Halloween Sign

FWD:FWD:haha look at this halloween sign i saw at the gas station!
Originally uploaded by airrikajswan

Saw this this morning @ the gas station & it made me laugh. Thought I'd share. Happy Halloween everyone!

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Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine Posts on the Blog.

999 blog posts and going strong. I can't believe I've posted that many times. I want to say a big THANK YOU to all those who read, subscribe and comment. It really means a lot.

I started this blog as nothing more than a personal record of my life.

From my 1st blog post:
This isn't meant to entertain you. Why? Because its MY thoughts and MY memories. Things I would like to note. But if you enjoy it, I will not stop you from reading about my life. I feel that so much is going on that I need to write it down. Just not in a journal.... Because, well, there is no spell check.

While I still document what I do in life, I do also try focus on being somewhat entertaining and interesting. I don't know if entertaining and interesting are the right words, but lets just say things around here are much more put together than they once were. I never though I'd actually have people come back to my blog - and for that I am grateful.

Over the past 3 years (and more) I've dealt with annoying residents on campus, hated my job, hated my professors, hated shopping, graduated college, moved across the country, developed a love for photography, started hobbies, stopped hobbies, had blog contests, done experiments, tried my hand at cooking, traveled here and there, shared fun links and blabbed about myself.

It's been a journey, and it's not stopping any time soon.

As a THANK YOU to the blogosphere and in celebration of 1000 posts, I will be holding a small blog contest. It starts Friday, so be sure to come back and enter!

PS. I love that evil grin ;-) yes it's me!

My 1st Webcam Cache!

Webcam Cache: These are caches that use existing web cameras placed by individuals or agencies that monitor various areas like parks or road conditions. The idea is to get yourself in front of the camera to log your visit. The challenging part, however, it that you need to call a friend to look up the web site that displays the camera shot. You will need to have them to save the picture to log the cache. If you’re a tech-head you could use your wireless modem and save the image yourself on your laptop.

With the help of my mom, I was able to complete this cache. Wilbur's Wildcat Webcam was on the University of Arizona campus. I had been there, but never really had the chance to explore it. So thank-you Geocaching for giving me an excuse to walk around a bit!

Here I am at the cache. Phone to ear and camera around the neck. We also happened catch a biker in the background.

The University of Arizona campus was really pretty. I walked right through the main street, where all the eateries, bars and stores were. There were a lot of people out an about, many of those people on bikes. Tucson is way more bike friendly than Cincinnati! Though, Cincinnati is hilly, and I don't know that any one would choose a bike over walking for getting around there anyway...

After I completed the Webcam Cache, I headed toward a nearby traditional cache. On the way I stopped at Penguin's and had a reallllly good smoothie. It was sort of a create your own smoothie place, so I had Pineapple Juice, Mango Tart Frozen Yogurt, Strawberries and some Kiwi. Mmm mmm good!

I sipped on my smoothie on the way to the cache. I made a quick and easy find and snapped a goodbye shot of the Tigger TB I was carrying.

Have you done a webcam cache before?

Feed Readers: Quick Comment HERE

What is Geocaching? Answer here.

Sabino Canyon

Sabino Canyon was also on this list of things to do while my friends were in town last week. I had never been there and didn't really know what to expect... but it was absolutely beautiful. I don't think the pictures do it any justice - but they are still fun to look at!

When we got there, my friend Jessica starting reading the pamphlets they gave us at the gate. It was about what to do if you saw a mountain lion and how to prepare yourself for a mountain hike. One of the suggestions was to carry a walking stick (basically a weapon). Having thought about buying one before, I decided to get one at the gift shop just in case. I figure it will be good for poking in all those holes while geocaching too - so its not like I won't use it again.

There were no geocaches on the trail we took, but that wasn't really part of the plan anyway. The plan was to hike, see Arizona, hang out and have fun. We did all of the above!

We hopped on the back of the tram for the ride up and got off at the last stop.

There were a lot of people on the tram, but we only saw a few people on the trail. Besides our loud and very random singing, it was very quiet and peaceful day. Yes, I said singing. What else do you do while you're on a hike and bored!?

When we got off the tram, I asked the driver if that was really the way we had to go. Sadly, it was. Sure a ½ a mile doesn't sound like a lot, but that is how far we took the connector trail to the main trail. Straight up.

I had to stop and catch my breath quite a few times on the way up, but once we started getting rolling on the main trail it got a lot better.

We hiked around 4¼miles more, including the way down. We were glad to see the path down, but I think it was one of the hardest parts of our hike. At least the view made up for it.

I had a great time and would really love to explore some more trails in Sabino Canyon. Oh yeah, we did not encounter any mountain lions. Thank God ! !

