One Last Adventure with my First Geocaching Partner

At last, some successful geocaching escapades with my friend Liz, my first geocaching partner who accompanied me to my first find. Now she is moving to Scotland for a post-doc. Too bad, since she is great at geocaching and once even agreed to play a nerdy board game I made. Here is a record of our adventures:

"Hangman's Tree II"
GC5KF2E by exmachina
Location: Falls Church, VA 
Cache Type: Traditional

First, we revisited a geocaching location with an interesting history in my home town of Falls Church, VA. Alas, after a long time searching, still DNF...

"Henderson House"
GC3EFEQ by zgrav
Location: Falls Church, VA 
Cache Type: Traditional

This fun cache is at a historical site in Falls Church. I have passed by this house countless times, noticing the blue bike with a flower pot above the front wheel each time, but never thinking twice about it. Liz walked right up to the bike and found a huge bag of geoswag and a big logbook in an obvious hiding place.

I signed the logbook, added lots of geoswag and took only one item in return, bringing me back to my childhood:

"Box of Teeth"
GC339NA by exmachina
Location: Falls Church, VA 
Cache Type: Traditional

Next we found a cache in a lovely little park I had never been to before, the entrance to which is very close to the cache location we just came from.

Cache Location

Liz Being Stealthy

Inside the "Box of Teeth"...

there are a lot of shark teeth, now accompanied by my plastic deer & gorilla pen top

Papa Smurf on the loose...

Here are two more fun things we saw while walking around Falls Church on our geocaching adventures:

Outside of the Falls Church Community Center

On Way to "Box of Teeth" Cache Location 

Recent Disappointing but Interesting DNFs

This weekend I attempted to do some geocaching, alas to little avail. That said, part of the fun of geocaching is simply to get outside and explore new and interesting areas.

"Merry Chris-mas"
GC42ZVN by derecho3
Location: Arlington, VA (at border of Falls Church and Arlington)
Cache Type: Traditional

My frequent geocaching partner mother and I first walked from my parents' house in Falls Church to the Merry Chris-mas cache, located right at the border of Falls Church and Arlington, VA. Recent logs said that the coordinates are not very accurate and after about 20-30 minutes of looking all over the area, we finally gave up. Not a particularly interesting location, so we were especially frustrated not to find this cache to check off the list.

"Hangman's Tree II"
GC5KF2E by exmachina
Location: Falls Church, VA 
Cache Type: Traditional

My mother and I then walked back into Falls Church to visit the Hangman's Tree II cache, located somewhere in the vicinity of this stone, which marked the location of a tree used by confederate soldiers to hang union spies that has since been cut down:

Next my mother and I revisited A Little Light Reading cache before stopping by the nearby Starbucks and walking back home for the day. I retrieved a trackable here so will write a separate post about this visit.

"DC Hidden Murals #10: Mama Ayesha's"
GC393A2 by exmachina
Location: Washington, DC (near Adams Morgan) 
Cache Type: Traditional

After yesterday's I was determined to find a new cache so I visited the DC Hidden Murals #10: Mama Ayesha's cache site located just off Calvert Street on the way to Adams Morgan if walking from Woodley Park. Sadly, a guy who works at the restaurant on whose wall the mural is painted was coming in and out of the restaurant to his car, which I am fairly certain was parked just next to the cache site. There is also a very active dog park and there was one man at the park with his dog who kept looking strangely at me, so I finally gave up for the day. Here are two photos I took, one of the mural and the other of the mural from a distance, the dog park to the left:

A Lazy Sunday Geocaching in Dupont Circle

Today I ventured over to Dupont Circle with every intent of geocaching. I first stopped by Dupont Circle's weekly FRESHFARM Market, where I enjoyed a roasted strawberry (!)-flavored push pop on this very humid day.

My first caching attempt of the day was a trip to the Anderson House cache on Massachusetts Ave. I took a quick peak at the place where I originally discovered the cache last summer (Anderson House cache) and didn't see it, but before I was able to poke around any further, I noticed a large tour group of muggles just outside the Anderson House so I retreated back to the circle.

Next, after stopping at one of the area's many Starbucks for a frappuccino, I stopped by a cache at the St. Thomas' Parish Park to try and discover a cache that stumped me twice last year, due I believe to a combination of a stealthy cache and high muggle presence. Unfortunately today was no exception. Though I spent a little time in one of the two areas where I believe the cache must be placed, I noticed a muggle laying in a hammock just beside the second location I was hoping to check.

