It's Cold in Columbus! - December 21, 2009

Today, we decided to head toward the Ohio State University to find a couple of waymarks for two new categories. Okay, so it was really the Biologist who decided to do this, but the Marine humored her and drove her to them. Our first stop was the Sleep and Breathing Research Institute on Olentangy River Road. Not much to see here, but this Research Institute is internationally recognized for their sleep apnea research. A bit of a snooze as far as waymarks go, but we nabbed it just the same!  UPDATE:  Turns out this Research Institute doesn't do enough research to qualify for approval.  Go figure...

Next, we headed to High Street, where we made a stop at the Improved Order of Red Men Sioux Tribe No. 128 lodge, which appears to still be a very active lodge. We particularly liked the defunct Neon Sign on this lodge. It wasn't much to look at, but we still liked it for its simplicity.

By this time, it was about 1pm, so we decided to
search for a restaurant in the area and spotted a Mexican restaurant called Mad Mex (http://www.madmex.com/regions/columbus/entrance). What an eclectic place! We had the Nachos Grande as an appetizer, then the Marine had the Mad Mex Huevo Burrito and the Biologist had the Black Beanie Quesadeenie. Yummy! It was Mexican food with a twist and absolutely delicious. They also have restaurants in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Happy Valley, Pennsylvania, and hope to expand elsewhere in the future. If you like Mexican food and are a bit adventurous, we highly recommend this place. It was awesome! As we exited the restaurant, we found another fun Neon Sign for the Ugly Tuna restaurant. Took photos and coords, then made our way back to the Marine's parents home.

The Long Way to Ohio - December 16-19, 2009

It's hard to believe, but it's that time of year again. Time to head north for the winter. Wait! There's something's wrong with that! Aren't we supposed to be heading south? Anyway, on Wednesday, we started our annual trek to Columbus, Ohio, to spend the holidays with the Marine's family. The Marine finished his last final exam at 10am and we were on the road by 11am. Before we (read the Biologist) took up waymarking, we used to be able to make it from Jacksonville, Florida, to Columbus in about 12 to 13 hours. Well let me tell you, those days are over much to the Marine's chagrin as it now takes 3 to 4 days!

DAY 1: Because of our late start, we only made it to Calhoun, Georgia, today. We had no waymarking goals on this first day. Our only plan was to put as many miles behind us as possible before nightfall. However, we did manage to snap some photos and coords of the Stowe, Vermont, U-Haul Graphic so we could visit it. Hey! We're not proud. We'll take what we can get!

DAY 2: Brrrr. It sure was cold when we left Calhoun this morning. The thermometer in the car read 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Yikes! We were wearing short sleeves in Jacksonville just yesterday and were comfortable. Thank goodness the car has seat warmers... or as the Biologist likes to refer to them, butt warmers. After passing though Tennessee and Kentucky, we stopped shortly after arriving in Indiana to find our first geocache in this state. It was an easy grab and go. Thank goodness. The temperature had risen about 10 degrees, but it was still REALLY cold! Next we made our way over to Illinois in search of an Illinois Historical Marker at the former village of Wanborough. The only thing that remains of this historic village is a small, well tended Worldwide Cemetery! After a short wander (because it was small, but mostly because it was COLD) through the cemetery, we hopped back in the car and made our way back to Indiana.

Once we crossed back over the state line, we found three Indiana Historical Markers: two about the Wabash and Erie Canal and a third about the Buffalo Trace. By this time, it was getting dark so we made tracks to the nearest city, Vincennes, to find a hotel and a place to get a nice, hot meal.

DAY 3: Today, we headed to Michigan. If you're going to go north for the winter, you might as well do it right! Right?! After arriving in Michigan, we immediately made a pit stop at the Michigan Welcome Center in New Buffalo where we spotted an unclaimed Michigan Historical Marker and found our first geocache in this state. We also found an Accessible-Designed Recreational Location here. It was An "Able to Play" Playground, which was designed to be accessible to children of all abilities. We also visited the Landlocked Lighthouse located here. Then we hopped back in the waymobile (formerly the cachemobile) and made our way to the lovely little town of Three Oaks.

