Upcoming Events

So, for those that have not heard... I am officially retired.  On April 1, I retired, after 40 years of service to the federal government.  {Couldn't think of a better day to retire after 40 years than April Fool's Day!!!}  So I guess I am now a full-time geocacher.  Time to get this blog up and publishing all sorts of good geocaching information on a regular basis.

To start with, let's go over some of the local events that coming up.  

Thursday, Apr 14 - GC6EF1A – AACC event - 14 April 2016 - Held in Chesapeake from 4:15 – 5:45 PM

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Saturday, Apr 16 - GC6E3M5 – Calvary Cemetery CITO – Held in Norfolk from 9 – 10:30AM

Note: You will earn a souvenir for attending this event!

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Tuesday, Apr 19 - GC6D3W3 – 3rd Tuesday Burger & Beer GCHR: April 2016 - Held

in Portsmouth from 6 – 9PM

Note: We will have a guest speaker from the City of Hampton Mosquito Lab

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Saturday, Apr 23 – GC6E3N8 – Magnolia Cemetery CITO – Held in South Norfolk from 9 – 10:30AM

Note: You will earn a souvenir for attending this event!

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Saturday, May 7 – GC6EQ2J – Geodetic Control – Held just North of Elizabeth City from 10 – Noon

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And of course, we cannot forget:
Sep 3 - 14th Annual GCHR Picnic. Held @ Newport News Park and is an ALL DAY EVENT!

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Now those are all of the events that are published already.  I have heard of some others that MAY occur sometime late spring or summer that you may be interested in.

I am hearing that the False Cape Bike Event may come back in May or June.

I have also heard that Jim may host another Kayak event this year.

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Well now that I am a full time geocacher, lets see if I can keep this blog publishing on a regular basis.

Till next time!!!

Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!

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

2015 Winner of the "SUPER-COVETED" SNAP!!! Cache of the Year!

First of all, we want to thank all you readers out there:

1)  those that take the time to read our blog

2) those that leave feedback or drop us a note, an e-mail

3) or those that come up to us at a meet n greet just to say Hi!

and everyone else.  

January 2015 West Virginia Earthcache

2015 was a pretty weak year for Pam & I as I spent a lot of the year building my stamina back up after my sicknesses in 2014.

March 2015 muggles!

We did manage to found just over caches during the year which is a very low number compared to other years for us but we did have a few major accomplishments.  We attended 2015's Geowoodstock and then took a major geocaching trip up through New England and picked up quite a few of geocaches that had been on our "must do" list for quite some time.

April 2015 view from a Tennessee Virtual

We were a sponsor for GCHRs Annual picnic and had fun greeting everyone who visited our booth at the picnic.

Papa got caught in a geocache at Geowoodstock

So, enough of the small talk, let's get to the main reason for this blog.  In our second year of caching, while traveling back to Suffolk from a day of caching, we would talk about the best cache of day.  It didn't take long for this to develop into The "COVETED" SNAP!!! Cache of the Day Award. 

Nana and some artillery in the mountains of southwest Virginia

The idea of a Cache of the year came to us in 2011.  We took each of the winners of the Cache of the Day and laid them all out and eventually came down to 3 or 4 best of the year.

We are in this picture somewhere!

In 2011 we took a trip to Pennsylvania and visited GC59AF: Thousand Steps Cache.  To this day both Pam & I think of it as our best cache ever and it was named the 1st SNAP!!! Cache of the Year.

Nana & I at step 1000 - hint: there are still more steps after that one!

The 2012 winner was in Smithfield, VA,  GC3PTB0: Smithfield's Porcine Parade.

Papa and one of the pigs!

In 2013 the winner was a WVTim cache.  GC44RDE - The Key is the Key.

Another great WVTim Cache

In 2014 the winner was a great Wherigo cache in Norfolk: GC4XD7M - The Hermitage Gardens: A Walking Tour - hidden by Prytz+1.

AND FINALLY

The runner up - 
A really devious cache located in Virginia Beach

Hidden by good friends geospillz - GC5KWYP - TWISTED !!!!!!
this cache took us almost 30 minutes to locate - and that was after a hint!

AND NOW - THE WINNER OF THE
"SUPER-COVETED" SNAP!!! Cache of the Year:

Go thru here

Keep walking to the end

No, you don't need to go out there - but it was fun!

Now walk a ways down this way until you get to:

about 100' - then go find it!

THE WINNER OF THE

"SUPER-COVETED" SNAP!!! Cache of the Year

GCT397:  Train Trestle Falls

the CO is Captain Crash and the cache is located just outside of Clarion, PA.

Just remember... you have to go back through:



CONGRATS!!!

Everyone please have a great 2016...

So, as always...

Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!

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

Almost ready .... but a few late additions....

A few days ago we listed what was, at that time the top 10 winners of the "COVETED" SNAP!!! Cache of the Day Winners.  Then we took a 4 day vacation down to the Outer banks and added 4 more winners to the list.

So just to be fair - here are the 4 most recent winners:

12/26/15 - GC3N224 - Launch Point - the CO is OBXbiker and the cache is located in Dare County North Carolina.  This is a really nice multi-cache that just may have you scratching your head for at least a minute or two.

12/27/2015 - GC64V38 - Cora Tree - the CO is SweetadOBX and this cache is also located in Dare County North Carolina.  A cute hide but the cache has a really nice back story to go with it.

12/28/2015 - GC38G6K - OBX Velkominn Respite - the CO is OBXbiker and the cache is once again located in Dare County North Carolina.  Clever craftsmanship went into this cache.

