A Must-Do Cache !!!

Normally we just list the caches we have recently found and tell you a little about each cache, but every once in a while we run into a terrific cache that we must tell everyone about!!! Now I know as soon as I tell you what type of cache it is – some, if not most of you, will click off the page and venture somewhere else in cyberspace. Please don’t click off just yet. What if I told you this cache has only been published for a little over 10 days? What if I told you that everyone that has found it (7 cachers as of this writing) has added it to their favorites? That’s right – this cache has a 100% Favorite Rating!!! Now, please don’t get discouraged, but it is a puzzle cache! No it is not hard – no it does not involve sitting down and pouring through reference material for hours on end. Nor does it require you to decipher some exotic code or codes that hide somewhere in the far recessed corners of the internet. All that is required is for you to visit several places and most of all have fun!!! If you can count (even if you use your fingers like we did), add and subtract – you can have fun doing this cache!

Smithfield recently joined several of the other south-side cities in displaying their mascots. Norfolk has their mermaids, Chesapeake recently started putting out Herons (I think they are Herons), Virginia Beach has numerous dolphins all over the city. Well now Smithfield has PIGS!!! Imagine that! There are eight brightly decorated pigs scattered mostly in the downtown Smithfield area. All are very colorful and display parts of Smithfields various claims to fame.

Chihuahua94me had heard these pigs were coming and developed a tremendous puzzle cache that incorporates all of these pigs in a very fun adventure through the town. Everyone that has found it, including Nana & myself, has awarded a favorite point to the cache. Nana immediately wanted to name this “Cache of the Year” for us but I reminded her that the year was only half over. She reluctantly conceded that point but I know at the end of the year this cache will be among, if not on top, of her very short list!

GC3PTB0 – Smithfield’s Porcine Parade is the number and name of the cache. Take your kids, take the neighbor kids, take your spouse that really doesn’t like caching, take your spouse that really likes caching, take the neighbors also. I would recommend doing this cache (believe it or not) on a Saturday morning only because they also have the Smithfield Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning and you can get some wonderful deals at the same time. The Farmer’s Market does make parking a little of a challenge but it is not really that bad. Look at the cache page and the map of where all the waypoints (all the different pigs) are located at. I would suggest grabbing the one in front of Smithfield Station early as the parking there can be a real pain. From there I would go get the one at the intersection of 10 and 258 (western most pig). After grabbing those two you can park anywhere downtown on 258 and walk to the rest.

All that is required at each waypoint is to 1) locate the pig, 2) check which pig you are at by checking the nameplate and 3) accurately count the number of items for that particular pig. Sounds easy! In truth it is. We did have trouble with counting the correct number of flowers and missed the number of pigs on another but correcting those numbers was easy enough! If you read everyone’s logs ahead of time you will see which waypoints/pigs have given everyone the most trouble and know which ones you need to pay particular attention to. The cache page also has a geochecker so you will know when you have solved the puzzle correctly!

I will not give you any clues here as to the final but PLEASE try to get out to Smithfield and find this cache – it is one of the best puzzle caches we have ever done!

While you are visiting Smithfield – another great puzzle cache is GC1WQAD – Bronze Statues Hold The Key – in fact while you are walking from pig to pig gathering clues – you will pass most of not all of the statues you need for this cache. Nana & I found the Statue cache back in February of 2010 and we still talk about it and recommend it from time to time.

Also in Smithfield is Windsor Castle Park – a very well manicured park with various walking and biking trails. There are about eighteen (18) caches in Windsor Castle Park. I guarantee it will be a day to remember.

June 17th – a Father’s Day Bike & Cache Trip

Jim & Lynn of jtmlam59 arrived just before 8AM. We loaded up the new bike rack on the SNAP-mobile and Team S&M was formed once again and off we went.

Out first stop was supposed to be a quick grab in Smithfield but after arriving at GZ (Ground Zero) and realizing how much the area had overgrown we looked for just a minute or two and then headed back North.