On the way back to the Dupont Circle Metro I walked past the Indonesian Embassy - it was as if the mothership was calling me over (I spent over 7 years in the forests of Indonesia: Field Blog). I clearly remember once running in my flip flops from the Dupont Circle Metro to the Indonesian Embassy within minutes of it closing after hearing at the very last minute (day before my flight!) that my research visa was ready to pick up.

One day I must figure out what this interesting sign near the Dupont Circle Metro actually refers to (is there, in fact, a very special art gallery down the street?!):

Once back in my neighborhood I visited for a second time the PandaMania - Woodley Park (first visit: PandaMania-WP). I thought I found the right spot, but the area was overrun with muggles.
Update 6/6/15: I checked back a few days later and this time looked inside all of the news stands, but couldn't find a cache. The last log entry also indicates a DNF--hope the cache is still active!

Jurassic Pork

GC5DF0Z by treasuretrask
Location: Washington, DC (Cleveland Park)
Cache Type: Traditional

Found on the second attempt, after reading a comment on Geocaching.com that said not to get thrown off by the random tether attached to the base of one of the railings in the area indicated by the given coordinates. 

Cache was easy to find once I looked in the right place!

 What do you get when you cross a pig with a dinosaur?…JURASSIC PORK!

Cache is filled with dinosaurs. I added the two on the ground to right of the cache:

I exchanged them for these two plastic dinosaurs:

I ended up going back a few days after first discovering the cache to place the first of two geocoins I would like to place in this cache as their cache of origin. I tethered the geocoin to the neck of a dino I added to the cache (and swapped for other geoswag). The geocoin is from Chicago, given to me by a friend who now lives in Atlanta, GA. For a fun little story, around the same time I planted this geocoin in a cache in DC (where I am from) the friend who gave me the coin from Chicago (where she is from) is planning to place a geocoin I gave her from DC in Chicago.

I never did figure out what the initials "CDW" on the dinosaur in the pavement near the cache spot stands for. I had to close up the cache quickly due to heavy Muggle activity in the area so didn't see if the answer might have been in the bottom of the container. I will just have to return to the cache. It's large enough that I will easily be able to add a trackable geocoin!

A few days ago I saw this inventive prom proposal written in chalk on a pedestrian path in Rock Creek Park from a position on the bridge leading into the Cleveland Park neighborhood very close to this cache on my way back from picking up my groceries at the Yes! Market:

**UPDATE: one day on my way home from grocery shopping down the street in Cleveland Park I thought I would check up on my favorite cache site and sadly, it looks like Jurrasic Pork is no more - no cache container at least, so I will have to check out Geocaching.com to see if there are any postings about it.**

Geoswag!

Geoswag collected from caches to date:

Niko gives geoswag from a dino-themed cache his stamp of approval!

First Caches of 2015

This morning my mother visited so we could celebrate Mother's Day together a day early. After walking to and from the National Cathedral from my apartment, we attempted to find 3 fairly recently placed local geocaches. Unfortunately we didn't have any success for 3 different reasons, though the actual find is only part of the fun of geocaching.

PandaMania - Woodley Park (GC5JX90 by Aliengirl)  

This cache is hidden somewhere in the proximity of Home Rule, one of the statues from the PandaMania art exhibit that took place in the summer of 2004 throughout DC. Here are some photos of Home Rule by Anne Marchand--I like the little tree on his butt: 

The problem with this cache was that after having read the hint given on Geocaching.com for this particular cache, I am nearly certain that this cache is hidden somewhere near the red newspaper stand just behind the musician at the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan Metro stop elevator. I will have to return sometime soon!

Jurassic Pork (GC5DF0Z by treasuretrask)       
Our next stop was what I believe would have been an excellent cache site had it not been muggled (at least this is what I suspect happened). I believe this plastic tie once tethered the cache to the bridge, though I will look again sometime soon (I walk across this bridge every week when I go grocery shopping at the Yes! Market in Cleveland Park):

*UPDATE!* The cache is alive and well; I found it the second time around and will write a separate post about the find!

