Monday Geocaching

You know what's one good thing about moving to a new city? Un-found geocaches! We were out of caches to find in Fort McMurray so we would have to patiently wait for a new one to be planted but not here! We have literally thousands in a 50 km radius and hundreds within only a few kilometers.  On Monday evening we started our hunt.  The picture below is from one of the caches we found (a mailbox screwed to a fallen log). We were asked to spell our team name using scrabble pieces included in the mailbox, pretty cool idea.  This picture was harder to get than you think, Penny wanted to eat the T....babies.....

Caching in the 'Zac

To commemorate International Geocaching Day (well actually it was a fluke), our friend Scouter Ron (view his blogs here and here) and the 1st Anzac Scout Group organized the 1st Annual GEOCACHE Community Event aptly named “Caching in the Zac” to take place during Anzac Daze.  Anzac is a hamlet located approximately 50km south of Fort McMurray and has been holding Anzac Daze annually for quite a few years at their community hall.

There were three traditional caches and one bonus multi-cache set up for this event all located within the hamlet.  The first cache was just down a path from the Willow Lake Community Garden, the second one was close to the Gregoire Lake shore, the third was in the Anzac Cemetery.  The multi-cache was located around the Anzac baseball diamonds; we found the coordinates hidden in a tree, when punched into our GPS we were lead into the trees behind the outfield.

Anzac Daze#1 - Anzac Gardens

 

Anzac Daze#2 - Rest in Peace

Anzac Daze#3 - Lakeview

 Anzac Daze#4 - BONUS - Multi Cache

Oops - forgot to take a pic of the cache!

We started at 10am and found them all with one "first to find" by 12pm.   It is super easy and fun for us to strap on Penny and get out of the house on these nice summer days especially when there is such great swag and prizes.  Scouter Ron and the Scout group held a prize draw in the afternoon for those participants who found all the caches.  I guess we showed up late and our prize was given to the kids which is totally fine by us, we got wicked thermoses instead. So in between caching and the prize draw we went down to the Gregoire Lake Anzac day use area and had ourselves a picnic.  We had tuna pitas, cherry tomatoes, jalapeno dip and left over teryaki pork patties....yum. More picnics are definitely in order for the the rest of the summer since it is so simple with a baby. We had a blanket laid out for Mr.Loonie, Penny and I to sit on and Stryker laid next to us like such a good boy.  So thanks to the Scouts for getting the 3Strykes family out to enjoy your community!
Make sure to check out Anzac Daze next year..if geogaching isn't your thang they have lots of other activites to offer such as a kids carnival and bike parade and beer gardens and a dance for the adults.

Ooh and what's really cool is that we got our International Geocaching Day Souvenir today since we logged a found cache today, the Second Annual International Geocaching Day. Yay Team 3Strykes!

Summer Geocaching - June 5, 2012

We picked up this set of caches just off hwy 36 on the way home from the lake.  The first cache on twp road 581 was located at the Celtic church which was in operation from 1928 until 1964. The second cache was only a kilometer down the road at the former Celtic School site. 

Penny's (The 4th Stryke) First Geocaching Adventure

It was a scorcher on the day of her first adventure! We found the first part of this multi-cache with no problems but the second part we were not so lucky and we had to give up our search early because of the heat. We did find out later that the cache was muggled....damn muggles! Hopefully we will have better luck on Penny's next cache.
This spot is awesome though, such an amazing view of the Athabasca River! It can either be accessed from behind Thickwood or on a trail leading up from the end of the water treatment plant road. 

Geocaching - May 24, 2012

This cache was called "Wet Cheeks" for a reason.  Can anyone guess why??

May Long Weekend Camping

This post topic is a little late but when starting to write a post about my front flower beds, I realized our May long weekends in northern Alberta are a little crazy.