Our next cache was a multi located at Historic Fort Huger (GC3ETZ9). Previous logs for this find all seemed to indicate that it was much better to look for stage two before going back to stage one. Needless to say, we didn’t heed the warning and spent a great deal of time looking for stage 1 first! After quite a few minutes, we headed off to stage 2 and located that clue rather quickly. We all pedaled our bikes back to stage 1 nad within a few minutes we located the clue. Now somewhere in all of htis we made a mistake (we learned this much later). Somehow we punched in the new coordinates incorrectly and spent the next half hour or so searching in the entirely wrong place for a cache that wasn’t anywhere near where we were looking for it. Long story short – we got some fantastic pictures, explored a beach that needs a cache but still came up empty as far as the find goes. **Note: we talked with the CO (Cache Owner) later and learned we were not in the correct place). We loaded the bikes back on the SNAP-mobile and headed back north again.

The next stop on our trip was Chippoles State Park. If you haven’t been up here to experience this park – please put it on your to-do list. This is a gorgeous park. Most of the trails are paved so bike riding is easy (except for those darn hills!!!). There are a total of six caches in the park that range from a 1.5/2 cache to a 2/5 cache (and to tell you the truth – the 2/5 cache isn;t hard at all!!!). Plenty of historic houses, fields and scenery to keep your interest. Definitely don’t forget to bring hte camera. Team S&M grabbed all four caches we had left to find in the park and then made it back to the SNAP-mobile, loaded up the bikes again and then headed North for some more geocaching on the bikes.

We waited in line at the Scotland-Jamestown Ferry for just a few minutes then made our way over to Jamestown where we grabbed one cache before taking a break for lunch. After a quick bite to eat to refill our stomachs, we headed back towards the ferry and after a quick puzzle cache found a place to park and off loaded the bikes one more time!

Over the next few hours we biked the beginning of the Virginia Capital Trail picking up and additional eleven finds. At about our 7th cache on this part of the trip, we ran into some very new cachers “2crazyboys”. This very nice family (don’t know how they picked the name 2 crazy boys as they seemed rather mild mannered and well behaved to me!) was touring the area and had just started caching. We talked with them for a few and I introduced them to trackables and showed Dad how to log it on his phone. I gave them a trackable to drop for Nana & I later in the day and we said our goodbyes. Several caches and about a half hour later, we ran into them again – they had just dropped the trackable in the cache they had just found. We wished them good luck in thier endeavors and waved goodbye as we headed out to the next cache on the list!

We finally made our way back to the SNAP-mobile and loaded up the bikes for the last time. We were all dead tired (or at least I was) so now it was time for some geocaching in the SNAP-mobile – enough pedaling for our smilies!!!

We grabbed a few more caches around james County and WIlliamsburg and then decided it was about time to head back to Suffolk. We all stopped for dinner in Suffolk and then made our way back to our homestead and off loaded the bikes one more time! Jim helped me get the bike rack into the house and I had just enough energy to do a tick check, take a shower and then pass out on the bed!!! Quite a lot of pedaling but the day was fantastic!