In Three Oaks, we visited the Dewey Cannon, a piece of Static Artillery with a terrific history. The cannon, captured in the Spanish-American War by Admiral Dewey, was presented to Three Oaks when its citizens raised $1,400 for a memorial to the men of the battleship Maine. A Michigan Historical Marker accompanied the cannon and there was a lovely little Gazebo here as well. A few miles away we stopped at a Michigan Centennial Farm, which has been owned by the Payne Family for over 100 years. A few miles further down the highway, we stopped at the Haslett Farm, which has been in that family for over 150 years, making it a Sesquicentennial Farm! We made one last stop for another Michigan Historical Marker at The Presbyterian Church in Edwardsburg. By this time, it was mid-afternoon so we started making our way to Columbus, Ohio. We ran out of steam as we reached Fort Wayne, Indiana, and decided to call it a night and get a hotel room rather than try to push through to Columbus. By the next morning, we had second thoughts about the wisdom of this decision.

DAY 4: This morning we awoke to about 2 inches of snow! Aaack! Maybe we should have kept driving last night and made our way to Columbus. We don't get this treacherous stuff in Florida (thank goodness). We got on the interstate and the road wasn't in the best of shape. After about 10 white-knuckled miles and after spotting several vehicles stuck along the side of the highway, we got off the interstate and got on US 30 (aka the Lincoln Highway). Fortunately this road had already been well tended and we had a fairly nice drive into Columbus. Unfortunately, we weren't able to take the time to enjoy the Lincoln Highway or look for any of its hidden treasures (aka waymarks). We pulled into the Marine's parents drive at about noon and breathed huge sighs of relief. It sure was great to have our northward waymarking adventure behind us and see the Marine's mom and dad!

What's That Up Ahead? - September 5, 2009

While this isn't really a waymarking story, it might have been had the waymarking community not denied it as a category. So I figured it was close enough.

Anyway, I was driving down A1A in Jacksonville, Florida, on my way to a car wash when I spotted something on the road ahead of me that looked quite strange. At first I thought it was an odd-colored horse trailer, but as I got closer, I began to think it might be something else, something that used to be a Locationless Cache, which I never found. The closer I got, the more certain I became. Yep, folks, it was the Weinermobile!!! I tailed the big dog for quite a while. I actually had a hard time keeping up. Let me tell you, that weiner was flying.

Off to the Midwest, You Betcha! - August 28-30, 2009

It had been months since the Biologist had a waymarking adventure and she was jonesing big time. Combine that with a free Delta frequent flyer ticket with points ready to expire and enough No Hassle credit card miles to cover hotel and rental car costs, what was a girl to do? Well, I had to fly to Minneapolis-St. Paul of course. In addition to a rare waymark in Alexandria, Minnesota, there were four other states within a relatively short driving distance calling to me.

DAY 1: Today, the Marine and I set the alarm for 3:30 (a.m., that is) so he could drive me to the Jacksonville airport for a 5:30 a.m. flight. Ugh! It's at times like these that I really question my sanity. I know I'm already on the edge (some would say I've already leaped way over the edge, the Marine included!), but 3:30 a.m.?!!!! Well, at least the Marine could go back to bed, and waymarking adrenaline and caffeine (from my beloved Diet Pepsi) would keep me going.

After a short layover in Atlanta, I arrived in the Twin Cities at 9:30 a.m. and had my bag and rental car by 10 a.m. With the computer hooked up to the GPSr and En Route on the screen, I routed to my first target, a marker delineating a Great Line of the Earth, a 45th Parallel marker on the western edge of Minneapolis. The 45th Parallel is located midway between the Equator and the North Pole. The marker was on a boulder in a small patch of parkland on the Wirth Parkway and probably not even noticed by most people driving by. Photos and coords taken, I was off to my true target for this trip... the Kensington Runestone!

