Proud Waymarking Moments

Have you ever posted a waymark that you're especially proud of? Maybe one in a category that's really difficult to find, like shot towers? Or, best of all, a waymark that is an incredible find for a specific category? For me, these are the moments that get me addicted to waymarking.

It's never been about the numbers or the bingos for me, but instead about these WOW moments during the hunt. Of course, don't get me wrong, I love watching my waymark total grow and it would be great to have a bingo, however, what I love most is finding a great waymark. Sometimes I happen on them by surprise while I'm out looking for another waymark, or sometimes I stumble upon info on the internet, but either way it's pretty cool.

Over the last few weeks I've been having these moments fairly regularly. Vacation can do that for a waymarker because so many of the waymarks are happy surprises in areas that are unknown to us. I was over-the-top excited to be able to waymark not just a Miro and a Chagall, but also a Picasso in my pet category, Abstract Public Sculptures. I love posting any cool art that I stumble upon in this category, but to get to post several famous pieces was pretty exciting. They're just such great editions to the category.

Penny Smashers is a category that is fun, but I hate standing in a gift shop and photographing a machine. It makes me feel like the weird tourist who photographs everything. We smashed over 20 pennies on this trip but only waymarked a few smashers. My favorite was one at Fort Hays, the movie set to "Dances with Wolves" because of how unique it was. They had an old Black Hills Gold gold press and when you paid the guy your money, he would use tweezers and at just the right time guide the penny into the press. It was really cool and I loved posting such a unique waymark to the category.

We also posted a waymark in one of the more difficult categories, Literary Sites. Of course with Sandburg, Dreiser and Sinclair writing in Chicago, there are plenty of sites to be found. Our waymark is of the historic Stockyard Gates in south Chicago for the book "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair. I found an amazing passage about the workers waiting for jobs at the gates and used that as the inspiration for the post. For some reason I am always excited to post in categories like this one, the Immortalized in Lyrics category, or the Ansel Adams Photo Hunt. It's so cool to find the spots that inspired these artists. Hey that gives me an idea! We have a category for locations inspiring literature, music and photography. What about one for visual arts? Locations that can be seen in famous works of art. It could be linked to an art database. Okay, now I'm rambling.

So, I'd love to hear your comments on this and learn about some of the waymarks that you're most proud of and why. Happy waymarking!

Oh - the photo above is of the sculpture "Flamingo" by Alexander Calder and was another famous sculpture I was excited to waymark. I've also waymarked his "Eagle" which is located in Seattle.

Mom's Day Waymarking

For Mother's Day this year I asked for a morning in Seattle at the Olympic Sculpture Park and then a quick stop at the Seattle Public Library to visit Rose Red's waymark there.

What a glorious day of waymarking. Troy and Hunter actually enjoyed the sculpture park (I was a bit worried) and we spent over an hour wandering the park from top to bottom. The only disappointment was missing the pavilion, because it didn't open until 11 a.m. Oh well, that leaves a few sculptures for someone else to waymark.

It's a magical place. Truly amazing and photographs can't do it justice. One of the greatest accomplishments of the designers is the vistas and perspectives that are created as the park steps down the hillside to the waterfront. Sculptures can be enjoyed up close, from a distance with the water as a backdrop or on the other side, from a distance with the city as a backdrop. The photo at left is a close-up of "Seattle Cloud Cover" looking through the piece to the Space Needle and city beyond.

Troy's favorite was the sculpture "Love & Loss". It's much more interesting in person than can be displayed in a photo. The piece uses 2 benches, a table and chairs, a reflecting pool, and a tree to form the words "love" and "loss" with both words intersecting at the letter "o", which is a reflecting pool. Spinning above the words is a red, neon ampersand.

Other stops included Henry Moore's, "Vertebrae" and the Rem Koolhaas building for the Seattle Public Library.

Above you see the neon ampersand from "Love & Loss", and Calder's "Eagle" framing the Space Needle.

Above is Richard Serra's "Wake" and Henry Moore's "Vertebrae".

So even though I spent Saturday tearing my hair out while writing code for a Website, Sunday was a beautiful day full of world class art and REALLY good coffee and muffins at Macrina's. (I can't believe there isn't an independent bakery category yet. Someone needs to get on that so I have an excuse to go back to Macrina's for another orange-hazelnut twist and some of their delicious coffee.)