit. Thanks for a cache we could find and in which our coin would fit.

Found it 9/13/2007 You found 151 (Traditional Cache)
This was our first find in Branch County. Little did we know that soon we would think that it might be our last. We were a little uncomfortable looking in a private yard but saw the hiding spot from the street. Traded TB’s and left a chalkboard set. Thanks for the fun.

Found it 9/13/2007 You found Relax! It's the Best Medicine. (Traditional Cache)
We were in Coldwater adding Branch County to our list of counties cached in today. Because of a set of circumstances, we were out with a new Garmin GPS that we have not yet mastered. Luckily, as we were thrashing around trying to figure it out, Hunster showed up just in time to give us lessons. Thanks to him, we have a better grasp of it. This is a very peaceful spot. Thanks for showing it to us.

Found it 9/13/2007 You found Take a Breather (Traditional Cache)
A quick easy find that we needed after three straight skunks. Thanks for the hunt.

Found it 9/13/2007 You found If You Hide It They Will Come (Traditional Cache)
We had hoped that our coin would fit here but it's just a bit small. We left a geo pin and a Basswood Bend pencil. thanks for the hunt.

Didn 9/13/2007 You couldn't find A Tribute to George (Unknown Cache)
We are on a quest to find a cache in each of Michigan’s 83 counties. In each new county we are launching one of our 50th anniversary commemorative coins. We had hoped to start our Branch County coin here. Unfortunately, we are not wise enough wizards to solve the puzzle for this cache. We pushed and pulled, tugged and twisted but feared that we might force it and break something. We also searched all of the nearby objects for the hint but –
Oh Well.

Didn 9/13/2007 You couldn't find Superstitious (Traditional Cache) [
Dang! Two in a row! Coldwater is not being kind to us today.

Whatta Wednesday!

The day began at Briarwood with a very intense workout. In fact, it was so intense that it affected me for the rest of the day. I can't keep up - it's too fast and too jumpy for me. I love the slow stuff, but the "dancing" stuff is very hard and very far from my flexibility abilities. Perhaps as we continue for a few more weeks, it will get easier. We've learned that the instructor is a dancer, and has a studio of his own. No wonder that he is so fit and agile and flexible!

When we left we went to do a fun cache by the ex-ChiChi's - I loved it because I figured it out and actually found it! This is a rare occurrence and almost made up for ruining my otherwise perfect body at the workout.

Found it 9/12/2007 You found MI first time. (Unknown Cache)
When I read the description I knew just where to look. We have stayed at this motel before and I knew just where someone would go for a cuppa first thing in the morning. Fortunately, one member of the team actually reads things like manuals and cache pages. As I marched off in the wrong direction, she flagged me down and turned me around. Then, when we were at the cache site and I was burning quarters on everything in sight, she saved us by retrieving the cache from right under my nose. Fun hide. Thanks for the fun.

We met fellow geo-cachers Wolverine Warrior and Pairomedicchick for lunch. It was a Greek restaurant (the Parthenon) at the corner of Main and Liberty, so we all had yummy gyros. Justin had his daughter, Baby Alexis with him - and she's as cute as a button. I enjoyed talking to Kathy about her job at the jail in Battle Creek (!).

We went home and took a nap - following which I had some severe cramping in both legs (thanks a lot, fitness class) - but quinine always fixes the cramps.

In the evening we drove over to Southfield for the SE MiGO Meet and Eat. We're not used to driving in quitting time traffic - it was quite an experience driving through Detroit and Southfield in bumper to bumper traffic going 80 mph - wow! Thanks to Dick's amazing driving skill, we arrived in one piece right on time. Wow - what a lot of people! Wow! What a noisy Panera Bread! I think it may have been the noisiest place I've ever been, with the possible exception of a zydeco bar in Port Aransas. We saw lots of great people, and really enjoyed visiting with everybody (what? what?), especially TypoWiz and Number One Wife, SammyPants, HomeBru, Rattrak, Team TopKat, Son of Cyclops, Nurse Nana, Goldfinch, and many more. It was fun listening to SammyPants and TypoWiz reminiscing about growing up in Williamsburg, of all places! It was a fun time - the people were the star attraction - the food was only so-so.

