Cool Stats and Statues

 Statues of Interest

A recent "BLOG" from groundspeak caught my eye as it talked about some cool statues, that have caches nearby. One of the statues they showcased was called "Cloud Gate aka The Bean"

It is a virtual cache in Chicago. I was there back in November 2014, and went to visit it of course.

Cloud Gate(The Bean in Chicago)

 It is lovingly known as the Bean in Chicago and is one of the main attractions at Millennium Park. It's a monumental public sculpture by Anish Kapoor which weighs in at 110 tons. (WOW!!!) 

Named Cloud Gate by the artist, it's a seamless stainless steel sculpture is designed to reflect the Chicago skyline, the new park and everything around it. You can check out my original Blog and story on this cool statue by clicking the link here: "The BEAN"

The "Bean" and I

Reading the geocaching blog got me thinking about other statues that I have visited and found a cache nearby. Most of the time I go there for the cache and it is the reason I get to see the cool statue, or else I would not have seen it. That is the only reason I visited "The Bean" when I went to Chicago on Business. I would not have even known it was there otherwise, and neither would the 3 other guys that were with me. (They thought it was very cool)

Here are some lesser known cool statues I have seen while caching

           Sasquatch on the move

                                                                        Giant Octopus Carving

Canadian Penny

             Gassy Jack 

That's Oliver (My 8 yr old) standing between the legs of this Tin Soldier.

This is a Tree statue, but it is actually a cell tower in Las Vegas

A statue of Siegfried and Roy (Very famous Vegas Magicians) with a virtual cache at it. Sadly the Virtual was archived some time back, I even contacted Groundspeak and asked if I could adopt it. Unfortunately I was not allowed. Since that time, just recently Roy passed away due to Covid-19. He will be missed by many!!!

This is a large letter "W" made out of Sea cans on the pier in New Westminster, BC. Sadly just recently (Sept. 13) there was a large fire on the pier, which burnt up the whole pier. It burned for over a week. These were removed and taken across the river. 

This one was really cool, not so much a statue but an airplane on top of a pole that acts as a weathervane. It is at the airport in Whitehorse, Yukon.

This shot was taken from the same spot as the above picture, to show the movement. It only takes a 5 knot (9.1km/h) wind to move it. I was there in the summer of 2012, and was surprised it was not a Virtual cache, but there was a cache nearby. 

The Great One....and Wayne Gretzky

Seattle Troll

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!!!

Stats and stuff

So in case you have not noticed by now, I enjoy seeing stats about my caching experiences. Here are some basic stats about caches and the distances from where I am.

Oldest caches I have found

I would love to find some more Old Caches, and will plan a trip someday. 

Need them to fill my Fizzy chart.

Favorite caches

Theses are not my Favorite cache choices, but they are caches with the most

favorite points that I have found so far.

Some cool stats on caches that I own

Some other facts that don't show up on stat pages:

I have to this date found 404 First to Finds(FTF) meaning I was the first to find the cache after it was published. Groundspeak does not recognize FTF's but cachers do!!

"Other Important stats about my caching"

**Most FTF's in one Day Feb.23/12 "13 FTF's"

**Most finds in one Day May 21/11 "200 caches" Lake Cowichan to Port Alberni (71 was previous record)

**Most Icons in one Day April 21/13 and April 15/18 I found 7 different icons on both those days

**I was Groundspeaks "Geocacher of the Month" Feb. 2012 (Nominated twice, Oct./11 and Jan/12)

**Longest caching streak was Jan.1st/13 to Feb. 4th/14 (400 days)

**I was the B.C.G.A. Vice President 2011-2014

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!!!

Steveston Greenways

Had a day off work, so Sansue and I went to Steveston area for a few caches. We did several caches along the Greenway.

It was a nice level walk with awesome paths, and some great views on the waterway. I got 6 caches and she found 2 others that I had already found. She planned an adventure lab while there for the Greenway.

This shows the skeletal structure of a boat while also simulating a backbone of a salmon

We also passed thru a cool dog off leash park with 14 painted steel dog sculptures that range in size, pose, and color.

AbbyPD Caching

 Oliver and I went to 3 of the six caches on our way thru to Kelowna during the Canada Day weekend. They were all supposed to have some cool AbbyPD coins in them. We wanted to get all six. We did not find any, so after 3 caches, we headed back to the highway and off to Kelowna. A post was made on the BCGA Facebook page about the caches that the AbbyPD placed out for summer. I made a comment about not finding any, and AbbyPD contacted me for my address. They then sent me 2 sets (One for Oliver and one for Me) plus all the  you swag see in this picture. That was so awesome of them to do that!!! Thanx again AbbyPD!!!

Port Royal Caching

Susan, Oliver and I went out to grab some caches on a sunny Sunday afternoon. I got only 6 of the 9 we visited, as we did not find 1, and the other 2 I had already found a few years back. 

Cool Mosaic tiles

Cute sign on this fence.

Magic and Mystery cache

I set up a cache near my home a few months back. It got a fair bit of hits when it first was published, but has since diminished. A good reason for this, is it's a Puzzle cache, and on average Puzzle caches don't see as many people visiting as a Traditional cache. The sad part, is because of the nature of my cache, it has to be listed as a puzzle, as the coordinates are not just given, but, the cacher has to watch a video to receive the location. So far it has been found only 19 times and has 12 favorites on it. Would love more people to visit it. (hint, hint)

Gold Country

Sansue and I are planning to do some Gold Country caches. The trip will take us through Hope(we just cached there a few weeks back, and I talked about that in my last blog) We will head North of Hope, up through Lytton, Lillooet, and up as far as Clinton. Then we will come back down through Cache Creek, Ashcroft, Logan Lake, Merritt, and then back to Vancouver. I already have 91 caches loaded, but I have already found 39 of them. But because a lot of them are the Gold Country caches, we will be grabbing them for Sansue.

Well that's it for this month,

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65