Our Valley Ranch Apartment

Our Ann Arbor home away from home from Labor Day until Oct. 15 - 1455 Oak Valley Drive, Apt. 103
Good Times!

Class of 1957

Fifty years ago I graduated from the Univ. of Mich. with a Bachelor's Degree in Education (BA Ed). Today is Homecoming Day, and my class was honored at the Alumni Assn. Homecoming Tailgate Brunch. I had a really good time - the food wasn't good, but the entertainment was fabulous, and there were great freebies.
Here's Dick's report of our day:

We are winding up our A2 excursion. We have had a blast! Saturday's game was icing on the cake. It was homecoming and Nancy's 50th reunion tailgate. The festivities were in the Track & Field building which is just in the outfield of the Baseball stadium. I got permission to drive in and drop her off and then I took the car back to our parking spot and walked back down to the brunch.
The food was pathetic but the event was fun. Branstatter spoke as did Pres. Mary Sue Coleman. The Alumni Pep band played and both the men's and women's glee clubs sang. There was a lot of the old time M music that today's kids don't know. On the day we must have sung "I wanta go back to Michigan" and "The Yellow and the Blue" a half dozen times each. The scary thing was when Ron Kramer spoke. He was in Nancy's class and my fraternity. I remember him as being a big guy but he looks average now. He walks with a cane and has become an old man. What happened!





After the program, there was a shuttle available back to the stadium. We were told that it was going to gate 9 which is by our seats. Wrong! It dropped us at Crisler Arena. I had left stuff in the car so Nancy was on her own and I walked around the outside to the car and then back to the seats. All the walking would have been no problem except, somehow in the morning I slipped on something in the bathroom and broke a toe. It didn't bother me until after the shuttle ride, then it started to burn. Still, I was able to ignore it and enjoy the game until the 4th quarter when one of the early leavers stepped on it. It started to throb and Nancy gave me some Tylenol. When we got home I was afraid to look at it. The thing is a nice fluorescent purple. We iced it and Nancy gave me some pain stuff that has some sleepy dust in it.
The bottom line is that the three or four caches that I had planned on doing today didn't get done. We stayed home and packed up our stuff and loafed. About 2 we went out to lunch at Joe's Crab Shack. Lobster Bisque and Crab Cakes. It was great! Once again, thank you Tim and Susie!!

The weather was perfect for football. We were a little worried about playing Purdue, but as it turned out, Michigan dominated the whole game. Justin (Wolverine Warrior) bought our two spare tickets and came with his daughter Emily. It was a perfect game for her to see - she loved all of the Homecoming activities. I gave her some beads and a pull-out Go Blue sign - she was tickled. She got to see every variety of the wave that there is- forward, backward, fast, slow, superfast, and double. I'm so glad that she had a good experience. The only downside was that Michael sprained his ankle and didn't play in the second half.
It was a splendid day all around.

Super Mario Stars as Football Rolls Past Boilermakers
Mario Manningham caught two first-half touchdown passes -- on 24- and 21-yard strikes from Chad Henne -- en route to a career day, and the Wolverine defense crashed Purdue's wide-open passing attack Saturday, Oct. 13, as the U-M football team defeated the Boilermakers, 48-21, in Michigan Stadium. Mike Hart had a terrific first half, running for 102 yards to help Michigan gain a 24-point halftime advantage. The U-M defense -- led by Terrance Taylor's two TFL's -- protected the lead with a vigorous second half.

Three-O-Caching

For three days in a row, we traveled to a different area each day for sightseeing and geocaching.

On Wednesday, we went to Grosse Ile - it was a most interesting day. Dick has picked out a bunch of virtuals because they are easy enough even for me! He's very considerate that way. We did about a dozen virtuals in that area - all interesting, and some were fascinating. For instance, did you know that there was slavery in Michigan? On Grosse Ile there was a plaque describing how a woman who was born a slave became free in 1815, and willed part of her estate to establish an Episcopal chapel. Her name was Lisette Denison, and she was quite an influential woman for her day.

Thursday we went to the South Lyon area. We were impressed with the cache containers and the cache placements around South Lyon. It was fun, exciting, and gave us a couple of really good ideas! It was fun to see the beautiful homes in new subdivisions on the outskirts of town. The downtown was decorated with stuffed scarecrows in trick or treat costumes which had been created by various local businesses and put up on the lamp posts. The stuffed scarecrows were adorable and really well done - it made for a really attractive display. I was impressed.

Friday we stayed around Ann Arbor and had a great time exploring old haunts, and finding our way around the one way streets, the construction, and the congestion. Dick was really on a roll - he found everything right away. He has developed very good caching instincts.