12/29/15 - GC3M5NZ - Baltic Hideaway - the CO is OBXbiker and the cache is located believe it or not - in Dare County North Carolina.

So now that you know all of the top contenders for the yearly winner - give us a day to think things over and we will let you know.

Till then... Have A Happy New Year,

Stay Safe

& Keep Caching!!!

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

WHO WILL WIN???

As most of you know, on most days that we geocache, we usually name a WINNER of the "COVETED" SNAP!!! Cache of the Day!

We started this as en exercise in getting those really "neat" caches some more traffic.  At the end of the 1st year though we were asked... But which one was best?

That is what started the "EXTREMELY COVETED" SNAP!!! Cache of the Year Award.

So... here are the top 10 candidates for this years award (so far).

Note: We have several more days of caching ahead of us.

1/10/15 - GCYYWH - Humpback Bridge Cache - the CO is Pathfinder27 and the cache is located in Alleghany County Virginia 

3/22/2015 - GC5MWKKL - Lube Knot a Tree - the CO is bdramatic and the cache is located in Isle of Wight County Virginia.

5/24/2015 - GCT397 - Train Trestle Falls - the CO is Captain Crash and the cache is located in Clarion, Pennsylvania.

5/25/15 - GCJ8M8 - Auto Art - the CO is MsKardiac and the cache is located in Erie, Pennsylvania.

/13/2015 - GC5KWYP - TWISTED !!!!!!! - the CO is geospliz and the cache is located in Virginia Beach Virginia.

7/12/2015 - GC5TRPC - North of Tower - the CO is snowurchin and the cache is located in Virginia Beach Virginia.

8/14/2015 - GC5DN8E - Historic Salem - Roanoke Courthouse - the CO is Tanjent and the cache is located in the city of Salem, Virginia.

8/30/2015 - GC5KV2R - Scarp Metal - the CO is steve-n-kim and the cache is located in Norfolk, Virginia.

11/15/2015 - GC5YN7Z - The Life and Times of the Spit at Northend Point - the CO is everplaid and the cache is located in the city of Hampton, Virginia.

11/28/2015 - GC60HJC - USS PENNSYLVANIA (1837) - the CO is steve-n-kim and the cache is located in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Just a few geocaching days left... but in the meantime -- Pam & I are trying to figure out who the winner will be!

Please have a Merry Christmas,

A Happy Hanukkah,

A Happy New Year,

but most of all...

Stay Safe

& Keep Caching!!!

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

Help for New Geocachers #2 - Patience

Patience is defined as: the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.

 

For geocaching, patience can be applicable in many ways:

1) Have patience with those first 100 caches.  Just cause you can't find it doesn't mean it isn't there.  Nana & I have over 7000 finds but we loved being surprised by hides we haven't seen before.  Log a DNF (Did Not Find) and maybe the CO will send you a hint!  Better yet, go back on another day and maybe it will pop right out at you.

2)  Have patience with the "Needs Maintenance" log.   We didn't use that nasty button until we had well over 2000 finds.  We only use it when the container is really dirty and needs quite a bit of TLC from the CO.  If we find a container that just needs a little TLC, we will try and do that ourselves to help out the CO.

3)  Have patience when at GZ.  Remember, you are new and not all caches jump out at ya!  There are numerous things you can do to help clue you in on what the cache might be.  a) Read the Hint!  b)  Read the previous logs - sometimes the way the log is worded can give you a real good clue as to where or what type the cache may be  c) expand you search area - not all phones or GPS units are the same - just cause my GPS says GZ (ground zero) is right here doesn't mean yours will.  Nana & I each have identical mid-range GPS units and usually, hers is 20' off from mine!!!  d) If all else fails - try this one little trick - take a couple of steps back from where you think GZ is - - - then ask yourself one question - - - If I was going to hide a cache near here - where would I hide it - - then slowly walk around and look for the best place!

4)  Have patience with yourself - do not get down on yourself for not finding a cache the first time you look.   Remember two things  a) This is supposed to be fun - but nobody said it is easy.  b)  Think about this - people have been caching since the year 2000.  How often did you find a cache or see someone acting funny and thought "gee, wonder what is up over there".  The caches are hid so your average Joe doesn't find them.

5)  Have patience with your fellow cachers - We do not mind giving hints to our finds but we really would prefer you not to ask for a hint until after you log at least one DNF log.  Other cachers give hints freely but then again - there are owners who prefer not to give any hints.

Hint: the best place for hints is at an event!

As Always...

Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!

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

Alara's Wacky Adventure - 2015 edition

Once again, alara, our friend and personal caching guru, has decided, once again, it is time to test every one's fortitude.  Usually once a year, alara comes up with a caching trip to test himself and others.  It is usually an overnight trip to some distant location followed by a 1/2 day of more of hiking, elevation changes, scenery and at least one geocache.

The first time I heard about a wacky adventure was in 2011 when we did "Thousand Steps Cache' (GC59AF) in central Pennsylvania. 

For 2015 alara has picked a really nice cache - GC2JJJD - McAfee Knob Challenge.  How many times can you say you hiked almost 9 miles and got only one cache???  Check out the cache page.

October 9, 2015 - Nana, myself and of course alara will be spending the night in Salem Virginia.  Saturday morning (9/10) at about 7:45 we will be at the parking area on Virginia Route 311 for the Appalachian Trail.    At about 8AM, the group I already know about plus any others that want to come will leave the parking area and start on our way.

Please read the cache page!

Please bring plenty of water!

Hope to see some of you there!

We will be posting pics!

As Always...

Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!

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