Geocaching and other delights

Our part of the state has escaped relatively unharmed in the recent winter weather events. We had some snow, and some ice but nothing like the Willamette Valley experienced.

Eric and I went geocaching last weekend, and ended up walking the mile-long snowy trail to the top of Communications Hill at Yaquina Head. We found the cache and logged our visit, then enjoyed the view from the highest point in the vicinity. It was a clear and beautiful afternoon, albeit pretty chilly. We stayed to watch the sunset. Eric shot these beautiful pictures during our jaunt.

Pink mist

I love the variations in color in this shot....

The tiny size of the boat against the enormity of the ocean and land mass...

The lighthouse was just renovated and restored to its original colors... it looks gorgeous.

If you've never heard of, or never experienced geocaching, I highly recommend it. Get yourself an inexpensive GPS unit - I saw one the other day for about $100, and get in on this treasure hunt. It gets you out into the great outdoors, lets you search for hidden treasure, log your visit to the cache, and trade trinkets and/or travel bugs.

Eric and I are planning a trip to Baltimore for an EMS conference in early March, and we're going to spend a few extra days exploring the area including Washington DC. We'll be doing some geocaching there.

In the first cache we found last weekend, I traded for a rock that someone had painted a dog's face on and signed the back. I'm going to gather up some smooth polished round rocks from the seashore, paint ocean scenes on them, sign and date the back and place them in the caches we find. My own version of a traveling gnome, I guess. I like that idea.

I have been asked to provide photographic coverage for the Yaquina Lights fundraising event this weekend. I'm looking forward to that... watch for pics from that event posted here next week.