Labor Day Weekend

By Allan Olson

It was, by all accounts, a busy Labor Day weekend. It started on Friday morning – I didn’t take Friday off, but I did enjoy a leisurely Friday morning (well, sort of).

So here’s the story of my Friday, August 30. I’ve had my eye on this geocache for about a year now, but I never got up the nerve to try it – mostly because it was going to be a mile walk (at least that’s what I figured) and then wading through chilly waters to an island just to retrieve a geocache. The last person to find it was over a year ago, and I met him at a recent geocaching party I attended with the children.

I made up my mind on Thursday afternoon that on Friday I was going to go after that cache, and I wasn’t going to make up any excuses – I was going to do it. I decided that evening I would invite the neighbor’s oldest boy to go with, but due to the short notice he wasn’t able to (he had other plans). It was just going to be Nikolai and myself.

Since I wasn’t really sure what I was getting myself into on this mile hike, I made sure I was prepared. I packed my backpack with a towel and a change of clothing (for after swimming), along with water and a snack. We arrived at what I thought was our starting point at a little after 9 a.m. – the North Twin boat landing, for geocache North Twin: Hike, Bike or Boat. When I arrived I couldn’t find the trail. Perhaps it was just that overgrown, since the cache was hidden a few years ago. And perhaps I should mention that navigation is not my strong suit. We started out, going further and further into the woods, but not really getting much closer to the cache. Finally, at just over a 1,000 feet from where I parked, I gave up. I told Nikolai that we were going back to the truck to seek some help. Thankfully I had picked a waypoint showing the direction of my vehicle, or I could’ve been like Moses wandering lost in the desert for 40 years. Once we got back to the vehicle, I used the “phone a friend” option for the last person who had found it. He pointed us in the right direction, which was a bumpy but relatively easy ride to the "real" starting point, and the trail was right there. Nikolai changed into his swimming gear and I grabbed the bag, the camera and tripod, and off we went. It turned out to be a nice short walk – about 600 feet – to the point where we needed to cross to the island.

We started toward the island; I started off from the point and Nikolai to the side. When I was almost to the island, he called out that he lost his sandal. I didn’t care, I was getting to the island. I made it and sat down. He was clearly unhappy about that. After sitting on the island watching him try to find his sandal and seeing him getting more upset by the minute, I started back to help in the search. He found it before I got to him, but just before he reached the island he lost his sandal again. I went to help him right away this time, but to no avail – the sandal was swallowed by the muck and gone forever. All we were doing was grabbing clumps of muck – no sandal. We abandoned that search, got to the island and started our search for the cache. The coordinates took me down to the point of the island. There was a birdhouse hanging on a tree leaning over the water, so I peeked in – not it. We looked around a root cluster – not it, and all around the area where we figured it was supposed to be. Frustrated, I used the phone a friend option again, and while his memory was uncertain, he gave me two good ideas. I was pretty sure I spotted the container, but I had to cross a deadfall to get to it, and it was easier and faster for Nikolai to crawl under the tree and back to the cache. I was still on the phone when Nikolai made the find – it was right in open sight on an island that is probably seldom, if ever, used. In all, that was a fun cache, despite the fact that we walked a long way that we didn’t need to. 

On the way back, we took a dip in the lake, which was a very nice temperature with a great bottom and depth. It could very well be a new swimming hole for us, sort of like our very own secret getaway, except for the fact that there is a rough-in campsite at the location and so obviously other people use it, too.

On Saturday morning, we were going to head north for a birthday party and a baptism on Sunday. We left at about 10 a.m. and got a few miles down the road when I asked Nikolai where the lifejackets were for swimming. He had gotten them ready when I was at work the previous evening, but never put them in the van. We turned around and then mom and I decided that since we were just going to be overnight, Bob (the dog) could just stay home. I got out and let Bob out, went into the house to move his food and water outside. When I looked back toward the vehicle I could see that Bob had jumped back in the van and burrowed himself in, as if to say,  “If you’re leaving, so am I!” Obviously he has figured out the difference between us leaving for a day of work/geocaching and leaving for an overnight trip. So we decided to let him come along, and dropped him at my wife’s childhood home a few miles from the birthday party to play with the other dogs.

We got to the birthday party just in time for the food – it was perfect timing, with burgers, brats and hotdogs on the grill. My niece had to go back home to get her swimming gear, because I wasn’t going in the water without someone who was actually good at swimming, especially not with eight children, all age 10 and under. Once we finally got down to the river, I was amazed at how much the water level had dropped in the last month and half. I waited and watched and helped kids before I finally decided I had better jump in before the storm that was heading our way finally arrived. Once I hit the water, it really felt good. I jumped in several more times before I called it quits, just as the rain showers moved in and the lightning moved closer. The children wanted more time in the water, but Mother Nature said “No more!” I ordered them all out of the water and we headed back to the barn. We visited longer and ate more, and enjoyed some cupcakes before heading over to my folks for what was left of the evening.

On Sunday morning we went to church, found a geocache and hid a geocache all by 11:30, and were back on the road for home. Once we reached home and got the vehicle unloaded, it was nap time (for dad, that is). The majority of the evening we lazed around and watched some television. I was asleep long before 10 p.m.

The next morning was a holiday, a day to spend on the beach or geocaching or something fun. Mostly it was spent cleaning the garage. The girls and I did go find one geocache near our house that was published that morning, but that was it for the day. I spent about five hours cleaning out a growing mess in our garage that was overtaking the building. After purging, condensing, rearranging and some mild demolition, I now have a full trailer to take to the dump. It’s amazing how fast things can accumulate – but the garage is clean.

Summer is officially over here, with the kids returning to school; we are hoping for another fun and exciting school year, filled with growth in academia for our children. Okay – we hope they learn something, make some more friends, and don’t get in trouble.

Please be safe on the lakes – wear your life jacket, keep the kids safe, and remember to take a picture to preserve a lifetime of memories. School is starting, so please watch out for the buses that are transporting our children.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week! For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com