Minnesota Trip Summer 2025

Once we got to Granny and Grandpa's house we relaxed and didn't do anything. Haha!

We drove down to visit with my wife's cousin and played Puttshack minigolf. It was fun and high tech. The balls had chips in them. The tees would scan the chip and put the player's name on a screen over the hole. The score was kept automatically, so it must have had some sort of motion sensor technology. The hole detected when the ball came in too. Each hole had some theme and tricks. For example, the trivia hole had two paths, True or False, based on the question that appeared on the screen when the ball was detected by the tee. Most of the questions were Wisconsin-centric, making it easier for the home players. We were good sports about it and helped each other out. 

The players

Too young for beer pong?

Putting

Drummer's hole

The scoring was odd. A hole in one was (I think) 60 points, with possible bonus points based on the particular hole. Par 2 was 50 points, par 3 was 40, etc. So a higher score is better. Each course of the many courses is nine holes and players can do one set of nine or multiple sets. We did two sets, so eighteen holes, though our score was not cumulative.

My nemesis--where are the guard rails?!?

A wide shot

My wife and I went dancing at Wabasha Street Caves. The caves have a colorful history too detailed to relay here, but it does involve gangsters and Prohibition. The venue has tours now and is rentable for weddings, corporate gatherings, etc. We went to the Thursday night swing dance which was a lot of fun.

Doesn't look like caves, does it?

Tables by the entrance

The dance floor forms an L with the stage for the band in the corner of the L.

Dance floor and stage

The other part of the dance floor

Westwind Swing Band

The next main tunnel has the bar area (parallel to the long leg of the L), which had some overflow dancers and free water and other beverages. 

Less populated bar area

I saw another area that seemed like a third cave behind the bar wall but it was blocked off for maintenance. I am not sure how extensive the caves run. Maybe we will do a tour on a future trip.

I went on a geocaching run with Grandpa and we also hit up Thunder Brothers Brewery in Isanti, a small brewery that had some nice ales on offer. I had the Cumulus Cream Ale which was delightful.

Thunder Brothers

While at the house, the cats longed for a little wander outside.

Maybe there are mice in the garden?

Hoping for something to chase!

Our cousin visited with her toddler son. We saw a lot of his walking around and interacting with everyone, including one of the cats! My kids made him a hat but it turned out to be too small (and the wrong season). He was not too keen on wearing it, but that's okay. He's so cute!

Cousins!

Staring contest

Cat loses

On the swing

We went out on their canoe and kayak to explore their lake.

Kayak in tall rice

Getting out

Our boat

Awesome flower

It was a fun and refreshing time at Granny and Grandpa's house.

Geocaching August 2025

The month started with our trip to Minnesota, so we made finds along the way out.

Our first find was in Hancock, Maryland. Old National Pike Mile Marker 96 is a mystery cache that was an easy and quick find, after solving the mystery. Our next stop was the next day in Ohio at one of the rest areas along their turnpike. What Is Your Final Destination? leans into the fact that cachers would only be here because they are on the road to another destination. Nobody jumps on a toll road just to get geocaches. At least, nobody I know. At least, they haven't admitted it. Also at that stop is the multi-cache Turnpike trivia 2 which requires an NFC device and then solving a simple crossword. We walked back to the car and drove away, forgetting it was a multicache. Once the crossword was solved, we got the final coordinates. Hopefully there will be another Minnesota trip in the future and we will remember to stop here?

On our way, we took a short jog off the highway to visit Michigan where we have never cached. I found sarepo.gnitsujda.gnirots, a mystery cache that was easy to solve before we even got there. The other Michigan cache was Oaklawn Shelter at a park with a playground that my children enjoyed. 

Playground at the shelter

We drove on to Janesville, Wisconsin, where I found Circle of Friendship, 50 Below, and Thank You Rogheff from Alex after dinner (so mostly in the dark). 

One of the Janesville parks

The next day we visited UW Madison which has a garden with a cache hidden in it.

Allen Centennial Garden cache

We finally made it to Minnesota. Our first full day there I found Rainbow Colors Challenge (a cache I have been working to qualify for), Stop (at a stop sign, naturally), and MnSQ: Green Lake Cemetery (a multi-cache). The finds were fairly easy though the neighboring grass was pretty high.

Cemetery

Tramping out a trail

In Cambridge (Minnesota), I found Smell Good For Church Pt. 2, which is part of a small series in town. The container made the title make sense.

A church to smell good for

We drove down to Eden Prairie and found a lot caches, including EP Veterans Park: Semper Fidelis, a multi-cache that takes some information off a list of locals who died in service of our country. The final was on a nearby bridge where I pretended to be a maintenance worker.