Attended 9/12/2007 You attended September's Monthly S.E. MiGO Meet & Eat (Event Cache) [visit log]
We had a great time! Thanks for the Flatlander hospitality. We enjoyed talking to geofriends we have met before and it was great to meet some who have logged some of our TC caches. With luck we will be able to be here next month.

Chelsea & Dexter

What a lovely day we had today! Breakfast at Big Boy, coffee and wi-fi at Espresso Royale, Off to Chelsea to begin some fun caching. My favorite was the series called Healthy Communities - very clever containers, hides, and puzzles. We loved it. Dick is the champion finder of the Western world! We drove back through Dexter, and along Huron River Drive - very nostalgic. We have always loved this area.

Tim and Susie came over to go out to dinner with us - that's always enjoyable! We went to Joe's Crab Shack, and Susie and Dick had crabs and shrimp up to their elbows! It was a great way to end the day.

Here are Dick's logs for today:

9/11/2007 You found Washtenaw Steps Up! (Traditional Cache)
A great day for some caches in the Chelsea area. We saw this series and decided to give it a try. Not being familiar with the area any more, the long way was the route chosen. Found the cache after a brisk walk and signed the log, grabbed the cords and left a ladybug.

9/11/2007 You found Michigan Steps Up! (Traditional Cache)
We were in Chelsea for the afternoon and chose to do this series. We loved this hide! Thanks for the effort and creativity. Traded TBs and left some puzzle books in exchange for some wet ones. We replaced the cache and got in the car, then we remembered to get the coordinates for the Healthy Comunities. Thanks for the fun.

9/11/2007 You found Healthy Communities (Unknown Cache)
We were in Chelsea for an afternoon of geocaching and we are glad we chose to do this series. Great concept, fun creative hides and nice areas. We enjoyed the series immensely, thanks for the adventure. We swapped TBs and traded a stuffed bunny for the water bomb toy.

9/11/2007 You found Random Kindness (Traditional Cache)
To do justice to this cache and its owner we know that we should compose a lengthy tome. Regretfully, we know that we won't do it justice. We were in Chelsea for an afternoon of geocaching and reminiscing. We often came for rides out in this area when we were first married 50 years ago. Many things have changed but it is surprising how much has not. When we arrived, the park was empty except for a tot on the playground and his minder. We quickly found the cache, traded sigs, and left a slate for the next child who visits it. Thanks Nurse Nanna for the fun.

9/11/2007 You found Historic Oak Grove (Traditional Cache)
An interesting hide, we found it after a short search. We had the area to ourselves except for a couple of dog walkers. Thanks for the hunt.

9/11/2007 You found Which way to Montpelier??? (Traditional Cache
There seem to be a lot of cemetery caches in this area. This was an easy find. we took a TB and left a geopin. Thanks for the hunt.

9/11/2007 You found ODS Seed - To Michigan From Ohio (Traditional Cache)
Not a park and grab but almost. thanks for the fun.

This is the sixth anniversary of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. I'm expecting that this country will observe this anniversary in the future the same way that we now observe the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, and D Day. This evening I watched a documentary about trying to recover human remains from Ground Zero. So many people worked so hard for so long to try to recover and identify remains - a horrible job - Well Done.

Duck!

Dick fixed a great breakfast for all of us - it was so great that it set off the smoke alarm! It was very piercing, and we didn't know how to de-activate it. Opening the doors and getting cross-ventilation seemed to be the best remedy! What a relief when that was over.

We enjoyed talking to Tom and Peter - it was so much fun. Tom called Dylan and it was interesting to listen to one side of the conversation :)

We left for the game around 2 p.m. Tom and Peter went over to Steve's tailgate. Dick and I went to the stadium early to watch the Oregon Ducks and our Wolverines warm up. Tony and Sharon, Kim and Noah, and "Little" George were all there, but George and Alice didn't come this week.

