Successful Day

Cold, windy day, but clear skies. The wind was penetrating, but we had good luck geocaching. We found 13 caches on the 13th.

Met Laurie for lunch at Panera Bread, and Chip came and joined us for coffee. They invited us to dinner at their house, and we had yummy chili made by Chip.

Here are Dick's logs for our 13 finds:

12/13/2010	You found Boat Ramp 6		Visit Log
After we posted a somewhat snarky log for a micro a few days ago, John&Jelene wrote us a note and suggested we give Boat Ramp Rd. a look. We did today and loved it! We had a lunch date in Palm City and our clock was running out but after finding one of our pencils in the previous cache, we had to give this one a shot. No pencil but we found one of our winter 2008 sig cards. We signed the log and left our pencil and our latest card. Thanks for the fun. We had to forgo the last two caches on the road, a reason to return.
12/13/2010	You found Boat Ramp 5		Visit Log
We were working our way along Boat Ramp Rd and we eventually came to number 5. Imagine our surprise when we opened the log baggie and found one of our pencils. What a hoot! We used it to sign the log. Thanks for the fun.
12/13/2010	You found Boat Ramp 4		Visit Log
Last week we received a note from the owners of this series after our somewhat snarky log on a micro. They informed us of this series and invited us to give it a look. We started our day with five micros, three of which had damp and moldy log "books". We truly enjoy finding containers which are large enough to leave sig items and swag. This series has been the most enjoyable on this year's Florida visit. I retrieved the container and brought it back to the cachemobile to survey the contents and to sign the log book. As we were finishing, a police officer pulled up behind us and asked if we were having any problems. I said "No everything's fine". His response was "Oh, are you Geocaching? We get a lot of that along here." We signed the log, left our card and a brass uniform button we picked up in Russia. Thanks for the adventure.
12/13/2010	You found Boat Ramp 3		Visit Log
Continuing our visit to the enjoyable caches on Boat Ramp Rd. we discovered this well camoed and hidden cache. Thanks again. We signed the log and left one of our new pathtags. Thanks for another fun cache.
12/13/2010	You found Boat Ramp 2		Visit Log
As promised by the owners, this series is making our day. We haven't found so many real caches in a row since last year in JD park. We signed the log and left some hand sanitizer.
12/13/2010	You found Boat Ramp 1		Visit Log
Continuing the boat ramp series, we spotted the camoed container and for the first time on this Florida trip, we were able to trade sig cards. We signed the log and left a geo-keychain, then it was on to the next one.
12/13/2010	You found Boat Ramp Gate!		Visit Log
After receiving a note from the owners inviting (and challenging) us to do this series, we put it near the top of our ToDo list. After finding the well placed container, we signed the log and left a ladybug charm and continued on down the road.
12/13/2010	You found Savage Forest Fire		Visit Log
This find was, to us, quite disturbing. This was our sixth find of the day. The other five were a bunch of micros, three with with wet log books. This however is a cache which the owner has obviously put in a good deal of time and creativity. This is our kind of cache! Following the excellent cords to GZ, we spotted the unique, to us an any rate, well hidden container. Unfortunately, when we opened it we discovered that, other than the log, it was empty. Not even the usual collection of geojunk. It had been looted. Out of respect to the owners' efforts, we restocked it slightly with a Shrek ball, sunscreen and some sig items. This cache turned our day around. We skipped the micros and went only for real cache containerst he rest of the way. Thanks for your efforts.
12/13/2010	You found Future Exit?		Visit Log
Wow, another wet log book, this is the third one we've found in only five caches. TFTC
12/13/2010	You found Wild Wild Life		Visit Log
This is a fascinating spot. After signing the log, we took a drive back to the refuge. Saw a number of birds, including a pair of eagles. They also have a young deer back there. Thanks for bringing us here. The log book is wet and should be replaced.
12/13/2010	You found Markel Street Park-n-Grab		Visit Log
We parked and grabbed. TFTC
12/13/2010	You found St. Lucie Canal Overlook		Visit Log
Every time we take the expressway from our rental unit in Summerfield to the kids' house in Hammock Creek, the Nuvi dings to tell us there is a cache on each side. It was driving us nuts. We either had to find them or ignore them. We found Tourist Trap and then told the silly thing to GO to this one. It wanted us to park on 95 and jump over the edge. Even when we followed the roads on the Nuvi map that brought us back here, it still wanted us to "Make a U turn". When it's good, it's very, very, good. When it's bad, it's awful! This is a very neat place, we observed the boats with awe. TFTC
12/13/2010	You found Tourist Trap?		Visit Log
Every time we take the expressway from our rental unit in Summerfield to the kids house in Hammock Creek, the Nuvi dings to tell us there is a cache on each side. It was driving us nuts. We either had to find it or ignore it. We found it. The log book needs to be replaced, it is torn and moldy.

Sweet Sunday

Breakfast at the Flashback Diner - it was OK, but very crowded. We most likely will not return there.

We drove with Laurie and Dylan to the oxbow Eco-Center. As soon as we entered the driveway, it began to rain. Then we found out that the Center is closed Sunday and Monday. Oh well.

