From the Bash to the Stock Part 2

Day 4
Early in the planning of the trip I had to make a decision: Pittsburgh or Cleveland. Both cities were good candidates but the thing that made me choose Pittsburgh was that to get through to Indiana we got to geocache in West Virginia. Which, other than the single strip going up by Pittsburgh, is totally under Pennsylvania and Ohio so I'd likely never have the chance for a long time.

So for Day 4 we started off and headed to Washington. No, not Washington D.C., Washington, Pennsylvania. We made a few finds and a DNF before getting back on the road to WV. We got off the highway near West Alexander to make sure we got a proper photograph.

We continued down to Wheeling, West Virginia, right on the border of Ohio. We picked up another cache before heading across the bridge and grabbing a few in Bridgeport, OH. We had a few more historic stops before Columbus including the "S" Bridge virtual (GC71EA) and a cache in Old Washington, where one of the northern most battles of the American Civil War happened,there is even a Confederate marker in the cemetery nearby. (GCRMJ8)

Next was probably the second most painful part of the trip. Our third Wherigo ended up being a bust as some sort of glitch prevented me from finishing. (Others have had that problem on their iPhone since then so at least I'm not the only one) even worse is that the only other cache I had in the area was 20 ft up in a tree so the entire hour or more detour was a waste.

Finally we get into Columbus and visit one of the coolest topiary gardens at A Sunday Afternoon Cache (GC897E).

We explore the city for a bit before our parking meter expires. After that we check-in to our room, where we begin researching places for supper. The Spaghetti Factory turns out to be just down the street! We have one of the best dinners ever before packing it in for the night.

Day 5

Remains of Union Stations across from Nationwide Arena

We only had a half-day or so to see the rest of Columbus so we started early at the Arena district. The district features the Nationwide Arena, home of the Columbus Blue Jackets. We manage to grab a few caches (and a couple DNFs) before heading back downtown.

Statehouse of Ohio

We do a cache which takes us on a tour of Columbus including the state capitol and Ohio's Supreme Court. We even see the site of the First Wendys.

Soon enough we're back on the road and on to Cincinnati. However we take a short detour to Dayton, Ohio which is famous for the Wright Brothers. We admire the monument nearby before grabbing lunch and a neat earth-cache. From there its straight south to Cincinnati.

In Cincinnati we did another Wherigo (GC2Z5TT) which was a neat tour through the history of the area. We then tried to make a mad dash to a cache hidden at the top of a skyscraper only do come up 5 minutes late! Oh well. We go to a Reds game which is much fuller stadium this time.

The game was great as we watched a nail biter and ate hot dogs. Todd Frazier came up at the bottom of the 9th (his theme was Frank Sinatra's Come Fly With Me so I was rooting for him) and then this happened.

After that it was down south to our hotel.

Day 6

Now we're almost there! We being onward to Louisville, Kentucky. We make one stop on the way, Kentucky Speedway. Since I'm both a NASCAR fan and it had a virtual, this was a no brainer for me.

After that is was straight into Louisville. My first stop was Tom Sawyer (GC39E) which has been around since March 2001. The second major cache I wanted was The Muggles Take Memorial Wherigo cache (GC24G61) which was another great Wherigo.

Jen and I on the left

From there we went to the Churchill Downs for our first flash mob in this area. We then went in with everyone else to see a race. Not every day that you get "right at the finish line seats" at the same track the Kentucky Derby happens at.

After the race we scooped up a few more caches before heading to Taco Bell for lunch (where I was introduced to the Dorito Taco for the first time. Amazing.).

After that we went into downtown Louisville for another flashmob. It was a pre-event of sorts to the wedding that would be happening at GeoWoodstock.We stuck around for a few more caches before grabbing a bite to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. We then headed back for the motel which was a journey itself (every highway on ramp was closed). We needed our rest for Day 7.

From the Bash to the Stock Part 1

Day One

As far back as this time last year I began planning a theoretical trip down to GeoWoodstock. When I realized the Geobash was only a week before I suddenly started looking at a roadtrip down to the Woodstock from there. It wasn't until maybe a month or so before the Geobash that I took the idea seriously and dropped the hammer, buying the hotels, one in Erie, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Cincinnati, Louisville and Toledo. I was able to successfully recruit my sister to join me (she is not a Geocacher and doesn't really care for it). I figured if it's reccommended you have a partner while caching even close to home, having a partner in a foreign country on a weeklong roadtrip would be a good idea too.