The game was tragic again - very hard to watch. I think the last time I saw swarms of people leaving the stadium before the 4th quarter began was sometime in the 60s. One good thing about having the team play horribly for the entire game is that when it's over, you're not shocked at the loss.

mgoblue:

Michigan Cannot Slow Oregon in Second Straight Loss
The Michigan football team suffered its second consecutive loss to start the season, dropping a 39-7 decision to Oregon on Saturday, Sept. 8, in Michigan Stadium. After an early field goal gave the Ducks a 3-0 edge, Adrian Arrington made an acrobatic grab of a Chad Henne pass for a seven-yard touchdown play, putting the Wolverines ahead 7-3 with 5:29 left in the first quarter. However, Oregon answered quickly on an 85-yard TD pass by Dennis Dixon, who threw for three scores and ran for another in the contest.

We went home and watched Penn State embarrass Notre Dame. We play ND next weekend - we're calling it the Battle of the Midgets!

Today would have been Mom's 99th birthday. We all know for sure that she's glad to have missed her birthday. We were thinking of her today.

Fitness

This morning was our first workout at Briarwood. It is led by a man from the Dept. of Kinesiology at U of M. There were a lot of participants, and some of them were as young as we are! It's a good workout, even though the first half is done while seated in a folding chair. Dick couldn't believe how good it was. There are certain parts of the standing segment that I can't do because my left foot won't cooperate by moving quickly - but on the whole, I can do everything and it's fun, and it's not intimidating!

Tom and Peter arrived this evening - they ordered pizza delivered to our place on their way over - we had fun visiting until 11 or so. It's a 3:30 game tomorrow, so we'll have lots of time to talk with them.

Another Great Day

We spent the day with Doug and Odette. It began with lunch at Europa Bistro in downtown Rochester Hills - a very lovely spot.

We spent the afternoon chatting, reviewing history, catching up on family, and just generally swapping stories. We both had a really nice time and came home feeling very mellow.

Since we've been in Ann Arbor, we've been going every morning to Espresso Royale so that we can use the computer. We don't usually have very good internet connection at the apartment, but tonight it's working fine! I don't understand how the wi-fi can come and go!

We're looking forward to the arrival of Peter and Tom tomorrow night - the excitement is mounting!

Just Like Old Times

Belleville Retirees breakfast at the Bomber in Ypsi: Jan and Bill, Ken, Diane, Leon, Dan, Dorothy, Dennis, John Preston, Jim Fitch, and a bunch of ladies at the other end of the table that I never really knew, but had heard of. Enjoyable conversation - it's nice to hear about everybody's grandchildren! Jim has a 21 year old grand daughter - geez!

Ypsi is still as down-at-heel as it ever was. The city doesn't seem able to pull itself out of the doldrums. It's quite depressing.

After breakfast we drove through Our old Ypsi neighborhood. Our house at 2230 David looks awful - no landscaping at all. It's hard to believe that all of the time, money, and effort that went into all of those trees and shrubs is now totally gone.

On to Belleville. It looks fine - pretty much the same. It was a little off-putting to see fans in the windows at the high school - just a little low-tech? Haggerty Road looks great. Our house looks fine - The brick sidewalk has been replaced, the siding is a nice colonial blue, the rail fencing is all gone, the lilacs have been removed, and there are no plantings out by the road - but there is new landscaping and it looks nice. Even Schettler's house looks good these days. Riggses have a nice new road fence - combo of shrubbery and brick pillars - very sharp looking. David B. has Mlsna's house for sale - rumor has it that he wants to sell the house separate from the rest of the property and do some sub-dividing.

We spent the rest of the day at Snider's enjoying Eric's family! Baby Emily is a chubby-cheeked charmer - very sweet-tempered and enjoyable! Ethan is a big boy - not quite 3. He greeted me with "Hi, Grandma Nancy." I took some pictures, and I'll add them here at the end of September when we're home for a couple of days. Ethan is very polite and well-behaved, and as Dick says, he's a sharp little guy! Eric and Tammy are doing a great job with their kids! Jan cooked dinner for all of us and we have a great time. It was the first time I had a chance to see their finished basement - what a nice place!

Tomorrow we'll visit Doug and Odette.

