Birthday Weekend

Forgot to mention in Last Month's Blog, we found the newest Locationless cache from Groundspeak called "Where's 25? - Locationless Cache" while we were out grabbing some Adventure Labs. 

We were discussing this particular cache on our travels and Susan suggested a speed sign. I said I have not seen a speed sign with 25 here in Canada. They are usually 20km, 30km, 50km, and higher. I have even seen a 10km, but never a 25km sign. Later as we were driving along she screams "OMG Look 25!!!!"

Lucky we were in an area we could pull over and get a quick pic with the sign. Not the best 25 to have a pic with, but it will do!!

NOTE: The highlighted or underlined words in my blog can be clicked on as they are links to other cool stuff!! Also if you click on any of the pictures they become BIGGER!!!

Was at an event at the end of February and I put my special geocoin on the table for those in attendance to discover if they wanted to. It was a gift for being named "Cacher of the Month" for February of 2012. As I was sitting in front of the computer at 4 in the morning and working on my blog, I was also scrolling Facebook and it popped up as a memory. 

You can read about my nomination "HERE"

And you can read the story when I was Named "Geocacher of the Month"

Please feel free to Discover my coin, and let me know where you are from.

Leavenworth, Washington Birthday Weekend!!!

Traveled down to Leavenworth with Sansue on our Birthday weekend. My bday is March 22, and hers is March 23rd

It was a nice sunny day, even though the forecast was for rain.

Lots of things to see and do in town.

 

On the way to Leavenworth we stopped for a cache called "Say Hi to Harry!", which was at a shooting location for the 1987 film "Harry and the Hendersons" staring John Lithgow and featured Don Ameche's "North American Museum of Anthropology" which is the green building behind the Harry statue. It's a great family comedy!

The writing on the door says:

Dr. Wallace Wrightwood

North American

Museum of Anthropology

1986 Filming Location of

Harry and the Henderson's

I thought the painting on this building in town was cool

PS: On the right hand side of this webpage is where you can find my YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, links. Please feel free to check them out and follow or subscribe!!!

It was fairly busy in town while we were there.

We got a Webcam cache also while in Leavenworth. It is right in the middle of town, where they have all their monthly festivals.

We also visited this cool metal Pig statue, made from a ton of misc. metal parts all welded together.
The cache took us awhile to find, but Susan came up with the find eventually.

 

I also got a challenge cache the next day just outside of Wenatchee called "Fave Worthy! 10-100 Challenge" 

To qualify you need to Find one (1) cache that has earned 100 or more favorite points in each of ten (10) different U.S. States or Canadian Provinces. 

I have 16 caches that qualify in 16 different Provinces or states.

I was also the Second to find this cache.

Here you can see me up on the cliff grabbing the cache.

Susan stayed at the car.

In total for the 2 day weekend I got 1 multi, 1 Webcam Cache, 3 Virtuals, 22 Traditional's, 4 puzzle caches(Two of them were challenge cache's) and 19 stages of 4 different Adventure Lab's

It was a nice little weekend trip, and we look forward to visiting Leavenworth again in the near future.

Next month I am traveling to Salmon Arm and I will grab some caches on the way, but more about that in Next Month's Blog......

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

Jigidi Puzzles, Adventure Labs, and Magic Awards

 Ferndale Trip

popped across the border for a show in early February, and I planned on getting A Wherigo Cache called "TS-Spare Parts" as well as several other caches.

To get the codes for the Wherigo, I had to do a 396 piece online Jigsaw puzzle, which would give me the codes needed to input into the Wherigo. A few days before the trip, I started the puzzle and It took me 4 hours and 50 minutes total to finish it. Yikes!!!

Unfortunately, plans got altered and we didn't get across the border as early as I was hoping to, and had to get to my show, so this cache will have to wait for another trip.

In MAGIC News.....

Also in the beginning of February the S.A.M. had our Annual Banquet, and I was awarded the Carl Hemeon Award of Excellence in Magic. A very Prestigious award!!

The Carl Hemeon Award, given annually, is one of the most coveted recognitions in the magical community. It celebrates creativity, technical mastery, and the ability to captivate audiences with a unique style and original approach to performance. Chris Yuill’s ability to blend traditional techniques with fresh, innovative concepts has set him apart as a leading figure in the field.

Over the years, Yuill has garnered local and international recognition for his performances, events, and contributions to magic. Known for his expertise in Comedy and Magic, he has performed in prestigious venues and collaborated with some of the biggest names in the magic industry.
The Carl Hemeon Award is presented by S.A.M. Assembly #95, a respected institution that champions the development of magic as an art form and supports magicians in their pursuit of excellence. The award was presented at the S.A.M. Annual Banquet, by his peers.
This recognition further solidifies Yuill’s status as a trailblazer in the magic world. His passion for the craft and dedication to pushing the limits of illusion ensures that he will continue to inspire audiences and fellow magicians alike for years to come.