Listed below is the list of caches we tried!
DNF A Little Birdie Told Me GC3C74B 1.5/1.5 Micro too overgrown – we will be back!
DNF Historic Fort Huger GC3ETZ9 3/1.5 Regular Multi – punched in wrong numbers – we will be back – GREAT VIEW –
1 Deepers Creepers GC1XRYX 1.5/1 Small Bike to cache – lovely location
2 VSP Chippokes Plantation Blooming Adventure GC3D53D 2/5 Regular Bike to cache – not that hard!
3 James River Trail GCHF3B 2/3 Small Bike to cache nice view
4 A Redoubtable Cache GC1XR42 2/3 Small – got this one off our DNF list!
5 Ferry Free For All – Jamestown GC2D44A 2/1.5 Small – quick P&G
LUNCH BREAK
6 CJS – Preservation Virginia GC2F40K 1.5/1.5 Regular Puzzle (easy)
7 It’s Only Natural GC3KK2B 2/2 Regular Bike
8 VCT Trailhead GC25VBH 2/1 Micro Bike
9 Capital Trail Greensprings Currency GC164PB 1.5/1 Small Bike
10 Wired on the Trail GC1GYYY 1.5/1 Micro Bike
11 Papa Knox Visitin Cache GC1GYWR 3.5/2.5 Micro Bike
12 The other thing Bears do in the Woods GC1FB5D 3/3 Small Bike – never found the bear but did find the cache
13 Greensprings 2 GCN9ZF 1/1 Regular Bike
14 Greensprings Micro GCZADM 1.5/1.5 Micro Bike
15 Greensprings GCBF31 1/1.5 Regular Bike
16 Greensprings Coin Exchange GC105XP 2/2 Regular Bike
17 There Be Dragons! GC38MHJ 1/1.5 Small Bike – back to van
18 CJS – Powhatan Creek Park & Blueway GC2F40H 3/2 Regular
19 Ace in the Hole GC2Q3WP 1/1 Micro
20 River Side GC3BHM1 2/1.5 Micro
21 Watch Out For Trolls, the sequel GC3DP9Z 3.5/2 Micro
22 Field of Dreams GC2GCZY 2.5/1 Micro
23 They Paved Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot GC3JGNA 3/1.5 Unknown Multi (Offset)
24 Crim Dell Wall GC2EWGW 3/1.5 Small – finally got this one off our DNF list also

Favorite Points were awarded to: The other thing Bears do in the Woods (GC1FB5D) and CJS – Preservation Virginia (GC2F40K)

The winner of the “Coveted” Nana & Papa cache of the Day Award AND a favorite point was: Watch Out For Trolls, the sequel GC3DP9Z – CONGRATS!!!

Thanks goes out to Jim & Lynne of jtmlam59 for joining us for another great caching day!

As always – Stay Safe & Keep Caching

November 13, 2011

The intent of the day was to wipe out all available caches between Scotland, VA and Suffolk. No we didn’t quite do it but we did end up with 13 finds and 1 DNF. We left a total of 5 caches between Suffolk and Surry that we haven’t found – that also means that the nearest cache to us (other than 1 DNF) is over 12 miles away.

We started a little late but drove straight to Surry and then Scotland and grabbed Ferry Free for All – Scotland (GC2D44R) hidden by seepaulgolf a 1.5/1.5 eay park and grab. We signed the log, dropped some swag and then started back towards Suffolk grabbing caches along hte way.

AgCache…College Run Farms (GC2BVAJ) hidden by Agtually, a 1/1 small cache and another easy park and grab was next on the list before heading over to Chippoles Plantation State Park.

We got within 20' of this lovely creature before he flew away

It was a great day for caching, not to cool and not to warm but the breeze was blowing hard at the water’s edge. CJS – Chippoles Plantation State Park (GC3F409) is a 1.5/2 cache that will take you on a great walk through the park. Sure was a lot of storm damage left but we managed.

Past the Pool (GC2BJBB) hidden by KE4GFM was a 2/3 cache that did have us going in circles for just a few minutes – we made the find easy enough – sometimes you just have to walk in circles!

VSP Chippokes 75th Anniversary Adventure (GC2PX10) is the first cache on off a walkway that takes you through the loveliest part of the park. This cache is located near the beach and there were plenty of deer and other tracks as well as a variety of birds keeping Nana & I company on our walk.

Further down the trail was The Vine Maze (GC231MB) hidden by KE4GFM was a 2/2.5 cache that tried to trick us but we made the grab in less than 2 minutes. Lovely area!

River View (GC1VRKB) also hidden by KE4GFM was another great location for a cache [wouldn’t you know we left the camera in the SNAP-mobile]. We even got to visit with the local cows while at this cache.

The next cache, A Redoubtable Cache (GC1XR42) ended up being our only DNF on the day. We made our way to GZ, did the GPS dance, then wandered around a bit more before finally conceding to the DNF. It hadn’t been found since July so maybe the hurricane took it away.

The Castle

We left the park and made our way further south to stop at A Castle Cache (GC2EDR9) hidden by grinnellian2001 – great place and we wished it had been open for business so we could visit but we settled for a quick P&G and a smilie!