Wild Goose Chase

For some reason, Garmin is making it very hard for us to equip our new GPS with maps. After two trips to Cabela's in Dundee, and today's trip to REI in Northville, we still don't have the proper chip with the Michigan maps. I really don't understand why the maps are not readily available. It's very frustrating. We've bought 2 different chips now, and neither one fits our unit. The ironic part is that Dick selected this GPS because he especially liked the maps.

Yesterday we went geocaching in Hillsdale county and found six. It was a fun and interesting day. If you find yourself in Jonesville at lunchtime, just skip the Hilltop Diner. When we got home, Dick bought a cheap grill on sale at KMart, came home and put it together. So now we can grill anytime. We have an outside storage unit - it was empty - so now we have something to put in it!

Sunday Sniders came over to see our apartment. We spent the afternoon swapping stories and catching up on everybody, and eating pizza. Nice time!

Here are Dick's logs from our 6 Labor Day caches:

You found Rollin N Hillsdale (Traditional Cache)
We stopped today while adding Hillsdale County to our list. It is an interesting area. Lots of fathers taking their kids fishing on this beautiful Labor Day. Took 0, left our card and some game notebooks. Thanks for the hunt.


Found it 9/3/2007 You found Stock up (Traditional Cache)
We are on a quest to log caches in each of Michigan's 83 counties. Labor Day it was Hillsdale's turn. The descriptive BYOP threw us. We expected a much smaller container. However, even though there is a pen in the cache, the log book is wet and the cache needs work. We enjoyed our tour of Hillsdale and visiting many of the parks. Thanks for the fun.


Found it 9/3/2007 You found MIgeokids first Hide (Traditional Cache)
We are on a quest to find a cache in each Michigan county, today was Hillsdale. We enjoyed driving and visiting many parks and cemeteries in the area. We found this cache to be in mosquito heaven. Slather up with bug dope. The cache needs work. The contents, including the log book are wet, The pen is inoperative. We placed our sticker and sprinted back to the car hotly pursued by the insect swarm. The cache really does need attention.


Found it 9/3/2007 You found Munro Honeymoon Cache (Traditional Cache)
We are on a quest to find a cache in each of Michigan's counties. In each county we are picking a cache to launch one of our coins that we had created to commemorate our 50th wedding anniversary. This cache is the perfect place to begin the journey of our Hillsdale coin. We spoke with the B&B owner, the boys weren't interested, too hot we think. We think that it's amazing that a B&B in Jonesville could attract visitors from 60 different countries.

Found it 9/3/2007 You found SQ East Hill (Traditional Cache)
We spent the day in Hillsdale county adding to our list of counties in which we have found caches. This is number 70. We found the cache easily but discovered that the log book is full and wet. It needs attention. Thanks for the hunt

Found it 9/3/2007 You found MOSCOW PLAINS SPIRIT QUEST (Traditional Cache)
We spent Labor Day caching in Hillsdale county. This was our final as we drove back to Ann Arbor. What an interesting spot. We wish we had more time to poke around but we have other places to go and things to do.

App. State

The Appalachian State football team just put Michigan fans into an altered state.

We have just witnessed an historic event - holy cow - Appalachian State beat Michigan 34-32. I was confident that Mich would pull it out there at the end, but holy horrors, Batman, it didn't happen!

On the radio last night the overnight people were saying things like "Well, if Appalacian State can beat Michigan, anything can happen." People who keep track of statistics say that never ever once has a Division IAA team beat a fifth ranked Division I team. Well, maybe once in 1782. Or something. It's also been a long time since M lost a home opener, and Michigan hasn't lost 3 games in a row since Hector was a pup. (OSU, Rose Bowl, and today.)

Once long ago I learned a philosophy that concerned loving your children - that the one you love the most is the one who's farthest away, or the one who's in the most trouble, or the one who is the sickest. We may end the season loving this Michigan football team the most.

mgoblue:

Appalachian State's Late FG Upsets Football in Opener

Mike Hart rushed for 188 yards on 23 carries, including a brilliant 54-yard go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough as Appalachian State upset the No. 5 U-M football team, 34-32, Saturday, Sept. 1, in Michigan Stadium. The speedy Mountaineers owned a 28-17 halftime lead, but Michigan rebounded, scoring two touchdowns to take a 32-31 lead in the fourth quarter. However, ASU's Julian Rauch hit a 24-yard FG with 26 seconds remaining, and Jason Gingell's 37-yard attempt for U-M was blocked.