The Runestone Museum, a History Museum, in Alexandria, Minnesota, is co-located with the Alexandria Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce, a Tourist Information Center. The Museum has been home to the Kensington Runestone since 1958. The Runestone was discovered in 1898 on the Olaf Ohman farm near Kensington (15 miles west of Alexandria), and there has been much debate over the years as to how this runic artifact, dated 1362, could show up in North America.

On the grounds of the Runestone Museum is a Replica of Fort Alexandria. Also on the grounds is the former Immanuel Lutheran Church. This Old Church is a Relocated Structure that was originally located in the township of Carlos; it was moved to the grounds of the Runestone Museum in 2007. After wandering around the Museum and the grounds for a bit, it was time to make haste and continue on my journey as I had a LOT of ground to cover this weekend.

But upon leaving the museum, I was quickly distracted as just across the street was a truely Superlative find -- Big Ole, the Largest Viking in the Land. Big Ole is a 25-foot tall statue that was originally built for the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. This big boy is now located in Big Ole Cental Park, a Municipal Park in Alexandria, and he's a point of interest along the Glacial Ridge Trail Scenic Byway. After a few minutes of admiring this proud giant, I bid Big Ole a fond "ha det"and made tracks west toward the Dakotas.

Only 15 miles later, I spotted a sign for the Kensington Runestone Park, the location of the farm where the infamous runestone was found. I really didn't have the time, but I felt compelled to stop and check it out. This Municipal Park is also a point of interest along the Glacial Ridge Trail Scenic Byway and had a Replica of the Kensington Runestone on its grounds as a memorial to the momentous find made here. Also on the grounds of this park was an adorable little Waychapel.

I finally made my way into White Rock, South Dakota, where I immediately spotted an unclaimed South Dakota Historical Marker. Thank goodness as I didn't know where I was going to find one, but had planned to head into Sisseton, the seat of Roberts County, where White Rock is located, hoping to spot one. Finding the White Rock marker cut some time off today's route, thankfully, as I was running a bit behind schedule.

White Rock is the most northeastern community in South Dakota, being along the Minnesota border and one mile south of North Dakota, so it was the perfect place to go in search of a U.S. Tri-State Geodetic Point, a category that was up for approval while I was here, but which was ultimately denied by the waymarking community. I found a stone post marking the Tri-State point and then tracked down the actual location 9 chains east of the post. It was surrounded by fields of corn. A little disappointing, but not really surprising as I was in the Midwest after all! I took some photos and coords for this U.S. Historic Survey Stone and Monument and actually stumbled over a geocache as I was taking the photos!!! I didn't even know it was here, but of course I had to sign the log. Woo hoo!

Fortunately, I had already found a couple of North Dakota Historical Markers on a waymarking journey home from GeoWoodstock VI in northern California to Jacksonville, so I turned the rental car around and made my way back to just north of Minneapolis where I grabbed a bite of dinner, posted a couple of waymarks, and dropped off to sleep.

DAY 2: Bright and early this morning, I made my way to St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. I passed the Franconia Sculpture Park on the way and stopped to check out some of the abstract sculptures and take some photos and coords, then onto the Badger State.

In St. Croix Falls, I spotted the St. Croix Falls Dam, a Water Dam on the St. Croix River, then made my way to the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway where I spotted a Wisconsin Historical Marker about Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day. It turns out when plans were announced in 1964 for the St. Croix Falls Dam, Nelson, then a U.S. Senator, believed the riverway deserved federal protection and tried to halt its construction. Although the power plant was constructed, the controversy about it stimulated the passage of the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

I next visited the portion of the Interstate State Park on the Wisconsin side of the border and took a walk (or should I say a climb) on the Ladder Tank Trail to find our first geocache in this State. It was a letterbox cache located amidst some old terrace trout pond tanks along an Outdoor Stairway that had 88 steps! What a beautiful area! I next made my way to the official entrance to Interstate State Park where I spotted an Ice Age Trail sign. I knew the Ice Age Trail ran through here -- this park is actually its western terminus -- but had to search a little to find a marker for it. Very, very cool... no pun intended.

