99 Bottles of Beer on the wall 9/25/11

This one had been bugging us for months.

This was aptly named Lucky 13

Well, we finally made it to 99 so we are all set for our trip to Sedona!! We found the remaing 4 here in Ahwatukee, so we have so more smiley faces on our geocaching map for Arizona! We also conquered on of our nemisis caches, which was #99.

Preparing for Sedona

Who knew there'd be on in the fence post?

We are going camping in Sedona in a couple of weeks, so Melanie thought it would be a good idea to celebrate finding out 100th Geocache when we are in Sedona. Since we were on number 91, and the weather is a little cooler, we thought we had better get out there.

We found 5 more today so we will have to find a few more next weekend.  There were a couple of very creative designs.

Martin found this one!

Cute one

Braving the heat 9/4/11

Can you spot the Geocache?

After a month of inactivity and a cancelled camping trip (due to me breaking one of my toes again), I swear the walls moved and the withdrawal shakes got the better of me so we had to go and brave the heat geocaching in Arizona.  We found a couple of very creative caches. Have a look and see if you can guess where the geocahse is in the photo. Answer is below.

We found this large geocache under a fake cable utility box. It still amazes us the creativity that some people have.  We dropped off a couple of travel bugs to continue their journey.

The most ingenious cache of the day - someone painted some pipes with the same color as the utility boxes and used magnets to attach them.  The log book was in the pipe.

Log was in the pipe!

Camping, Fishing, Hiking and Geocaching in Flagstaff - July 2011

We had such a great time on our first camping trip that we went to Flagstaff for our second camping trip just after the Fourth of July.

Of course, we did some geocaching on our trip.   "Indie" Martin found this one inside the "Well of Souls" at the top of a steep hill on the Fatman's Loop Trail.   He made it up and down without bodily injury, thank goodness.  He found a traveling bug that we discovered came from Germany and is making its way to Mexico.  We will place it in a local geocache and hope someone will get it to its desired destination.

Martin caught this very large Pike fish on Lake Mary.  He caught 7 or 8 fish in all.  I caught 3, but they were much smaller than this fish.  We even saw a huge bird swoop down for a fish not 10 feet in front of us.  That was an awesome sight to see.

We went to Walnut Canyon National Monument to see the cliff dwellings.  It was a steep trail, but we made it and took some great photos along the way.  I'm sure Martin will be thrilled when I am done seeing cliff dwellings.  

Who says you can't camp in style?

 Not as large a fish as Martin's, but I was excited.  I couldn't believe I actually caught one that was bigger than my fist.

 I was caught between a rock and a hard place at Walnut Canyon National Monument.

We had another wonderful trip camping, hiking, fishing and geocaching.  We are planning future excursions in September!

Our First Camping Trip - Flagstaff Gone Wild!

Martin-Griffith Spring Trail in Flagstaff

Look at me.  I can be on both sides at once!

Martin and I planned our first camping trip to Sedona in June.  Yes, I know the title says Flagstaff Gone Wild!  That's because Sedona had no available campsites so we ended up at the Flagstaff KOA.  It was disappointing at first, but we adapted quickly and ended up having a great time!  It was nice to know that we could have as much fun on the road as we have at home.

King of the Hill finding the geocache at the top!

Martin-Lava Tube Cave in Flagstaff

Melanie-Lava Tube Cave in Flagstaff preparing for 30 degree weather!

Way too close to the edge, Martin!

Summer Trip June, 2011

These are some of the photos from our Summer trip in June, 2011 up to Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We spent hours in the car talking, laughing and enjoying the beautiful scenery.  It's hard to believe we get along so well and enjoy so many of the same things.  What a great life we're leading!  No complaints, no regrets, only joy and happiness.  Sorry, honey, I know I'm supposed to be talking about our trip and geocaching, but this is the chance you took when you let me post the latest blog. 

Our first stop was Bryce Canyon where we learned about "hoodoos".   One night we went to a night astronomy event, hosted by the park rangers, where we got to look through giant telescopes.  We saw the moon up close, Saturn, and a Supernova.  It was so interesting, fun and we even got to bundle up because it was cold outside.

This is Martin in front of some of the hoodoos. 

We hiked along a trail that took us to the bottom of the canyon.  We even had lunch under a huge rock overhang (very romantic and private). Unfortunately, that meant we had to hike back up the canyon.  However, we lived to tell about it.

These are some of the interesting hoodoos.  You will notice the hold in the rock formation.  

************************************************************************************ This is called the Bryce Amphitheater.  It is hard to understand why until you see it.  You must admit that it does look like people with their eyes and bodies trained on a performance of some kind.

This is Martin getting ready to start on the trail to the bottom of the canyon.

This is one of my favorite photos only because I'm not a great photographer, but I thought this was a good one.  Now, on to our next stop, Zion National Park.

Zion National Park  

Like Bryce Canyon, the rock formations at Zion had many different layers.

Martin sitting by the stream.

Martin holding back the rock on the trail.

Martin drinking from the "rock".  It was amazing to us to see plants growing on the side of rocks and water just streaming out of the rock from seemingly nowhere.

Finally, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

It was hard to believe that the white stuff in the center of the picture is snow.  There were patches of snow below trees and beside the road under trees.  It was amazing because it was 77 degrees outside.

 This is Angel's Window.  You can see the Colorado River through the "window".  You may also notice the viewpoint from above where you can walk to see more of this beautiful landscape.

Overall, this was a great vacation.  We returned home with great photos (over 2,000) and great memories.  I can't wait to do it again!

Hiking in Pima Canyon 5/30/11

Melanie and I went on a nice hike on a cool Sunday Morning. It was lovely weather. We walked the Pima Wash trail and caught a few geocaches along the way. Almost at 50!