A Flash Mob, Cache of the Week, and a Very Nifty Video!

Once again, geocachers from around the world gathered in their respective towns simultaneously on June 4th for a World Wide Flash Mob!
https://sites.google.com/site/wwfminfo/

The gang in Orange County did a Mentos/Diet Coke fountain:

(video by Pacholik)

The greater San Fernando Valley and Conejo Valley cachers all went Hawaiian and I even won the FTF prize drawing, a bison tube that I now get to hide somewhere.
WWFMVIII-Get Lei'd in Calabasas

There was a nice $5 bill in there, too, and I think I’ll leave it for the FTF of my new cache, whatever/whereever that happens to be. Come to think of it, I have two cats that don’t have caches yet, Biff and Frederick!

My favorite cache this week was a bison tube, too, an evil hide placed in a pullout in a manner reminiscent of my Nothingness cache. I was proud of myself for not DNFing this one!
Washer or Dryer?

The piéce de resistance, though, is this fabulous video. It’s the best geocaching video I’ve seen to date, and I look forward to more creative work by The Travel Bugs!

Marzipan’s 2nd Birthday Flashmob Event

Marzipan's 2nd Birthday Flashmob!

I grabbed my morning cup of coffee yesterday and went out in to the driveway to celebrate the birthday of the kitty that I rescued from a geocache site two years ago! It was, indeed, an auspicious occasion, and a perfect excuse to gather for a quick event find.

Breakfast?

Not really, but it is a peanut version of marzipan, since I don’t care for the almond flavor type.

Shirconn made one of her famous photoshows! It’s only a couple of minutes long, so be sure to check it out. She does a really good job with these.

Click here for the PHOTOSHOW.

She also made a special birthday card, and others brought treats!

Thanks to all who joined in the festivities.

Here’s the cat herself:

Vegas Desert

I love going to Vegas, but I almost never go to casinos. The geocaching in the desert out there is far more compelling, and made this latest opportunity irresistible. I headed out for two days, joining f0t0m0m in progress as finished up a Delorme challenge and found his 29,000th cache. The scenery really speaks for itself. The caching was easy, with only 2 DNFs out of about 100, and there was a wide variety, from basic piles of rocks to a quirky flash mob.

The journey was most refreshing.

F-10

Vegas Phoon Flash Mob

The Bidnis Woman's Vegas Base of Operations

Lizard tracks in the sand:

I might never take the 15 freeway from Vegas to Baker again, as the route through Pahrump and Shoshone is just too spectacular.

A Week of Variety

Obviously, there are many things I love about geocaching, and one of them is the variety of places, hides, and activities involved. This week, I only found a requisite handful of caches continuing my 100-day streak, but each came with its own uniqueness.

5/15 WWFMVII – West Hills – Not FAA Approved

The week started off with a bang: a World Wide Flash Mob Event. Geocachers from all over the world held these simultaneously, each with a different theme, but significant in that all of us were gathering somewhere all at the same time to celebrate geocaching.

We all made paper airplanes and ate fresh baked muffins!

We each launched our impromptu craft to see who could fly theirs the furthest, and Steve of the Ventura Kids won. Here he is tossing the winning piece of folded paper:

5/16
VIEW OF OLD SMOKEY
BUSH HIDE
THE ROCK

These three were along a short hike in Ahmanson Ranch, just west of the San Fernando Valley. The verdant greens of spring have faded to the summer golds.

Wildflowers still lend vivid splashes of color:

5/17
Mega Tower Trading Post

The cache is right next to a big, empty lot in the middle of The Valley. One of these buildings used to be one of the first radio stations.

5/18
The Divining Rod
My intended cache was at this scenic area with long walking paths adjacent to Lake Balboa Park.

Unfortunately, it was missing, so I ended up at a light pole cache a couple of miles away.
Persimmon

5/19
Yesterday, I only had time for another quick one:
Mangosteen
I incorporated it into my list of errands.

I’m enjoying the relaxed pace of finding caches, which is unexpected. I thought I’d be chomping at the bit to get out for big caching days, but the minimalist approach is inspiring me to slow down and enjoy the bit of a respite each day. It’s feeling more like a discipline than an obsession, which is good for the time being.

I can always return to the mega caching habit, and probably will… in due time.

A Hike and a Flash Mob

I took a lovely hike with f0t0m0m on Friday, in the hills near Whittier. We found these caches:
Rue Bourbon
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Heart Attack Hill Bypass
Shaken not Stirred
Dirt Track Date
Buddha’s Feast
WestwardHo’s Booty Cache find #15,700!
Godzilla vs Creosote
Hansel & Gretel This was my favorite of the day, as we had to follow a trail of small white stones to the gingerbread ammo can!
Pixie Stix
Marzipan Alligator Krewe
South Specific

Legless Muggle (NO rattles):

The Buddha greets us:

The weeds are THIS tall!

Purple thistle, golden sticky monkey flower, and – yikes! – a big bush of poison oak with berries:

On Saturday, I hosted one of 167 concurrent World Wide Flash Mob Events:
Worldwide Flash Mob with a view! (WWFM)
I’ll let the photos tell the tale…

The View:

The Mob:

There are many more photos on the event page.

My next report will be of Ottawa (Ontario), Charlottesville (VA), and Washington (DC).