By this time, it was about 10 a.m. and it was time to make tracks for Iowa. Yes, I said Iowa. Somehow, I don't think the rental car company had any idea the number of miles I would be putting on the little Kia sedan they gave me for the weekend! After a long drive past one farm field after another, I finally arrived in Iowa where I was kindly Welcomed to this Field of Opportunities. Well, I can't speak for the opportunities, but there sure were LOTS of fields here!

I made my way to the cute little town of Northwood, where I found an Iowa Historical Marker next to the Worth County Courthouse Cannon. After taking photos and coords for the cannon and its historical marker, I walked over to check out the Courthouse and discovered a plaque about its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places and another plaque commemorating the Works Progress Administration. Wow, lots of history here! And just across the street was the original County Courthouse, which was also a Former Schoolhouse, and now the home of the Worth County History Museum. A plaque near its entrance identified its National Register of Historic Places status as well. A couple of Amish women were selling their wares in front of this historic building, and it gave the entire place such a nice, warm homey feeling. I took a spin around the town and found another Iowa Historical Marker about the first settlers of Worth County, then had to head back to Minneapolis as it was getting late.

On the same route back, I was Welcomed back into Minnesota, a state of 10,000 Lakes. After a short distance, I decided to deviate from the route and take some back roads, where I spotted a Dinosaur Statue at a BP gas station. It was a Sinclair Oil Corporation dinosaur and a Giant of Commerce. Upon arriving back in Minneapolis, I headed to the downtown area and found a couple of historic Arch Bridges, one that was also a Stone Bridge. One was on the National Register of Historic Places and the other was a Contributing Structure in the St. Anthony Falls Historic District. After visiting the Gold Medal Park, a beautiful little Municipal Park, and taking a photo of the Gold Medal Flour sign, a Neon Sign that's an icon of Minneapolis, I made my way to a hotel near the airport. After posting a few waymarks, I crashed for the night as I had an early flight home the next morning.
Day 3: I wish I could have taken a later flight so I could have spent more time waymaking in Minneapolis today, but the frequent flyer ticket only had early morning options. Oh well, it was free after all! Got to the Airport bright and early, turned in my rental car, and headed back home where the Marine was waiting for me. What a guy!

Georgia on My Mind (& West Alabama & NW Florida Too!) - May 15-17, 2009

Over a month had passed since our previous waymarking adventure, so the Biologist was getting pretty antsy. Fortunately, there was a Hot Air Balloon Festival scheduled in Northwest Georgia this weekend with her name written all over it. We'd planned to go to two previous balloon festivals, but our plans went astray both times so the Biologist was hoping the third try would be a charm. After getting off work early on Friday, we started making our way west on I-10 then north on I-75.

It was pretty much a long boring drive, but we did make a detour in Marietta to go to the Marietta Diner, which the Marine had seen featured on the Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins & Dives show. The Marine had Beef Stroganoff as it was one of the meals reviewed by Guy Fieri, and the Biologist (a vegetarian) had a meatless version of the Sloppy John sandwich. Very tasty, but this place was hopping! Apparently, it's quite popular with the locals! After dinner, we headed a bit further north to the hotel where we had reservations. Although the balloon festival started this evening, by the time we got to Marietta, it was dark and too late to head to the event. If only we had known what fate awaited us on Saturday, the Biologist may have tried to get off work a little earlier so we could go to the festival today instead!