Kingdom - Don't Go

Are you a movie goer? You can skip Kingdom, with Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner. If you enjoy this type of movie you might as well find your local recruiter, suit up, train, and go to Baghdad - this movie is just like being there...very bloody, very violent, true to life, and depressing. Jan, Diann and I went today and I have to point at Diann - she selected the movie! It was horrible.

The rest of the day was great! Jan and I went back to the condo where Dick and Bill were waiting. Tammy came over with the kids (Ethan and baby Emily) and Eric came after work. Jan ordered Chinese take-away and we had a great time with the kids. Eric and Tammy will be moving to Wisconsin in a few weeks, so we treasure the time we can spend with them.

Saline Dias

Pardon the pun.

The Ann Arbor News sports page article about yesterday's game had a headline that said Michigan's victory was "Satisfying Enough". I wouldn't have said that - I would have said that the victory was "OK", or maybe "We'll Take It". But satisfying? Well, no.

We were outside at 8:30 this morning, headed to Saline for more caching before the day got too warm. At our first stop, the humidity was already uncomfortable even though the temp was only 71 at that time. As the day wore on, the temp got up to 90. The high temps don't bother you as much when you spend the time between outings in an air conditioned car!

Saline is a really attractive town - the downtown area looks vital and viable, the neighborhoods are well-maintained, the city parks are numerous, and the outlying subdivisions are filled with McMansions. The US12 approaches to Saline are booming with everything a town needs - all the fast food, groceries and warehouse shopping that one could ask for. The surrounding country roads are so pleasant to drive - nice farms, gorgeous barns, and huge fields.

I was really disappointed with the Oak Hill Cemetery. The gate was closed and padlocked - on a Sunday afternoon! I felt like they slammed the door in my face. We especially loved one stage of the Tour de Saline series of 10 - we are thinking of duplicating that one. We also really liked the Tour Through Saline (yes, they are two different series), and we're thinking of copying that one as well.

I helped Dick search for a couple of these, but he basically did the whole day by himself, and found everything!

Found it 10/7/2007 You found Tour through Saline (Multi-cache)
We enjoyed this cache very much. It's hard to believe this was a first effort.Despite multiple muggles at the final, we were able to grab the cache, sign the log while admiring the sculpture garden, and replace it. Thanks for the fun.

Found it 10/7/2007 You found Tour de Saline - Marpool / Canterbury Park (Traditional Cache)
Found the pricker free route. The house and yard to the north(the one with the caboose) is amazing! Not many muggles this warm Sunday morning. Thanks for the series and thanks for the cache.

Found it 10/7/2007 You found Down by the pond (Traditional Cache)
We went after this one Sunday afternoon as the thermometer and humidity were both climbing toward 90. Once the GPS settled down it was an easy find. SL,TN,LN. Thanks for the hunt.

Found it 10/7/2007 You found Tour de Saline - Teft Park (Traditional Cache)
This was our first find on a Sunday in which temperatures are forecast to approach 90. A very cool hide. It had us scratching our heads, we may have to copy it. Thanks for the fun.

Found it 10/6/2007 You found Always Pittsfield (Multi-cache)
We did this one this afternoon with summer weather. This is one of our least favored caches. we just can't get into enjoying exploring the ditches along a busy highway. TNLNSL

Found it 10/6/2007 You found Rec Center Micro (Traditional Cache) [visit log]
In Saline on a hot muggy Sunday. Nice walk and because of the excellent cords, it was a quick find. Thanks for the hunt

Sun-Baked Football Fans

Wow, was it hot.

Hot, hot, hot.

We drank Pepsi, and water, and water followed by some water and still felt like we were cooking. Whew. We personally saw 3 people on the golf cart ambulances being taken to First Aid, plus one man from our section who had to be carried about 30 rows up our aisle after the game and taken to First Aid. It's not the hottest day we've ever seen at Michigan Stadium, but it was definitely Hot Enough For Me (officially 88F, although our car thermometer said 90F when we got back to the car). I sat outside in the shade at half time, and that was a very good idea!

The game was shocking to me - Eastern Michigan should have been beaten easily, but in the first half they were quite effectively competitive. It was pitiful, to be honest. Michigan did pull it out 33-22, but it was not a win to be particularly proud of, in my opinion.

mgoblue.com:

Hart Runs for Record as Football Dashes Past Eastern
Mike Hart's 14-yard gallop in the first quarter -- which led to a 31-yard TD pass from Chad Henne to Adrian Arrington -- made Hart Michigan's all-time leading rusher Saturday, Oct. 6, as the U-M football team defeated Eastern Michigan, 33-22, in Michigan Stadium. Jake Long and the Wolverine offensive line opened gaping holes early and often for Hart, who dazzled with 215 yards and three scores on 22 carries. U-M's defense -- paced by Obi Ezeh's 9 tackles -- contained EMU's spread attack, holding the Eagles to one touchdown.

