Kansas Road Trip, Day 1

 OFD suggested a weekend in Kansas City to enjoy southern BBQ and watch the MN Twins and KC Royals baseball game. That was the excuse Hubby needed to geocache in Kansas.

There are 21 white counties on the map. Twenty-one counties without a geocache find. So, road trip to KS to geocache before Saturday's game. The plan was to geocache from north to south in the westernmost counties.

squirrel sighting!

When we road trip geocache, we look for 2 easy-to-find, recently found caches and move on, as we have miles to cover. This was at a welcome center in Council Grove.

colorful wall mural near the welcome center

interesting cloud and cloud build-up that I began watching

This cache was not on Hubby's list, but I thought we needed to add it to the list. It was right along the planned route and was recently found.

easy find and SO worth the stop, just for the photo!

We find a good number of caches in cemeteries. For some reason, they are usually still there,  unlike many other geocaches along the highways and in the towns.

storm build-up, but a beautiful photo

This was another geocache not on Hubby's list, but we wanted to beat the rain. A quick find in Cambridge at a closed restaurant.

Can you spot the difference in the two photos and find the geocache?

We reached our goal for day one. Caches found in six counties and reaching the southernmost one. Seventeen counties to go! Bonus? No rain and no storm.

A Scavenger Hunt

 We participated in a Scavenger Hunt on Saturday for International Geocaching Day. Geocaching is 25 years old this year. The scavenger list had 25 items to find and document in 2 hours. Hubby and I teamed up with Bruce and Jo for the in-town adventure.

# 23-picture with a geocacher we did not know before today

#21-picture with a park sign

#24-tell someone about geocaching

(his dog was barking in the backyard while we were searching 

the pine tree for Bruce's geocache)

#25-picture with a sign with "25"

#16-picture with a non-bordering state license plate

#18-picture with a non-smart phone

Interesting side note to this one: We stopped at Falls Park to get several of the scavenger items. I happened to think about the Visitor's Office maybe having a land-line phone. As we trooped into the office, I asked the woman behind the counter if the office had a non-smart phone. She reached across the counter, grabbed my hands, and said my full name. I admitted she looked familiar, but I had no name to attach to the face. She was a former teacher in the Watertown School District! - small world

She also said we were the third group to ask about the phone! 

#11-picture with a pine cone

#8-Picture with a smiley

(smiley face on the wooden nickel)

#17-Picture with a flag from another country

#12-picture with a bird house

We completed 23 of the 25 tasks. We were quite pleased with our efforts. A team of 3 completed all 25 tasks!

Here are some photos from some of the other teams.

#17-flag from a different country

#14-picture of being stealthy

#14-picture of being stealthy

(two geocachers hiding behind the rocks)

#20-picture with a sweet treat

Photo quality did not count! But creativity did!

This was our virtual souvenir for the day! We also had fresh sweet corn furnished by geocachers. The temperature was near 90º, but a slight breeze helped make any time out of the AC bearable. It was a fun afternoon chasing geocache-themed items.

96th Birthday

 Friday, August 16th, my mother celebrated her 96th birthday. My brothers and I were there to help her celebrate the milestone. 

cupcakes and ice cream were served to the residents and staff

birthday cake was served with their evening meal

Mom has 4 remaining siblings: her older sister is 103,  a younger sister is 91. Her two brothers are 88 and 86.

Martial Arts

 McBe has advanced to the brown belt level in Taekwondo. We got to observe his next level testing last Monday evening.

showing the forms for brown belt level

sparring

sparring

breaking board 1 (right foot)

breaking board 2 (left foot)

breaking board 3 (right forearm)

breaking board 4 (right fist)

His next belt is solid brown. Later this year, he will test for the level 3 brown belt, which is a brown belt with a black stripe.

No Butts - No Boots - Rodeo

 No Butts. No Boots. Just some rodeo photos from the Sioux Empire Fair. There was no printed program, and no scores were displayed on the electronic board. 

saddle bronc

steer wrestling

finally!

two future cowboys watching the action

saddle bronc

and another

and he's gone!

there were MANY saddle bronc riders

I liked this guy's attire!

not too bad for the horse, either

this barrel racer wore a sparkly shirt

finally some bull riding

no 8 seconds for this guy

look at those horns!

going, going... 

another one is going to bite the dust

not gone yet!