MtP#4: Esperanza

GC4H5Z1 by Moontiso
Location: Washington, DC (Mt. Pleasant)
Cache Type: Traditional

Nathan's Ordway Geocache

GC59T5Y by Queen Elizabeth I
Location: Washington, DC (Cleveland Park)
Cache Type: Traditional

Anderson House

GC529M7 by Society1783
Location: Washington, DC (Dupont Circle)
Cache Type: Traditional

Black Diamond

GC1VVPW by ex machina
Location: Falls Church, VA
Cache Type: Traditional

The Enchanted Wood

GC30W3Q by exmachina
Location: Falls Church, VA (Madison Park)
Cache Type: Traditional

My favorite site so far, this cache brought my mother and I (she is now hooked on geocaching too! below: a photo of my mother taking a photo of me taking a photo of her taking a photo of me at the cache site) to a little vine-filled wooded area in a park within walking distance of the house where I grew up in Falls Church, VA.

The cache is located at the base of this interesting tree:

The cache itself was the largest container I have found so far, filled with fun little things for geocaching kids, though I made an exchange myself after signing the log and replacing the cache.

The End of the Road

GC2K8HW by NMP20008
Location: Washington, DC
Cache Type: Traditional

My first really screwy geocache find (literally, the cache log is rolled up in a tiny magnetic screw). Although the log was so damaged I couldn't properly extricate it, I liked the idea of this type of cache container so much I bought myself a nicer version that looks more watertight online to hide a cache of my own.

MGT - National Cathedral North

GC4FWFD by mortards
Location: Washington, DC (Cathedral Heights)
Cache Type: Traditional

A tricky little cache. Discovered location on walk to the National Cathedral, found the location and signed the log on walk back home after completing a virtual cache assignment at the Cathedral. Sadly I didn't manage to get a good photo of this, but while walking back home on Cathedral Ave, just across from the Swiss Embassy I was waved at by 4 grown men wearing sun glasses, drinking beer, and sitting in a kiddie pool filled with water from a garden hose on their front lawn.

Wash National Cathedral

GC5C7F by pkpaul
Location: Washington, DC (Cathedral Heights)
Cache Type: Virtual

This was my first virtual cache, located at Washington National Cathedral. located West and just up the Cathedral Ave. hill from my neighborhood in Woodley Park. I often walk up to the Cathedral on Sunday mornings - when the bells are run through their full cycle I can hear them from my apartment and some bells are run every Sunday. This reminds me of the two times I lived in Zurich, Switzerland while writing up my dissertation. In Zurich the church bells sound every 15 minutes to tell the time.

Here are a few photos of the Cathedral (still undergoing a lot of work to repair the damage done by an earthquake a few years ago), adjoining Bishop's Garden, and Nature Walk behind the Cathedral:

Here is a video of the Cathedral with its bells sounding in the background:

Dupont Underground

GC3DGTJ by ToddDC
Location: Washington, DC (Dupont Circle)
Cache Type: Traditional

Cache is a magnetic micro in a high Muggle area within view of Dupont Circle at one of the entrances to the Dupont Underground. The Dupont Underground has an interesting history and I am eager to take a tour: The Dupont Underground Tour

After finding the Dupont Underground cache, we found the nearby Religious Ruin cache (GC31RKG), but the bench where we are almost certain the cache is located was occupied by a Muggle reading there, so I will need to revisit the location…

On our way back to the Metro station, my mother and I saw a most unusual street sign:

MtP#5: Cat Mission

GC4H5ZG by Moontiso
Location: Washington, DC (Mt. Pleasant)
Cache Type: Traditional

Cache is hidden in a large black micro. I had to come back to claim this find since there was a police officer parked in a car just next to ground zero during my first visit and I didn't want to look like a drug dealer!

Tiger Paws

GC471D by Team SDPMVA
Location: Washington, DC (National Zoo)
Cache Type: Virtual

An easy-to-find virtual cache. Coordinates are a little off but this find brought me to an area of the Zoo I had not yet discovered prior to finding the cache.

Bungalow

GC3DCTN by CrsKlarin
Location: Washington, DC (Cleveland Park)
Cache Type: Traditional

A small black magnetic nano in a Cleveland Park neighborhood.

Good Neighbors

GC2K8H2 by NMP20008
Location: Washington, DC (Cleveland Park)
Cache Type: Traditional

Cache is an easy-to-find nano in a nice little Cleveland Park neighborhood. Tweezers required to extract the logbook.

A Little Light Reading

GC49W2W by SrchNResQ
Location: Falls Church, VA
Cache Type: Traditional

Second cache found in Falls Church with my mother. We got a little help from the lad who was working at the Christian Science Reading Room, outside of which the cache is hidden.

6/20/15: I revisited this cache with my mother before walking home after visiting a few other cache sites. I left some geoswag (a blue keychain I got at AZA last year and a blue kids' ring I found on the ground recently in DC)….

...and retrieved a travel bug ("For the Little Ones", posted about in the Travel Bugs tab of this blog).

Cherry Hill Park Micro

GC535YV by seadog 129
Location: Falls Church, VA (Cherry Hill Park)
Cache Type: Traditional

First cache found in the VA suburbs - with my mother. This cache is in a poison ivy patch at Cherry Hill Park, where I spent lots of time while growing up (not in the poison ivy patch, but in the park).

Woodley Park Pocket Park

GC2FXT4 by NMP20008
Location: Washington, DC (Woodley Park)
Cache Type: Traditional

My very first geocache find! Came back a second time with a friend after work to actually find the cache due to high Muggle traffic during my first visit, who I didn't want to confuse with my suspicious behavior. Cache located in a tiny little park a few blocks from my apartment.