afk for a bit, brb
May 26, 2018
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We went to our third GeoWoodstock in Cincinnati, OH. There were over 5,000 attendees for the single-day event. This was the event sign, and as usual, the "logbook."
We signed one of the Os.
No good reason for the O choice, other than it was the least crowded letter. Apparently people like capital letters, and the ends of words. Or maybe they assigned a coolness value based on Scrabble letter points. We didn't care. We were happy with our little 1-point 'o.'
I followed the Dragon Way.
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Turns out, it led to a Big Boy. Apparently they still exist.
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We had to stop in for a bite. We have no regrets, but then again, I'm fine with not having any of them around home.
We saw this awesome transport the night before the event in a parking garage.
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I received my normal wifey eye-rolls as I took pics around this amazing exhibit.
We often find geocaches in cemeteries. We like to explore the old ones. This one we found while traveling to another geocache, and noticed several people there. It's not uncommon during these events to see a pile of people looking at GPS units and realizing: "Yup. There's a cache there."
The left photo is an excellent restoration. Many stones were being worked on in this still-active cemetery.
Francis McCormick, on the right, was the founder of Methodism in the Northwest Territory in the late 1700's and early 1800's.
The church also had the witty signboard reminding you that 'hell is un-cool."
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We found this unique little hide shortly after the event.
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This geocache was hidden by some folks from the Netherlands. It was surprisingly well done, dry, and fun to find.
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We found this unique little hide shortly after the event.
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This geocache was hidden by some folks from the Netherlands. It was surprisingly well done, dry, and fun to find.
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These are often geocaches that we have a hint of doubt on. They're usually on private property, at someone's house.
What if it's just a normal birdhouse? What if the homeowner is watching us? What if there's a bird in there? What if it flies out and tries to peck us to death for trespassing in its little birdy home?
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All worries, this time, were for naught.
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This was a pretty cool find when we looked for this geocache at the Cincinnati Observatory.
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We got lucky, since one of the operators was there. He showed us around and gave us an insight on the telescopes. Both telescopes run completely power-free. I got to open the bay and turn the scopes. Fun stuff.
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This refractor was first used in April 1845. This was the first large telescope that was made available for the public to use. At the time, this was the largest in the Western Hemisphere, and third largest in the world.
This telescope and the one in the building pictured above are no longer used for research purposes, but are still in use by the public, with regular events that include peeks at Jupiter, Saturn, and even the Sun.
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There was also a fun little sundial where you could be the shadow that told the time. We were accurate to about 3 minutes according to our phone vs. the Sun.
This was an earthcache we found. This valley was once the "Deep Stage Ohio" river, which ran until about 100,000 years ago, when the Wisconsin Glacier changed the scenery.
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The Deep Stage Ohio was part of, to various degrees, an ancient river known as the Taeys. The Taeys existed over 3 million years ago, and was gradually diverted and dissected by glaciers.
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What's left is essentially the Ohio River.
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(at least this is what I've gathered from a brief look-see into it)
The last geocache we found before heading home was The Mushroom House.
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It's a fairly interesting residence known as the Mushroom House, or the Treehouse, by a local architect, who lived there until his passing in 2008.
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Apparently someone owns it now and lives there.
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I really wanted to knock on the door and check it out, but after a ten minute search for the geocache, I was happy just to get in the car and head on back to Indiana.
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