Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Windfall Day

This day started out like any other day - dishes, laundry, vacuuming, computer games - and then Dick suggested going out to lunch! From then on, it was an ideal day, a lucky day, a real windfall of a day!
Here we are eating lunch al fresco at Amical. I felt a little under-dressed and under-coifed, but it was very pleasant. Dick had a good time watching people parking on the street, or attempting to park! The Asian Chicken salad was very nice - spicy and delicious. The dressing was very gingery.
Traverse City's own "bistro"!
Then we were off to Walton Junction for some cache maintenance. People have been reporting that they think the cache is missing, so we had to check it out. This cemetery sign is a bit optimistic - it would lead you to believe that the cemetery has been updated and refurbished when in reality there's nothing there - no headstones, mounds, plots, fences or anything. The area is outlined with stones, and that's the extent of the updating! Anyway, it's an interesting place to put out a cache.

It's a little alarming to be in the woods when everything is so dry. Our area is under a red flag warning from the National Weather Service because fire danger is extreme until we get some rain. The leaves are really crunchy, and the trails are very dusty - it's obvious that rain is badly needed.
Basswood Bend himself, engineering a replacement Walton Junction cache container.
This windblown tree is quite near the cache site, so Dick thinks that the cache just blew away in a big windstorm. It definitely was missing.
This large branch is more evidence of recent windfall.

From Walton, we went to find the Greenwood cache. Dick couldn't remember the hint at first, but with some nagging from me, he came up with enough of the hint so that we were able to find the cache.
We attempted to find the "Splatacular Cache". We had to log a DNF (Did Not Find), but the scenery was worth it.

Geocaching is a great motivation to drive these obscure, intriguing North Woods roads, cache or no cache!