Veterans Park

Daniel R. Olsen

More of the memorial

Finding the final

"She Blinded Me With Science!" was a favorite of ours, a library cache. The first stage of this multicache was under a lamp post just outside the library. Unfortunately, it was also a wasps' home, so I had to use a lot of spray to make it accessible. The message pointed to a book inside, which we found quickly and safely.

Signing the book

Leaving a Pathtag

We also found a trivia series: Sports Team Trivia #2, #4, #8, #10, #11, and #12. The solutions were tricky, which is why I didn't find the other numbers since I couldn't solve them quickly. Maybe I will work on them for that next trip. A similar challenge limited me to Training Puzzle #2 Alphabet to Numbers, Training Puzzle #4 Google Is Your Friend, and Puzzle to Solve Puzzle to Solve Puzzle. 

In Isanti, Grandpa and I found Wayside Welcome!, Hwy 65 Tour: Cambridge, MARS Evil Lead Scout, and PANDA-ACME : PTG Part 1. Then we got a beer.

Best find ever?

Then we headed home and made some finds along the way. In Wisconsin, I found Guardrail #9 in the rain (thankfully a quick find), then later on in Indiana an earthcache--Richey Woods Nature Preserve Earth Cache, Righty, IndyScan Hide #6 Trucker Sam, and I signed Emilie's 3/4 Challenge, which requires 100 finds with the numerals 3 or 4 in the title (I am at 70, so not too far).

Nature trail

Bus stop in the woods!?!

On the final push home I found I-70 EB Rest Stop Cache in Ohio. Then, to fill out my counties in Maryland, we found a couple in the panhandle that are a long way from home--Mountain Light and Footer's Dye Works. 

The mountain light!

The dye works!

Back in our home area, I found Big City Cacher Challenge X since I made it to ten big cities with an Indianapolis cache. Other mystery/challenge caches filling in my calendar were Fetchez le Vache, A Mystery About Dragons, Falling Snow, and Omnicache. I also found a traditional cache that looks like a mystery: Gur dhvpx Trb-Whfgvpr Ntrag whzcf bire 14 ynml qbt, quite the mouthful! Translated, that's "The quick Geo-Justice Agent jumps over 14 lazy dog"--why no "s" at the end?

We made a quick visit to the Museum of American History in DC and I found The DC Bioretention Cells across the street--an earthcache about rain gardens in the city.

No spoiler photo

The next week had a trip to Baltimore, where I found the garage rooftop cache Light of Baltimore 2 along with Carter's Forgotten Legacy, No Malady Here, MDCT - John Cadbury, Cenosillicaphobia #11, and LoZ Series: Theives' Den Intro. 

On the rooftop

Fun sign at a local coffee shop where I got a drink

The Cenosillicaphobia Location

I finished out the month with the multicache Calculate & Dismantle, The Maryland Virtual Challenge II, 365 Challenge, and MDCT - Domenico Ghiradelli. The MDCT is the Maryland Chocolate Trail, a series that has been mostly archived, so I won't find many more. We did stop in at the local chocolate shop and got some truffles to go. We also did the Adventure Lab: Tour of Catonsville which started near the chocolate shop. 

Random picnic bench near the 365 cache

Box of chocolates (sort of)

The month ends with 57 finds in August 2025 and a grand total of 2029 finds. 

Report from Isanti, June 2024

Another fun time at Granny and Grandpa's house in Minnesota...

While my father-in-law and I were taking my oldest to a month-long Spanish immersion camp, my children made friends with the cats and did some rowing on the lake at Granny and Grandpa's house.

Simon and son

Cuddling the other cat

So much fun!

Kayaker

Switching boats

A happy sailor

Coming in for a landing

One last shot on the lake

There were some other activities that I never got a report on...

Random harp playing?

The next day I got out in the canoe with Grandpa to check on a geocache they have hidden. My daughter did some more kayaking, just for fun.

Cruising German Lake

Later, we went on a geocaching and playground odyssey that took us to some fun spots.

A fun spot for the youngest

Back at the house with a cat in the yard

The chickens in the yard

We ran some errands in Elk River and I did more geocaching. I discovered the most amazing Little Free Library ever--Bag End! 

The path to the hobbit hole

The front door

Inside

Opening the door activated a gizmo that started playing the Hobbiton theme music from the movies. 

Back at the grandparents, the kids helped to build a life-size yeti cutout to either draw closer or scare away Bigfoot-type creatures. Or maybe just to scare away unwanted visitors. The project involved blowing up a smaller outline and then cutting it out of several pieces of wood.

Bigfoot needs a bigger foot

Almost finished

The grandparents took the kids strawberry picking, which resulted in a lot of strawberries being brought to the house. 

Only part of the collection

To use up some, we made strawberry shortcake.

Macerating the strawberries

Shortbread

Portions for the freezer

It was a great visit and we look forward to the next one!