Fiddlesticks... one more to go!

Gosh Darn it!

As most of you are aware... Nana & I took a rather circular route around the state of Virginia last week.  The reasons for the trip were:

1) Find a cache in the 5 remaining Counties we had in Virginia

2) Find a cache in the 1 remaining Independent City we had in Virginia

3) Find the one cache we had on our list that would complete our D/T Grid

4) Have fun!!!

near the Rotunda

Well, 3 out of 4 ain't to bad!!!

D/T Grid is now full!!!

The problem was - we thought we went 4 for 4 until we got home and looked closely.

Complete EXCEPT for Charlottesville

Apparently, the entire campus of UVA is in the County of Albemarle, not in the city of Charlottesville as I thought.  Granted, if we had slowed down a little and went for that "one more cache" instead of rushing to stay ahead of Tropical Depression Bonnie... well then.... but that didn't happen.

Oh well, now we have another reason to go back to the lovely city of Charlottesville!!!

Trip Recap - Day One

We won't go over EVERY cache we found on the trip but some of the highlights of the trip were:

1 - Westmoreland State Park - there were three caches here that we found (GC3P17R, GC6DB5M and GC5NZ5T) and the scenery was beautiful.  The rangers and staff were very friendly and helpful but I guess the major surprise was the gift shop.  I have seen all sorts of walking sticks on sale at events, stores and shops before but the gift shop at Westmoreland State Park had some wooden walking sticks at some unbelievable prices.  No, I am not talking about the expandable walking sticks you can buy at Walmart or other places, I am talking about solid wooden carved walking sticks!!!  YES, I did buy one and thought about buying several!   

2 - I always love finding caches that offer a Benchmark at the same time so just let me mention GC1BD9K - Two Fer - a quick find cache that offers a Benchmark and a regular size cache.

3 - The Winner of the "Coveted" SNAP!!! Cache of the Day on Friday was a historic area cache called Stonewall... Mulberry's Revenge.  We always love the historical caches and this one was a great cache too.

4 - An Earth Cache right on the banks of the Rappahannock River was the next jewel we found.  GCZH2W - The Falls of the Rappahannock - what could be better, a nice walk, great scenery, several Waymarks and an Earth Cache all in about an hour of your time!!!

5 - If you are in the area south of Culpeper, Virginia - make sure your caching list contains this cute little quick find:  GC3AT7G - SB: Quit Whining - a really quick find that will let you stretch your legs and get a find at the same time.

Trip Recap - Day Two

1 - After blowing our chance to find a cache in Charlottesville we did manage to grab 3 caches on the campus of UVA (GCJ0KP, GCH50T and GCROOJ) we made our way over to an area just south of tow.  There, on a huge hill/small mountain was a cache we needed.  Getting this one cache would complete our D/T grid!!!  The problem was, once again, failure to properly plan for the difficulty and terrain of the target cache.  Nana and I DID make the find.  But by the end, it was all we could do to get our sorry, very very very tired bodies, back down to the SNAP!!!-mobile.  Yes, we took water but not enough.  We failed to take the towel to keep the sweat out of our eyes, we failed to take the cooling rags for the back of our necks, we failed to take snacks to keep our energy up.  But - like I said - we DID make the find!!!  If you are going to go for GC2MT7F - A Well Rounded Caching Day Challenge, you get to the parking area and see that small number indicated on your GPS for distance to the cache and figure - "Easy - I got this" - WRONG!!!  That may be a very small distance away, but you didn't count on a very steep, switchback trail, that seems to go up and up and up and up without an end.  Take our advice, take water, fresh legs, snacks, towels, more water, and an oxygen tank with you - you might just need all of it!  We gave it a favorite point in the end - but it was a hard find!!!

2 - An out of the way cache that is worth the visit - GC45QN3 - SBC Sweet Views - located on the grounds of Sweet Briar College, this remote cache is worth your visit

3 - Another winner of the "Coveted" SNAP!!! Cache of the Day Award, a very quick find right off a busy highway - GC5JKJ7 - Dreamland.

Tropical Storm Bonnie kinda cut our trip down by a day but we still had fun and managed to get 3 of the 4 goals for the trip completed.

Till next time!!!

Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!

Suffolk Nana & Papa - - - or just plain ol' - - - -  SNAP!!!