Frickin' State Historic Markers and Burger Chefs and ....

Are you noticing a theme here? Although I was able to grab several categories that are next to impossible to find on the West Coast while on vacation in D.C. I was very frustrated by some of the waymarks that I was trying to find. I mean, do I really want to look for a Dunkin' Donuts while on vacation? I think not.

Of course, I've already bitched about my Toynbee tiles experience, but the State Historic Marker categories were almost as bad. Although I find the markers interesting, I really have no desire to hunt them down. I'm more interested in seeing historic places, not signs about them. Anyhow - I figured that I could take care of the Maryland, Virginia and Delaware categories on this trip and the Virginia one was quite easy. You can't spit in Virginia without hitting a historic marker. But in Maryland we had problems. The signs weren't as prolific and someone had gone through and posted the majority of them. I ended up having to settle with just a visit to a sign that I knew had been waymarked.


In Delaware I staked out a very cool sign that I saw located next to a lighthouse that I wanted to waymark. No one had posted it so I felt safe just having the one waymark to post for that category. I mean, how many waymarkers are going to be in Lewes, Delaware? At least one other it seems. Today when I went to post my waymark I learned that in the interim between when I originally checked the category and today someone else posted it. So for Delaware I ended up with just a visit as well in the SHM category. I would have waymarked backup markers if I had seen any, but there weren't that many markers in this tiny little state.


Other frustrations: checking out 3 different supposed Burger Chef locations to find all of the buildings demolished; checking 3 different Lustron home locations before finally finding one that hadn't been demolished; almost losing my tollhouse waymark; not taking the correct photos and therefore losing my Civil Defense Shelter sign waymark. There were many more, but now I'm just boring you.


My outlook on waymarking has definitely changed. In the past I might have dragged my family around looking for those blasted historic markers, but there's no way in hell I'm going to spend my well deserved vacation waymarking signs when there are endless 17th century buildings, and world class sculpture and incredible architecture to be seen. Although I'm still a grid hound, I'm not so compulsive about it and it has definitely made waymarking more fun for all involved.


The photo above is of the historic Chesapeake & Ohio canal and lock 19, one of 74 along the 185 mile canal. And yes, it was already waymarked along with most of the other remaining locks along the canal. :o/

Playing Catch Up

I promised I'd post about our awesome camping trip, but life got ahead of me and I've been trying to catch up all week. Each day I promised myself I'd get around to posting in my 2 blogs, but was unsuccessful. Heck, I haven't even finished editing my photos from the camping trip, let alone posting a few waymarks. Right now I'm trying not to think of the backlog or I'll get overwhelmed.

A waymarker and I were exchanging a bit of brief e-chat this week and she was talking about how she wasn't waymarking as much because she gets overwhelmed by the steady stream of new categories and can't keep track of them all. She had this awesome idea - a monthly Groundspeak LoBot with links to all of the new categories that have been approved within that month. When a bunch of new categories come through it can be easy to miss a few and this doesn't seem like it would be too tough of a solution. All the new waymarks in an area would be overwhelming, but new categories would be really helpful. Just a thought.

Okay, time's up and I have to get back to my crazy, hectic life. Just thought I'd check in and throw out the above idea. Hopefully I'll get the Whidbey Island photos edited this weekend and will get a chance to at least get them on Flickr, and maybe even get a few waymarks posted.