Easter Weekend

Marcus found this geocache tucked in between the rocks on Friday afternoon on the Paul Bunyan trail. It was a fun but tiring outing for the kids and I as we managed to log 20 geocaches for the afternoon entertainment. It was a great way to get out and enjoy some fresh air after a long winter. Photo by Allan Olson.



Easter Weekend
By Allan Olson
Once again we were spoiled by some pretty decent temperatures and a chance to play in the great outdoors. With the kids off of school on Friday and mom heading out of town with a friend I made a short day of work on Friday so I could play and of course someone had to watch the kids since they tell us we can’t leave them at home.
So Friday afternoon about 1 p.m. we finally hit the geocaching trail it was four kids and dad – there was no telling how long we could’ve been out there if I hadn’t controlled my impulse and they knew it. So they asked how many I wanted to find, I told them more than 10 but I had 16 on my list. They were okay with that number – well except Marcus who wanted to find more than that but I knew that I was pushing my luck if I wanted much more.
So we ventured out with stuff ready to make sandwiches in the cooler, water and snacks. Our destination the Paul Bunyan Trail south of Bemidji near Nary – the goal was 16 but I would’ve settled for 10. It’s always interesting when you are out on the trail especially with girls since bathrooms aren’t readily accessible. With Nikolai’s new GPS for geocaching and my smartphone app(s) we set forth to make some finds. The first one took a little more searching than I expected – probably we were just rusty from the long winter but we made the find and soon it was on the run for more. The kids of course always wanted to eat something so I had to set a time when we would eat more than a snack and they wouldn’t let me go past that set time either.
At one time we tried to have a competition – the girls and I drove down the road and we would each get one geocache and race for the second one and the first one to find it wins. So the girls and I headed out and the distance from the vehicle to the cache was about 400 feet and I quickly spotted the cache and we headed towards the boys. They also found their first cache quickly and raced to meet us – except in their rush they breezed past the second one which made me confused thinking perhaps that I grabbed the wrong one first. After some review I sent them back to the one they bypassed and the girls and I backtracked  to grab a couple more and then we would meet them if they weren’t back. This is the first time Nikolai has had is GPS and the first time we separated without their being an adult on both teams. I was a little apprehensive so I was glad it didn’t take us long to make our two finds and head back to meet them. They were having problems locating it and after some review of the previous logs discovered that it was a difficult one to find but I was able to locate the cache after some searching.
We drove a little further down the road to find a few more caches before calling it a day after locating 20 caches – four more than I thought we would get. We headed home through Bemidji since it was slightly closer than going through Cass Lake and I tried to stop for “just one more” but Marcus and I were outvoted 3-2 so we went on our way.
My wife on her road trip logged four caches with a friend so we found 24 total.
On Saturday –my wife and her friend worked on building some rabbit cages while I worked on demolishing the old ones in the garage and hauling them out to be burned with my trusty riding lawn mower (anyone want to donate a good 4-wheeler I will take it). Once the cages were built we discovered a trip to Clem’s was in order to hang the cages with some chain. After we got back home I dragged the driveway with my trusty mower for the second time this year and soon it was time to hang the cages.
Once that was done, we let the kids decorate eggs and helped decorate cupcakes for the Easter feast.
On Sunday – I started the early morning off by finding another newly published geocache, making the find at 6:28 a.m. before we headed on the road to the family Easter dinner in Baudette.  We attended church with my parents, enjoyed dinner played on the ATV in the woods and the fields before heading for home just after 5 p.m. The ride home was quiet as everyone but the driver got to sleep – unfortunately for me I was the driver.
Plans for this weekend are still being discussed – but quite likely geocaching will be involved somewhere.

Please be safe while fishing this season, and remember to take pictures to preserve a lifetime of memories. Also, please watch out for the buses that are transporting our children, and remember to drive safely. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com.

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