So, dark and early on Saturday morning, we checked out of our hotel and headed west to the small (and by small I mean miniscule) town of Menlo where the festival was being held. The balloons were scheduled to take flight at 6am, and we got there at 5am. Needless to say, we were only the 2nd or 3rd car to arrive. Everyone else apparently knew better and slept in a bit later than we did. However, we didn't mind because the predictions for rain this morning had not come true and there was no sign of rain on our drive. At about 6:30am, some trucks and vans with balloon baskets on the back finally started to arrive. Yea! We were finally going to see multiple hot air balloons launching. We were so excited. Well, at least as excited as one can be when they get up at 4:00 in the morning. So we're waiting... and we're waiting... and as daylight breaks we notice that fog is rolling in. We didn't see any fog on the drive to Menlo so we were a little surprised, but didn't think much about it. That is, until we realized that the morning launch was going to be cancelled because of it. Oy vey, will we ever see hot air balloons launching?! Well, not today anyway. We did have a nice chat with some of the balloonists though and they told us how the Energizer Bunny hopped on the launch field before taking flight the previous evening and how two Bumble Bee balloons hugged each other with velcro arms as they took flight. Darn it! Better luck next time. Well, at least we did get a new icon for attending a Hot Air Balloon Festival.

So after being deflated by the balloon launch cancellation, we took a leisurely drive south along the back roads of Georgia and made our way over to Dothan, Alabama. Did you know that according to the Guinness Book of World Records Dothan has the smallest city block? No kidding, they really do. We managed to snap several photos of it just before the hordes arrived for a graduation ceremony at the nearby convention center.
We spotted several Alabama Historical Markers, as well as a Bartram Trail Marker, along the way and stopped to check them out. Just adjacent to the Bartram Trail Marker was the adorable little Oswichee Baptist Church so we had to stop and take photos of it too. There was a nice woman there who invited us to the church potluck on Sunday. What a friendly place!

We passed through Alabama fairly quickly then made our way south to Appalachicola, Florida, and enjoyed checking out the Gulf of Mexico for a little while before making our way to Tallahassee for the night. After a nice dinner at the Macaroni Grill (we don't have one of these in Jacksonville), we made it an early night (remember, we did get up at 4am this morning!). Then we made our way home on Sunday. Rascal and Scamp sure were glad to see us, although Rascal gave us the evil eye when we removed his all-you-can-eat smorgasbord.

1st Wedding Anniversary Adventure - March 27-April 2, 2009

With our 1st wedding anniversary (and Spring Break) fast approaching, the Marine surprised the Biologist by suggesting that we take a trip to New York City. We'd been talking about going to the Big Apple for years but never seemed to find the time, but now we had both the time and enough No Hassle credit card miles to get free flights. So we were finally going to go! And to top it off, the Marine suggested we visit several adjacent states while up that way so we could add some new historical marker icons to our waymarking grid, as well as new states to our caching map. Is he the best husband or what?!! So the Biologist began a frenzy of planning and looking for waymarks and caches to go after. We allotted 2 1/2 days for driving around 7 states before arriving in NYC so we had a lot of ground to cover in a very short time span. We planned carefully and decided to fly into New Hampshire, then drive to Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, and New York. And that's how our 1st Wedding Anniversary Adventure came about.

DAY 1: Today was the Marine's birthday so we had plenty to celebrate this week! We left home quite early and arrived in Manchester, New Hampshire, at around 10:30am when our 7-state adventure truly began. After picking up our rental car at the Manchester airport, we made a quick stop and found a cache (our first cache in New Hampshire and the first cache we'd found together in quite a while). Then off we went to find a New Hampshire Historical Marker in Bear Brook State Park. However, on the drive there we spotted a couple of fairly new local historical markers, one of them about a 1790 Milestone. We stopped to collect coords and photos for them and continued on to the state park. While at the historical marker we originally were targeting, we spotted another one across the road. Wow, New Hampshire is full of history and a beautiful place as well (in spite of all the white stuff on the ground -- we don't get that in Florida)!

After leaving the state park, we started making our way to Maine where the Biologist had found out about an unclaimed Maine Historical Marker in York County. On the way, on the backroads of NH, the Marine spotted a Quadrivia! He's excellent at spotting waymarks! After stopping to waymark the Quadrivia, we continued on to Maine. Shortly across the state border, we stopped to find our first Maine cache and had to slosh through some slushy snow to get to it (eek!). Then off to the York County Courthouse and its nice historical marker. Unfortunately that's all the time we had for Maine this trip, but we'd like to come back some day to truly appreciate it, preferably when there's no snow on the ground.