After the game, we went down to Cabela's in Dundee to get a map chip for the new Garmin GPS, and had dinner at Lone Star. We're seeing Sniders tomorrow.

Adventure Prep

We're almost ready to set out for our 2007 Ann Arbor adventure. Laundry baskets, suitcases, totes, and book bags are stuffed and ready to load into the car. The mail will be forwarded, the paper is stopped, and the neighbors are notified. Best of all, the apartment in Ann Arbor is ready and waiting. It has 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, outdoor patio, car port, wi-fi, and A.C. I think we will be most comfy.

The first Michigan football game is Saturday at noon and I can't wait! No games for me all season last year, and I'm READY!! There are games for 4 weeks in a row. Tom and Peter G. are coming on the 8th for the Oregon game, and they'll stay with us :) We may have friends coming on the 15th for the Notre Dame game.

During the next 6 weeks downstate, we plan to see old friends, visit Doug and Odette, go geocaching, and maybe see some other U of M athletic events besides football. We also want to meet halfway with Sharon and John for lunch or dinner one day, and go to the movies with Jan! I'm sure we'll have plenty to do, and the time will go by too quickly!

We're ready - yaaay!

Winnie the Guinea

Dylan has some new pets. His Mom and Dad have allowed him to pick out two (2) guinea pigs! He's very excited! It sounds like he will be a very, very responsible pet owner! He named them Winnie the Guinea and Georgalina. Winnie is the brown and white one, and Georgalina is the gray one with a cowlick. Dylan says it's a guinea pig bad hair life!

Chip and Laurie built a custom-made cage with a chloroplast bottom. They have bought the pets a "Snack Shack" and have given them a tennis ball for a toy. They all sit and watch the guinea pigs now instead of TV.

I think that 9 3/4 is just about the perfect age to become responsible for little pets, and I think that W. and G. are very lucky little guineas.

A Day in Cattle Track

The weather report was ominous, but the day turned out to be almost ideal - just a little bit on the hot and sticky side. The plan was to meet Tim and Susie for lunch at Maggie's (a great spot in Cadillac) and then spend the day caching. It worked out extremely well. (Almost.) We stopped on the way down to do a couple of caches at Meauwataka...and had a tragic accident with our Magellan GPS - luckily we had another GPS with us.

The lunch was great, the company was wonderful as usual, and the geocaching was successful. Here are Dick's logs:

8/22/2007 You found Meauwataka Mall
We set out today for a leisurely patch of cachin' in Cadillac with friends. This was our first stop. We have driven this route many times before the 131 extension opened. Now days - not so much.We pulled in about 10:30 and Ol' Sharp Eyes had the cache back to the car before I had my bag out of the back. Took nothing, just signed the log and left our card and a TB. The road to the east is all torn up but that way lies the next cache. Thanks for the fun.

8/22/2007 You found Meauwataka's Mushroom Spot
This was our second stop on a Cadillac cachin' day. We found the first stage with a little looking after the GPS settled down, we spotted the final from the car. The inside of the log book baggie was sticky so we took the wipes. Traded some school supplies for them. We also traded TBs. Returned the cache to it's proper location and then disaster struck. When I closed the hatch, I slammed it on the GPS breaking the screen. Since I've done it twice before, broken the screen, not slammed it in the door, I knew that we are going to be out $100. Thank goodness we carry a back up. Putting the best face we could on the event, we drove off for lunch. Thanks for the hunt.

8/22/2007 You found Pickled Haring
This was our last stop in a day of caching teamed up with the Dino Duo. It was only 4:30 and we had only scored a dozen but we aren't as young as we used to be. (Yesterday) We took nothing, left a carabiner light, and interrupted the stories long enough to return the cache to its proper location. Thanks for the hunt and for providing a cache that was a part of an extremely enjoyable day.

