Ok so I am a little late in writing this blog about our trip to Alberta to witness the joining of my cousin in holy matrimony. But I figure it would be best to date this one for the day that we actually returned to the island.
The adventure began in August, two days after the big International Geocaching Day Block Party in Seattle Washington. This was an event I truly wished I could have been at, but it was impossible as all funds were tied up in traveling East rather than South. But luckily there was a garden party held at AnnieMaroo's place that day that we were able to attend.
Anyway we began our journey by staying the night in Aldergrove at the home of my Mother's Sister. It was nice to visit with them before heading out as I don't see them nearly enough for being so relatively close to home. The cost to cross on the Ferries these days is ridiculous so I tend not to cross often.
The next day we began our adventure East to Alberta, and to the first cache I had on my GPS. This was a planned stop at the large travel information center and rest stop just outside Merritt. Close at hand was my first cache en route and we made the short walk to the cache and found it very quickly. Now I know I did not mention that we were traveling with my Parents, so to eliminate any possible confusion I think it is best to mention it now.
So too soon after making the find I got a text from them telling me that they were ready to go, so we quickly signed the log and rushed back to the car.
We next made a stop in Kamloops for lunch, and since we were at a mall anyway Just Leafy decided to quickly shop for a dress to wear at the wedding. So while my mother and Leafy shopped, Dad and I wandered aimlessly around the shops. I didn't have any Kamloops caches in my GPS because I did not think that we were stopping there, but curiosity got the best of me and I pulled out my iPhone and launched the Official Geocaching App and saw that there was one directly across the street at yet again another Tourist Information Center. So I waited Leafy out to finish shopping, and then we quickly ran across the road for this unplanned cache. And so the next leg of the journey began, with the direct no stop run to Revelstoke.
Revelstoke was a place we had planned to get eight~ten caches in, and the area seems to have a few good ones that were perfectly situated to get with little effort. But our caching plans here went foul real fast, as this town has a major mosquito problem. We went to our first one here in the shade of two fir trees, and that's when we were attacked by squadrons of them.
Poor Leafy had in just a short two min a total count of twelve bites on her neck, face, arms, legs, back and the little bit of her tummy that was showing. As I stayed and signed the log, Leafy was running for the car. Since my plans for the majority of the caches were near water (mosquito hunting grounds), I had to scrap them and do only one more. The only cache that I had that was on higher ground was near their very cool Railway Museum. So for Revelstoke the count was only two.
And since this is where we were to call home for the night, checked in to the hotel and passed into the realm of sleep and into nightmares of giant mosquitoes chasing me.
The next day we drove to Lake Louise, the next planned stop for everyone. And logically I had two caches planned for here. One was a nice easy Virtual Cache and the other a simple Traditional Cache. The greatest part of this was that Leafy had never been to Lake Louise before. So I covered her eyes and walked her to the lake edge, and uncovered them when in position.
Sadly the silly girl covered my hands with hers and pressed hard. Well if you have ever done that to your own eyes (and we all know we have), you will remember the weird effect of blackness and colour spots flowing around followed by several minuets of blurriness. Well that is what happened to poor Leafy, and the effect of surprising her with Lake Louise's beauty was slightly spoiled until her eyes refocused.
Once the eye thing was rectified, we took pics, gathered the info for the virtual, and made the 5 min walk to the traditional that we found very quickly. And after a quick coffee and washroom break, we were on our way yet again.
Now this was the longest part of our trip, a direct drive from Lake Louise to Lacombe Alberta with the exception of a quick fuel up stop in Olds. Again curiosity got the better of me (since I did not have anything for Olds in the GPS either), and sure enough there was a cache only 400 meters away. So quickly while Dad fueled the car we ran down and grabbed this one too. Mom and Dad drove over to us and we jumped in and off we went.
It was about another 30 min to my Aunt's (my Dad's Sister) house near Gull Lake in Lacombe, and what a wonderful reunion it was. I had not seen these members of my family in nearly 9 years, and it is always a treat. The wedding came and went, and it was a fantastic time.