Next we headed to Massachusetts and stopped to find a cache at the Welcome Center rest area. Then off to the city of Lowell to find some Massachusetts Historical Markers. This was a nice town and we spent a little bit of time wandering around the downtown area, then off to Tyngsboro, MA, on a short detour to visit an already posted Bailey Bridge. After this short detour, we made a stop along a section of the Concord River that's part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system (in anticipation of that new category getting approved) then off to Rhode Island via I-95. We hadn't gone far and were starting to skirt around Boston when the Biologist's eyes got wide and she screamed "Is that a Bailey Bridge?!! Oh my gosh, it is!" It was a Bailey Bridge under construction alongside the Winter Street overpass over I-95 in Waltham, Massachusetts! And it hadn't been claimed yet! What an unexpected find! Of course, by the time we agreed it was a Bailey Bridge, we'd already passed the exit for it and had to get off at the next exit and make our way back, but well worth the effort.
After the excitement of finding a Bailey Bridge, we were absolutely worn out, although maybe the 3:30am wake up to catch our flight this morning had more to do with it. We started looking for a place to spend the night and found a Hampton Inn in Raynham, MA. And are we glad we did. The hotel receptionist recommended we try the StoneForge Tavern for dinner and we had a fabulous dinner and birthday celebration for the Marine before heading back to the hotel and getting some much needed sleep.

DAY 2: This morning we made our way bright and early to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where we wandered around some historic mills that were nicely preserved. We took photos and coords of several Rhode Island Historical Markers and plaques with plans to start a new category for them. We couldn't believe there wasn't already such a category! Then off to Newport to find a cache and a Portuguese society hall named after Vasco da Gama. You just never know what you'll find if you do a little bit of googling!

It didn't take long to make our way through Rhode Island (it is the smallest U.S. state after all) and before we knew it we were in Connecticut and making our way west. We stopped to find a cache and also to take coords and photos at a few unclaimed Connecticut Historical Markers we spotted along the way. We especially enjoyed our stop at the Willington historical marker where we wandered around checking out the nearby historic meeting house and WWI memorial. Then, we continued making our way through CT, but before leaving the state we made a short detour through Enfield to check out the old Shaker Village there and its Lavoir (Wash House).

We made a quick pass back through Massachusetts and passed by a historical marker posted by BruceS so of course we had to make a quick visit, then on to Vermont. We found a cache and then spent a couple of hours trying to locate a few official Vermont Historical Markers with no luck. We decided to try for one more historical marker the Biologist had placed on the list and lucked out with this one! It was titled "Vermont is a State I Love." We had to agree. It was really beautiful and we decided we'd really like to come back here in the fall.

By now, it was finally time to start making our way over to New York State. We found a few unclaimed New York Historical Markers in the Albany area and made our way south to Kingston where we found another Hampton Inn (we love their comfy beds and pillows!) where we could lay our weary heads.

DAY 3: Being only about 2 hours away from New York City, we decided to sleep in a little before making our way to the city of Hyde Park to have breakfast at the Eveready Diner, a restaurant that had been featured on the Food Network show "Diners, Drive-ins & Dives" (one of the Marine's favorite shows). After eating we braced ourselves for the drive to JFK Airport where we had arranged to turn in our rental car. Did I mention the Eveready Diner had a Neon Googie Sign?

We passed through Poughkeepsie on our way south and what did we see but a marked Cycling Route along Highway 9 -- another unexpected find! Then back on the road to NYC -- who knew there would be so much traffic there on a Sunday morning?! It was a bit tense during the last 45 minutes of our drive, but the Marine did a great job and got us to the airport without any trouble. We then took a 3-hour shuttle trip to our hotel (you don't even want to know about THAT adventure, but suffice it to say that we arranged for a car through our hotel to get back to JFK Airport for our flight home). We checked into our hotel in midtown Manhattan and by then it was time for dinner and we made it an early night.

