Bugs are gone, so geocaching is in!

Now that all of the bugs have been frozen stiff (especially the skeeters) it is actually fun to go out geocaching again. So last Saturday, we went to a local forest preserve and found three caches, all well of the trails. The weather was pretty cool, with a stiff breeze, but we were in the tree mostly, so it was alright. Came across a fence row of Osage Orange trees, with lots of their strange fruit lying all around.

To celebrate Thanksgiving, we went out and did 9 caches this morning. It was absolutely beautiful this morning for a walk in the forest preserves. The temperature was just above freezing (about 3oC or 38F), the sun was shining, and the winds were calm. Couldn't ask for better conditions on Nov. 27.

The loop we did today was about 2 miles long, and most of the caches were not too far off the trail. A couple of them took us a little bit of the beaten path, though, which was really nice. Here is photo of Rachel and Hannah uncovering a cache!
And here is another of most of us looking at a cache that Rachel found.

We hope to do three more caches some time this weekend so that we can reach our next milestone, 50!

Happy Caching!

Finally getting some geocaching in again...

The last post was a long time ago! Where has the summer gone? While we did four caches in Ontario near Lakefield, that was pretty much it since May. Now that Dad and Sandy are here, and the weather is actually conducive to getting out a bit, hopefully we can do a bit more this fall.

Today we did a short bike ride along the Des Plaines River Trail, which is a very nice, well maintained trail running about 31 miles from the Wisconsin state line down towards the city of Chicago. Most of the caches were nice and close to the trail, although one was rather challenging to find, especially considering the tree cover.

As you can see, the girls got right into it. The whole round trip was only a little over 5 miles, and they all did really well. Some (or all) of us intend to go out on Monday morning again and do another 18 or so along the same trail. This will be a slightly longer bike ride, but it should not be too bad. We'll just take our time.

I will hopefully post again on Monday, if we make it out like we plan.

Finally some nice weather!

It has been a few weeks since we last had the opportunity to get out and find some caches, and this weekend it it finally nice enough that we can get out. Found two yesterday, and two more today. That pretty much wraps it up for the caches in Mundelein. I think we have an opportunity to add to the number of geocaches in our area. I am now on the look-out for a good spot for our first cache.

And four more makes ten

We couldn't resist going out again this afternoon, so we headed a little west of us, and picked up two in the same forest preserve, and then headed to two caches in cemeteries. The girls are getting better at this, and are really enjoying it.

Spring is here!

Well, spring is finally here! The temperature hit 70F this afternoon, and so I took a break from my garage make-over, and we went out and finished a multi-cache that we had started last week, and then took the opportunity to find another cache that was about 600 feet way. Both were in a local forest preserve, but off the beaten path, and so we got to see part of the park that we never knew existed. Came across the foundations of an old house, and even saw where there old gardens were, since the crocuses and snow drops were blooming and the daffodils were up. Hannah found the second cache today. The picture shows the girls at that cache.

Out again!!

The kids have had spring break this week, and two of them got the flu (fevers, aches, cold, etc). By today, they were going stir crazy and wanted to go do something. Since the 2 inches of snow we got last night had mostly melted by lunchtime, we decided to go out and find two more caches. A little muddy out there, but we found them. Katharine found the first one, and Rachel found the second one!

Our first geocache finds!!!!!

With Edith and Rachel gone to a music competition at Northwestern University, and Katharine and Hannah visiting some friends for the afternoon, Jocelyn and I decided to head out and see if we could log our first geocache find! And we did. I found the first one, and Jocelyn found the second one (which was far more difficult to find than mine). The picture shows Jocelyn at our first find. I think I have her hooked already!

I'm probably going to get into some trouble when the rest of the crew gets home and finds out we've been out. They'll likely force me to go out with them too!

Can't wait for the weather to get better so we can do this more often.

First blogging post

The Mundelein Blom's finally have a blog! About time, isn't it? This one will be used mostly to allow others to follow our geocaching adventures. The Garmin has been ordered, and is apparently in the mail. We hope to get it later this week. Of course, with all the snow still on the ground here, it will be a little rough trying to find caches, but at least we'll have time to figure out how to use the gadget. And then we'll be ready to go as soon as the snow is gone.

I have already uncovered my first fellow geocacher in the area. He happens to be be my right-hand man at work! Perhaps we'll go out geocaching with them a time or two.

So, stay tuned for occasional posts to this blog in the future.

The Blom's