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LOOK WHAT COOL THING IS BACK 3/21/12

Hey, guess what! Sometimes I go geocaching! It is fun! I used to write blogs about it! You can read them here. I haven’t done any in a long, long time, though, but the other day I was thinking about ‘em and thought that there were probably a ton hiding in Cleveland, and guess what, there were.

So yesterday after class I trekked up to the lake, by the Great Lakes Science Center & Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where I saw there were a few. And then I FOUND them. And took pictures.

It’s like a mile and a half from campus to the lakefront, but I was already kind of over there after attempting (and failing) to be the first person to visit the City Hall branch of the Cleveland Public Library as a part of this book hunt thing the CPL and TEDxCLE are putting on. (Tomorrow I’m going to try to hit up another branch. I want a dang shirt and free book.)

Behold! The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a dude who stayed in that bent over position for as long as I was watching him.

Dogwood?trees look nice but smell like this vitamin powder that my friend Joseph used to put on crickets before feeding them to his toads.

There were so many seagulls. They all wanted to poop on me.

This is where the two things were; the first one I found = the lower left . It was under a bench.

I didn’t have a GPS with me, but really, most times you don’t need one; it’s easy enough to just look at a map of the coordinates beforehand & read people’s comments on the cache at geocaching.com. Unless it’s a nature-y one; there are a few ones in the woods I’ve tried to find like five times with a GPS even and there are just too many stupid trees and holes.

I took the sillyband and left a quarter? That’s not how you are supposed to do it. But I wanted the silly band, so.

Get a load of THIS LOSER!!!

Tried to take a pic of the CBGB’s awning inside but a dude in there was staring at me so I did not.

The second cache was at the end of this long pier/park.

On this thing.

Three other people had written in the log book the same day I was there; I’m assuming they were just stupid and left the cache face-up because the paper would have gotten ruined by rain and stuff if not.

Perched atop that weird cylindrical concrete thing, I tried to do a panorama and it did not work.

Then I put the cache away in a better place so it would not be destroyed by the elements.

Then I walked back to CSU!

And took a pic of one of the many giant guitars that live around the city. The giant FREE stamp is in the background, as is the aforementioned City Hall.

AND THAT’S ALL.

THE END.

I don’t remember any of this 8/8/10

Okay umm I was going to post this right after I did them but then my computer broke and then I didn’t want to ever and now I do not recall anything that happened, really, but here are some pics of the last two geocaches I found.

I went back to Cascade Park to look for three or four things that I couldn’t find the previous time. My sister and cousin came along too, but they were bad and just complained UGH.

This is was about where the first one we looked for was supposed to be, and I couldn’t find it the other time, and I couldn’t find it this time, and I thought it probably wasn’t there but then the day after this someone found it SO WHAT THE HECK.

The second one was like behind where this was taken right off the road behind the concrete barrier things/wall that goes along the road! This is the ford that cars and people can cross the river on (if the water isn’t too high).

This is my cousin Abby!!!

This is where the thing was, in a log somewhere. This is a bad blog I’m sorry I can’t remember anything.

The cache was very dirty. I took those mardi gras beads!

Another view from the ford~*~

The next and only other cache I found that day I knew pretty much exactly where it was thanks to pictures online. Hooray.

See that big hill that is where everyone sits for fireworks or used to; I don’t think we have them any more? Or haven’t for the past few years. And they are launched from right about where I am standing. The river is behind me.

Thing.

That is it right there stuck; it was very hard to get out but with the help of a pen I did and but then also had trouble getting it back in there and it was a little bit frustrating so I didn’t take any other pictures of anything HAHA I am the best.

THE END

Nature is gross and mean but also cute 7/31/10

This is two days old now; I’m sorry. But I was really tired the day that it was actually and then the next day was Sunday and Sundays are no computer days and also I slept a lot still. So!

I went on Saturday to look for seven caches in Cascade Park which is a nice park that is not in New Castle, Pennsylvania and DEFINITELY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CASCADE BAY, WHEREVER KATIE LIVES.