The sun came out, and one cache was found and we drove back to Palm City.

We invited them to dinner tonight (burgers), and then went to the grocery store.

Dinner went well. Dick made a big salad and grilled the burgers and some shrimp. We discovered that our house is very nice for entertaining.

Narnia

While our friends and relatives in Michigan are buried under tons of snow, with high winds and blizzard conditions, the worst we've had in Florida is frost and freeze. The annuals that are always planted at this time of the year have been bitten and look dead. These palms give an idea of what the foliage looks like around here now.




Round Robin tennis for Dylan this morning at the Martin Downs Tennis Club. It was very much fun to watch. He played four singles matches and one doubles match. Lost the double and won all of the singles :)

Entrance to the tennis club:

Dylan is the tall one in the navy blue:

We went to Laurie's for a sandwich and some WoW ( I took a nap). Then we were off to the movies.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 3D at the Treasure Coast Mall. We all liked it very much - the special effects were very well done, and we loved all of the main characters. The new young actor who played Eustace Scrubb really did a fine job. Lucy, of course, has always been my favorite. Dick even liked it. Chip was at work.

So full of popcorn that we skipped dinner :) You just have to love it. (Please notice that Dylan is taller than Laurie! How did that happen??)

Friday at the Lake

Laurie, Dick and I drove out to Lake Okeechobee to do some geocaching and sight seeing combined. We're back to having great Florida weather - sunny and 72 :) The drive out to the lake is on a beautiful country road lined with trees and shrubs and palms dripping with Spanish moss - very picturesque.

We walked out on the big pier, which we shared with the birds, and got a great view of the lake.

Dad and daught:


Grandma and Mommy:




It was unusual to see these two (or more) species of birds "flocking together". The darker birds have orange feet and straight orange bills.


There were five caches found, and one of them was big enough for Laurie to place the travel bug she found a year ago - it got packed away with the Christmas things, and so it just showed up this week! It's back on it's travels now! There were a couple of frustrating DNF's, but we had a good time looking anyway.

We ate lunch at Lunker's in Lake Okeechobee, which turned out to be a great place with yummy sandwiches.





This is the only four-legged wildlife we saw today - and they weren't very wild:



We got back to Palm City just in time to pick Dylan up from school, and spent the rest of the day hanging out at their house. Laurie's new computer is all hooked up, and the new monitor is attached, so Dylan was excited when he got home. Our game has a new expansion with lots of changes and additions, and so WoW has become even more interesting this week. On most days he doesn't have much time to spend playing on the computer, but today he made up for it!

In the car line at school this bumper sticker caught our eye - Dylan is in that class too, so we were interested to see it.



Our day of caching:

12/10/2010 You couldn't find Allapattah Watering Hole
Gave it a quick look but our clock was running down and we had to get to Hidden Oaks to pick up the youngest Sharkie.

12/10/2010 You found Allapattah Flats Trail 3
TNLNSL-TFTC No cow pie dodging on this one.

12/10/2010 You found Zeke Made Me Do It BillyBob
I was dodging cow pies and marveling at all the spots where an ammo can could hide when Mrs. Sharkie scored the find. TNLNSL - TFTC

12/10/2010 You found Foxy Brown
After a drive to the lake we had to get back to Palm City to pick up our grandson from middle school. We kept one eye on the clock and the other on the GPS as we drove east. This one popped and we discovered the smallest Lock-N-Lock we've ever found. Some critter likes it, he's been gnawing the camo. We left our card and a lady bug charm. TFTC

12/10/2010 You couldn't find Fire In The Hole
No joy today

12/10/2010 You found Behind the Bell
An AMMO CAN!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! We really like to be able to swap swag.
Today we teamed up with Sharkeie Crew for a drive out to the lake with the goal of finding a cache large enough to hold a TB. That is not an easy task in this part of the world. Our experience so far is that no more than 1 in 10 caches here are in regular sized containers. We've grabbed our share of micros but today we just weren't in the mood. Thanks for bringing us to this interesting neighborhood. It's an old song but, "Were it not for Geocaching, we would never have come here".
Took nothing, left our card and some hand sanitizer. Thanks again for the cache.

12/10/2010 You found Why Here?
Today's goal was to drive out to the lake with Sharkie Crew, enjoy the scenery, and find a regular cache to drop a TB into. This cache accomplished the first goal. As to "Why Here?", it's pretty obvious that at some point in the past, folks were free to drive in the area, perhaps to drop air boats. Now to find one of those rare and elusive regular sized containers.

Chris and Dennis

This was the first rainy day we've had since we've been here. It was overcast, chilly and drizzly the whole day. Chris and Dennis drove down from Cocoa Beach to check out the city of Stuart - they think they might like to live here next winter. It wasn't the best of days to show off the city, but what can you do.

Met them for lunch at Duffy's in downtown Stuart, and had a great two hour visit - catching up on Belleville news and family info, and a little politics :)

Then we spent a nice afternoon and dinner with Chip and Laurie. She made terrific meatballs!

Here she is draining the pasta. Thanks, Laurie.

Dylan showed us the computer aided floor plan he made for class. I hope we didn't tease him too much about his 60 foot "dinning" room!