DAY 4: Our first day of exploring New York City! We purchased 2-day tickets for a sightseeing "hop on, hop off" bus tour around Upper and Lower Manhattan. We had a wonderful time going up on the Observation Deck of the Empire State Building. It was very windy and cold up there but the views made it all worthwhile, plus we found a virtual cache up there.
Next we headed to Battery Park to catch a ferry to Liberty Island to see the amazing Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island to see the historic entry facility for immigrants entering the United States. After spending an absolutely amazing afternoon at these two National Monuments, we caught the ferry back to Battery Park, where we spotted a Peace Memorial and 9/11 Memorial Site, as well as a Maritime Memorial. What a wonderful day!

DAY 5: Today was our 1st wedding anniversary! This morning we got back on the sightseeing bus and hopped off at the Port Authority Bus Terminal where we found a Rolling Ball Sculpture. Around this time we also decided to hoof it to an unclaimed Toynbee Tile the Biologist had found out about through a Google search. It was in fantastic shape! Then as we were passing through Lower Manhattan, we spotted four Fireworks Trees on the roof of a restaurant & bar. We saw another Fireworks Tree in Manhattan and it's still out there waiting for someone to claim it. That night for our anniversary dinner, we went to Coppolas, a wonderful little Italian restaurant a couple of blocks from our hotel. We had a nice romantic dinner and marveled how fast the year had passed.
DAY 6: Today we decided to spend some time wandering around Central Park and looking for some of the caches there. We found a physical cache, an Earthcache, and a couple of virtual caches, as well as a Dog Statue and a few Statues of Historic Figures, before our feet and legs finally gave out on us and we decided to call it a day. On the walk back to our hotel, we spotted a Shake Shack. We had just seen an interview of Tom Colicchio and Padma Lakshmi from the Bravo Channel's "Top Chef" on a TV in the JFK Airport and they were asked what restaurant each thought had the best burger. Padma said hers was the Shake Shack so in we went to see if we agreed. The Marine had a ShackBurger and the Biologist had a vegetarian 'Shroom Burger. They were both teriffic! We wish we had a Shake Shack in Jacksonville!

DAY 7: This morning we slept in a bit, then got up and packed for our ride to the JFK Airport. Thanks to the car we had arranged, it only took about 45 minutes to get from our hotel to the airport. Although our flight was delayed by an hour, it was a direct flight home and we were so happy to finally get there. We'd had a wonderful adventure, but it's really true... there's no place like home.

Traveling in the Land Down Under - February 12-24, 2009

G'day mates! Would you believe it, the Biologist had yet another business trip. This time to attend a conference in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. Does she have a great job or what?! Well if you're going to fly all that way, you really have to spend some personal time there... right? Of course! Unfortunately, the Marine had classes and couldn't go with her so her friend Sylvia went instead.

DAY 1: Upon arrival, we picked up our rental car to head north to Caloundra where we planned to stay our first two nights. I had driven on the opposite side of the road before in the U.S. Virgin Islands and knew that wouldn't be a problem for me. However, this was the first time I'd ever driven on the opposite side of the road AND on the opposite side of the vehicle. I kept misjudging the distance of the right side of the car from the shoulder/curb! I only ran over about a dozen curbs and nearly plowed into a few median dividers and traffic signs before I got the hang of it!

Anyway, back to the story. Poor Sylvia... she'd heard about waymarking but had no idea what it actually involved. We had departed Jacksonville, Florida, on February 10 and arrived in Brisbane on February 12 (we lost a day due to crossing the International Date Line). We were absolutely exhausted, but once we left the Brisbane Airport she humored me and we headed to Hemmant (about 10-15 miles southeast of the airport) to find a Boer War Memorial there. It turned out it was dedicated to an individual instead of a group of people so it didn't qualify for the category, but it was a very nice memorial just the same. So we finally headed north toward our hotel, but again Sylvia kindly agreed to allow me to drive right on past it by about 15-20 miles to get an Australian Trig Point, which involved us climbing to the top of Emu Mountain (after more than 30 hours of traveling with very little sleep). As we finally started making tracks to our hotel, I asked her to keep an eye out for a Quadrivia. No sooner had I explained to her what a Quadrivia was when she spotted one! I LOVE AUSTRALIA!