Now let us talk about caching in Lacombe. There was a surprisingly large amount of geocaches in the city (yes it is a city, as it had revived that title and distinction only just recently). For a place that is covered in snow for a good portion of the year, the caches there were either well maintained or just well made. I figured from all the water that tends to come with snow melt we would have been dealing with soggy, mildew ridden logs. But the logs were generally in great shape, and so too were the content of the caches. So a big tip of the hat to the cache owners of Lacombe.
The day we went to West Edmonton Mall was a planned day, and of the ten I wanted to get there I only got one. This was mostly due to the poor weather that day, rainy and cold. But the time we spent at the waterslides made up for the lack of Edmonton caches. We had a great time, and lost track of 4 hours very quickly. One of the things I love the most about West Edmonton Mall is how there is full sized restaurants in there, and being able to hit up Boston Pizza for dinner was just great. And once we did a little (I know it's early) Christmas shopping, we dove back to Lacombe.
The next few days were very restful, as the temperature dropped considerably making the pesky mosquitoes go away. And because my Aunt and Uncle's place is in the middle of nowhere, sitting and doing nothing is something one from the city can really enjoy if one just allows ones self to slow down. And slow down we did, sitting on the patio sipping on ice cold brewskies and eating peanuts.
Just Leafy (who loves animals) just loved being there because of all the animals she got to see. My Uncle owns two Horses, and they have a barn Cat, there is a near by Buffalo farm, Squirrels and Jack Rabbits visiting the yard, and the Coyotes yipping and howling at night. All so natural and beautiful, it's just amazing.
But sadly the time to depart came, and we said our goodbyes and began the trek home. This trip was exactly the same as the trip coming in reverse, except no stops in Lake Louise. So the caching was kept to a minimum. We did grab one in Golden quickly by a nice pedestrian bridge spanning the river. And when we reached Revelstoke we chose not to brave the nasty little blood suckers again. Picked up one or two while in Salmon Arm, and paid a visit to the one I did in Kamloops along the way to drop off a travel bug and to pick up a different one to bring back home with me. But got no more until we got back to my Mom's sister's place in Aldergrove again.
Once back we celebrated my Aunt's Birthday and the next day headed across the border to shop at Seattle's Premium Outlet Mall. There we got just one more and final cache on the trip, scoring the Washing State souvenir on geocaching.com. And with one more night spent at my Aunt's we went finally ended up back home.
So that is the story of our holiday to Alberta, and of the caching we did along the way. Whew.. what a lot of typing that was. We hope you enjoy reading about this trip as much as we enjoyed being on it.
On December 03, 2011 Just Leafy and I decided it would be a great idea to get out of the city for the day and go on a geocaching adventure. Remembering that there was a large section of the Trans Canada Trail in Shawnigan Lake that was untouched by us, we figured that would be a great place to go.
We arrived a little time before noon and parked the Jeep, and slinging our bags to our backs we started out. I have to say, it was clod that day. The puddles and little rain pools that scattered the trail were frozen with a thin layer of ice, and the frost never cleared that day at all. But it was beautiful winters day out, with the sky so blue and not a cloud in the sky! 
The first find was right where we parked, a little too close to the port-a-pottie for my liking. And with that first one out of the way it was on to the next. 
Around the time we made our third find of the day we met some other cachers. We would have joined forces with them, but they never offered. But we did not mind as we really did want a nice day out together.
Wow what a busy month of events. But finally Halloween is here and one last event was on the list. 
Our spirits were starting to get a bit crushed though, as every cacher always hopes to have nice or decent weather when they head out. But all day and all night it just poured rain. And when I woke up in the morning of October 22nd and looked out the window, I sighed and just knew this was going to be a super wet day.
We headed to the meet-n-greet and signed in to the event, and dashed for the cover of the nearby building where the event was in full swing. Cachers from all over were huddled in there talking and looking at each others trackables, all the while staying warm by nursing cups of coffee or coco. 
As the night came and went, and October 11th arrived, we got ready in the morning and headed to Duncan to visit with my best friend and his wife. He had just recently got into geocaching and had the geoname of Krytikal, and we decided to do a few on the path that runs behind his home.
I we did six in total, and got to see some very neat little places at each of the hides. We even made a new little friend with a tree frog at the last cache of the day, Leafy named him Kermit lol. 
