Avenging the Ahamanson!

It was our third attempt and we brought a third party to help (f0t0m0m), but Cairngorm and I finally prevailed in finding this elusive cache:
ON THE CROSSOVER TRAIL

The first two times, we spent 20-30 minutes searching all around the tree/ground/trail, but this time, it was hanging in plain view. Go figure. It was still a great relief, and this trail is always gorgeous.

This is “winter” up the Las Virgenes Canyon of Ahmanson Ranch:

The sky is spectacular:

The view to the east from the cache in question, with mountains way in the background:

To the west, you can see the gas pipeline signs marching up the slope:

I even got a pretty good shot of the waning quarter moon:

I wish you all a very merry Christmas and holiday geocaching season!

More Geocaching with my iPhone – nice software update!

Here is a series of videos I did the other day to show you some new feature in the iPhone Geocaching app – maps and field notes are really marvelous now!

New Mapping in the App:

Driving with the map:

Using the compass:

At a cache, looking around:

Next cache:

Second waypoint, and creating my field note:

Submitting the field note:

Accessing geocaching.com in Safari on my iPhone to complete the logging in:

The field notes are on the profile page, not the cache page:

The field note is posted:

Cache found and logged in, in the wild, all on my iPhone:

Blooming bushes and bees:

Burger time!

Happy techno caching!

A Dreaded Double DNF!

I went to Edmonton, Canada last week, and only had time to look for TWO caches, and, yes, I failed to find either of them! Maximum frustration! I spent over an hour on them… and my only lifeline was not available… AAAUGGH!!! I slipped around on the ice under one stairwell only to find out later that it’s not around the stairwell. I wandered up and down three levels of a parking lot only to discover later that I should have followed through on one of my ideas. What a dork I was not to actually PULL on the things… so I went to Canada and came back with NO finds. 2 for 2… how totally embarrassing….

OK, enough of my whining. Let’s get some dialogue going here. What’s the furthest you’ve gone only to DNF? What’s your most frustrating DNF? Let it all out in the comments. I feel your pain.

I did get some great photos of where I was caching though. I was at the West Edmonton Mall, the largest in North America (!) and the 5th largest in the world. It’s ridiculously large. The two caches were on either end, too, over a half a mile apart.

Here are some links to information about it:
Wikipedia
Mall website

This is where we had breakfast:

Part of this fancy food court:

Ahh… coffee….

Chinatown:

Europa Boulevard:

You can go bungee jumping (no thanks!):

You can go swimming…

…or hang out on the beach…

…even when it looks like this outside (it was the first day of “spring” btw):

There’s a giant pirate ship!

It’s complete with pirates!

I actually did go shopping:

The caches were not to be found:

… but it’s all about the adventure, right?

Yeah.
Right.

Until next week… happy DNFing! er… caching! 😉

Pairs and Fanfares

TWO found in Hollywood
High note in a swanky neighborhood
NOT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL near a swanky outdoor theater

TWO found in Canoga Park
LiLo the Dodo a classic OLdweeb hide
WANT TO BE TOYS R US KID!!! a classic “well-lit” hide

TWO found in Aliso Canyon… er… make that ONE found and ONE DNF… bleh….
Lower Aliso found!
Middle Aliso dnf, after much searching and a life line and… of course… someone else found it the same day….
How many caches do I have to find to get good at this?
(LOL)

yellow flowers

red flowers

TWO found in Santa Monica… er… make that THREE….
South Beach Green nice cache by the beach
Who Let The Dogs Out? nice bison tube in the back corner of a park
Encontrar un geocache con los amigos! nice hide overlooking another park

Santa Monica pier, just starting to light up

The sun, making its daily exit over the ocean

quintessential Southern California: volleyball on the beach

TWO very nice EMC of Northridge Tribute caches!
EMC of Northridge associated with a news stand on Reseda Bouleveard – Thanks, Capdude!
Statcache 33 Worldtop10 – 3 EMC of Northridge, CA hidden somewhere in Denmark!

Hey… NOW I really have to go there…. hmmm….