It doesn't matter if it has been above 20°C and sunny for the first three weeks in May, you can bet your life savings that it is going to snow, hail, rain like a motha and/or get pretty close to freezing on the May long weekend.  And, every year we make the same foolish decision to kick of the camping year with this particular weekend.  This year was no exception, we headed out to Mariana Lakes to camp, which is also known as "Mariana Triangle" weather wise.  Ironically, it did all of the above weather mishaps - snow, hail, rain and according to the thermometer we brought with us, the minimum temperature reached that weekend was 0.6°C.  

The past few years we (Mr. Loonie, Stryker and I) along with our group of friends have been camping at the Mariana site furthest south on Hwy 63 when it is available.  I don't know how long it has been there but there is an amazing teepee approximately 20 feet tall with a fire pit right in the center of it.  To keep the wind and cold out and the heat in we wrap tarps around the outside, which is especially essential for May Long weekends.

Here are some past pictures we've taken of the South/old teepee site.  This site also has a little dock perfect for fishing or just relaxing! 

Unfortunately, we missed out on this spot this year and had to settle for the north site (they are only 2 minutes apart on the highway).  There is more than one camping spot on this site but the nicest is right on the water, the downside is the wind off the lake.  The only solution was to erect our very own teepee!!

So, the guys went to work! Conveniently four guys with ASRD (Alberta Sustainable Resource Development) and their helicopter were parked while on a fire watch and decided to help out!

Drag the deadfall out. Cut the lengths to size, tie together at the top and all at once....LIFT!!!

Wrap the tarps around for ultimate protection!

Photo Credit to our friends Colin, Juniper and Melissa.

P.S. Team 3Strykes and team timestoppersua stashed a cache at the new teepee site - Stop in for a search on your next travel south! 

Geocaching: Fort McMurray, AB <----> Brooks, AB

Near Site of Scona School in Beaver County

Sneaky Fence Pole

Kinbrook Island Provincial Park Entrance

Kinbrook Island Roads - Treacherous!

Fossilized Cypress Trees - Mining Interpretive Center off Hwy 855

Stryker says NO! to pollution! Sheerness Coal Power Plant (Hwy 36)

Viking, AB

Bruce, AB

Geocaching Sunday - Mother's Day

Sorry for the short break! Mr.Loonie, Stryker and I have been busy.  We drove across the province for Mr. Loonie's grandmother's beautiful memorial.  It was a sad day but we were happy to celebrate her life and visit family from all over the country.  My preggo body couldn't take the hours of sitting involved in the long drive so we broke it up and took our time geocaching! We found 22 caches but didn't find 4, not too bad.  I will do a picture summary of our trip this week. 

The main bathroom reno is still in the works when Mr.Loonie is not working.  The tub, shower wall, counter top, cabinets and sink are in.  Mr. Loonie is on his third and final mud and sanding round so we should be able to paint this week.  An update post will be coming soon.  

The in-laws were in our neck of the woods this weekend.  The father in law helped with the bathroom reno and played his game ;) And the mother in law attended my family baby shower, and kept herself busy as always.  On Sunday Mr. Loonie treated us to Mother's day breakfast, a shoe shopping trip and a nice afternoon geocache (picture above).

I finished work up last Thursday so I am now officially on mat leave!! We are on the 6 week countdown to baby Penny's due date and I feel like I have so much to do. I have made a list and look forward to crossing things of the list but many backyard reading days will be squeezed in there too.  More blogging is definitely on the list so stay tuned!

 - Mrs.Loonie

Preggo Geocaching Sunday - April 22, 2012

I just spent the most relaxing weekend with my bestie and her amazing little family. She is due with her second princess in only 4 weeks, which means only 8 more weeks left for me; the next time we see each other we will both have babies!  We shopped till our swollen feet couldn't take another step and ate ourselves into temporary comas.  On my last day I was there we needed some fresh air so geocaching it was.  I'm so happy to spread the adventure of geocaching to a new family. Team Flatline found their first two caches on Sunday!

Prego Caching

Easter Monday Geocaching - April 9, 2012

Sunday Geocaching - April 1, 2012

Sunday Geocaching - March 18, 2012

 

Sunday Geocaching - March 4, 2012