Vacation Countdown

So we are trying to prepare for a vacation/waymarking adventure and it feels like we are not ready for it. There's so much to do at home that I haven't had time to do much scouting out of waymarks, which is a shame because I know there are several categories that I can get in D.C. or Virginia that aren't available here on the West Coast. I'll have to do what I can and not stress about it. We'll find the waymarks we can and just have to head back east at some point on another vacation to conquer the categories we've missed.

We ordered a gps navigation system for the trip that has a big database of pre-loaded POI's and it should be arriving in the next day or two. When Team Mindawg was here we played around with theirs and loved it so we decided it was hightime for updating our gps. The current one is a Magellan, several years old with a failing keypad and that doesn't sync with our current computer. Truly a pain in the ass, but not broken enough for me to justify throwing out. We'll still use it as a back up, especially for hiking, but the new Garmn will be our primary system now. It's a base model Nuvi - simple, basic, pretty much all we need and for a couple hundred bucks, well worth the money. It seems very user friendly, but I'll need to make sure I completely understand its ins and outs before we head for D.C. because I wouldn't want to miss any waymarks because I couldn't figure out my gps. Ah, one more thing for the "to do" list.

If I make it onto the plane with my sanity next week it will truly be a miracle.

The After-Vacation Mess

We returned from our trip on Monday and I've been busy unpacking, shopping for groceries, and all the other chores that need to get done after a vacation. In fact, I could you a vacation from the chores of vacation. This mess is worth it, though. We had an incredible time and saw a lot of the country that we'd never seen before. Already we're talking about where we'll go next year and it will likely be a road trip from Washington, D.C. down to Atlanta, Georgia. For now I need to concentrate on catching up and logging all of the waymarks from this trip.

Yesterday I posted about nearly 50 waymarks, half of them in the neon category. I'll post some more today but I really need to concentrate on updating the Wayward site features and tools. My biggest heartache was finding out that the Overland Stagecoach station that I waymarked won't fit in the Butterfield Overland Stage Markers location. It's a cool restored station and barn in Wyoming, and I can waymark it in a couple other categories, however, I really wanted that Butterfield Stage icon. Oh well, maybe on the next trip to the in-laws I'll find one.


The photo in this post is taken from my Rapid City Laundry waymark in South Dakota. It was one of the first neon signs that we came across and got all of us so hooked on the neon category that we stopped in a ton of little towns we never would have pulled off the interstate for, just to check their downtowns for neon. This is an action sign and the laundress moves up and down, scrubbing her laundry in the tub.

Road Trip: Evanston, WY to Devil's Tower

We had a long, hot day on the road and reached our campsite at the entrance to Devil's Tower National Monument with a rain storm chasing us down. The tent was up in record time and we went to the pool for a swim in the rain. Like any good Washingtonians we didn't let rain spoil our fun. The view from our tent looks out over the tower to one side and the red cliffs above the Belle Fourche River about 50 feet to the other side. Amazing! Tomorrow we'll hike the monument early in the morning and then head over into South Dakota. The photo for this post was taken from our campsite looking at the cliffs above the Belle Fourche. We'll be in Custer State Park at Sylvan Lake for the next two days so no wifi until the day after that. Waymarked some incredible stuff today. Can't wait to post the waymarks, but we're too busy having fun. I'll have time to post a few when I'm back at my in-laws in a week and a half. Happy Waymarking!

Way-Vacation Countdown: 1 day

We've reached that final, exciting day before the road trip. I likely won't be able to post for a couple of days because we'll be busy in Evanston, Wyoming shopping for supplies and packing up all of the gear that we sent ahead for the road. We'll probably have internet at Devil's Tower, so I'll try to post to the blog from there.

The toughest part of this trip will be leaving our dog Frodo for 2 weeks. I swear, I wasn't even this bad when my son was a baby. It's ridiculous. Shuttle Express picks us up to take us to Sea-Tac Airport at 4:45 am (I know, it's painful) so we'll be taking him to a friend's house tonight at 7. The hardest part will be leaving her house, because he'll give me that hang-dog look that's so pathetic and then give a little whimper. He works that look - uses it daily at the dog park as he makes the rounds trying to get treats from everyone.

I find though that waymarking is not as dog-friendly of a hobby as geocaching is. Most dogs don't like crowds and urban areas and there's a lot more of that in waymarking. With geocaching (at least the caches we like to find) dogs get to run through the woods and play with wild abandon. So, as much as I would like to bring Frodo along, I couldn't subject him to a plane ride and all the hours in cars and cities. He'll be much happier running around with my friend's dogs and getting to see his pals at the dog park a few times. In fact I'll probably go to pick him up when we get back and he'll look at me like, "do I know you from somewhere?"

Bye for now. Next time I write it will likely be from someplace in cowboy-land.