On October 1st, 2011 we The GO! Team and Paulboy of Ladysmith teamed up for a fun (chilly) afternoon geocaching in Lands End and Sidney area. 
Since Leafy had just finished a 12hr 7pm to 7am night shift at the hospital, she was just exhausted. We felt super bad dragging the poor girl around. But she really tried to give it her all. But eventually hunger struck her bad, so we headed into Sidney so she could get some Subway. While there we recognized Pol Plastino the radio personality from The Zone 91.3. He is such an awesome guy, and he knew what geocaching was and wanted to learn more. He even asked if I had a blog that I did about it, and well would know... I did. So he asked for the web address which of course I gave to him (not right away, emailed it to him after I got the blog with him in it written). Pol even gave me his Zone pin that he was wearing to put in a cache, which I did drop in "GC2EG93 - Marina Multi by Hither&Yon". So all you Zoners out there that are Pol Plastino fans, if you want a zone pin that he wore that's where you will find it.
The adventure began in August, two days after the big International Geocaching Day Block Party in Seattle Washington. This was an event I truly wished I could have been at, but it was impossible as all funds were tied up in traveling East rather than South. But luckily there was a garden party held at AnnieMaroo's place that day that we were able to attend. 
The next day we began our adventure East to Alberta, and to the first cache I had on my GPS. This was a planned stop at the large travel information center and rest stop just outside Merritt. Close at hand was my first cache en route and we made the short walk to the cache and found it very quickly. Now I know I did not mention that we were traveling with my Parents, so to eliminate any possible confusion I think it is best to mention it now.
We next made a stop in Kamloops for lunch, and since we were at a mall anyway Just Leafy decided to quickly shop for a dress to wear at the wedding. So while my mother and Leafy shopped, Dad and I wandered aimlessly around the shops. I didn't have any Kamloops caches in my GPS because I did not think that we were stopping there, but curiosity got the best of me and I pulled out my iPhone and launched the Official Geocaching App and saw that there was one directly across the street at yet again another Tourist Information Center. So I waited Leafy out to finish shopping, and then we quickly ran across the road for this unplanned cache. And so the next leg of the journey began, with the direct no stop run to Revelstoke.
The next day we drove to Lake Louise, the next planned stop for everyone. And logically I had two caches planned for here. One was a nice easy Virtual Cache and the other a simple Traditional Cache. The greatest part of this was that Leafy had never been to Lake Louise before. So I covered her eyes and walked her to the lake edge, and uncovered them when in position. 
Sadly the silly girl covered my hands with hers and pressed hard. Well if you have ever done that to your own eyes (and we all know we have), you will remember the weird effect of blackness and colour spots flowing around followed by several minuets of blurriness. Well that is what happened to poor Leafy, and the effect of surprising her with Lake Louise's beauty was slightly spoiled until her eyes refocused. 
Now this was the longest part of our trip, a direct drive from Lake Louise to Lacombe Alberta with the exception of a quick fuel up stop in Olds. Again curiosity got the better of me (since I did not have anything for Olds in the GPS either), and sure enough there was a cache only 400 meters away. So quickly while Dad fueled the car we ran down and grabbed this one too. Mom and Dad drove over to us and we jumped in and off we went. 
Now let us talk about caching in Lacombe. There was a surprisingly large amount of geocaches in the city (yes it is a city, as it had revived that title and distinction only just recently). For a place that is covered in snow for a good portion of the year, the caches there were either well maintained or just well made. I figured from all the water that tends to come with snow melt we would have been dealing with soggy, mildew ridden logs. But the logs were generally in great shape, and so too were the content of the caches. So a big tip of the hat to the cache owners of Lacombe.
The day we went to West Edmonton Mall was a planned day, and of the ten I wanted to get there I only got one. This was mostly due to the poor weather that day, rainy and cold. But the time we spent at the waterslides made up for the lack of Edmonton caches. We had a great time, and lost track of 4 hours very quickly. One of the things I love the most about West Edmonton Mall is how there is full sized restaurants in there, and being able to hit up Boston Pizza for dinner was just great. And once we did a little (I know it's early) Christmas shopping, we dove back to Lacombe. 