We made a stop by Fort Boykin to do a puzzle cache. SSB – Fort Boykin Historic Park (GC22AJF) is a puzzle cache that takes you on a tour of the park. Not too hard a puzzle but I will give you one hint – make sure you count the correct row! It makes a difference! The cache container was right where it was supposed to be – we just had to count more than once! Great park and a great hide.

We finally made our way back to Smithfield and searched out another puzzle cache I had worked at home. When in Rome… (GC3777N) hidden by IH8TIX was an easy P&G – but we see where it could be difficult depending on the time of day. The puzzle is real easy also so if you are one of those cachers who stays away from puzzles – try this one.

BAKADAHI (GC337TE) hidden by bdramatic had been on our DNF list since it had been published but we went back and used a previous listed “better coordinates” and that took me right to the cache. The original coordinates weren’t that far off but it is in a high muggle location and could prove difficult if you hit this one at the wrong time of day.

Another cache we managed to get off our DNF list was Color Series – Red (GC2YHCN) hidden by Va_Bunch. We found this cache laying out exposed to the sunlight and hid it a little better than we found it. Once you know where to park for this cache, it is an easy walk and at this time of the year should be an easy find.

Well that’s the report for the 13th and also catches me up on all the back blogs that I am behind. hopefully I can do better at keeping up with our caching and the after-action reports.

Two caches were awarded favorite points on the day:

A Castle Cache (GC2EDR9) hidden by grinnellian2001 and

Winner of the “Coveted” Nana & Papa Cache of the Day Award (and a favorite point):

SSB – Fort Boykin Historic Park (GC22AJF) hidden by Star-Spangled Banner – Congrats!

Upcoming plans and events (please feel free to offer us caches to find or places to visit):
11/15 – Third Tuesday Pizza & Pasta (GCHR Nov 2011) GC35CMV – planning on it!
11/19 – Third Saturday in Rivah Country (GC36NTA) – planning on it also!
12/3 – Off the Beaten Path – Bike & Greet GC350ZR – we will be there
12/20 – Third Tuesday Burgers & Beers (GCHR Dec 2011) GC1WZE4 – planning on it!

As always – Stay Safe & Keep Caching ! ! !

SNAP – Suffolk Nana & Papa ! ! !

OK OK OK – We’re back from vacation!

A vacation sun rise !

Hey Tom – why haven’t you updated your blog lately? Ummmmmmmm! Ok – maybe we took the vacation thing a little too far!!!

Everyone had a great time in Nags Head !

On the way back from Nags Head we did stop by the GCHR picnic, say Hi to those we bumped into, ate a quick burger and grabbed a few caches around the park with Grandpa Gene. We didn’t stay as long as we had planned but after being away from home for almost a week – we were both very anxious to get back to our house in Suffolk. We hibernated for one day and then set back out to see what we could find. Our destination was both Smithfield and then the peninsula and we were more than pleased with the results at the end of the day: 16 cache finds, 1 waymark found, and only 3 DNFs on the day. Also we handed out more favorite points for a single day of caching than we have in a long time.

To change things up a little, we are going to list every cache e found and then try to tell you a little about each before we tell you which ones were our favorites.

Papa on the pier for a webcam cache

DNFs on the day were:
GCQ1F1 – a Traditional Cache called Logged Out! hidden by NavyBussGirl and Adopted by X11fitter it was listed as “Other” and the D/T was 1.5/1.5 – this was our second time to this nice little park and we should have known better – the entire part of the park that had trees also had huge piles on storm debris next to each one.

GCQAMG – a Traditional Cache called A CraZy SBUX Cache hidden by CraZy Cache and Penguincacher it was also listed as a Micro with a D/T rating of 3/1.5 – GZ for the cache had recently been flooded and we weren’t the only DNF so we didn’t feel too bad.

GC337TE – another Traditional Cache called BAKADAHI hidden by bdramatic – listed as a Micro with a D/T rating of 1.5/1.5 – numerous finds have been made but also others have had trouble with the coordinates. Not only did we have trouble with the coordinates but we started drawing the attention of numerous muggles so we made a hasty retreat and saved this one for the next time we are in Smithfield.

