Erika Jean

"Survival Kit" Giveaway! Deadline July 20th -10pm EST

*STICKY POST*MORE POSTS BELOW*

Don't you just hate it when your stuck in the middle of nowhere without the things you need? I know I do - Especially when I'm out in the woods Geocaching. Since I figure I'm not alone, I would like to give everyone a chance to win some items that may be helpful in a situation like that.

While most of these products will probably not help you actually survive in the middle of the jungle, desert or tundra - they may help with that unexpected sudden downpour, random scratch or just make you feel a bit more comfortable while out in the wilderness.

The giveaway "Survival Kit" includes..

Possible uses for your potential winnings:
Swag items, event prizes, hiking bag/car/purse emergency stash, camping supplies, a gift for someone else - the sky's the limit, all you have to do is win it!

To enter your name in the drawing you MUST:

*Leave a comment to this post telling me which item you would probably end up using first and why.
Example: "I would probably end up using the cold pack first becuase I'm constantly falling on my head."

To earn extra entries in the drawing you can do any or all of the following:
Please be sure to leave a separate comment for each of these the entries to count also include your twitter name and/or your blog address where necessary.

*Twitter about this contest. You must link back to my blog and mention a contest in the tweet.
To make it easy you can use the following if you would like:
"Check it out @_erikajean_ is holding a blog contest! www.erikajean.com #geocaching Hurry! It ends July 20th."

*Subscribe to this blog, and tell me what method of subscribing you chose. If you are already a subscriber please tell me the method of subscribing you use - and you will earn this extra entry as well.

*Blog about this contest on your blog! You must link back to my blog and mention a contest in the post.

Please be sure to leave a separate comment for each of the entries to count. I will be checking the comments, printing out entries, cutting them apart and drawing out of a bowl to pick the winner.

DEADLINE for entries: July 20th -10pm EST

Fine Print:
Family members are not eligible. You do not have to be a US resident or a blogger to enter - just be sure to leave a way for me to contact you. The winner will be announced on wwww.erikajean.com July 21st, 2009.

*STICKY POST*MORE POSTS BELOW*

Crater of Diamonds

1 comments

Theresa, my westbound road trip buddy - suggested that we visit the Crater of Diamonds State Park while driving through Arkansas. It was a little out of the way, but when she mentioned the possibility of finding a diamond - I was definitely game! It just so happened there was an Earth Cache there and a couple traditionals on the way.

This is one micro we grabbed. It was a film canister hidden in a Magnolia tree in the center of town.

The next one we got was behind a house/ business under a tree. I believe it was a bed-and-breakfast but I honestly can't remember... and I didn't take a picture!

When we got into the park we went after the next cache. It was a large ammo box, chained to the roots of the tree. Odd, but I guess it prevents someone from walking off with it!

Considering people don't hide caches back the way they found them, the chain was probably a good idea. As you can see it was pretty visible.

The Crate of Diamonds State Park is is the world's only diamond-bearing site open to the public. Which means there is a big plowed field - that cost six bucks to enter.

You can bring your own searching tools, buy some there, or rent theirs and dig all day. We each bought a small hand tool and dug for about an hour. I think Theresa could have dug all day - but I was overheating! I kept anything that was shiny or white - while Theresa kept rocks she wanted to know the names of. She found some pretty neat looking ones, but most of them were Jasper. I had picked up a lot of Quartz and Calcite.

For the Earth Cache we had to snap a picture with our GPS while digging, and answer a question that requited us to do some sign reading.

Disappointed we didn't find any diamonds, we got back on the road and headed for a geocache to brighten our spirits. We ended up at a cemetery - which may seem a bit ironic... but now that I geocache and often visit cemeteries, I've gotten quite used to the setting. It was a very peaceful place on a back road. Roy Cemetery was situated on top a a hill and was a rather cute little cemetery.

Here is the cache.

From here.... we took a $hitload of gravel roads back to the highway.

P.S. - GPS companies - please make gravel roads a different color or something so I can AVOID them!

It Was Just Like JAWS

2 comments

I have been writing a lot about my trip, but mostly only about the drive up ,the drive back and all the geocaching along the way.... I haven't written much (just this post) about the whole out of the country portion of my trip! The Bahamas.

While in the Bahamas we took advantage of the crystal clear water. Not only did we swim, kayak, and sail.... we went snorkeling. It was my first time doing it, but having used a snorkel in the pool - I wasn't worried. I probably could have used a better quality snorkel than the one I had (WalMart), and kept the sunscreen away from my eyes (they were burning) - but I managed to do okay.

We boarded the boat at Stuarts Cove and went to our first "dive" location. The first place was near a small island, a protected bird sanctuary. The coral at this location was pretty far down. There were a lot of fish - but only a couple varieties. All these pictures are taken by the Bride, T. (minor editing by me). I was way to scared to take my camera out on a wet boat! Anyway, this is the Best Man and the Groom.

The second location was awesome. Only having 3-5 ft to swim in, you had to be careful not to bump into the coral. They told us whatever you touch, dies. I'm not sure if that is entirely true, I think it may be their way of keeping you from touching it - which is fine with me. I was worried about something biting, poking or injuring me in someway - so you bet I didn't touch anything!

There were a few pockets of deeper locations, without coral were you could actually go vertical. Here is one of the guides feeding the fish.

Here is me and T.... We can't really rock the snorkel gear. I don't think anyone really can.

The third, and last location was the shortest - but the best. I mean, not everyone can say they have been swimming with sharks. While they remained near the bottom when we were in the water, it still made me nervous. We stayed in long enough to take in the sights and snap some pictures - then we quickly headed back to the boat! You had to be really careful while getting in and out and swimming... avoiding splashing, the sharks were drawn to it!

The sharks were 6-8ft. Reef Sharks. Here is a video of someone feeding Reef Sharks. Ironically, its the same company we went snorkeling with. It's the first one I came across.

After everyone got out of the water, the guides fed the sharks. Many (20ish maybe) sharks came to the surface and splashed around while fighting for the scraps of smelly meat.

It was an awesome first snorkeling experience!

...I realize this snorkel trip wasn't like JAWS at all, as the title suggests. Please forgive me.

A Different Kind of Log

1 comments

On the eastbound portion of my recent road trip, I got 6 geocaches with my non-geocaching friend Hunter. If you have read my past posts, you know that I completed my first virtual cache at Cadillac Ranch. It was a neat place to see. If you haven't seen the post yet - go check it out!

A few miles down the highway from Cadillac Ranch, there was another cache. The cache was called The Bug Ranch. The Bug Ranch was very similar to Cadillac Ranch in that the cars were half buried. The location was not as nicely maintained though. It was near an abandoned building and I got a creepy/dirty feeling while exploring the location.

The cache was considered a micro, because the Cache Owners had hidden a hide-a-key ... that was empty. The cache page states that there is no log in the container and that the bugs are the log, and you are to sign them. The hide-a-key has since disappeared (we found parts of it). Why they didn't mark this as "other" and just forget the hide-a-key is beyond me...