Ocean Caching

This was a glorious day to be outside. Perfect for geocaching! We began with breakfast at Perkins, and then drove out to Hutchinson Island to see what's new.

Found it 12/07/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] Rx Mag-Lite

We love our Nuvi but the downside is that when the cache saturation is high, it "Dings" constantly. Today's goal was to thin out caches along Federal by either finding them or putting them on our Ignore list. This was a find. TFTC

Found it 12/06/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] You Can't Always Count On Rain

This was our first extensive caching expedition on this year's Florida trip. We chose this brisk sunny day to drive out to the island. Grabbed this one on our way north. TFTC

Found it 12/06/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] Optical Illusion

Unique hide, a little scary though. TFTC

Found it 12/06/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] Uncle Johnnie's Kayak Ramp

We pulled up and noticed that there was a muggle sitting in a pick up at the top of the ramp. We scouted the area and then were about to call the search off, when I returned to the car, the truck left. A quick search yielded the prize. The problem I have with this type of container is that it often takes me longer to replace the log than it does to find it. TFTC

Found it 12/06/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] Just Ducky

After spending the morning seeking caches out on the island, we decided to grab a few on the way back to our rental. Neat hide, we got lucky. TFTC

Found it 12/06/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] Sewall's Point Meadow

Thanks for bringing us to this beautiful neighborhood. It certainly is a pleasant area. For me it was more difficult to get everything back into the container than it was to find it. TFTC

Found it 12/06/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] Grim Graham

Since we are just visiting, it took us a while to figure out what GRIM means. This was a great day for a drive. TFTC

Found it 12/06/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] Walton Rocks Entrance

A nice brisk, sunny day for a drive to see the island. TFTC

Found it 12/06/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] The Longest Day

The men and women of that generation pulled together as they faced and defeated the Great Depression and then the Axis Powers in WWII. By the 1950's the US was by far the beacon of hope for the world. They left us a great heritage. We think of them often as we watch the rancorous efforts of today's politicians dealing with our nations problems.

The log book is soaked, we replaced it with an emergency log but it will need attention. Took nothing, left a Juneau Steamboat token. TFTC

Write note 12/06/2010 You posted a note for [Traditional Cache] Crackers and Milk

After reading the past logs, we passed over this one.

Found it 12/06/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] Going Greene

An ammo can? What are you thinking? Surely you could have found a place here for a micro. We loved the hide, the find, and the cache but then we are renegades from up north. Thanks for breaking the mold! The only green thing we had in our cache bag were some Off insect wipes. Traded for a small notebook. Thanks for the fun!

Didn 12/06/2010 You couldn't find [Traditional Cache] Blue Orchid

Ouch! We just aren't cacher enough for this evil one.

Found it 12/06/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] My Home Away From Home

Sneaky, Sneaky, Sneaky! We found it as we were wrapping up our tour of the island. We're glad to see the beach has reopened. It's scary to see the power that the ocean has along the shore line.

Found it 12/06/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] Rub a Dub Dub.

We are touring the spots we love in this part of Florida. Today's goal was a drive up Hutchinson Island and back. (And to gather up the caches which have been placed since our last trip.) We have been keeping track of the efforts to preserve and protect Bathtub Beach. It is our grandson's favorite. We are happy to see it reopened. We found your cache on a beautiful, brisk, sunny day. TFTC

(This is what the last hurricane did to Bathtub Reef. The powere of the ocean is awesome.)


We had lunch at Prawnbroker, which was kind of a joke for us because we thought the name of the restaurant was "Pawnbroker", and I thought that was an extremely odd name for a rstaurant. It was a beautiful place in Sewall's Point. Not until I saw the menu did I realize that it was actually Prawnbroker, which is kind of a cute name for a seafood place!


Our first Christmas card! We're having our mail forwarded to Laurie's house and it takes a while for it to get hre - so we haven't had much mail yet. But in our Cricket Court mailbox was this anonymous card in a blank envelope - Happy Holidays to you too !

I love the purple shrubberies that are so popular down here. The color is just amazing, and it's a treat to see the flowers in December.

We Have Achieved Grill

Dick really likes to grill outside when he has a chance. We didn't see a grill here on the premises, so we bought a small one at Walmart. Dick spent many hours putting it together, and finally....yaaay...we have a grill. Chip will store it for us when we leave. As soon as Dick got it put together, we saw a grill in our garage - it was covered up, so we never noticed it before. We're happy to have our own anyway.

While he was putting it together, he had assistance from a little green friend:




Dylan has to have enormous powers of concentration to focus on his math homework while Laurie and I are chatting!

When his homework was finished, I had a chance to watch him play Halo. I like WoW better.

Seabranch

Today we went geocaching east of Federal Highway, starting at Seabranch State Park. The sign there says that Florida State Parks are the best in the Nation! I had no idea. This Seabranch Park is still being developed - they've put in some nice paths.

This is an actual sign believe it or not. The store is called "Step In Food". Does that really seem like a good name for a food store? Of course not - it sounds really sticky :)

This statue is in front of the Sumerfield Golf Club Clubhouse. I like it - it looks like a real person.