It was exciting to be there when Michael became the U of M Career Rushing Champion (previously held by Anthony Thomas, the A Train). The crowd is into chants this year, and they chanted his name and did a standing ovation.

The U of M student population is amazingly diverse. But on a football Saturday, they all wear the official yellow Tee shirt and sing, chant, and gesture in unison. We noticed a sikh with the Tee shirt, but his turban was beige. You'd think that Ulrich's would have a maize and blue turban, or maybe one designed like a helmet! Today we saw a helmet design on a beach ball that was being bounced around under the Press Box.

Today is Holden's birthday,(he is now nine years old) and his folks bought our tickets so that Holden could bring a friend. The birthday group was late getting there because they had a soccer game first. They seemed to enjoy themselves just fine. The boys decided that football requires more strategy than soccer. Happy Birthday Holden.

It feels so good to be home in the AC with dry clothes. It feels good to be cool, comfortable and victorious.

Hail to the Victors.

Points East

It was another beautiful, warm, blue sky day.

We drove to Rochester Hills to visit Doug and Odette for lunch. I was expecting to go out to a restaurant, or to order pizza, or maybe to have a sandwich. You have to know Odette to know what I mean when I say she prepared us a complete Sunday dinner...and we ate at the Big Table! It was very delicious, and the entire visit was satisfying and enjoyable. We had a great time reminiscing, passing on family news, and discussing events. Doug and Odette are in good spirits as always, despite a few health problems. They always manage to overcome.

On the way home we found three virtuals - they were all interesting - and it was good to have an excuse to stop and stretch on the way home.

Found it 10/5/2007 You found All aboard!!!!! (Virtual Cache)
We visited family in Rochester Hills today and came back across 59. We hit the three virtuals along the way. The history was interesting to us because we seldom visit this area. Thanks for the push for us to stop as we drove past.

Found it 10/5/2007 You found Highland Station (Virtual Cache)
We visited family in Rochester Hills today and came back across 59. We hit the three virtuals along the way. The history was interesting to us because we seldom visit this area. Kudos to those who aided in the restoration and creation of this small park. Thanks for the push for us to stop as we drove past.

Found it 10/5/2007 You found Get a Handel on it (Virtual Cache)
We visited family in Rochester Hills today and came back to Ann Arbor across 59. We hit the three virtuals along the way. The history was interesting to us because we have not visited this area. We have blown past on the xway hundreds of times but never gotten off to see the town. A number of the local elementary school mom's were gathered out in front of the hall to share the news and gossip of the day. Almost as if we were in a time warp. Thanks for the push for us to stop look, and learn.

Memory Lane and Red Hawk

It was a day to go down Memory Lane over in Belleville. We caught up on some caches around town and in the MetroPark. One of the caches was in the Hillside Cemetery, and it was like a blast from the past driving down the lanes of the cemetery because we recognized all of the family names...well 85% at least. We saw Phil's grave for the first time since the funeral when Dick was one of the pallbearers. Such memories! All in all it was an awesome morning. We ate lunch at Mr. Bill's, which is a lot different now than when it used to be Little Caesar's.

This evening we met John "Edward Applebee" for dinner at the Red Hawk Grill on campus. We really enjoyed his company a lot. He's actually younger than our kids - a lovely young man - interesting, intelligent, and thoughtful. We had a great time with him. He visits TC often because he has family there, and he was there last weekend while we were there. He told me that he saw this Subaru with Migo 1 on the license plate - I said "That was us!" He was behind us at a traffic light. What are the odds?

It's been another idyllic day.

Some of Dick's logs from Belleville:

10/4/2007 You found Walk Along the Paw Paw Trail (Traditional Cache)
This area has many memories for us. For 20 years we lived just outside the park entrance on Haggerty Rd. and the park was just through the fence in our back yard. What we recall most about this trail are the dramatic red buds in bloom in the spring and a large cluster of Jack-in-the-Pulpit . Today the cords seemed to be about 50 feet off but found it with the clue and some searching. Traded sigs, thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Found it 10/4/2007 You found METROPARKS: PARK EDGE (Traditional Cache)
This is probably the only one of the Metro Park series that we’ll do this year but since, for 20 years that we lived and raised a family on Haggerty Rd this was our backyard, we had to do this one. This park not only provided recreation and enjoyment for all of us, it also provided summer employment for two of our kids and a place where we taught kids how to drive. We have walked, biked, and skied all of the trails in the park and so had a pretty good idea where this cache would be. Found it today about 3, signed the log and left a chalkboard set.
Thanks to the Metro Parks and their staffs for their support of this quirky activity of ours.