But sadly the time to depart came, and we said our goodbyes and began the trek home. This trip was exactly the same as the trip coming in reverse, except no stops in Lake Louise. So the caching was kept to a minimum. We did grab one in Golden quickly by a nice pedestrian bridge spanning the river. And when we reached Revelstoke we chose not to brave the nasty little blood suckers again. Picked up one or two while in Salmon Arm, and paid a visit to the one I did in Kamloops along the way to drop off a travel bug and to pick up a different one to bring back home with me. But got no more until we got back to my Mom's sister's place in Aldergrove again. 
Anyway we arrived at my parents on Monday August 1st , and after a nice lunch I went to work on getting dad all set up with iTunes and get his first sync and back up done. And then went on to more complicated uses and fun things to do on a iPhone. I think I did pretty good since he is getting the hang of it, and that he discovered what I would call a bit of advanced usage on his own (congratulations Dad)! And now with the tech support out of the way it was time to get caching!!!
Being here gave us a great chance to pass out some of our signature items into mid-island caches. So we brought 9 up here with us. And so we got started. My Dad knows that when geocaching you discover wonderful and new places, and since they are still so new to the community he decided that it would be good to come out too. The first three we got were actually in Courtenay, and were unfortunately micros (Courtenay has a very large amount of micros from what I can tell). So with them being micros, leaving a signature item was not possible. But too quickly the time passes and soon it was dinner time, so back to Comox we went. After a hearty steak dinner we headed out and grabbed a few more caches leaving signature items where we could. And at the last cache for that day we witnessed a nice sunset, but unfortunately the photo I took really did not do it justice. And then it was time to turn in for the night.
Tuesday August 2nd arrived and guess what!!?? It's our Geo-anniversary! And what better way to celebrate 1 year of caching with well.... more geocaching. So away we went, and did a few more and placing more signature items. Got to see more of this beautiful place and walked some very nice trails.
I had it planned with my friend from work that I would drive him to the ferries for the 9pm sailing to the mainland on July 17, 2011. During the day that day Just Leafy and I went out for breakfast at Ricky's at Admirals Walk, and we discussed whether we would like to go over too to do some geocaching. We came to the conclusion that a little spontaneous behavior never hurt anyone, and made it happen.
Staying the night in Delta at my friends parents place, we awoke and had breakfast with everyone and headed to a place of easy fun caches that proves to be a good full day. This was Iona Beach Regional Park, and the series that is here called "Salish Sea 1 - 16" were recommended by our geofriends Stellalabella. 
Walking the full expanse of the jetty doing all 16 in the series and the two others at the very end was an amazingly fun day. If you do the series make sure to get all the clues from the containers and logbooks, so you can piece together the clues to make the coordinates to the final. Unfortunately we did not get to the final this day because by the time we walked the 4km back to the car my feet were on fire, and we still had to get to IKEA and spend a few hours there wandering around. This was not all we had to skip as there is a whole other section of the Regional Park with caches on it too, and this was the 4km strip of Iona Beach. So this means we will be back again to finish this off in entirety someday soon.
As we started to wade out we could tell very quickly that the water would be up to our necks or more. And though the Oregon550 claims to be ipx7 waterproof, I don't trust that statement. So we turned around. I wonder if we will ever get to these little island caches.
Today Just Leafy and I headed out to Albert Head Lagoon to try and get two caches that we have previously failed at or had not attempted. Those were "Two Lagoons - GC1B04F", "Tree Sturgeon - GC2DHE7". The first of the two mentioned "Two Lagoons" is where we got our wet feet. Even though the tide was low, it was just not low enough to cross even where the water fans out without sinking a bit and getting all wet. We found the cache nice and dry, and tried to cover it a bit better since it was a little exposed when we arrived. With that out of the way we moved on to the nearly 1km walk to "Tree Sturgeon"!
Here Just Leafy wanted to go up and get it, since you literally have to go out on a limb to get it. With encouraging words I stayed below guided her along with positive reinforcement. And very shortly we had the funny little container in hand.
After the hike back to the car we drove off to grab our final one of the day "You can't get there from here - GCF220" at an undisclosed location (you have to figure it out, no spoiler here)! This is where we went to new lows since the cache pages clue tells you that you must think like a troll!