My parents insisted on driving me around because apparently Cascade Park is a very sketchy place where a 20 year old cannot walk around by herself even though pretty much all the people who are there are 5 year olds climbing on things but whatever. I am glad they went because walking from place to place would have killed me because I’d already been awake for like 20 hours and it was kind of hot.

We stopped at the library on the way there.

This book was featured in the featured section and it is a v nice book.

So the first one we looked for was off to the side of a playground/park area in some trees, but the GPS was being very bad and wrong and the coordinates were changing all over the place and we walked around for like 20 minutes but couldn’t find even where it maybe was even close and I was sad so we just gave up and drove to the next one because screw it ugh.

We drove across to the more northy side of the park, across the ford. I forgot to take picture until this one sorry. The water was pretty high and my dad kept complaining about how the car was going to get wet. Oh no water!

The first one I looked for was #6, then we went across the river which you can see and then up to #1. The three that I actually found are highlighted w/yellow. Here are some pics of the river which would be much prettier if it was not brown like poop.

As you can see from that map, the thing was up near the bend of the river, and this was the view from that. The cache was inside a stump.

There was a log pushed down where that hole was so it was much less conspicuous. I had to reach down there with my arm and it went all the way to my shoulder pretty much and there were so many bugs and it was really gross.

I accidentally killed that slug I think. RIP

I took that bracelet. It says Asbestos AWARENESS.

Number 2 and 3 on the map I didn’t find. The first I am pretty sure was in this big thing of spike bushes that were REALLY painful and I got one in my finger :(

#3 was right by the ford like RIGHT near the road up an incline and if I’d have lost my balance, I would have fallen into the road that has cars on it. It was probably in a very huge upturned tree stump, but it was a micro one, very small, and the stump was gigantic and there were so many bugs and spider webs and gross that I gave up after like 5 minutes.

Some time I will go back and try to find the 4 that I did not get.

This was the view from right near where the second cache I found was. It was just a little into the woods, near what used to be the old poolhouse before a big flood that happened a long time ago and destroyed a lot of stuff.

There it is I didn’t take any good pictures because it was too hot and I was v frustrated.

I didn’t even try to look for the next one that was #5 because it was a micro one and people in the comments kept saying that it was really hard to get out and was ‘wedged’ which no thank you.

The last one was down a path near a playground and I took a bunch of pretty pics on the way there.

It was by the old bear cage that used to have bears in it before the flood.

The cache was right in that little pile of rocks! I had to find a stick to push it towards a hole in the back because it was way way way in there.

I took that marker thing that has Iron Man stamps on the other part. But it was all dried out and later in the car I tried to put a few drops of water on it from my water bottle and my dad got mad and said I was going to ruin the car. He hates water a lot when it is near his car.

Here’s a video I took of the cave and remains of the cage and me talking about things. You probably can’t see it so go look at this post on my actual blog page.

It was a cool place. After that, we kept going down the path because it was v pretty.

That one big rock said Pink Floyd The Wall on it…

Which you can’t see very well.

We went up some rock stairs!

o k

i h8 graffiti

It’s crazy that there’s a place this big and pretty barely even a mile from my house. I want to go back soon to try to find the ones I missed and just roam around and look at nature.

ily nature

THE END

I’m gonna post a geocache blog soon.

Found four today; one earlier by itself in a parking lot. I forgot to take pictures so I’ll just say a little thing now and if I go back ever I’ll get some and then edit this post to add them ok.

This cache was new—placed July 2nd, I think, and it was in the same parking lot/store area as the first cache I ever tried to find was. Actually I didn’t take any pictures for that one either so maybe I will take some for both.

When I put the coordinates into google maps, it pointed directly at one of those ovally curbs that encircle little mulched islands of shrubs and trees and flowers, so I thought it would be super simple to find.

So we got there and it is just a tree and then a bunch of weird half-pricky bushes which I tried to browse through because I couldn’t really see any possible place the thing could be hidden besides them.

The clue said ‘april showers’ which I guessed would be a sprinkler, and it was, but it was just flush against the dirt and no way for anything to be hidden near it or etc, so I looked and looked all around for like 10 minutes and there were all these people and cars moving around and I was v embarrassed like always.