Found it 10/4/2007 You found On Owen Street? (Traditional Cache)
Wow! Memory Lane. 50 years ago when we were first married, what is now the High School building was K-12. Neither of the Jr. Highs existed. All three of our kids attended South and many of our friends taught here. We haven’t been back for over 15 years. Thanks for the memories. TFTC

Found it 10/4/2007 You found Jagman's Smallie spot! (Traditional Cache)
What an improvement this park is. When we came to live in Belleville and had an apartment a few blocks east on Liberty 50 years ago, this was the site of a ramshackle building, the oldest in the town. Here, in the 1950's the Doanes bought, sold, restored, and recycled old car batteries. The excess overflowed out the back and down along the lake shore. This park is a fantastic addition and a much nicer first impression of the town. Thanks for making us aware of what the city has accomplished in the 15 years we have been gone.

Found it 10/4/2007 You found Where's the Beef? (Traditional Cache)
Fun concept, we like it. we'd copy it but we don't have any Xways in our neck of the woods so we can't. When we lived in the subdivision north of here in the late 50's, there was just a stop sign at the intersection of Quirk and the Ford Freeway. If the traffic was heavy, you could take Belleville Rd. where there was a traffic light. Thanks for the memories.

Found it 10/4/2007 You found No Bones About It 2! (Traditional Cache)
For the first 35 years of our married life we lived, taught, and raised our family in the Van Buren Public School District. In all of those years, except for a few funerals, we rarely visited this place. In the course of our careers we taught multiple thousands of students. In addition, we worked with and associated with many hundreds of adults. We have found many cemetery caches before but this is the first time that we knew many, in fact the majority of the names. As we drive along the lanes we see the grandparents, aunts, and uncles of our “kids”. We also viewed the resting places of parents we met, colleagues with whom we worked and even some of our former students. This was truly a drive down memory lane. We signed the log and left a Geopin. Thanks for giving us a push to visit here this afternoon.

Dream Day

Breakfast out, movies, dinner out - wow! Three days of activity in one!

The monthly BHS retirees breakfast was this morning at the Bomber in Ypsi (don't ask). Dick was in hog heaven because this month the coaches showed up. They could discuss past, present and future developments in football, not to mention memories of teams past and commiserating about teams present. He sat with Tom F., Kirk, Bob, Bill. and Tommy M. (for 2 1/2 hours)!

At the other end of the table (the fun end) I sat with Jan, Diann, Dorothy, Linda, Cindy (Madame) and Carol. I heard all about the latest trip to Branson, everybody's kids, good books and good movies, plus just a bit of gossip.

Afterwards, Jan, Diann and I went to the Showcase to see Game Plan, with the Rock. We decided that he has a really nice smile and nice brown eyes (!). It's a cute movie with some really funny lines, and some stupid food disasters (stupid is a really mean word). We enjoyed it - it was entertaining and fun. The child star was adorable, but needs an ear job - no kidding!

In the evening, Jan&Bill and Diann&Bill came over for a drink, and we all went out to dinner at Godaiko Japanese Restaurant. We went there because of the generous gift certificate we got from Tim&Susie (thanks) and we had a marvelous time. The food was really good - very satisfying. The company was enjoyable, and it was a very pleasant time.

A Dream Day

Turtle Cove and Grizzly Peak

You just wouldn't believe what's happening in the Lower Huron MetroPark!! There is a huge new waterpark under construction - it's almost finished. It's called the Turtle Cove Aqua Center. We saw two big waterslides, 3 new buildings, a "lazy river". It's located right behind our Haggerty Road house - our kids would have been able easily to walk there - it's closer than the ice skating pond, and much closer than the swimming pool. We took pictures so that maybe our kids will believe us - although they still may not believe us!

It's going to be spectacular for next summer - there's a huge parking lot alongside it, and I just know that on hot summer days next year it will be a popular spot!

We had no idea that this aqua center was being planned, and nobody was more surprised that we were. You can actually see it from our park entrance!

This evening we were supposed to meet fellow geo-cacher Edward Applebee for dinner at the Grizzly Peak. We were there at the appointed time, but he stood us up - well he was very apologetic about it - it seems he ran into some glitches. Meanwhile, we had a great dinner, and really enjoyed everything anyway. Ann Arbor is a delightful town in the evening. While I was waiting for Dick to pick me up I was out on the street with the sidewalk patio diners, and watching the people strolling past was fascinating. Young, old, couples, groups, black, Asian, handicapped in wheelchairs, well-dressed, funkily dressed - and this was in just four or five minutes of watching! Ann Arbor is a great town.

Home to T.C.

It was a lovely day for a drive. We set out from Bay City, did 5 caches in 2 counties (Arenac and Gladwin), and now we have found a cache in every county in the Lower Peninsula. Yaaaay! We still have two counties to do in the U.P.

When we got home, Dick mowed the entire yard, and then we went into town to the bank and to Jiffy Lube. He also logged all of our latest finds, - he was the energizer bunny!