NOTE: The highlighted or underlined words in my blog can be clicked on as they are links to other cool stuff!! Also if you click on any of the pictures they become BIGGER!!!

Recently I was looking at some challenge caches and came across one where you need to find 7 different Icons in 5 different countries. You can look at the "Challenge Cache" here.

This is the list that Project GC gave me when I entered into the geochecker.

Canada (14 types)

•  GC9RW7C GPS Adventures Maze Canada - Abbotsford, BC on 2022-08-13

•  GC8HMXA GeoWoodstock Registration Event - GWXVIII on 2022-08-12

•  GCAGW9H Brow of the Hill on 2025-01-05

•  GC86VDF GeoWoodstock XVIII - GWXVIII on 2022-08-13

•  GCANTJ0 Dinosaur at work on 2024-07-21

•  GCPKQ5 BigWave Dave's Dallas at Cook GeoCam on 2013-04-21

•  GC9WPMF LE - Deas Park on 2024-09-21

•  GCAJK4Q Flying Seven on 2025-01-09

•  GC4HDRW Grid/Terrain Points Challenge cache on 2025-01-01

•  GCB2P87 For TPB on 2025-01-27

•  GCAHDEZ Hoy Creek Riparian Zone on 2024-10-11

•  GCAY05V Last Chunk of the Elephant? - Cerulean Macaw on 2024-10-01

•  GC349MK Island Spirit 2012 (WestCan2) on 2012-07-07

•  GCB168M 100th Event Celebration! on 2025-01-27

United States (13 types)

•  GCAC6MF 🇮🇹 Maximus Shopilius 🇺🇸 on 2024-08-06

•  GC9XA5P Memories of Sumas on 2024-12-11

•  GC3X684 2013 Geocaching Block Party on 2013-08-17

•  GC1169 Mission 9: Tunnel of Light on 2010-07-02

•  GCKVR5 High Five over Eye Five on 2022-09-09

•  GC8M53D Easiest Wherigo Ever on 2022-07-16

•  GCAJH23 Old Sumas Customs Building on 2024-11-28

•  GCAZ2T0 City of Blaine - Over All Walls Murals - AL BONUS on 2024-12-18

•  GC4QCPB Race To The Border 2 on 2024-12-11

•  GCAHT7F Letterbox 98057 Renton on 2024-05-31

•  GCK25B Geocaching Headquarters on 2013-08-17

•  GC9N8PG WSGA's Going Ape XI on 2022-09-10

•  GCA94X7 Maker Magic: Happy Canada Day! on 2023-07-01

Mexico (1 types)

•  GC22YA7 SUPERMERCADO NANO on 2010-07-15

Panama (3 types)

•  GC6CD6 The 8th Wonder of the World- The Panama Canal on 2011-02-20

•  GC24E2C Rio Chagres Earthcache on 2011-02-20

•  GC163XA Aleithometer Cache on 2011-02-16

As you can see by the list above, I do not qualify but it was interesting to see what types of Icons I have found in each country I have cached in. Plus it shows the last cache of that type that you found, so if you needed to check again it might change. Interesting!!

Adventure Lab Caching

The weather this weekend was quite wet with pouring rain in the forecast. So we decided to grab some Adventure Labs. One of the stages for one of the labs we were doing was at the Port Moody Skytrain station, but it was past the gates where you pay to ride the skytrain. Susan was looking around just out side the gates and the 2 security guards asked her what she was looking for. She told them what she was looking for and they escorted her thru the pay gates and to the plaque which had the info we needed.

I just stayed near the entrance while she got the information. lol

PS: On the right hand side of this webpage is where you can find my YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, links. Please feel free to check them out and follow or subscribe!!!

I am moving in a few months so I have already been organizing and packing stuff. Upon moving stuff around and packing, I came across a book I have that I haven't seen in awhile. 

It is a book called "200 things any Geocacher must do sooner or later."

Above are a couple of pics from the book. It's like an essay book with all 200 items and you write stuff down, when and what you have done on the list of 200 things. I am going to keep it handy now and start filling in the pages to see my journey. It will be cool to look back years from now and relive those moments made during caching.

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Magically yours,

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

The New Year has Arrived!!

 New Year's Eve 2024

Happy New Year to all!!! I Went to Sooke, on Vancouver Island on New Year's Eve to perform some magic at a NYE celebration with 240 guests.

Went over on an early ferry that morning and did several caches on the way there and would also do some on the way back to the Ferry on New Years day. Was able to get these 2 souvenir's:

 

Grabbed a Challenge cache called "Grid/Terrain Points Challenge Cache"

Before I went to the island I did a GSAK Macro to see if I qualified. Seems everyone is using the same WRONG Project-GC Checker to see if they qualify. It doesn't find the info it needs to.

The cache page said:

This challenge cache will have you trying to find different caches in different grid squares to make up a minimum of 60 points in just one day.