I got mad and frustrated and was like AUGHTGHHHH I DON’T KNOW and started picking at the sprinkler because that was where it was supposed to be and then GUESS WHAT IT WASN’T ACTUALLY A SPRINKLER IT WAS A GEOCACHE. The middle section that looked like the sprinkler slid out of its encasing tube thing and the top screwed off and there was stuff in there! It was a fancy hide-a-key type deal. GOOD DISGUISE, MAN.

Up at dawn and sleepy and yawning etc 6/30/10

So! Yesterday at 6 I rode with my mom when she went to Curves to work out. That place is awful and I am so glad I do not have to go there any more. The music is soul-murderingly awful and it’s all fat old ladies no offense and it was so boring.

I was planning on finding two caches. One was right in the parking lot of the store/business area. There was no one there because it was so early, which is why I went, which was nice.

The clue for the cache was ‘SKIRT’ and I had no idea what that meant, but after turning the GPS on it was pretty obvious that it was hidden in that thing with bushes and a light post.

Which it was, under the base cover. Just like the one in the other parking lot a week-ish ago.

All that was in there was the log, but I left an eraser thing. Also right after I took this pic the camera died. I was able to take more though if I turned it on and took the picture right away. And then it’d shut off again. So not many or good pictures. Because there were only two caches and they were in boring places too.

The other cache was just down the road and off a side street, at an opticians.

You can’t see the tree the cache was in in this, sorry. It was to the right and back a little. The hint for this one was ‘hole and rock’ which they should have said ‘rock and hole’. PUNS.

There were a ton of bugs and beetles in there; it was really gross, and I had to find and use a stick.

The shape of the plastic container made it really difficult to get the paper out and it took forever and I was getting mad and a lady and a dog walked by and looked at me and I got madder but then I got it out.

My hand looks so fat I DON’T HAVE FAT HANDS

Then I walked back to the parking lot. It took only like 20 minutes in total for me to walk and find and etc the two caches.

I love it when the moon and sun are both visible at the same time concurrently simultaneously together!!!

Why do all businesses have these kinds of signs now? I do not understand it.

THE END

More geocaching; rain is really bad. 6/27/10

Today I went to find five geocaches in a more west-y area near downtown. These were farther away than the ones last week and walking is lame you guys, so lame.

I forgot to take pictures of the first one again, but it was at this trophy/award making place, the yellow building. On the other side, there was a sign, and it was between it and the wall. There was a guy spraying bug or weed stuff all around out front and after looking around and looking stupid we asked about the geocache. His cousins are the ones who hid it; he owns the store. So then it was not as awkward and I found the thing and took a little toy truck and left a fake bug that makes a clicking noise.

The next one was at the overlook for the east Cascade Falls. It was under one of these bridges, behind a bench, stuck magnetically.

There was only a log, an eraser, and a safety pin in there. So I took the eraser and left a glow in the dark star thing.

Some views of the falls and etc:

The third cache was in the woods down a trail that was very minimally trail-ish and had fallen trees all across it a bunch of places.

View of the falls from near where the third cache was.

This one took a really long time to find. The hint for the cache was ‘Cache has its own ruins’ which I saw right away, a weird piling up of long flat rocks like a shale or limestone type thing. It was pretty big, and I spent like 15 minutes looking in the spaces between them and poking around the fallen leaves and dirt and crap with a stick. I climbed up the hill behind it a little and didn’t see anything. Then it started raining. REALLY HARD. Went back up the hill one last time, then I was going to leave, but I found it.

NO APOLOGIES FOR THE CRAPPY PIC IT WAS POURING. Signed the log, put a ring in there, took a cool kind of coin thing that someone had had text/a picture wood burned on. “Marminad was here Grafton, OH” and a weird raindrop man? Alien? I do not know.

WHAT IS IT?


So it was raining a TON but I took a video of the waterfall because I’m an idiot. It’s embedded right above this. If you can’t see, go to the post on my actual page and it should show up.

THEN I had to walk to downtown and it took like 10 minutes and it was raining hard like REALLY REALLY HARD and thunder and lightning and etc. And then I stood under the entrance to a bank for 15 minutes.

