10 Years! Wenatchee Valley, WA

Well, I'm pretty excited. For a while now (probably a couple years, sadly enough), we've wanted to get some sort of an official logbook going for Cache-cadian Events (and any other Events that are Cache-cadian-like). We've fudged for a few years, using sheets of paper to log in at Events instead.

Well, now that the 10 year anniversary of selective availability and the first Geocache is coming up, I felt like we needed to finally get on the ball. I'm hosting a 10! Years Event, in a little over a week, 10 Years! Wenatchee Valley, WA, and wanted to mark the occasion with something special.

Well, I guess it might be a bit corny, but I decided to get something like a treasure chest, something you wouldn't be able to have outside due to weatherproofing, but would be cool to bring to Events (like the treasure chest at Groundspeak Headquarters). This is not a traveling cache! :-p It's just a place to put our Event logbook, and maybe Trackables that people want to bring and trade during the Event. Then, if there's any Trackables left at the end of the Event, the organizer has it in one spot and can be responsible for placing them in a cache after the Event.

Patudles, Water Lily and I went to Ross a few days ago, and spent a while trying to decide between all the different kinds of chests they had there. They were all very nice, most of them made out of wood (or fake wood, I'm sure). Each container had good points and bad points, so I took way too long to decide. We finally decided on one that unfortunately looks a bit more like a clothes trunk than a treasure chest. But it has a handle, is roomy, and best of all - it's covered with a map. Can't get much more Geocaching then that. :-)

I also made an order with Shop Groundspeak, for a bunch of doorprizes and some Geocaching 10 Year Anniversary T-Shirts for my parents and 'Tudles. I figured that this would be a fun time to have doorprizes. All the Cache-cadian stuff will be covered by the WSGA yearly allowance they give to chapters for Events.

My Groundspeak order only took two days to get here, and so I have a bunch of goodies, although wouldn't you know that they would come out with a bunch of things (like the 10! Year Geocoin) right after I received my new order. Lol.

The container is made of pleather, I suppose:





Here's my signal wuz here! trackable, posing with the container:



All my doorprizes, and logbook:

Cache-cadian Rep

Well...I'm now the Cache-cadian Rep for this year. Don't know how that happened, lol! Anyway, I was asked by/and or had conversations with several people about the subject, and they brought out that no one was coming forward to do it. So I said I was concerned about doing it because of my illness, but that I would do it if no one else stepped up. I guess that was good enough, and I was promptly nominated. :-p I ran unopposed, and that was that!

Here's what I wrote in my bio on my profile on the WSGA site about this subject:

"My MIL and I have been quite active in our local caching community since we started caching in 2002. We co-hosted the first Geocaching Event in our area, GCG2NC, on June 1, 2003. It was such a cool experience, meeting other cachers in a larger setting. That was one of the first experiences that showed us what a social thing that Geocaching could be. In the years after that, Patudles and I became sort of unofficial representatives for our area, and co-hosted the majority of Events for the next several years, until our group became big enough to have other cachers in the area start helping. It has been so fun to see our small community grow into such a large, vibrant one! Thanks to everyone for all the time and effort that you've put into making our area shine!

So when I was asked to be the Cache-cadian Representative, it wasn't too far of a stretch to say yes. I was hesitant, because of my illness, and other Geocaching duties that I'm involved in, but I'm glad to help out in any way that I can. Thank you so much to everyone that has supported and encouraged me. (hugs)

If you are a part of our Cache-cadian area (roughly North Central Washington - Based in Wenatchee, and includes Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan, and parts of Kittitas and Grant Counties (Central WA North of I-90)), and would like to hold an Event or just help in any way that you can, please contact me! I would love to hear from you."

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I look forward to a great year for our area! I hope that I can attend all the meetings (except the campout, I'm sure), and that with all our great cachers, we can do a lot in this coming year.

During our most recent Event, I'll Be Home For Cachemas!, I had some interesting conversations with several different people. It seems that there is a need to hold another technology Event in our area. We had one a few years ago, and I would like to do one again. I'm thinking about maybe February or March, when people are really bored and there isn't much caching going on. We can learn about GSAK, Pocket Queries, and anything else people need help with. I just need to gather a few people who know what they're doing, make sure we can access the internet (I know my dad has internet, although I don't know if he'll be back from Arizona by then). I would also like a screen that we can hook a laptop up to so we can have a proper class, then perhaps some break-out groups.

I've had a couple people say that they would like to do an Event. I believe that The Navigatorz are still planning on doing a CITO? We can do another CITO as well. It works out if we do one on Make a Difference Day, in October, and one during Earth Day, in April. I think that g-people is a cacher who said they would like to do an Event, but I need to check up on that to make sure. My memory isn't the best, if I don't write it down soon enough. :-D

Well, there's some things already in the workds for this new year, I'm looking forward to it! Thanks again, everybody. :-)

Meet & Greet Groundspeak & Garmin in Seattle

Alright, I waited so long to post this (it sat as a draft for a long time), that I've forgotten all the witty stuff I was going to write about this event. Ah, well, the story of my life right now. *rolls eyes*

I guess I shall content myself with just posting the pictures and a comment on most of them.

The Meet & Greet Groundspeak & Garmin in Seattle Event was great! We met with Groundspeak and Garmin at the REI Flagship Store in Seattle, WA. Lots of people came, and we got cookies! :-) We mingled, exchanged trackables, heard a few important people talk, won some stuff, and tried out the Wherigo on the neat REI grounds.

Sign on the back of the toilet stall door in REI:



WSGA, doing a great job checking everyone in:



Brand new Colorado's (my brother put his pocket knife next to them to gauge the size):



The next two pics are people gathering for the meeting (second one is a panorama):





AndrewRJ, trashtalking me:



View of Seattle from the Conference room:



AndrewRJ and my daughter, Water Lily, having a nice talk:



Wherigo cookies, I finally get to have one! Pertty:



More people pouring in:



Garmin guy (I think):



Standing room only:





Wander Lost, winning a Wherigo Geocoin. (I won one too, I think the drawing was rigged!):



Jeremy giving a talk. The picture on the screen is of the ORIGINAL STASH TRIBUTE PLAQUE, where the first geocache was placed near Portland, OR:



My husband, All41, taking a picture with Water Lily:



A picture of Jeremy's son with a GPS (awww!):



Nerd version of People Pong, lol:



Posing with Signal (you can see my son, Kboy, right behind them, being bored or something, haha):



Milling around after the main meeting:







This guy had a bunch of Jeep TB's around his neck:





Signal, posing with a TB:





Another class, I can't remember, either the same one again, or teaching about how to Wherigo:







My brother, Zephyr, talking to Jeremy for a while:



A cool TB that I dropped off:



My MIL Patudles, All41, and Zephyr:





A group of us, walking through REI to get outside and Wherigo:



At the start of the Wherigo, REI Ice Climber, outside the entrance to REI (led by Shauna):











Zephyr and Water Lily, reading the Wherigo cartridge:



All41, peaking over Kboy's shoulder at the GPS:



"This is how we do it...":



The starting clue:



Learning how to Wherigo:





Peeking over Kboy's shoulder, as he's reading the cartridge:





Water Lily, posing behind a holly:



Taking each other's picture:







Catching Annie, taking pictures of our group:





REI's waterfall:



A see-through compass, to the floor below:







Jeremy, posing with my Signal:





Going after the cache outside REI, Do Not Find This Cache!, with Pyewacket and Zephyr:









We had this frog carving in the door pointed out to us, and were told we had to take a picture of Signal with it:









Panorama of the front entrance of REI, a beautifully landscaped natural area!: