A Family Weekend

A Family Weekend

—This cache, which was stashed in a cedar swamp near Virgin Lake, required a half-mile round trip walk to access, and after about 30 minutes of searching the youngest member of our family (Alivia) saved the day and came up with the find during our family geocaching outing on Saturday, September 17.

By Allan Olson

It’s been a long time since our entire family went out together geocaching, so when we went last Saturday it was possibly the first time since our vacation in June. And it almost didn’t happen.

Earlier in the week I had mentioned to my wife that it would be fun for all of us to get out geocaching this weekend, preferably on Saturday. In typical fashion, the week went by in a blur, with a slate full of things to keep me and the rest of the family busy. Friday night there was a home football game, and I spent the large portion of that outside in the fresh air and – of course – the rain. I made the mistake of not taking my allergy meds that evening, and the next morning I stayed in bed until after 8:30. Eventually I was forced out of bed by hunger, along with my back yelling at me to get up and my allergies flaring up. I took care of the hunger, the back (by moving) and took an allergy med. Two hours later, I was dragging from the allergy meds and ready for bed again. I had no obligations and the weather looked questionable, so back to bed I went. 

An hour later my wife woke me up. I said, “I’m sleeping, just leave me alone.” She was persistent (most women are) and a short time later was pushing me to get out of bed again. “I thought you wanted to go geocaching today,” she said. My mind was saying “Yes” but my eyes were saying “Sleep” and the last time I looked the weather was still questionable anyway.

I finally managed to drag myself out of bed, and found my wife playing a game with a couple of kids. I was just trying to be functional. We discussed the geocaching option some more, and I looked up a couple areas where I had some caches I wanted to find. After further discussion, we decided to just take the two younger ones along, since the oldest daughter had to finish dishes and homework, and the oldest son was content to do some reading. 

We set our course for Bemidji with plans to go west from there. However, before we got to town we had a change of heart. Regardless of the work needing to be done, we wanted to make it a family outing. We took care of our errands in town, picked up sandwich supplies for the road and a few other supplies for home. Then we headed for home again and informed the other two of our change of plans. We loaded the cooler in the vehicle and took off with four kids, two adults and one dog at 4 p.m., this time headed east.

Our first location made me happy I had 4WD and high clearance – a place called Sioux Lake in far northeastern Cass County, about 20 miles as the crow flies from home, but about twice that driving the backroads. The road in was a gravel/sand mix that was rutted and looked muddy. What concerned me even more was I wasn’t sure if there would be a spot to turn around. So about halfway down the steep grade to the lake I stopped, got out and walked about 20 feet. I determined that the ground was more solid than it appeared, and that there was indeed a spot to turn around. A few of us got out and did some searching, and I soon uncovered the hidden treasure in the woods.

During the next four hours we found seven more boxes of nothing hidden in the woods, contacting multi-million dollar satellites with nothing but our smart phones to act as a GPS device. We visited four lakes that we very likely would have never visited without our geocaching thirst, and enjoyed several hours of (not always peaceful) bliss in the vehicle and in the forests with our family. As for wildlife, we found no partridge/grouse, but did spot a few deer, several geese and discovered that the little community of Bowstring in NE Itasca County has an airport with a landing strip and lights, and learned that they will be having a fly-in this weekend and expect to have lots of planes coming in. 

We finally made it home after 9 p.m., tired but rewarded with a fun time with the family. Our trips aren’t always so enjoyable; it can sometimes be frustrating dealing with four normal kids who like to argue with each other, but in the end, I find the time spent with my family priceless.

I once again found myself sleeping late on Sunday. I finished a book, and got Abigail started on her math homework, which was not a fun task. Thankfully, her big brother stepped in to assist. We did some cleaning before my parents showed up for the evening. After a large meal of fried chicken, a few of us went outside to wear off some food by playing a game of lightning at the basketball hoop. In all it was a great weekend spent enjoying family.

This weekend we are scheduled to clean up ditches along Highway 71 on Saturday with our local geocaching group. I might also have a photography gig, so that and the weather will influence the rest of our weekend plans.

Please remember to watch out for the buses that are carrying our most precious cargo. Also snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.