Xyla Fox

Hubby had geo arts on his list of reasons for coming to Manitoba. Today we completed the second one. (We did the Krispy Apple on Sunday after we arrived.) 

What kind of a morning would it be in Canada without a stop at Tim Hortons for a maple roll? 

Xyla Fox is complete

We worked on the 98 caches over two days, quitting early enough both days to do some other FUN geocaching and to enjoy the camping experience, our first of the summer. 

Red berries on the wild roses in the ditches and along the roadside

The morning sunshine on the cattails and grasses were a golden color this morning. 

The ears on the corn are dropping down. Ready for harvesting. 

Blogging on the phone is just too frustrating tonight. Short and sweet. Maybe more blogs after we get home and we once again have WiFi. It has been a very good trip but we’ve been gone a week. We are missing grand kid activities. Time to go home. 

Morden and Winkler

More country road driving today for the second geo art we will complete tomorrow. 

About half of the 60 caches we went after were in steep ditches. (Ditches are bitches in Manitoba, too!) sometimes it was just easier to lay on the ground and reach. 

We passed a field of what I thought were potato plants. 

It looks like a potato plant. 

Yup. White Yukon potatoes. 

We stopped at a Historical Site this morning. This spot is believed to be the first Mennonite Church in Manitoba. 

The hockey rink in Winkler. 

Xiphactinus

An ancient toothed predatory fish

Mosasaur

Bruce the Mosasaur is the largest mosasaur in the world. His original skeleton is housed in Morden at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Center. 

Archelon 

Giant sea turtle fossils also found in Manitoba and on display in the discovery center. I hope I have the time to get to the fossil center before we leave the area. 

And a couple of the cute traditional caches we found with names we remember from our younger days. The containers were hidden very cleverly. They put a smile on our faces. 

The flower photos are from Bethel Heritage Park in Winkler, site of the original Bethal Hospital. A new regional hospital was built west of Winkler. 

Morden Manitoba

 After leaving Jon and Sherry and the campground at the Grand Forks Airbase, Hubby and I headed north to the border. We stopped in Wahalla ND to fill the truck and empty the camper refrigerator if need be. I asked the attendant at the Cenex station if I needed to get rid of the fruits and vegetables. Her reply? Did you read that on the internet? Ah. Yes. She said no I didn’t have to do that. She was right. The border guard asked why and where and how long. Then asked if we had fire arms, fireworks, cannabis products and the amount of alcohol. And we drove through. The internet is WRONG. 

We chose not to stay at the campground where we had reservations and instead drove to Morden. 

We set up in a campground next to Lake Minnewasta and headed out to geocache. (The reason for crossing the border.)

Looking for pill bottles next to utility poles

One of the road sections we traveled

Krispy Apple geo art completed

We explored the town just a bit as we found

A few other geocaches

More caching adventures tomorrow 

Fun in Gilby

 There’s a reason why Gilby ND is known as the Disneyland of geocaching. We’ve had a blast the last three days playing with some of the most creative geocaches we have done since our visit to Gilby a year ago at this time. 

I am creating a post on my iPhone. This is the first time I have tried this. I also have limited service so we’ll see how it works. 

We spent a bit of time in Larimore and Northwoods Thursday morning until geo friends Jon and Sherry arrived. Then it was off to Disneyland. 

We roasted marshmallows

Moved through a corn maze

Played with the dogs

Found ET

Played with a Swiss Army knife

Played Scrabble

Played Quidditch 

Played Twister

Found Larry

Plus many other clever geocaches. It was a great 3 days of giggles, head slaps, walking in the shelter belts of trees and greeting geocachers we’ve met from neighboring states. 

We added 62 geocaches in the three days. We said goodbye to Jon and Sherry this morning. Now we are off to Canada for more geocaching adventures.