8/22/2007 You found I Lost The Game
We won "The Game", if we played "The Game", because, due to a disaster earlier in the day, we had never heard of "The Game" until we sat down to log it. Teamed with the Dino Duo, we had only the coordinates to work with as we found the cache, "The Game" was never mentioned.
Maybe we didn't play "The Game". It would appear that, if one plays "The Game" by rule they must lose. Since we didn't think of "The Game" we didn't lose. Since we didn't lose, we must not have been playing.
However, since Rule 1 says "You are playing the game.", we must have been playing and since we didn't think of "The Game" therefor we must have won.
We appeal to the almighty arbitrator to grant us a ruling, otherwise we may never sleep again.
Signed the log and dropped of a TB. Thanks for the fun.


8/22/2007 You found geo medicine
Quick grab. Chalk up another smilie.

8/22/2007 You found It'll Blow You Away
A quick grab while teamed up with Dino Duo. The magnet is missing and the log book is damp because the baggie is torn. We replaced the baggie after we signed the log. Thanks for bringing us here and reminding us of "The Great War" that made the world safe for Democracy.

8/22/2007 You found Clock Zeebo
After a great lunch and fun conversation with Tim and Susie of the Dino Duo, we began an afternoon of caching in Cadillac. Because of an earlier disaster in which I smashed our main GPS in the car door, we had to depend upon them to give us the coordinates to load into our backup. This is an interesting spot and a great hide but I'm afraid we chased away a trio of youngsters who were only trying to eat their lunch in peace. Thanks for the fun beginning to a great day.

8/22/2007 You found An Evening Stroll in Cadillac
A great hide! Interestingly, we had contemplated a hide at a similar spot in the cache owners home town. Since we were teamed up with the experienced Dino Duo, this was a quick find. We signed the log and left a stuffed toy, then we drove off marveling at Koda's ingenuity. Thanks for the adventure.

8/22/2007 You found Deep In The Cedar
Clever!! We were thrown off looking for what was not there. The Dino Dude spotted it quickly and led the rest of us to the spot. Signed the log and left a Geopin. Thanks for the hunt.

8/22/2007 You found NOT!
Tagging along with the Dino Duo, they showed us this clever puzzle. After an earlier disaster, we were using the backup GPS which did not have the cords, educated snooping led us to the prize. Thanks for the hunt.

8/22/2007 You found Mill No.1
We were out for an afternoon of caching in the Cadillac area teamed up with the Dino Duo. We found the cache after a short search and signed the log. Thanks for the history lesson. We enjoyed the area.

8/22/2007 You found Stroll The Paved Pathway Again
We came down to Cadillac for an afternoon of caching with the Dino Duo. After a great lunch at Maggies, (as recommended by the cache owner) (BTW, our waitress was Lyndsey, look for her on American Idol) we set out for a leisurely afternoon of caching in the Cadillac area. We had visited this spot with them last year. Found the cache, signed the log and left a TB. Thanks for the fun.

Our Yooper Tour

Some of Our Weekend Caching

8/19/2007 You found Don't Fall for City Hall
We spent the weekend working on finding a cache in each of the UP counties. To commemorate the finds, we have been naming one of our 50th Anniversary Geocoins after the county and placing it in one of that county's caches. Since we were running out of weekend, Delta was to be our last stop before the dash for home. We were afraid that this cache would be too small but as luck would have it, our Delta coin just fit. Found the cache about 3:00, signed the log, dropped the coin and hit the road. Thanks for the cache.



8/19/2007 You found Apple Blossom Trail Cache
We spent the weekend working on finding a cache in each of the UP counties. To commemorate the finds, we have been naming one of our 50th Anniversary Geocoins after the county and placing it in one of that county's caches. We chose Apple Blossom as the spot to start out Iron County coin. It was a pleasant walk to the cache along a beautiful trail. The hide is very well designed and appreciated. We will move the Silver Fox TB. We left some Sun and Bug wipes as well as our coin. Thanks much for the fun.