DAY 2: The next day, we went to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo in Beerwah. We had a lot of fun, but it rained the entire day, but at least it wasn't hot or crowded. I found several waymarks there, including an Artificial Cave Entrance.

DAY 3: Off to Lamington National Park (a World Heritage Site) where we had reservations to stay at O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat for 2 nights. We passed back through Brisbane on our way and stopped at Anzac Square to find the Boer War Memorial there and this one met the category criteria. Yea! We also spotted two fireworks trees today - we stopped at one, but left the other for someone else to find. Also, on the way to Lamington, we saw a sign about a historical tunnel as we were approaching the town of Canungra and decided to pull over and check it out. After a very short walk we came to an Abandoned Train Tunnel! Woo hoo! Did I mention that I LOVE AUSTRALIA?!! After stopping once more to look at a wallaby feeding along the side of the road on the drive up the mountain, we finally made it to O'Reilly's, where we spotted quite a few pademelons, Australian brush-turkeys, and Crimson rosellas. After checking in, we went for a nice walk in the rainforest. It's absolutely beautiful here.

DAY 4: This morning we took a 2-hour Rainforest Birding Hike with a guide and saw several interesting birds and the bower of a regent bowerbird (very cool), as well as a Pedestrian Suspension Bridge that was called the Tree Top Walk. Afterwards, we struck out on our own and went on a 6-km hike to see Moran Falls. At the end of the trail, we even found a geocache (GCZBMN)! The falls were really beautiful and definitely worth the hike, but it was a gradual downhill descent the entire way to get there, which meant it was an ascent the entire way back. OMG, I thought I was going to die!

DAY 5: Today we headed back to Brisbane for my Conference. We turned in the car at the airport and took the train to our hotel near the Convention Center.

DAY 6-8: Work, work, work. But I did manage to find a few cool waymarks in the evenings, including a couple of Permanent World Fair and Expo Structures, a Peace Memorial, and an enormous Ferris Wheel.

DAY 9: Work is done and it's time to play again! Today, Sylvia and I took a flight down to Sydney in New South Wales. We headed off to find the Shop24 Machine at the University of New South Wales (Sydney Campus), but it had been recently dismantled and replaced by a used bookstore. Oh well, at least we were able to visit one in the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport on our way to Australia. Then we strolled over to Circular Quay for some dinner.

DAY 10: Today we took a ride on the Sydney Explorer (a bus that you can jump off and on at various points of interest, including the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge). We wandered around Darling Harbour, Hyde Park, St. Mary's Cathedral, the Sydney Cenotaph, and all over downtown Sydney, then back to Darling Harbour for dinner. Lots of really great places to explore here.

DAY 11: This morning we headed to the Sydney Aquarium and wandered around there for a couple of hours. My favorites were the platypi and dugongs. Then we joined up with my friend Debbie who was also in Sydney and we wandered around the outdoor market stalls near The Rocks for about an hour before hopping on the Bondi Explorer bus. We got off and had lunch in Bondi Beach and went for a little stroll along the coast. Of course we had to take our shoes off and walk in the Pacific surf for a bit.

DAY 12: What a beautiful day! We strolled through the Royal Botanical Gardens this morning and saw many, many grey-headed flying foxes (a large fruit bat) hanging in the trees there. They were awesome! Next we wandered around the Museum of Sydney where we watched a couple of short films and I discovered there was a Martello Tower at Fort Denison, which is on a small island in Sydney Harbour. So we headed there next, but the last boat of the day to the island had already left. Fortunately, you can get a great view of it from the harbour-side of the Opera House! Wow, that was an excellent surprise! Back to the hotel to try to catch some sleep before flying out the next morning. It was a great trip. I feel very fortunate to have been able to go. Did I mention that I LOVE AUSTRALIA?!