Yesterday was game day, and since the Big Ten Network and the cable company can't agree on a price structure, we couldn't see the game at home. Shooter's is a nice sports bar. It turned out to be a nice, loud, energetic, crowded, happy sports bar. The game began dismally, but the fourth quarter was delightful - we were very relieved and satisfied. Just wish that team would get its act together!

mgoblue:

Henne, Wolverines Show Resolve With Win at Northwestern
Chad Henne set the U-M record for career touchdown passes with an 11-yard strike to Mario Manningham in the first quarter Saturday, Sept 29, as the Michigan football team defeated Northwestern, 28-16, on Ryan Field. NU racked up 309 yards by halftime to lead 16-7, but Henne threw his 74th career score -- a 5-yard shot to Carson Butler -- in the third quarter, and gave U-M the lead with a 16-yard bullet to Adrian Arrington with 9:53 remaining. The Wolverine defense then sealed the triumph, forcing four straight Wildcat turnovers.

I was surprised that so many people bring their children to the bar on a Saturday afternoon. One group of boys was wandering around all afternoon, totally at a loss for something to do, and nobody seemed to be in charge of them. I'm sure there were a dozen other places those boys would have rather been.

Today we're on our way back down to Ann Arbor for 2 more weeks.

ThumbDay

1.The Thumb is very, very agricultural - mostly navy beans, corn and sugar beets - especially sugar beets.

2. Port Huron is a really nice town - they have a lovely riverfront, and it's fun to look across to Canada. The Blue Water Bridge is huge. When we were there, the traffic entering the US was extremely slow and backed up.

3. A lot of the riverfront area is devoted to Thomas Edison, who spent part of his boyhood in Port Huron. There's a museum, statues, streets named after him, etc.

4. The world's fist International Railroad Tunnel connects Sarnia and Port Huron. Who knew?

5. Comfort Inn uses new, soft, luxurious pillows - 4 on each bed! I want to get some so I will also have a luxurious bed!

6. We saw funny street names in Port Huron - my favorite was Puttygut Street. Rattle Run is a good one too.

7. Free Wi-Fi doesn't always mean that you'll get a connection.

8. Croswell has a suspension footbridge - the longest in the US. There's a sign over it that says "Be Kind to Your Mother-In-Law". I think I'll send a picture of it to Chip! ;)

9. We saw an Asian couple at a rest area picnic table - they were cooking noodles on a camp stove. They never sat down, they never spoke to each other, and they ate their noodles with chopsticks from small yellow bowls - with their backs to each other!

10. If you order a hot turkey sandwich for lunch, tell them to go easy on the gravy!!!

11. The young desk clerk at the motel does not always know the best place for dinner.

12. Our new Garmin GPS is great for navigating in strange territory - nice complete maps and good directions. It helps the driver if the navigator reads what's coming up next, since it's obviously hard to drive and read the GPS at the same time!

13. It's still possible to get lost.

14. Long freight trains should not come to a halt in the center of town (Bay City).

15. A bee's nest can ruin a geocache search.



Dick's logs from 2 days of geocaching in the Thumb:

Didn 9/26/2007 You couldn't find WTA Hoo Goes There? (Traditional Cache)
Add us to the list of those who went to the tree with the hollow by the boundary fence and came up short.

Found it 9/26/2007 You found Capac Rest Area - 69W (Traditional Cache)
I turned the hunt for this cache into an adventure and one of my personal Geocaching triumphs. We are on a quest to find caches in each of Michigan’s 83 counties. A google map search spotted this one just across the county line into St Clair County. Due to a number of circumstances, I loaded the coordinates by hand. In the process I transposed a couple of numbers thus placing me 175 feet off. A glance at the bushwhacking involved determined that this was to be a solo push. Ironically, my cords put me within 10 feet of a good, although empty, hiding spot. After expanding the search out to 60 feet, I thought about where I would logically locate the hide and, eventually, voila!
I traded sigs and launched our coin “St Clair County” which commemorates our 50th wedding anniversary. Thanks for the fun.

Found it 9/26/2007 You found Prairies and Ponds at Oakwood (Traditional Cache)
This was a pretty quick find but you may want to reconsider the ratings. A wrong turn at either of the two forks will easily double the distance traveled and the last 50 feet is certainly not wheelchair accessible. Folks with disabilities will find this cache quite challenging for a 1/1. Took the TB and left a matchbox type car. Thanks for showing us this interesting park.

Didn 9/26/2007 You couldn't find Don't Call Me Bradley (Traditional Cache)
This was a defeat for us. Bummer! Don't know if we'll get back this way again soon.

Write note 9/26/2007 You posted a note for Quincy Mine Number 5 (Traditional Cache)
We bought a can of spray and hit the bees with it but it didn't seem to faze them so we didn't hunt the area. Somebody should do it at night or dawn.