I would also really like to learn more about the name "CDW" on the dino in the pavement within about a meter of the cache according to my GPS...

PandaMania - Cleveland Park (GC5JXAX by Aliengirl)
Another cache from the PandaMania series, this one in front of the Cleveland Park Public Library. I know I am looking for a nano bison tube, but there were many muggles around and my mother and I didn't have any luck poking around looking for the cache, even after taking the published hint. Another cache I will have to return to sometime soon. The cache is located somewhere in the vicinity of this panda sculpture, East West by Byron Peck. This sculpture includes images from the west (the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, on the front) and east (a Chinese landscape). 

2015 DC Geocaching "TO DO" List

Winter is finally over, even though it has overstayed its welcome and March is nearly over. That means that for me, it's time to get back to geocaching! I have a friend who geocaches in all seasons but the summer, wanting to avoid the heat and poison ivy, but I geocache in all seasons but the winter, since living for years on the equator conditioned me well for even the most humid of DC summers and spring and fall in Washington are gorgeous.

I will have to wear this tremendous shirt that my keepers gave me over the holidays this Geocaching season:

I haven't geocached since the end of last fall, but here is a list of a few of the local caches hope to check off within the next 3 seasons, organized by neighborhood:

LOCATION: Washington, DC (Woodley Park)
PandaMania - Woodley Park (GC5JX90 by Aliengirl)    
Status: visited x3, DNF  
                                                   
LOCATION: Washington, DC (Cleveland Park)
Jurassic Pork (GC5DF0Z by treasuretrask)   
Status: DNF first attempt, then found & visited x2 to plant geocoins                  
PandaMania - Cleveland Park (GC5JXAX by Aliengirl)
Status: visited, DNF but have high hopes for finding in future after reading recent logs
Rosedale (GC288X5 by sebflippers)                                

LOCATION: Washington, DC (Cathedral Heights)
House of Cards: Cathedral Heights Metro (GC4ZRY6 by ToddDC)
Status: visited last year, muggle at site

LOCATION: Washington, DC (Glover Park)
Brown Thumb (GC2M22C by wendywoowho)

LOCATION: Washington, DC (Adams Morgan)
DC Hidden Murals #9: Un pueblo sin murales… (GC393C2 by exmachina)
DC Hidden Murals #10: Mama Ayesha's (GC393A2 by exmachina)
Status: visited, DNF, lots of muggles at the neighboring dog park but will definitely return
DC Hidden Murals #13:  Every Day I See Something (GC3CVHA by exmachina)

LOCATION: Washington, DC (Mt. Pleasant)
MtP#1: Ashbury Park (GC4H5WQ by Moontiso)
MtP#2: General Hospital (GC4JHKQ by Moontiso)
MtP#3: Oldest Home (GC4H6ZJ by Moontiso)

LOCATION: Washington, DC (Dupont Circle)
Presidential Cache (GC55BQV by twwilson
PandaMania - Spanish Steps (GC2G5GC by Asian Tuesday, adopted by Aliengirl)
Religious Ruin (GC31RKG by NMP20008)
Status: visited x2 last year, x1 this year, DNF and high muggle traffic

LOCATION: Washington, DC (American University)
PandaMania - AU (GC5K3TF by Aliengirl)
AU Cache (GC52BTQ by OskarTheSwde)
Sibley (GCGVBH by flower man)

LOCATION: Washington, DC (Friendship Heights)
Thar Be Dragons (GC5E9DB by zgrav)

LOCATION: Washington, DC (Mt. Vernon Square)
The Flat Earth Society (GC37CJB by exmachina)

LOCATION: Washington, DC (The National Mall)
Finally D.C. (GC5C6Z1 by The Big D 793)

LOCATION: Chevy Chase Village, MD
The Dragon's Fortress (GC46RZP by Draco Rex)

LOCATION: Falls Church, VA 
Hangman's Tree II (GC5KF2E by exmachina)
Status: visited, DNF but a great spot for a cache with an interesting history, will be back
Box of Teeth (GC339NA by exmachina)

LOCATION: Arlington, VA 
Merry Chris-mas (GC42ZVN by derecho3, by border of Falls Church & Arlington)
Status: visited, DNF; logs say coordinates are off and few hints to help
ALLH #17 - The American Nazi Party HQ (GC211E0 by cphug184)