A traveling weekend


Nikolai and Abigail insisted on goofing off while I was trying to get a photo of them in between our night caching adventures in Park Rapids on Friday.

By Allan Olson
Another weekend has flown by, inching us one week closer to school, hunting season, and (of course) the cold, furnace-running weather. Naturally, I couldn’t spend it just sitting around doing nothing – that’s not really my style.
This past weekend it was time for my annual geocaching camping and caching event, this year held in the big city of Menahga. And it was held without me being there for the main festivities. Because we had another weekend wedding to attend, this time Up North. We did not bring kids, nor did we spend the night. Instead, we left home on Saturday morning, went to the wedding, socialized, and returned home about 12 hours later. The house survived, as did the kids – and we hardly heard from them the entire day! 
In fact, the only time we did hear from them was when we called to check on them, so that meant nobody was fighting and nobody was starving. We did make sure to address the starving part prior to our departure, as the wife and I whipped up a big meal of Sausage Alfredo and left it in the fridge for them to eat whenever they felt the need. It must have been a big enough batch, because there was even some left for a few people to eat the next day.
Since we were heading north, my wife was asked to deliver a dress and I wanted to get there in time to help my parents load up their stuff after the Farmers Market. Even after all our errands in town, the timing on our part was perfect. The dress customer met us at the location right on time, and my wife and I were able to help my dad get his benches and other stuff loaded into his truck so they could also get to the wedding on time.
The wedding was for my wife’s cousin. His family and mine have been friends for most of our lives, and while I wasn’t happy that the event conflicted with my geocaching weekend, there was no doubt that I needed to attend this big affair. Prior to the wedding, we took time to visit with my niece and her other half, along with their son. This time, he was in a better mood than when he usually comes to visit us, and didn’t cry when we were holding and interacting with him – so that was a bonus. We stuck around after the nice outdoor wedding at the family farm to enjoy the food and visit for a while before departing for home.
As for the geocaching weekend, while technically I got home in time to drive to the midnight flash mob being held in downtown Menahga, I chose not to go. That would have been just plain crazy. I was already tired, and didn’t want to put on another 90 miles that night. However, I did attend the Friday night campfire in the park there and was able to visit with some friends and met a few new people as well. After that the kids and I (Nikolai and Abigail) departed the event to try and find two new night caches that were published during the campfire event, plus two that were published the night prior.
The two of us arrived at the first night cache and I really thought it would take longer, but by the time Abigail had put her shoes back on and her jacket, Nikolai had already followed the reflective tacks to the final and signed the log book – noting that we were the first to find it. The second one took a little longer, but Nikolai and Abigail led the way and were already at the final before I caught up to them after I got held up taking a photo of a flower in the dark.
The next stop was in Park Rapids, where there were two more night caches to find. Just as we pulled up to that one, at least three other vehicles pulled in behind us. I was happy about that, because caching with a group is often more fun, and thankfully, this group was armed with a hint from the mistakes that the group from the night before had made, so we didn’t make those same mistakes. Nikolai was again the leader of the pack, and was at the final before the rest of us. On the way back he hid in the woods, hoping to scare someone, but got busted before that happened. We all proceeded to the next night cache, just east of Park Rapids on private property. After we completed that mission, the three of us headed for home while the rest of the crew headed back to the party in Menahga.
The time we spent with them was fun, but unfortunately it was also short. Hopefully next year I won’t have any schedule conflicts.
This coming weekend is currently not booked. We really need to get started on painting the boys’ room so we can get the rest of the basement put back together, but I also wouldn’t mind working on some of the new geocaches that were published for the event last weekend, so perhaps we just might be able to do a little of both… time will tell.

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.

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