I was also able to add this trail on my walking stick! I think I will be putting all the ones I do with it on here! I'm such a nerd - but I am excited about that...

Postcrossing Sunday

(Click Postcards to Enlarge)

Fun With Travel Bugs - Tigger TB

Do you ever take pictures of the Travel Bugs you help move along? I don't always, but I like to when I have the time. I think the whole process of moving a TB can be rather fun. - it is what you make it. If it were my TB I know I'd be very appreciative of pictures!

Here is a little example of the pictures I take and the things I write:

Tigger scared me a bit when he bounced up on to the fence. I had forgotten that's what tiggers do! Here he is standing in front of Safford Peak.

Tigger was tired from all that bouncing, so he bounced right into the pool and onto the raft where he could catch some rays and rest a bit.

Tigger told me not to tell you... but he loves the weather here a WHOLE lot better. He is excited about his goal and to bounce there soon, but he is worried about having to bounce back to cold weather!

What is Geocaching? Answer here.

Friday Flashback - @ The Lake

Good times at the Grandparents' in Michigan.

Sara, Lisa and Erika. I'm touching my tongue to my nose. My only talent.


Dad, Nort and Erika


Nort and Lisa

I have great memories of knee-boarding, swimming, fishing and jumping off the dock! Grandpa had a few speed boats and then eventually a pontoon. They sold the boat this summer (or are still trying). It kind of makes me sad, but Grandpa is getting old. I started to get nervous every time he had to put gas in the boat ;-)

Phoenix Caching

The last time I tried to grab a cache in Phoenix, it was 115∘out, so the caching plans were aborted. This time was different. Fall has hit and temperatures have started to drop. When my friends came to town, their arrival times ended up being a couple hours apart. Since we had some time to kill, I took Stephanie geocaching while we waited for Jessica to fly in. It was Steph's first time geocaching, and I was excited to show her what it was all about... since I talk about it all the time!

Here is Stephanie making her first find!

The cache was a magnetic tin.


We were excited to find some signature items from our home state, Ohio!


We decided to grab one more before finding somewhere to eat..

I think Stephanie enjoyed our mini caching trip caching. It's always fun to teach someone a little about the game of caching!

Who was the last newbie you shared the game with?

What is Geocaching? Answer here.

Colossal Cave

My friends were in town earlier this week, and one of the activity suggestions I gave them was a visit to Colossal Cave. They thought it sounded interesting, and after learning we'd be out of the sun on a 92∘day - the cave trip was set in stone.

I have been to Colossal cave before, I've even been on the same tour. This time though, was different. Our guide took us a slightly different way, a with a lot of tight spots. After almost getting stuck twice, I have now decided caves are for skinny people only!

Sure, it was a tight squeeze but we had so much fun! We were covered in dirt from head to toe and scraped up our arms from army crawling, but it was so worth it. I'd definitely recommend the Colossal Cave Ladder Tour for anyone wanting to get "off the beaten path."

There were a lot of ladders. This one was the smallest, being only the width of one foot.

We also had a lot of tight squeezes. This was only the beginning.... It got much tighter, leaving very little wiggle room.

We also went across these itty-bitty catwalks. It was a loooong way down.

I wasn't a geocacher the last time I visited the cave, so this time I was also able to claim a find on an Eathcache. I had to answer a few questions about the cave and take a photo. Sadly I forgot to take a picture where I needed before entering the cave. So here I am afterward all sweaty and dirty with hat hair. Gross!

I'm up to 4 Earthcache finds now!

What is Geocaching? Answer here.

Postcrossing Sunday

(Click Postcard to Enlarge)

Back in 5.

It will actually be more like 5 Days. Two of my friends from Ohio are in town, so I plan on hanging out with them while there here! I will be absent for a while, but will come back with a ton of stuff I'm sure. I'm looking forward to hanging out with them. My last couple visits to Ohio were rather rushed.

We plan on doing quite a few things here in Tucson, which is exciting because I haven't done a lot of the things we have planned! So It's good to be able to get out and explore my city. Hopefully I can grab a cache here and there. ;-)

I'll probably be rather quiet on Twitter and FB as well...

Postcrossing Sunday will post as scheduled, but other than that... see you Wednesday or Thursday!

Hey... While I'm gone, why not meander though my archives on the right sidebar? I know a lot of you haven't been around very long, I'm sure you'd find something interesting :-)

Lollipop Perfection.

I made Lollipops! Well, technically all I did was melt some candy down and stick a stick in it. There was some effort involved... like picking what flavors and colors would go best together :-)

Mmmmm!

I found the idea on another blog. If you go to The Decorated Cookie, you can see the easy instructions.