In Search of Hidden Parks

Since we haven't been geocaching much lately, I've been thinking that perhaps we should hide some of our own. This afternoon I strapped the GPSr to the handlebars of my bike and went out scouting little-known parks for future caches. I had so much fun, I ended up riding 12.6 miles.

Halfway through my trip, I stopped in the grocery store to refill my water bottle and buy a snack. I hadn't been in the Haggen before, so I decided to look around. They had an amazing selection of bulk foods and bulk candy. I noticed there were a fair amount of black candies - almost as many as you'd find in Finland. I figured I should buy some for Sami. So, I stepped closer... and saw penguin candy. Perfect for Sami.

After shopping, I continued on into some new neighborhoods. Neighborhoods full of big hills. Actually there's a hill called Sexton Mountain (not labeled on the map) that is smaller than some of the other hills I rode on. I don't quite understand how that works... anyway I had to actually get off the bike and push it up some of them.

Near Beacon Hill I found a nice pond with a family of Mallards. I sat there for a while watching the baby ducks when two families of Canadian Geese marched in. The geese are pretty brave and they swam right to the end of the pond where I was sitting. They dove and pecked and ate a few bugs or whatever it is that geese eat and climbed out of the pond. The parents marched the baby geese up a hill and across the street. Baby #10 (not shown in the street picture) had a hard time climbing the hill and his dad honked loudly at him for a while, but eventually they all made it.

I'll definitely have to take Sami back to this pond for a picnic sometime soon to watch the birds. Maybe we can also hide a small geocache near the road so other people can find this cool spot too.