Way-Vacation Countdown: 3 days

Our son has always enjoyed the yearly vacations and bi-weekly camping trips we take over the summer, although at 13 we are testing the limits of how much he'll put up with. Last weekend he went waymarking with us to Point Defiance Park in Tacoma and after about 30 minutes wandering a rose garden and a Japanese garden, you would have thought he had been enduring Chinese water torture for a couple of days. Of course, he wanted to get back home to a new computer game. My hope is the combo of new books to read, his Nintendo DS, and the cash he'll likely get from his grandma and grandpa in Wyoming will be enough to keep him in good humor. Plus, I suppose when you're 2,000 miles from home it's not like complaining is going to get you anywhere fast.

To keep him happy (and therefore keep us happy) he gets to earn itunes credit along the way for good behavior, and we've bought a bunch of his favorite magazines and fun little gadgets and treats to dole out in the middle of the long driving days. He's actually a really great traveller and has been since he was an infant, but he doesn't handle heat well and that will be the problem. We also have a bunch of geocaches planned at rest stops along the way and 3 small squirt guns for water fights when we stop.

I suppose the real problem will be if he reads the blog and sees this post. Then I'll be in trouble. :) The picture in this post is from our most ambitious trip which took place about 4 years ago. All three of us backpacked the Lost Coast of California. We drove out into the middle of nowhere and then hiked about 30 miles along the pristine coast. We saw sea lions, and a herd of elk sunning themselves on the beach. Sea otters would pop up out beyond the surf and watch us playing on the beach. We didn't see a single soul the entire time we were on the trail. Amazing. Here Hunter is playing with a kite we packed along on one of the beaches we camped on. He did a great job as that's a grueling trail and most adults have trouble with it. I know that there's no way he'd tolerate it now.

Way-Vacation Countdown: 4 days

Only 4 days now until we hop on a plane to Salt Lake City, and then in a car to Wyoming. We've been planning the trip for a year now, so it's pretty exciting to be getting so close. I love this time before the trip. Everyone's so excited, things are getting packed, last minute chores getting done (unless of course you spend your time blogging).

We've sent two large boxes containing our backpacking gear to Troy's parents in advance of the trip. This weekend we packed up the rest of it and I was horrified at the amount of clothes that Troy wanted to bring. I told him he packed like a girl, which wasn't taken well. In the picture you see three suitcases. The two small ones standing against the wall are Hunter's and mine. The large one on the floor that Frodo is sniffing questioningly is Troy's - and that's after I had him put back about a third of his clothes. God, it's not like they don't have laundromats in the midwest. It won't kill us to do laundry once on the trip. He needs city wear, hiking clothes, running clothes, 20th class reunion clothes, and driving clothes...

He suggested we take a 4th suitcase, but I put the brakes on that. It will be bad enough dragging 3 suitcases, a laptop and various carry-ons through the airport.

Well, I'd better get moving and get a few of those errands done that I was talking about. I'll be back tomorrow to talk about way-vacationing with a 13 year old.

The Way-Vacation

We're getting ready for our road trip through the Midwest and I find it hilarious the level of planning that I'm putting into the waymarking aspect of the vacation. As many of you know, along with my special favorite categories, I like to fill up that waymarking grid, and so there's a certain desperation to make sure that I get those location specific categories taken care of. Along with 9 new state historic marker categories, we'll be able to waymark all three highway categories (Lincoln, Rte 66, and Dixie), the Pony Express and Butterfield Stage markers, the "Marry Me" category, and many, many more. I mean, we're talking the possibility of 30 or more new category icons on my grid! As with many of my beloved waymarking pals out there, I tend toward the compulsive side, and so I'm having to put a check on my urge to waymark my way across the middle of the country.


I have created a vacation spreadsheet like you will not believe - a sheet for the schedule, another for lodging, and another for activities. There's the highway geocache sheet and then there's the waymarking spreadsheet with a page for each state we'll be traveling in and the waymarks that I'd like to hit in each of those states. Waymarks for categories that can only be found in a particular state or region are highlighted. I know, it's sad isn't it. Luckily once I get on the road I loosen up and am actually fairly laid back when things don't go according to plan. My way is to plan things as thoroughly as possible, and then kick back and enjoy the surprises that get thrown at us.

We'll be hitting Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, a short 1/2 day in Indiana, and Nebraska. As you've just read, our time is a little over scheduled :) but if any of you lie along our path we'd love to meet you - and to have you sign our waymarking sticker seeker book. It would be nice to finally have someone log a visit to our sticker seeker waymark! (and vice versa.)

So - 23 days and counting until we embark on this summer's adventure! We should have internet access at least every other day, so we'll try to post to the blog about our adventures as we go.

Oh - by the way, the picture above is of the Gemini Giant in Illinois - one of the coolest muffler men ever. I have shamelessly snagged the photo from waymarkers Special Ed and FallenFaery who have waymarked him in the roadside attraction and rte. 66 categories (pssst - the muffler man waymark is still there for the taking.)

Happy waymarking!