FOUND IT!!!

We started out this morning after breakfast with a ride to Sombrero Beach.  We pedal, pedal, pedaled our clown bikes, and Steve and Suzie pedal, pedal, pedaled on Dan & Biddi's bikes.  They are such great, and gracious, neighbors. We're sure going to miss them when they take off for parts unknown this next week.

So we get to the beach, (dead into the wind most of the way, I must add), and Steve and Suzie proceed to explain to us this whole geo-caching thing.  She has a handheld one, that looks much like a cell phone.  It really is a walking GPS, that you can punch in the city you are in.  From there, it will show the nearest hidden geo-caches.  As you get closer, you can request "hints" which can provide clues as to their whereabouts.  It seems this has been going on for over ten years, and there are over a million geo-caches hidden worldwide.  Wouldn't this be great fun to take with you wherever you travel?!  Cheap entertainment, I say!  It adds a whole new meaning to "taking a hike" :)  This might be exercise I could really enjoy.

Any individual can hide a geo-cache, but you must personally maintain it.  If it is on public property, then you must get permission, of course.  When you find one, it will be a hidden container of some sort, as small as a 35mm film canister, to a tupperware container, to a military metal box and such.  At the very least, inside you will find a log, where you record your name and the date you found it.  If it is a larger container, it will likely contain trinkets, or even money, going to the first person who can locate it.  But the "rule" is, if you take something from the box, you are to leave something else in its place.  You can go to geocaching.com to register for free.  On your "account" you can then record the geo-caches you have found, or you can register a new one, if you decide to place one somewhere yourself.  As a side note, if you do not own one of these geo-cache gadgets (which are sold at Target, Amazon, Radio Shack, etc.), you can get the coordinates for locations from the website, and plug them into your own GPS, if you have one in your car, then just set it to pedestrian mode.  If you have an IPhone or a Droid, you can download a geo-caching app and simply use your phone to go hunting.

Like facebooking, or any other technical gadgetry, it also comes with it's own 'language'.  Which brings me to this morning's trek to Sombrero Beach.  Steve and Suzie were explaining, that if you find one, you must be on the 'down low' about it...acting very sly, if you will.  It seems that "mugglers" are people who may notice what you are up to, who see you find one, and then they get curious themselves.  They may steal trinkets, or perhaps just let you do all the looking for them, and 'take credit' in the logbook as if they found it all on their own.  There also is the risk of someone mistakenly throwing it away, thinking the container was nothing more than trash....NO!  It's a TREASURE!!!  One man's trash, really IS another man's treasure...and here I thought this had to do with rummage sales and auctions :)  The world is ever changing; it's hard to keep up!

So, as good students, we listen raptly to this lesson of mugglers, and set out for the hunt.. Soon Suzie's geo-cache thingy is beeping at us, which means we are within 20 feet of its location.  We are walking near the playground, looking around bushes, light poles, streetsigns and planters.  Not 30 seconds after our lesson of the mugglers,  Donnie yells, "I FOUND IT!!!"  So much for subltety...so much for being sly... is it any wonder that he got in so much trouble in school as a child?!  And I thought he just doesn't listen to ME...it was hysterical, though.  Bless his heart...

Suzie is putting back the container to it's "secret" location.

Since Donnie FOUND IT!  We let him open up the container, which was like a small round Rubbermaid container in a ziplock baggie.  It really did have a treasure!  Inside was a Swiss Army knife keychain.  Donnie decided to take it, and in exhange, he left a pirate coin good for a free beer at Shipwrecks restaurant.  There was another geo-cache hidden about 500 feet away, so we set off on the next adventure.  I found the next one, hidden up under a guardrail.  It had trinkets and such, but we just signed the logbook.  That's four of them now, that we have discovered here in Marathon.  There are supposedly three more hidden along/around the seven mile bridge, too.  I know what I want for my birthday this year, hint-hint, wink-wink! Honey, are you listening this time?!  Did you catch that?!

We took a walk on the beach afterwards.  Donnie and Suzie found
treasures of the ocean variety, hermit crabs hiding in seashells!



...and the boys had to play at the playground :)

We all then pedal, pedal, pedalled to Dave and Diane's house.  I stopped to check on the furry beast who is presently staying at Mamaw and Pap's house, since Suzie is allergic to Willises.  He wouldn't even come out from under their guest bed to say hello.  I guess he must still be mad at me for the grounding.  Boy, can teenagers ever hold a grudge.  We also stopped to check on the progress at Bryan and Polly's house painting project.  It's going to be a robin's egg blue. The 'front' of the house facing the canal is already done, and I love the color- it's very Keys-ey.  We then invited Dave & Diane, Mac & Jean, and Dan & Biddi to join us at the Hurricane for a five dollar lunch.  There were 10 of us all telling tall tales and it was alot of fun.  You can't beat a five dollar lunch; it was delicious.  Especially since I wasn't cooking :)


After lunch, Steve and Suzie took the dink out to go fishing.

I pedal, pedal, pedalled back to Publix for more groceries.  I had a crash
landing when I returned.  The case of water toppled me over.

It was a hot one today, so we had Mamaw and Paps come over for
a swim and a game of dominoes.  I finally won...poor Paps tried to go
out backwards. He had over 500 points :(

At 5:00pm, it was on to more serious business.  We had planned a cookout the night before.  Biddi and I pitched in chicken breasts that were marinated in italian dressing.  Max and Mandi brought some delicious potatoes, I brought a dozen ears of corn, and Steve and Suzie brought a chocolate cream cake.  It was the best meal ever!  And it was a perfect start to watching the NCAA tonight.

We didn't get to see the sun set on the horizon, but it was beautiful just the same.

Here the gang was cheering the Butler Bulldogs to a decided victory
over VCU!  Final game two years in a row...maybe this year?!!!

In spite of Biddi having everything crossed, the
Kentucky Wildcats lost by one point.  We felt so
bad for them...we wanted a Midwest final game.
They're such good sports, they're still planning
a party for Monday's final game :)