Here are a few pictures I took while scouting locations and placing reflectors.

I saw a small snake while hiking here a few days ago. I’m no herpetologist, but I could tell it was not a rattler. This time, though, I happened across the real deal. I heard it before I even saw it. After the initial rattle, though, it just sat on the trail and hissed at me. That was new. I apologize for the image quality, but I didn’t want to get too close. I hope you’ll understand.

This next was an early morning shot as I was placing reflectors. There just seemed to be something magical about it, at least in my eyes.

I’ll keep you posted on how the cache turns out. Perhaps there will be a few more pictures once it goes live.

I found this to be a rather interesting tree. That’s El Capitan in the background.

One of the caches was nestled snugly in the arms of a huge cactus plant. The cache is the mint tin behind the rock.

It took a bit of ingenuity to retrieve it. OK, I used a stick, but it was an ingenious stick.

Not ingenious enough to save me from the wrath of the cache’s protector, though. Ah, how the mighty have fallen.

I found some tracks that I think were made by a coyote.

I was unable, however, to identify the creature that left this track.

Four miles, a couple of hours, a few caches. The makings of a good day.

I was met at the airport by the doctor who was heading up the study. Her husband was playing the role of chauffeur. They were both delightful people, and they gave me a great tour of the area as we were heading to my hotel.

The most amazing thing they showed me was the barns. You know, where the horses live? As it turns out, in Kentucky, the horses in Kentucky live quite well. I was unable to get any pictures, but you can see some of the equine estates here.

As I usually do when in a new area, I went out to grab a cache as soon as I dropped my belongings in my hotel room. And, as usual, the cache was right across the street from the hotel. Below you can see the tree where I found the cache as well as my hotel, on the other side of the levee.

Moments after I found the cache, there was a huge clap of thunder, followed by a fairly good rainstorm. No more caching that day, but I did get to watch the thunderstorm from the comfort of the hotel restaurant.

The next day, the rain had stopped, and I had enough time in the afternoon to get a few more caches and see a bit of Frankfort.

This quaint street sign had me imagining a Jay-Z song performed by Elmer Fudd.

There were a couple of caches along the river across from the hotel (click for a larger view).

One of the caches was dedicated to “The Singing Bridge”, named for the sound made by vehicle tires as they pass over the metal bridge. The view from the bridge was also something to sing about (click for bigger).

My son’s nickname is “Gibby”, so I had to make a stop at this deli.

While visiting the history museum (in search of a cache, of course), I struck up a conversation with one of the curators. She said that, if I had a chance, I should walk up the hill to visit the burial place of Daniel Boone. So I did. Well, I might have, anyway. There’s a bit of controversy surrounding Daniel Boone’s actual resting place. More details here.

Regardless of the actual identity of the grave’s inhabitant, the view of Frankfort from the site was remarkable (click for bigger).

An amusing story followed my trip to Kentucky.

I dabble a bit in genealogy. The night I got home, I started thinking that, before I go on a trip, I should check to see if any of my ancestors are buried in whatever city I’m going to. If so, I could get a picture of the marker and maybe some information about other ancestors that I’ve not yet found.

Then I wondered if any of my ancestors might have been in the cemetery I’d visited in Frankfort. I started checking my records, and, to my surprise, my 9th great-granduncle is listed as being buried there. It was actually a double surprise, as, without realizing it, I’d actually photographed his marker. It’s posted above.

His name was Daniel Boone.

This year, we met near the San Diego Aerospace Museum, signed the log book, made and flew paper airplanes, then disappeared into the mists…so to speak.

We also found time to squeeze in a group photo, which was taken by the event coordinators.

You can see it here.

Last year, kazoos, this year, paper airplanes…I can’t wait to see what they’ll come up with for the next one.

The show we happened to see was “Billy Hill and the Hillbillies,” which was a hand-clappin’, foot-stompin’ good time.

Later, we saw these contradictory requests.

We stopped by the Mad Tea Party, where we noticed that Tweedledee and Tweedledum got a makeover…

…and the flamingos got taller.

We wanted to go on the gondola ride in California Adventure, but had a tough time finding it. It’s like a big ferris wheel with a picture of Mickey Mouse on the front. Here’s Grant trying to remember where it was located.

Not only did we finally find it, I shot a bit of video from one of the gondolas. Warning – do not watch this if you’re prone to vertigo.

If you’re viewing this as an email, you might need to click here to watch the video.

Geocaching, Disneyland, time with my son…yeah, life is good.

The most interesting part was the multi-cache, where each stop included some interesting bit of La Mesa history. Of course, I snapped a few pics along the way.

Here’s a map of all the caches in the Challenge. The orange pins are the puzzle caches, the yellow are the multi, and the green are the regular. You can click the map to see a larger version.

The first set of coordinates led me here

where I was directed to “R 979.498 LAM,” which turned out to be

Not the first of this type I’ve found, but they’re always fun.

I was also directed to a memorial for fallen peace officers.

Then, to lighten the mood, I was directed to someone’s front yard, where this was on display.

Happy Birthday, La Mesa, and rhino-sized thanks to the person who had the idea to include crazy people like me!

It’s in the running for Favorite Cache Ever.

If you don’t see the video above, you can find it here.

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I’ve been to a lot of meetings before, but I’ve never been to one where the view from the meeting room looked like this.

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This was on the way to the cache.

Hmmm. This looks strangely familiar.

Here’s the view from the cache site.

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And these were on the way back to the hotel.

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It was quite cold and windy, but still gorgeous.

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I found the warning signs rather appropriate, considering the name of the reserve.

Lovers Point State Marine Reserve

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