Found it 9/26/2007 You found Flint River No. 1 (Traditional Cache)
We are on a quest to fill in our map of counties in which we have found caches. In each new (to us) county, we are selecting a cache in which to launch one of our coins which we designed to commemorate our 50th wedding anniversary. We placed our coin Lapeer County in this cache today. Thanks for providing us with a suitable place.

Found it 9/26/2007 You found Pins and Keyrings (Traditional Cache)
This cache is in an interesting park. We've never seen one with the barbed wire on the top of the chain link fence was angled to keep the inmates in. Looks like it would be a busy place in the summer. Found the cache but could not sign the soaked log book. The contents have become geojunk so we didn't add to the mess. The owner, out of consideration for his fellow cachers, should arrange for a local cacher to provide maintenance on it.

Found it 9/27/2007 You found Death or Taxes - RDL (Traditional Cache)
We were looking for a place to launch our Sanilac County coin but it's too small. We took some beads and left a National Lakeshore token. Thanks for the fun

Found it 9/27/2007 You found Welcome to Bad Axe (Traditional Cache)
Quick grab, nice container. Left a keychain. Thanks for the hunt.

Found it 9/27/2007 You found Yo Quiero Pollo Bell (Traditional Cache)
Quick grab on our way to the tip of the Thumb. We are looking for a spot to launch our Huron County coin but this guy is just too small so we just left our mini sig card. Thanks for the laugh.

Found it 9/27/2007 You found Park and Grab (Traditional Cache)
We are trying to paint the map of Michigan which shows the counties in which we have found caches a solid red. In conjunction with this quest, we are naming and launching one of our 50th Anniversary Commemorative Geocoins after each new county we add. We have never cached in the Thumb before. In fact, before this trip, we have never visited Huron County. After finding the cache, we signed the log, left our coin and a glass lady bug. Thanks for providing us with a spot to leave our Huron County coin.

Found it 9/27/2007 You found Petroglyph Cache (Traditional Cache)
After discovering the web site “It’s not about the Numbers” we set out on a quest to paint our Michigan map red. In conjunction with finding a cache in each county we have missed in the past, we are naming and launching one of our commemorative 50th Wedding Anniversary Geocoins in each. We spotted this cache and decided that a coin would probably fit in it and the unique area would be special. We are sorry that the protective structures are closed but it was an enjoyable walk back to the cache. We removed some geojunk and left our coin. Thanks for a great spot for the launch of our Sanilac County coin.
I traded sigs and launched our coin “St Clair County” which commemorates our 50th wedding anniversary. Thanks for the fun.

9/27/2007 You found Cedar Point (Traditional Cache)
On a drive down the coast we over thought this one and tried to make something out of the name. Soon corrected our mistake and scored the find. Signed the log and left our mini sig. TFTC

Found it 9/27/2007 You found TWT Series - Jenks Park (Traditional Cache)
Great little park. It was brisk today with a temp of 62 and a stiff wind off the lake. We traded a geopin for a pen. Thanks for a cache break on our drive along the coast.

Found it 9/27/2007 You found ALWAYS In Caro (Traditional Cache)
Thanks for the smilie. This was our first Tuscola County find.

Found it 9/27/2007 You found A Haiku for You (Traditional Cache)
We are trying to paint the map of Michigan which shows the counties in which we have found caches a solid red. In conjunction with this quest, we are naming and launching one of our 50th Anniversary Commemorative Geocoins after each new county we add. The poet on the team spotted this cache and decided it would be perfect place for our Tuscola County coin to begin its journey.

To celebrate our
Fiftieth Annivers'ry
We leave you this coin

There were only two TB's in the cache which we took, we left a deck of cards, a Matchbox car and of course our Tuscola County coin.

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Saline

We're preparing for our weekend trip, so we did errands first - took back cans and bottles, started laundry, went downtown to the Federal Building to put a hold on our mail. began packing for real and also doing some mental packing - deciding which things we can take back to TC and which should stay here for the next 2 weeks. Reminds me of the old George Carlin routine about his "Stuff":

Sometimes you leave your house to go on vacation. And you gotta take some of your stuff with you. Gotta take about two big suitcases full of stuff, when you go on vacation. You gotta take a smaller version of your house. It's the second version of your stuff. And you're gonna fly all the way to Honolulu. Gonna go across the continent, across half an ocean to Honolulu. You get down to the hotel room in Honolulu and you open up your suitcase and you put away all your stuff. "Here's a place here, put a little bit of stuff there, put some stuff here, put some stuff--you put your stuff there, I'll put some stuff--here's another place for stuff, look at this, I'll put some stuff here..." And even though you're far away from home, you start to get used to it, you start to feel okay, because after all, you do have some of your stuff with you. That's when your friend calls up from Maui, and says, "Hey, why don'tchya come over to Maui for the weekend and spend a couple of nights over here."