And it rained. And it rained. And a bunch of firetrucks went by. And it rained. And I went over to a McDonalds. And I got fries and a McFlurry. And it rained. Then it stopped!

Ely Square!

There was supposed to be a cache just to the left of this picture, hanging in a pine tree. I found it really easily, but the lid was gone and there was nothing in it. There were little pieces of wet ruined paper on the ground. I think that is what the log used to be. :( So nothing for this one except to tell the people that the cache needs replaced.

The last one was across the street from a night club just around the corner from the square, magnetically attached to that pole.

It was really gross and there was an earwig in there.

Then I walked home.

Here’s the view from above the falls on the other side of the Black River.

A cool pic….there are a lot of trees. Where I live.

The lovely, lovely (and closed) library.

RIP I’M SORRY I’M SORRY :’(

Walgreens electronic sign silly band stock update:

All good.

I hate this store I hate it so much I hate walking by it at night I hate it I hate you Yellow Barrel of Magic I hope nobody buys you and you die and go away forever!!

THE END

Geocaching is really fun you guys! 6/24/10

Okay, so if you don’t know what geocaching is, what is up with you are you new? Also it is a kind of nerd sport. People hide or place geocaches (as of this moment there are 1,111,199 active caches around the world), water-tight containers like tupperware or peanut butter jars or old film canisters, even, everywhere, and then people go on hikes or drive to find them using GPS coordinates. Inside geocaches is always a log book, sometimes little trinkets. Blah blah blah go to geocaching.com if you want to know more about the thing itself.

Yesterday I went on a walk to look for four of them, using my uncle’s GPS. Blaze told me to take pictures so I did!

The first one was called the ‘Bigfoot Cache’ and was in a creepy part of town and there were a bunch of what looked like inmates on some kind of a break in a fenced in yard and they were all looking me and it was right where the cache was which was attached to the back of a red sign that you can barely see in this picture, right behind that black car way down there. When I started to walk away from there a lady asked me if I was looking for something and I was like “Uh no I’m okay.” It was too scary and I didn’t take any pictures of the actual thing. SORRY.

This is the GPS I was using. I think it’s more so designed for car GPS things, but it worked fine.

The next cache was just down the road and around the corner. It was magnetically stuck to that light pole right there, inside its base. There were a bunch of people working in that building and walking around and it was so awkward to be wandering the parking lot for 10 minutes trying to find the thing. I think this is good for me though because I am so easily embarrassed so this is maybe helping me just get over it.

The cache was really rusty, and it took me a minute to get it open.

The logs are really fun to read. To see how long it’s been since someone’s found that particular cache and such. Also, online, after you find a cache, you can log your find and do a write up and tell about your journey and if you took anything or left anything or if the cache is damaged or whatever. So it’s cool to see usernames online and their posts and then them written in log books.

The next one was farther away.

There was a cool place with lots of rusty vehicles.

This one was at the old New York Central Train Station which was across the street from that stuff.

I think this one took the longest to find. I climbed back behind these ties and was looking all through the brush and weeds and litter and broken beer bottles because there was a hint that said it was in a duct tape pouch in the wall, but there were stacks of the ties everywhere and I didn’t see that it was slipped into the space between two of them right here.

Cool buildings. I never knew any of this stuff was here, less than a mile from my house, even.

The last one was next to the hospital! I thought it was at a place where it wasn’t but the GPS said it was a little farther from where I was but a little farther from where I was was a river and I was so confused and made an idiot of myself walking back and forth across a bridge that is also a very busy street and welp but there was a thing on the other side of the river that I was not aware of which is where the cache ended up being.

Betwixt the stump and the guardrail!

None of these four caches were larger ones and none had prize trinket item trading things. LAME.

Then I walked home!

I did not even know that this waterfall existed, and I’ve driven by here about a billion times. I guess the guardrails block it.

FOOOOOONTA

That Walgreens……. They cut back on their promotioning, though. Now there is just one screen that advertises them rather than the 4 consecutive frames it used to flash.

RIP I’m sorry I’m sorry.

This was on a treelawn. I don’t know. CALM DOWN BEAR.

Giant Wendy’s chipotle chicken.

THE END