Geocaching (Upper Downtown, and Wal-mart)

May 10, 2007

I couldn't think of an slightly humourous title for this blog because as far as geocaching goes, this was definitely one of our easier days and relatively uneventful days. The general location was Queen's Park and University of Toronto, just north of where we were on May 1, 2007.

The first find (First Post - Toronto) was easy, but it actually caught us a little off guard because all Anne could remember about the general area was that a "plaque-map thingie" there, and I was pretty sure that Anne had already memorized and photographed anything worth taking a picture of at Queen's Park. We took pictures of the brass cap that corresponds to the co-ordinates on the map and plaque. Apparently, they did this at all the provincial parliament buildings.

We were a little stuck by the second virtual cache (OPO), as I had forgotten to download it to my GPS. I had to call ptwoferret to get the co-ordinates from the first cache. Then I turned around, looked at the first cache again, and realized that it was the same cache. "OPO" was short for "Ontario Post One", the official name for the brass cap. The only difference was the questions being asked. 2-for-1!

The next cache was (at least according to the map) at the north end of Queen's Park. The only problem was that there was nothing at that location but a light post. We crossed the street on a hunch, and found it there, a historical sign for the "Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies" (part of the University of Toronto), written in English, French, and Latin. We had actually being here during TorGame, but back then, the sign wasn't important.

The last cache of the day was "Philosopher's Walk" on the University of Toronto campus. The hint indicated that we would not be able to see the cache and would have to feel for it, while sitting on a bench. Who knew there were so many benches, all in one area? The other half of the clue talked about celebrating "a new Ph.D.", and there was only one bench there that fit that part of the clue. Of course, it was the last bench we looked at, as we had to wait for the U of T tour group to leave.

As we started searching, I can just imagine someone watching us from nearby thinking, "Help! Security! There's a sicko couple here with a plush pig feeling up the furniture! Oh God! Now, she's eating a banana!"

Actually, we were about to give up, but the banana seem to re-energize Anne. Sitting to the side of the bench, her eyes actually found it. It helps to changes your perspective sometimes.

May 11, 2007

We want back to Wal-mart again. I think our excuse this time was to pick up some photo CD's that we had dropped off. We went back to the exact same spot we had been searching, and found it quite easily. It was hidden between two bolts, so we didn't see it the first time, but this time around, Anne got a little touchy-feely and found it with ease.

Geocaching (Famous Last Words)

May 4, 2007

While driving Anne to the subway station in the morning, our plan for after work was simple, "Go to Tim Horton's, go home, eat pizza, veg on the couch, take a bath, go to bed". Then I added, "Unless Futureshop tells me that the pictures we sent are ready for pickup, in which case, there's two geocaches nearby."

Of course, the pictures we sent to Futureshop were ready in record time. So after work, our plan now involved driving to the Ontario Science Centre while eating addictive veggies chips, going to Wal-mart, and eventually, getting those pictures from Futureshop.

The traffic was heavy around the Ontario Science Centre, but we eventually got there. Then Frank swears, and adds "We have to pay for parking?" Famous last words. Well, into the parking lot we go, then park and walk towards the front entrance. The description said that we didn't have to pay admission to get to this geocache.

And we didn't. It was this giant spike right in front of the front entrance. It was setup to make it look like it had travelled through the concrete and through the barriers around it, supposedly due to plate tectonics. Very informative.

We then headed back to the parking lot, and drove towards the exit, and hey, we didn't have to pay. Anne guesses that it's because we arrived after the Ontario Science Centre after it had closed.

The next geocache is somewhere in the Wal-mart parking lot, away from the store entrance, near a no parking sign. This should be a piece of cake, as how many "no parking" signs are there in a parking lot? Again, famous last words. The signs were all over the parking lot, and even after we got close, we still couldn't find it. It wasn't hidden in the holes in the concrete barriers. It wasn't attached to the guard rail. It was wasn't there. We even went into the store to take a break. We came back out and tried looking again, but still to absolutely no avail. We were convinced that the cache had been "muggled", gone to the great hiding place in the sky. After all (I have been told) that on weekends you actually have to drive around the whole lot looking for a spot. It's busy, busy, busy, and someone had already removed it. We suspect that Wal-mart security had seen enough of us crazy hippies with our crazy looking devices to finally put an end to these festivities. (We say that half jokingly, of course, but at least one geocache downtown has been removed by building security due to new security measures).

The day wasn't a total loss. At least I got new underwear, and (with some prompting from Anne) we got those pictures from Futureshop too.