Oh, no! Now what do I pack? Right, you've gotta pack an even SMALLER version of your stuff. The third version of your house. Just enough stuff to take to Maui for a coupla days. You get over to Maui--I mean you're really getting extended now, when you think about it. You got stuff ALL the way back on the mainland, you got stuff on another island, you got stuff on this island. I mean, supply lines are getting longer and harder to maintain. You get over to your friend's house on Maui and he gives you a little place to sleep, a little bed right next to his windowsill or something. You put some of your stuff up there. You put your stuff up there. You got your Visine, you got your nail clippers, and you put everything up. It takes about an hour and a half, but after a while you finally feel okay, say, "All right, I got my nail clippers, I must be okay." That's when your friend says, "Aaaaay, I think tonight we'll go over the other side of the island, visit a pal of mine and maybe stay over."

Aww, no. NOW what do you pack? Right--you gotta pack an even SMALLER version of your stuff. The fourth version of your house. Only the stuff you know you're gonna need.

We were very efficient getting things done, so we had time to head over to Saline to do some caching. We went back to Colony Park and we are still totally stumped by this hide. There's nowhere it can be. We've decided to ask for a hint. There were other successes, however:

Found it 9/25/2007 You found the old rail road (Traditional Cache)
This was a quick find on our second day visiting Saline. Don't think we've ever seen an old RR where the ties and tracks were left in place. Traded sigs and left a glass lady bug. Thanks for the hunt.

Found it 9/25/2007 You found Tour de Saline - Brecon Park II (Traditional Cache)
After spending a couple of hours over the past couple of days searching Colony Park, it felt good to find our first "Tour" cache. Signed the log and copied the numbers before we went for our next one. Thanks for the series. (We think)

Found it 9/25/2007 You found brecon park travel bug lodge (Traditional Cache)
Found it after finding another cache in the park. There is no log book so we signed the 3x5 card in the cache. Thanks for the hunt.

Found it 9/25/2007 You found Tour de Saline - Mill Pond Park (Traditional Cache)
Of the Saline parks we have visited thus far, this is our favorite. It seems to have everything including a Cross Country course. We found it quickly and after signing the log we traded a geopin for a bat. (BTW, the locs on one side are broken and the log book is damp.)

Found it 9/25/2007 You found as high as the sky (Traditional Cache)
We enjoyed the park. This was a fairly quick find, signed log and left our mini card. Thanks for the fun.

Found it 9/25/2007 You found Saline Parkside Cache (Traditional Cache)
This cache needs work. The contents are damp and the coords are about 35 feet off. It is not a particularly nice area. TNLNSL.

Found it 9/25/2007 You found Tour de Saline - Risdon / Peoples Park (Traditional Cache)
I found rrob’s cache in this park three years ago. I brought a couple of friends along to show them what caching is all about and how much fun it is. Well, these two guys figured this was the dumbest thing they’ve ever done. To them, the only reason to go for a walk is to beat on little white balls with a stick or to shoot small animals who are trying to get away. Different strokes. This was an easy find and finding a regular container was welcome. We traded sigs and left a pack of Crayolas for the next child who finds the cache. Regretfully, we ran out of time for today and had to leave Saline but we will be back, hopefully to finish the series.

Sweet Monday

The workout was as strenuous as always...we really needed iced tea at the end of it. Afterwards we went to the library to use the computers and the printer.

After lunch and a snooze at home, we went over to Saline to do some fun caching, except we didn't realize that the temp had zoomed up to 90, and it wasn't too conducive to active caching. We did mange to find two. The Rentschler Farm Museum one was the most fun - we looked and looked. We examined all of the old farm equipment in the shed, opened all of the containers we could find, and searched all of the rafters. Finally, a nice man, an ex-teacher who volunteers as handyman at the museum, came over to help us out. Without his help, I doubt we would have found it. But we had fun looking anyway! The Colony Park cache is very frustrating, and I think we'll be back over there maybe next week because now we just have to find it. We'll lay awake at night trying to figure out where it is!! But it was too hot to keep trying, so we stopped in at a store and bought salad stuff for dinner and called it a day.

Found it 9/24/2007 You found Base of the Past (Traditional Cache) ]
The farm brings back many memories both pleasant and unpleasant of when we were city kids who visited and “helped” on Uncle’s farm. In the thirties and forties many, if not most, still farmed with horses and the Binder and the Threshing machine had not yet been replaced by Combines. This is a great hide! May have to replicate it “Up North”. We looked at it a couple of times and this would have been a DNF had it not been for the encouragement of a friendly volunteer. Signed the log and left our card. Many thanks for the cache.

