Easter Weekend


Easter Weekend
By Allan Olson
Our weekend adventure this week included a road trip to International Falls and Baudette, along with a birthday party and Easter dinner and of course we managed a little geocaching in the mix as well.
Friday evening as we were preparing to head north the next morning I decided to check and see what geocaches we could find on our route and how much time we were going to have. I punched in the area that I was going through and started studying the map, by the time I was done I had two scenarios planned based on the amount of time we would have.
The first scenario – the one I favored would have us traveling backroads to International Falls – roads that I’ve never traveled on and haven’t had a reason to until geocaching. The second route was to just grab one or two along the normal route to I. Falls. The next morning I pitched the ideas to my wife, our plan was to leave by 1 p.m. in time for the 4 p.m. birthday party, she was fine with the alternate route so we worked on packing the rest of the vehicle making sure we had everything ready for the weekend and pushed our departure time back by 90 minutes. The flaw in plan was that since we were on the road before noon instead of after, I had to feed the kids. We solved that with a quick stop at Blackduck and set our course to Big Falls where we would begin our alternate route.
After a stop at Big Falls we targeted our first cache about 7 miles north of town, as we approached the area we discovered a gate across our path. I had really wanted to find this cache, it was last visited over two years ago and I wanted to go find it, unfortunately from the gate to the geocache it was nearly a full mile in one direction. We were willing to walk in but that one hike would’ve taken the entire extra time we had for playing around, so we passed it up and headed towards the next one.
In our alternate route we were able to find three other caches at remote boat landings along the Big Fork River and one additional one at the Grand Mound Interpretive Site along highway 11 west of I. Falls. The extra miles we put on and the time in the vehicle was worth it to discover new places.
We finally arrived at our first destination of the day in time for the party at the bowling alley for a soon to be great-nephew. We enjoyed visiting and talking with family and I even challenged my nephew and a niece to a game of bowling. The end result was my niece won and my opinion that I should stick with Wii Bowling – at least there I can bowl from the chair or couch if I desire and my score is significantly better.
With the party over we ventured west to Baudette, after a couple stops we made it to my parents place around 9 p.m. where we visited some and soon headed to bed. The next morning I had to hook up my mother’s new wireless printer and miraculously it cooperated with me and I was soon able to get it functional – now if only my printer at the office would cooperate with me. After breakfast, we attended church with my parents and then returned to their place for Easter lunch.
With lunch over it was time to hide the Easter baskets – we sent the kids downstairs, since I knew they would all cheat and peek out the windows, two of my brothers and I set forth in hiding the baskets around the property. Some of the hides were really tough and others were made tough by the poor seekers, but after about an hour of looking all the kids eventually found their basket of goodies provided by their grandparents.
We finally set course for home about 4 p.m. and after the kids finally got the vehicle cleaned out it was time to relax a little before the week begins.
This week we have no plans for any out of area geocaching expeditions and will probably stay close to home – unless I get a restless urge to do something and the weather is decent than who knows we just might take off for a few hours over the weekend.
Thanks to everyone for reading, and as always, please be safe while enjoying your favorite outdoor recreational activity and on the lakes, and remember to take pictures to preserve a lifetime of memories.
Remember to drive safely, and watch out for those buses carrying our children. 

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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Hunting Season to Remember

Image
A Hunting Season to Remember By Allan Olson The orange clad army headed into the woods this past weekend in search of the mighty white tail to attempt to fill the freezer with some tasty venison and I was no exception to this party. I too was clad in orange and out on the mighty hunt. Every year there are new stories to tell, old ones to bring up and memories made, some deer seasons for me, after over 20 years of hunting have faded into the background, one year blurring with another, not remembering which year I shot what deer or if I shot a deer. Of course there are a few years  stand out more than others and some are just a blur altogether. However, I find it hard to believe that anything will top this year’s remarkable deer season. This year, I had the honor of bringing Nikolai with me. Not just to sit in the stand, but to actually hunt, he was going to have the ability of harvesting a deer also. Recently he completed his gun safety certification and he wa...
Read more
Image
Thank you for being our friend Frey Olson May 19, 2018 - April 26, 2024 By Allan Olson 4.26.24 Thank you for being our friend, thank you for making us your forever home, if we could’ve saved you, we would’ve. Losing our four legged friends is never easy, in our house they aren’t “just a pet” they are our family. Frey, our nearly six year old English Mastiff came into our lives in August of 2018 and crossed over the rainbow bridge to be with others before him on April 26, 2024. Frey was our gentle giant, he was our protector, our laughter and most importantly I think it’s more than safe to say, he was Alivia’s best friend. Have you ever seen a teenager and a Mastiff sharing a twin size bed - or perhaps more aptly put the teenager getting what’s left of the bed when he’s in it. Or perhaps a giant of a dog, staring at her from the doorway of the bedroom saying, “it’s bedtime,” while she’s playing a game or watching something.  He was taught to react to “who’s here” or the alert of the...
Read more

Thankful for Family

Thankful For Family By Allan Olson published 11-24-10 Cass Lake Times Eat until I can’t eat anymore is the plan for me this Thursday. This is likely the case for many others as well. The food that will be prepared is just one of many things to be thankful for this week. I can honestly say I’m thankful for a lot of things in my life. I’m especially thankful for my beautiful little family. Do I always feel overwhelmed with joy while dealing with the everyday tasks of working and raising four children? I would be lying if I said yes. My children are great kids. They are great at making me smile with their questions and antics. However, they are also great at driving me up a wall. Asking them to help clean a room sometimes and it’s like you put them in a torture chamber by daring to ask for a little help cleaning up the mess they made. Other times they are willing, eager partners ready to help with whatever task you need them to. Of course, there are also those times when ...
Read more