Our finds on the day were:
GC316FH – Traditional Cache – schoolhouse museum hidden by chihuahuak94me – Micro – D/T= 1/1 – a lovely little cache, not your normal park n grab but very cute.

GC32G4V – Traditional Cache – T&T Hotel hidden by bdramatic – Small – D/T = 1.5/1.5 – another nice cache in Smithfield – if you haven’t been to downtown Smithfield – there are more than enough caches in and around Smithfield to make a great day of caching!

GC316N2 – Traditional Cache – A Shady and Peaceful Spot hidden by chihuahuak94me – Micro – D/T = 1/1.5 – now this lovely cemetery in Smithfield has two great caches – although you must know the area to get to the cemetery – your NUVI will not take you there!

GC2Z637 – Traditional Cache – Look Out Below! hidden by Packfan12 – Small – D/T = 1.5/3 – I had been warned about the steepness of the area and to be really careful trying to get to the cache – Yes be careful! but it is not as bad as I expected – nice little cache!

GC2QPQB – Traditional Cache – Lion Bridge hidden by GrandpaGene – Small – D/T = 1.5/1.5 – this was our second time here and reading the previous logs helped – made the find without too much trouble – Thanks Gene ! – great location.

GC15P9T – Traditional Cache – Larry’s Pawn Shop TB EXCHANGE hidden by zazth @ CO – Not chosen – D/T = 4/2 – nice hide – Nana & I were signing the log when a local homeowner who knew of the cache snuck up on us and talked with us for a while.

GC1N683 – Traditional Cache – LAX Warriors: CNU Captains hidden by VirginiaGator and LAX Warrior 22 – Micro – D/T = 2/1.5 – this was another cache that had been on our DNF list – we finally managed to get to GZ without 1000 plus CNU fans in the parking lot!

GC2A7JM – Traditional Cache – The View Of The Ditch hidden by web4u_99 – Micro – D/T = 2/1.5 – nice location – cute cache – quick P&G.

GC2NAND – Traditional Cache – Very Deceptive Or Tricky hidden by bigbearpaw – Not chosen – D/T = 2/1 – Nana & I realized while we were still over a mile from GZ that the initials spelled V.D.O.T. and laughed about it and visualized all sorts of neat things before we even arrived at GZ – then we found the cache quickly and laughed even more – neat hide!

GC33F97 – Traditional Cache – The Jar Tree hidden by chjbundr – Small – D/T = 1.5/1.5 – cute cache in an area near plenty of parking.

GC2WX5G – Traditional Cache – moms birthday cache hidden by itsonlysir – Small – D/T = 1/1 – a quick P&G

GC31X3Y – Traditional Cache – El Cerro Rojo hidden by coquipr78 – Micro – D/T = 1/1 – another quick P&G

GCTFXF – Traditional Cache – Newport News Airport TB Hotel hidden by Mr&MrsSmith – Regular – D/T = 1.5/1.5 – read the cache page to find the correct place to park and then take a short walk (reading the cache page also tells you where to walk) – quick find if you follow the directions – nice hide and we even picked up some trash on the way out that we might convert into a container of some sort.

GC2NEV0 – Traditional Cache – Tom Hanks #3 hidden by RusandMil – Small – D/T = 2/2 – Nana & I love these Tom Hanks caches! – this is another great cache and was quite surprised to see the cache in great shape after all the bad weather we have had lately.

WM69BE – Waymark – Oakland Christian Church created by fatcat161 – D/T = 1/1 – Nana & I also look for Waymarks. They do not count towards your numbers but they take you places you may not know about and ou might learn some great stuff!

GC32A9Y – Traditional Cache – Just Cuz #2 hidden by Kan1stv – Small – D/T = 1.5/1.5 – should have had the FTF for this cache when it was published but between dancing with my GPS and other excuses I couldn’t come up with it – today we got it! WOW – I can’t believe I couldn’t find it the first time!