Found it 9/24/2007 You found Woodland Goats Gruff (Traditional Cache)
Very cute! Saline has sure changed since we used to drive through here 20 - 30 years ago. TFTC

9/24/2007 You couldn't find Tour de Saline - Colony Park (Traditional Cache)
Sometimes you bite the bear but sometimes the bear bites you. Today this bear took a great big chunk out of our hide. we will be back for another look.

We Did It Again!

Well, we've done it again. We've had another perfectly wonderful day - beautiful weather, geocaching success, good company, and the Red Robin!

We began by finding caches in Eaton and Ionia counties - to fulfill our goal of finding caches in each Michigan county.

Found it 9/23/2007 You found Bennett's Got Cache (Traditional Cache)
We used a luncheon appointment in Lansing as an excuse to add Eaton County to our list of counties in which we have found caches. We saw that Us Two had this cache that was large enough for our purposes.
When we learned of the web site "It's not about the numbers" last summer, we decided to fill in our map and find a cache in each of the rest of Michigan’s 83 counties and use one to launch one of our 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coins.
This hunt took us a great deal longer than it should have because we just could not get a decent fix. We used three different GPSr’s and for some reason they all indicated that the cache was over 100 feet from where we found it however, by the time we finished signing the log and leaving our coins, they had all narrowed the distance down to less than 20 feet.
We traded sigs and left a couple of coins. Thanks for the hunt D&E.

Found it 9/23/2007 You found When Bennett Met Frances (Traditional Cache)
We think that since we had a little extra time, you can’t do one without the other. Found the cache about 12:30, traded sigs and left a geopin. Thanks for showing us this nice park.

9/23/2007 You found Courthouse Roundup (Traditional Cache)
In town for a quick stop to add Eaton County to our list. This is a neat area but the container is not large enough for us to drop a coin. We just signed the log and drove back to Camp Frances. Thanks for the fun.

Found it 9/23/2007 You found Okemos (Traditional Cache)
This was a quick stop to add Ionia County to our list of counties in which we have logged caches. We appreciated the history lesson. Found the cache easily, signed the log and left a Jeep. Thanks for the hunt.

The best part of the day was spending the afternoon with John and Sharon in Lansing. We had a super time - a little reminiscing, a little gossip, a little family news, a little bragging about grandchildren (ahem), and watching the wedding video of Kevin and Amy. That was the highlight! Their wedding was a very joyful event, and watching it all was almost like being there. At their reception you could tell that everyone was having a really good time. Derek's toast to his brother was very touching, and Kevin's dancing was impressive.

Dinner at the Red Robin was nice. And the conversation was even better. We never seem to run out of things to talk about.
We've had a lovely day.

Holy Moley, Birthday Boy!

Happy Birthday to Dick!

The Michigan Football Team gave him a big, big gift today - they beat Penn State 14-9!
OK, so it wasn't exactly a blow-out, but it was a nice, hard-hitting win, and very satisfying. We are liking our freshman quarterback from Texarkana - he's doing a fine job.

To be absolutely honest, I didn't expect a win today. I was just hoping that we would play well and not get blown out, and that the team wouldn't embarrass themselves. Well, I got my wish and then some. It was a most pleasant day in every pleasant way.

mgoblue:

Football Upsets No. 10 Penn State in Big Ten Opener

Brandon Graham charged a hard-hitting Wolverine defense with two tackles for loss, a first-half forced fumble -- which led to a Ryan Mallett rushing touchdown -- and a second-half fumble recovery Saturday, Sept. 22, as the U-M football team shut down No. 10-ranked Penn State, 14-9, in the Big Ten opener in Michigan Stadium. Michael Hart equaled the defense's intensity, chewing up 153 tough yards on 44 carries, and clinching the Michigan triumph with a one-yard TD plunge in the fourth quarter.

When Michael Hart rushed for more than 100 yards today, they announced that he now holds the all time U of M record for 100+ yard career games. Then the crowd chants Mi-chael Hart, Mi-chael Hart. When he ran again for a first down, the announcer said First Down Michael Hart instead of First Down Michigan. I'm sure it will be a memorable afternoon for him.

Before the game, we located cousin Rick - we knew he would be selling pizza - and went over to say hi. I gave him a 50th anniversary coin for Good Luck.

We began the day with Dick cooking bacon and scrambled eggs for a birthday breakfast. This time we didn't set off the smoke alarm. Then we went over to Kohl's, which is just around the corner, because they were have a Super Sale from 7 until 1. Dick wanted shorts, but came home with two great bags - one for his new laptop and one for geocaching, and a new Michigan windbreaker. It was a great sale, which I can say even though I didn't find anything in the women's department.

It was another perfect day. The weather was great, the game was thrilling, our parking place is spectacular, the walk is easy, and everything works out splendidly!.

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.