So the day before the Geobash I convinced Jen that we should go down that night, rather than in the morning as we had originally planned. This was so I could grab a nightcache that was there and hopefully get to the pre-event camp fire that was being held. We got over the border fine and made are was to the Allegheny State Park. We stopped in Salamanca for some Subway and gas before we went down the winding (and dark) roads of ASP.

Once there we went out to grab the night cache which Jen actually enjoyed. After that we settled into the Geomobile and dozed until sunrise. And by dozed, I mean freezing my ass off trying to sleep. So finally sunrise comes and we are starving. We venture off when we see a person setting stuff up at the event site.

The man turns out to be one of the organizers and we chat a bit until he mentions there is a food truck open. My sister and I can barely contain our excitement when we order a pair of breakfast burritos (which were amazing) and then set off to grab a couple of close by caches. One of which is at a covered bridge which are always neat to see.

By the time we get back others have started to arrive and we head over to get signed in.  We take a look at the shops before caching grabbing my first Wherigo at the ASP Zoo cache. After a successful bunch of caches we have lunch and go to the group photo before heading to Salamanca for the Flash mob event.

With the events over we head to one of the oldest caches in Pennsylvania, Cache In The Marsh (GC211E), which is on state game lands. While I went for the cache Jen waited in the car. Unfortunately for me, although the map showed only 1000m to the cache, it did not show me the large marsh and winding trail. I get to the spot and remember that this is a projection cache and get my projection app working. Bang! A gun shot goes off in the distance. Yup, that projection looks good now! I find the cache and go back to the car (Jen probably thought I got shot or something).

After that we head to the hotel for some rest and chow to end day one.

Day Two
Today was going to be our first  major driving day. After grabbing a few caches around our hotel we head down to the first webcam cache of the trip, The Boro Web-Cam (GCN8GZ). I was of course worried as to how I was going to take the photo (with roaming and what not) luckily there was an open network nearby (library or something) and I was able to grab a picture:

 After that we grabbed a few more before heading for another oldie, the Stone Wall Stash (GCFF). We managed to find the cache with some work (mostly getting over a stone wall, go figure). We continued making stops at other caches like the Springfield Falls cache and Earth Cache, (GC45A8 &GC3CCBH) and an interesting stop at an simple parking grab where we watch a bunch of skydivers come down.

Finally we get to Pittsburgh (don't ask about the 20 minute detour we had to take!) and check into our room. After a little charging for the iGPS we head out. My #1 objective for Pittsburgh was to ride one of the incline railways and it was a success. We took the Monongahela Railway down to the city where we got out second Wherigo cache of the trip, Just Visiting (GC283K9). While down there we grabbed the Jailhouse Rock cache which is a neat puzzle dedicated to Elvis (GC22HPF).  Not wanting to push our luck (and rock climb up) we went back the incline. While Jen went to put some more change in the meter I went off to grab a nearby cache and met two wonderfully nice newbie cachers.

Yup we found it!

After that me and Jen grabbed a bite to eat and packed it in for the night.
 
Day 3
Day 3 started off with a bang. I sat my sister at a Dunkin' Donuts (free wi-fi) and headed down to get Uneven Pavement (GCB7D3), my 2nd webcam of the trip.

Possibly the worst picture ever. Thanks Jen! (That's me in the centre)

We then grabbed a series of caches in Schenely Park (including some challenges). Finally we decided to grab one more cache in the area before heading downtown. A virtual a tiny bit out of the way but it has almost 30 Favourites, Walk The Block (GCB22C). As we drive up my sister gets too close to the metal curb and POP! A broken piece of metal pierces the tire. And the spare is broken. The Geomobile ain't goin' anywhere.

After a couple kilometres worth of walking, some (roaming) calls, $200 dollars and a TON of luck we were back up and running by 5 PM. Unfortunately that makes the rest of the day a geocaching bust. On the bright side we could still attend our night festivities. We head over to the famous Primati's for a bite to eat before catching a Pirates game which was certainly a highlight of the trip.

After that we spent the night at our hotel before moving on to Columbus!

End of Part 1

Sun setting on Pittsburgh