8000 Finds!!!

The last thing I stated in the last blog was -  I will let y'all know when we pass the mark!!!   Well, we are now at 8013.

We started out on April 19 with the 3rd Tuesday event in Portsmouth.  My son was a guest speaker and had a great presentation with loads of information about all sorts of pests, bugs, plants, and reptiles we all run into while geocaching.  #7990

Our next find was a quick grab here in Suffolk as we needed a cache on April 22.  #7991

Next was a CITO event and a cache at the same location on the 23rd.  Cameramoose held a really nice event, had a good turnout and cleaned up a cemetery in South Norfolk.  #7992 and 7993.

Sunday the 24th we teamed up with jtmlam59 (Jim and Lynne) and managed to knock out 19 caches which took us past the 8000 mark!!!

It was a nice day and we cached in and around the south-side of Hampton Roads.  Not only did we pass 8000 finds but Jim & Lynne actually surpassed the 10,900 found mark as well.

The winner of the "COVETED" SNAP!!! Cache of the Day Award was steve-n-kim with their cache "Swirly" (GC68RXX).   Oh, and by the way, the answer is clock-wise!

Our 8000th cache was not planned out to be a particular one.  We let fate determine which one it was and made up a list - used a program to figure the shortest route between all the caches on the list, and then our 8000th find just happened to be Park n' Play (GC5WMD3) owned by 22track.  Thanks for the hide!!!

Till next time!!!

Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!

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

1st half of April Recap!!!

It has been a very busy month since I retired on the 1st.  Not only have I been doing chores around the house but I have also managed to get some cache maintenance completed AND we even managed to grab a geocaching or two.

On the 4th of April, Nana & I manged to grab just a few (4) caches while out doing maintenance north of town.

On the 7th of April, I teamed up with alara and we managed to grab just a few (7) more caches around the Portsmouth and Chesapeake area and walked quite a bit of the Dismal Swamp Canal.

Of course I held the April 14th AACC event which was quite an experience as the local cachers here managed to grab up 25 trackables, most of which had came through the Wormhole Cache (GC4TTVJ) from Australia.  

On 15 April I made a quick run up to Chippokes State Park to grab the "first to find" rights on the new Virginia State Parks series there.  Then I also grabbed one more in Smithfield before heading home.

That only leaves Saturday 16 April.  Nana & I teamed up with jtmlam59 once again and visited both the western end and the center of the Virginia Capital Trail.  This time we managed to grab almost everything we had left on the trail.  I believe we have less than a dozen left on the entire trail, at least until they publish some more.  We managed to grab 80 caches on Saturday.

That brings y'all up-to-date with our caching and leaves us sitting at exactly 7989 found caches.  I figure the 3rd Tuesday event (4/19) and the CITO event on Saturday (4/23) will bring us to 7991 - which means that late Saturday or sometime on Sunday we - SNAP!!! - will finally pass the 8000 mark.

Now to figure out which cache will be #8000.  I was thinking EVIL but... I have stitches on left forearm and do not think it would be a good idea to put that in the water (at least not that water).  Will have to think on this one for a few days.  I will let y'all know when we pass the mark!!!

Till next time!!!

Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!

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

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!!!