The idea of different types of grid square caches is to find multiple caches that fill up different grid squares.  For example: a 1 difficulty and 1 terrain would make up 2 points.  A 2 difficulty and 1.5 terrain would make up 3.5 points toward the 60 points that you will need to log this cache.  A 5 difficulty and 5 terrain would make up 10 points to fill this challenge.  The hard part is that you cannot use the same grid square more than once for this challenge and the caches must be found on one calendar day.  It would be too easy to find thirty 1/1 caches to make up the 60 points so you must use different difficulty and terrain levels.

 NOTE: Many cachers were using a Project-GC Checker to see if they qualified, but it is not looking for different grid squares, it is using any of the grid squares multiple times.

I stopped and grabbed this one while I was over on the island to perform a show on NYE at the Prestige Oceanside resort. Posting a screenshot from GSAK(Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) of the day I completed this challenge with 70 points using 16 Different D/T combinations, from the list below.

On April 26/2019 on a trip to Whidbey Island I found 28 caches plus was able to log a challenge cache I had already signed in Las Vegas. The main reason for the trip was to find some specific caches. I was looking to do multiple Earthcaches to complete the Las Vegas challenge and I was also looking to do several older caches to fill my Jasmer chart. (Jasmer Challenge: One of the oldest and most popular geocaching challenges is the Jasmer Challenge. To complete the challenge, you must fill your Jasmer grid by finding caches placed in every month since geocaching began in May 2000. Popular in the United States, the Jasmer requires geocachers find one cache hidden each month since geocaching began in May 2000)

You can read about my day trip at one of my previous blogs at: "Road Trip to Whidbey Island"

Here is my list I found that day of 16 Different D/T caches:

GC1C6CY     Coupeville Erratic 1/1

GC3C3BX     The Bluffs of Whidbey 1/3

GCD6J6         Kittywillow 1/3.5

GCQ4EA       Flower Power 1.5/1

GC17VC9     Pulverizer-Not a NANO 1.5/1.5

GC3BTB0     Erratic Art 1.5/2

GC13DC       Ebby Bluffs 1.5/3

GC1E057      Deception Pass Earthcache 2/1

GC1A5K8    Gruman Ironworks 2/1.5

GCC5FB       Burrow Island Vista 2/2

GCSTAYW   I've Grown a Lichen to you 2/3

GC34Y23     Pet Rocks 2.5/1.5

GC4DB        Burrow Channel Cache 2.5/3

GCRJYC      I'd Turn Around if I were You 3/3

GC3JTVX    Independence 3.5/1.5

GC1QAAW  Earthcaches: Challenge of the Century 5/5

Also got a puzzle called "#1 Cross-Canada Cache: Pacific (BC)" I solved it several years back, and was gonna get it when over there for one of the H.A.G. Events, but when we arrived at the trail it was on, it was still early in the morning, very dark and pouring rain, plus I was anticipating many caches to start being published. You see we went to the area at about 430 in the morning to be ready for all the caches that would be published that day and I had a hunch there was going to be several in East Sooke park. My hunch was correct and I got 18 FTF's that day.(Feb. 6/21)

Besides finding the "Grid/Terrain Points Challenge cache" and "#1 Cross-Canada Cache" I also found 3 other puzzle caches, 2 of which were Bonus caches for some Adventure Labs, 2 Virtual caches, 4 Traditional caches, and a total of 24 stages from several different Adventure Labs. Not too bad for a quick overnight trip to the island. A total of 35 finds!!

PS: On the right hand side of this webpage is where you can find my YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, links. Please feel free to check them out and follow or subscribe!!!

Multi Caches have feelings also!!

Recently I have started looking at doing more Multi caches. Looking at my stats I have less Multi's than I do Traditional's, Puzzle caches, and Lab Caches. Even my Virtual count is closing in on the number of Multi's I have done, and there are less of them available.

I am working on one right now that looked interesting called "The Devil is in the Details"

It is a 4 1/2 Difficulty and 5 Terrain. It has four stages and each stage is a different kind of puzzle or challenge to complete. You need different TOTT's (Tool Of The Trade) for each stage. I have only completed the first stage so far as I went to the Co-ord's and scanned a QR code which brought me to a Jigidi puzzle(Online Jigsaw Puzzle) I had to come back home to do it on the computer.

It was 300 pieces, and it took me over an hour to complete it. It then gave me the co-ords for the next stage. Not sure what I will encounter next, but looking forward to it. Will update as I proceed.

NOTE: The highlighted or underlined words in my blog can be clicked on as they are links to other cool stuff!! Also if you click on any of the pictures they become BIGGER!!!

Got 3 FTF's so far this month, hope I can get some more soon. lol

Anyway that's it for January, Looking forward to February as I will be headed to Ferndale, Washington for a show and will make sure I grab a cache or two while down that way, although I have found most of the cache in the Ferndale and Blaine area, BUT...More about that Next Month......

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65