GC302K3 – Multicache – Usta B #13 – No Dumping Allowed hidden by kan1stv – Regular – D/T = 2.5/2 – A great cache and a lot of work went into this cache! But please read the entire cache page before attempting this cache – it will save you one heck of a lot of time!

So those were our DNFs and finds on the day. Now who do you think got favorite points? Believe it our not we handed out 6 favorite points on Sunday (WOW!) – some great caches in the above list. Those that earned points were:
GC316FH – Traditional Cache – schoolhouse museum hidden by chihuahuak94me
GC316N2 – Traditional Cache – A Shady and Peaceful Spot hidden by chihuahuak94me
GC2NAND – Traditional Cache – Very Deceptive Or Tricky hidden by bigbearpaw
GC2NEV0 – Traditional Cache – Tom Hanks #3 hidden by RusandMil
GC302K3 – Multicache – Usta B #13 – No Dumping Allowed hidden by kan1stv

And last but not least – the winner of the “Coveted Nana & Papa’s Cache of the Day Award” (and a favorite point) was:
GC15P9T – Traditional Cache – Larry’s Pawn Shop TB EXCHANGE hidden by zazth @ CO – a truely really great cache!

Upcoming plans and events (please feel free to offer us caches to find or places to visit):
9/17 – Third Tuesday Burgers, BBQ & Beer – GCHR Sept 2011 (GC2YZJR) – we will be there!
9/20 – Third Saturday in Rivah Country (GC31EW8) – we will be there also !

As always – Stay Safe & Keep Caching ! ! !

SNAP – Suffolk Nana & Papa ! ! !

Back out on the trails…

As most of you know we have been taking a small break from caching as we were taking car of two of our grand children (ages 4 and 8 ) for a few weeks. Well our three-week babysitting tour was up and Nana & I decided to get back out on the trails. Although we didn’t get started until just after noon we had a terrific day, 16 finds with only 2 DNFs – not a terrific day but at one point we had 11 straight finds.

We managed to find caches in Suffolk, Isle of Wight and Portsmouth. 1st cache was the only Usta B that we were missing from the series. One note on this cache (Usta B #9) – the road leading to this cache is a very well-known speed trap. The local LEOs are almost always hiding somewhere along the road. Be careful.

From Suffolk we headed up to Isle of Wight for the 1st two of a new series done by bdramatic (you see UMC series). We can’t wait for more of the series to come out as these caches take you to United Methodist Churches on the back roads – places you probably would never see in your normal rounds through the area. If you haven’t tried this series – do it – great caches.

We then headed into Smithfield and started another new series by the Va_Bunch – we did really good on the series grabbing 4 of the 7 aches in the series with no problems (we did have to use the alternate coords from the logs) until we got to the Orange and Indigo caches. It’s not that we couldn’t find them – we elected not to even get out of the SNAP-mobile because of the number of muggles in the area. Better to come back another day. We did have trouble with the last cache in the series “Red” but we will keep an eye on the logs and get back there soon.

We then headed back into Suffolk and into Portsmouth grabbing another 5 caches.

Caches that earned favorite points on the day were:
GCRYVH – Park 4! Cache by Legomanandhisboys – great idea and could take you some time.

Winner of the “Coveted Nana & Papa Cache of the Day Award” was:
GC2YNKT – You See UMC #2 – Uzzell by bdramatic – great cache and location ! ! ! Congrats ! ! !

One last closing note: When we hid SNAP 43 – Holland’s First we put a note on the page stating that if you e-mailed us a specific answer we would put your name in our blog. Now I know not everyone reads the entire cache page (and neither do Nana & I) but this was NOT a requirement – just a question. “alara” was the first cacher to send me a message with the answer to the question.

For those of you headed towards Geowoodstock – wish we were going with you – we will try our best to make it next year.

By the way – we found a really neat building yesterday during our caching trip – so here is a neat question for everyone… Where were we when we took the below photo? Leave a comment or drop us an e-mail.

As always – Stay Safe & Keep Caching.

SNAP – Suffolk Nana & Papa ! ! !