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?!

A Visit to San Diego & La Jolla - February 2-5, 2009

In California for another business trip, the Biologist once again had time after her flight arrived to do a small bit of waymarking. MISSION: Seek out an unclaimed El Camino Real Bell, California Historical Marker, and a Gravity Hill. I also spent a little time wandering around Old Town San Diego as I'd never been there before. After finally finding an unclaimed El Camino Real Bell on Vacation Isle in San Diego, I headed off to my hotel in La Jolla and what was right in front of it but another unclaimed El Camino Real Bell!!! What are the odds of that?!!

Quick Trip to Albuquerque - January 12-14, 2009

The Biologist traveled to Albuquerque for a business meeting and had a few hours after her flight got in to do some waymarking and find a geocache or two. My primarily targets were a couple of New Mexico Historical Markers and Route 66 points of interest.

I particularly enjoyed checking out the historic El Vado Motel (which is on the National Register of Historic Places) along Route 66 and the restored 66 Diner.

Found several other interesting waymarks while wandering around the city: a lovely old Convent, the Gazebo in Old Town, a U.S. Civil War Site, an Exact Replica, a Holocaust Memorial, and an enormous Artificial Climbing Wall. Not bad for just a few hours.

The Journey Home (GA, AL, & FL) - December 29-30, 2008

We crossed from Tennessee into Georgia fairly early on the morning of December 29 and made our way to the first stop of several the Biologist had identified before our journey began. The first stop was a Georgia Historical Marker at the former site of Fort Gilmer. Fort Gilmer was one of the Cherokee Indian removal forts in Georgia and is part of the Trail of Tears! No remains of the Fort exist today, but the history is not to be forgotten.

Next we made our way south to the Red Top Mountain State Park where the Georgia Orienteering Club maintains a Permanent Orienteering Course. After purchasing a map of the course from the State Park folks, we made our way to the Course starting point and trekked to Station 1. We didn't have time to run the entire course, but it appears to be well designed and runs through a nice pine forest in a large, well maintained park.

Then we were off to Cedartown, Georgia, to visit a Cobblestone Building. After visiting the building, we found a couple of other similar Cobblestone structures in the area and are hoping at least one of them meets the category criteria. The old homes in this area are very nice and we enjoyed driving around the neighborhood to look at them.

Next we headed off to grist mill country and stopped by the Jones Mill, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has a Water Wheel (although it doesn't appear to be a Working one). Then to historic Berry College in Rome, Georgia, to drive through the beautiful campus and on-site wildlife refuge to the Old Mill at the College, which has what is considered to be one of the largest Water Wheels in the world and is still operated on special occasions. It was spectacular and well worth the trip if you're in the vicinity.

Now it was time to make tracks to Alabama. I mean, who doesn't get to Florida from Georgia through Alabama? Not us, that's for sure. The Biologist had identified an unclaimed Alabama Historical Marker in Cherokee County so off we went. Unfortunately, she had gotten some misinformation and we never did find a historical marker there, but we did see a sign for the Cornwall Furnace in Cedar Bluff and decided to check it out. This 35-foot high iron ore furnace was built by the Confederate States of America in 1862 and became the first to supply iron for the construction of Confederate cannons during the Civil War. Turns out the furnace is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has a Wikipedia entry! Another awesome piece of history that we just stumbled across on our wonderful adventure home.

We made it to Oxford, Alabama, that night before having to stop and find a place to lay our weary bones. However, since we had an internet connection, the Biologist decided to search for another unclaimed Alabama Historical Marker that we might be able to find on our way south. Turns out there was one! And it was located right there in Oxford just 3 miles from the hotel where we were staying. So of course, that was our first stop the next morning before heading down to Florida.

After a delay on Florida's Turnpike due to an accident that had all the Southbound lanes shut down, we FINALLY made it to the Biologist's sister's home in Melbourne, Florida, on Tuesday evening to visit with family for New Year's Eve and to pick up Rascal and Scamp. Yes, their vacation is coming to an end too! They had a blast with Aunt Joanie and Uncle Mikey, but all good things must come to an end...

The Journey Home Continues (KY & TN) - December 28, 2008

This morning we wandered a bit off course on our journey home. Just west of Lexington, we had learned about the existence of Jeptha Knob. It's the result of an asteroid impact some 425 million years ago. We weren't able to get to the top of the Knob because it was gated with no trespassing signs, but we got some nice views regardless and found a dated Kentucky Historical Marker from back when they believed the Knob was a cryptovolcanic structure. It's actually the geologic remnant of the uplifted rebound structure in the center of an meteorite Impact Crater. Too cool!

On our way back toward Lexington to get back on track to Florida, we spotted another historical marker and pulled over to see what it was about. It was titled "Death of Meriwether Lewis." Well, good grief, an unexpected Lewis and Clark Trail marker! You just never know what you're going to find when you take the back roads and avoid the interstates!

We finally made it into Tennessee by early afternoon. The Biologist is a University of Tennessee alumnus and was happy to be back in this beautiful state. We passed three Tennessee Historical Markers along the way and learned about the Independent State of Scott which was formed in 1861 when what was then Scott County seceded from the state; the city of Clinton was once listed as one of three Tennessee towns known as centers of the pearling industry; and the historic community of Scarboro was dispersed by the creation of the secret Oak Ridge facility.  Then for time's sake, we hopped on the interstate and made our way to Cleveland, Tennessee, and checked into a hotel for a night's rest in preparation for the next day of our journey home.