Road Trip!

Yesterday morning, I awoke to breakfast ready at the table... I had heard Jason busying himself before I got up. I heard the screen door open and close several times. What was he up to? I knew he was planning to go into the University. He had changed his plans. After I had gone to bed the night before, Jason was plotting out our Saturday... He had loaded up the trunk, which I later found out was filled with the cooler, change of clothes for everyone, drinks/snacks, and child-carrying devices (such as the backpack and stroller)! We were taking it on the road....

The plan was to get a few geocaches on the way to Camrose. None of us had been there before. It's about an hour outside of Edmonton. We stopped at a cemetery in a small town called Sarepta. This cache was called "End of the Road"... appropriately so! We drove down a grass-road until the mowed path came to an end.... From there, we ventured through tall grass, thistles and trees. Fiona found the cache instantly! Her height is definitely an advantage! The tube was nestled in the base of a multi-trunk tree!

From there, we went to Camrose. It's a much bigger place than I expected. They actually have Wal-Mart, Staples, East Side Mario's, and everything you'd need. Immediately, we start thinking "wonder how much houses cost here?"... I'm sure they're booming, as the city seems to be growing! We stopped at a park, where another cache was hidden. This was called "NY Backyard". It was a tourist info centre, but a park used by locals w/ a nice path around the pond. Fiona instantly made friends there, and had a great time playing!! We picnicked and ate lunch. Jason has prepared sandwiches and brought fruits etc.... Smart boy! Fiona found this cache too! She picked out some wind-chimes and we placed a pod-caching cd in it's place! We drove through Camrose, with the intention of stopping at a coffee shop called "Fiona's Coffee". We had heard about this place (and it was the inspiration for the trip), from another cache Jason found. He got a wooden nickel w/ a free coffee coupon from this shop. We kept the nickel, but did get some coffee!

It's now well into the early part of the afternoon.... Jason's got a few more caches in mind!! He wants to stop in Millet... Millet? Where's that?! lol Small town, where most of the streets in an upscale neighbourhood are called Pipeline... Pipeline Cres., Pipeline Rd., Pipeline Manor, Pipeline Lane... Geez!! Crazy. Jason got us to drop him at a path and pick him up in 10 mins... Well, he ran the whole way- did find the cache and ran back... It took him about 20 mins! The directions on that cache were not so great. According to Jason, there were tons of prickers and thorns!! Glad he did that one solo! Kieran was also sleeping, so I cruised around the many cul-de-sacs to keep air moving. It was a hot day!

Next stop: Beaumont. This is a small town/community, SE of Edmonton. It's mostly new development and loaded with huge over-the-top houses, SUV's, minivans, RV's. How do people live in such excess?? I'd just like a house, thanks! A side-thought... these huge houses usually have one couple living in it, perhaps with 1 kid. Families with 2+ children live in smaller homes, but could really use that space in those larger homes! Anyway... we're trying to find this great waterpark with sprayers and sprinklers! The directions for where to park for this cache are also horrible! It doesn't help that it's all new subdivisions, so the maps are not in our GPS! We took the LOOOOONG way. We parked at an RV parking lot and walked about a km and a half... not sure what we'd find, if anything at all! Well, we did find the park... Fiona had a great time... so did the rest of us! :) Fiona met a little girl, named Matea (ma-tay-a), and they played wonderfully together! After this, we found another cache at this park... once again, amongst MANY thistles! Jason got it :)

IT was a long day... After this stop, we drove back into Edmonton... got some supper and ate it in the backyard. The kids were tuckered out, and so were we! I had a massive headache, so I went to bed early....