Geocaching June 2023

At the start of June, we put some more work in on a Legend of Zelda series, specifically the Forest Temple hides in Fairland Recreational Park. Our second find in the series was LoZ Series: Forest Temple Item. The find was not too hard. The forest was very foresty.

View from the cache

Okay, this bit was not very foresty

We walked further north and found LoZ Series: Forest Temple Big Key. The smaller container meant we had to do a little more searching.

More like a regular forest again

The Red Refectors... is another easy cache not too far from home. It filled in one of the missing days on my overall calendar and fit in with running errands.

Not where you think it is...

Riley's Romp is a cache hidden on walking trails. Riley is the cache owner's dog--they walk in this area all the time, apparently. The cache is hidden on a bridge, though the creek below was very dry.

Driest water ever!

The next day, just for fun, I picked up Cenosillicaphobia #9, part of series based on the ultimate fear...the fear of an empty glass! The find was easy after solving a not-so-hard puzzle. The hide was near but not at this brewery...

Sadly, not open when I visited

Scout it out! is a geocache created by a scout near the church that I assume is the sponsor for his troop. I was a little worried about all the tree trimming that apparently happened recently. The cache was happily still safe in its hiding spot.

A cleaned-up area

On a trip to Arizona, I found a geocache near our hotel. Visit Mesa Twin Trees is part of a geo-tour of Mesa, Arizona. The other caches were not in walking distance of the hotel, so I did not go for them. The view from where the geocache is hidden is not the best.

No, the geocache is not in Wilson Fisk's jail cell

In a nearby parking lot

In a nearby hotel

The Arizona Capitol complex has four virtual geocaches based on the various memorials in Wesley Bolin Plaza. The first I found was USS Arizona Anchor. The ship was sunk in the Bombing of Pearl Harbor. The anchor was recovered and eventually came to the state capital where it is on display.

USS Arizona anchor

The next cache was Inspired by Steve and involved finding some information on a historical memorial about the Vietnam War.

Map leading to memorial

Arizona Frontier asks a question about one of the statues in the center of the plaza. My GPS seemed to be off or maybe they moved the statue. My guess at the answer made sense, at least to me.

Arizona frontiersman?

Arizona's Liberty Bell involved getting a picture by the bell and relaying some history from the plaque on the bell. During World War II, all of the states received replicas of the famous bell in Philadelphia to use in fund raising by selling war bonds. This one is proudly on display right by the government buildings.

Don't bother trying to zoom in on the plaque, it's too blurry

I went to visit the newly-renamed S'edav Va'aki Museum, formerly the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archeological Park. The area has a Platform Mound, a sort of civic center from the pre-European locals. S'edav Va'aki (Pueblo Grande): A Virtual Reward is a virtual cache that had me taking a picture by an overlook on top of the mound.

The settlement behind me

Also in the park is Hohokum Villages, since the area was a settlement of the O'Odham (pronounced "Hohokum" by well-meaning but inaccurate people?) tribe. This cache is an earthcache, so I had to learn some details about how the mound was made and send the information on to the cache owner. No picture was required, so the above will have to do!

At the end of the month, we went on a trip to Europe. The first find was a virtual cache in Bath, England, near Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths. I had to get some information off a sign on the Abbey (which is in the middle of the city). Also, I took a picture with the Abbey. I got this shot next to a door near the sign to submit to the cache owner of The First King of England (Bath). The first king of England was Edgar in 973 and he was crowned here.

In Bath!

In the city of York, I found Constantine the Great just outside of the Minster. The statue commemorates his coronation as emperor in York back in 306. All I had to do was get a picture with the big man.

The emperor and me

Just across the street is The Roman Column I -- The VI Legion Fortress. The column was discovered in the floor of the Minster and reassembled in the 1970s. This cache is an earthcache, so I had to answer some geological questions about the column.

That's some chip on my shoulder!

In Harrogate, I found Pump house (N Yorks) which is on the Royal Pump House Museum. Harrogate was a spa town in the 1800s. People came to drink the sulfurous water, assuming it improved health. Part of the cache was tasting the water, which did not taste good. It was not really horrible like I remembered from when we lived here eight years ago.

"Don't do it, Dad!"

Improvisado #2 Montjuic- Rincon de paz is the first cache we ever found in Spain! It is on Mont-Juic, a mountain overlooking Barcelona. The castle on the mountain was meant to protect the city and the port, though it was used as a jail for a long time. This cache is a normal geocache, so no picture of me!

The cache is somewhere over there

View of the port from the cache

The month ends with a full calendar and a cache count of 829! I hope to add more European countries in the next month!