8/19/2007 You found Roadside Park in Powers
We came up across the bridge for a weekend in which we hoped to find a cache in each county that thus far had eluded us and to begin the travels of one of our new 50th Anniversary Geocoins in it. This cache in Powers seemed to be perfect. We found it quickly and signed the log, left a stuffed Walrus and launched our Menominee coin. Thanks for the hunt.

8/19/2007 You found US 2 and M 95 Travel Bug Resort
We came up across the bridge for a weekend in which we hoped to find a cache in each county that thus far had eluded us and to begin the travels of one of our new 50th Anniversary Geocoins in it. A conveniently located TB Exchange was perfect for us. Here we launched our coin, "Dickinson". We also picked up a few TB's that we think we can help along the way. Thanks for such a fun stop.

8/19/2007 You found Ghost Town of the Pine Days
Rats! We are on a quest to find a cache in each of Michigan's 83 counties and thought this was in Gogebic. Just a couple of miles short of the line. We enjoyed the ride through the red pine plantation and the history of the spot. Thanks for bringing us back here.

8/19/2007 You couldn't find Another Roadside Park...
We are on a quest to find a cache in each of Michigan's counties and launch one of our coins in it. We had hoped that this would be our Gogebic cache. Alas it was not to be. We looked in the spot that both the clue and the GPS led us but could not find a cache. Oh well.

8/19/2007 You found Bruce Crossing
A quick stop and grab, the log book is full so we left a new mini log in the container. TFTC

8/18/2007 You found Cliff Mine History Lesson
We enjoyed the history lesson. It is neat to walk back in the woods and find such a huge patch of myrtle. Amazing what nature can do in a hundred years. We took a number of pictures and traded a geopin and a pack of Crayolas for some shark teeth. Thanks for the hunt.

8/18/2007 You found SENECA LAKE
We are on a quest to find a cache in each of Michigan's 83 counties. This morning we drove from Naubinway to the Keweenaw, the thermometer in the car read 33º. What's up with that? We found the cache quickly about 2:00 and signed the log. We had some coins made up to commemorate our 50th wedding anniversary and we started the one we have named Keweenaw here. Thanks for the fun.

8/18/2007 You found Where's the Light?
We are on a quest to find a cache in each of Michigan's 83 counties. This morning as we drove up from Naubinway, the thermometer in the car read 33º. What's up with that? Looking for a spot along the beach, we could tell that this one would be perfect. After an enjoyable drive from the main road, it was a surprise to find a campground back here. We found the cache quickly about noon, signed the log, and traded a geopin for some "Luck of the Irish" coins. We had some Geocoins made up to commemorate our 50th wedding anniversary and we started the one we have named Baraga here. Thanks for the fun.

8/18/2007 You found Baraga TB Pitstop
On a caching weekend in the UP. Found with no trouble and, as we had no bug to drop off, we just signed the log as the owner instructed.

8/18/2007 You found Copper Country Heritage
We are on a quest to find a cache in every county in Michigan, this is our first Houghton County cache. The log books are both full and badly need to be replaced. We found a spot on the margin and signed the log. TFTC

8/18/2007 You couldn't find Anchor Away
We are on a quest to find a cache in every county in Michigan, this is our first attempt in Baraga County and this time the Bear bit us. We gave it all the time we could spare and came up empty. Kudos to those who found it easily.

8/18/2007 You couldn't find Bridges of Keweenaw County - Gratiot River
No Joy for us today. We gave it our best shot with no success. Oh well. Noticing that the guard rails have all been replaced recently lead us to believe (hope?)that it might be missing.

8/18/2007 You found TURKEY SHOOT CACHE
Finding the cache was the easy part, getting to it was the adventure. We were on Cliff Drive and our auto routing sent us up Ojibway Rd. At first it was passable if rough but the part east of the snowmobile trail rapidly deteriorated. We backed down and debated whether to go north or south on the trail. The shaky looking wooden bridge decided for us and so we drove south along the abandoned RR grade for about two miles (two years?). Never has asphalt looked so good. The drive was one we will remember. We took nothing from the cache, just signed the log and left a package of toys. Thanks for the fun.