This long weekend we have something planned that we wanted to do for a long time. a visit to a Geowoodstock. It is a gathering for geocachers that we wanted to attend since we heard about it but it is held every year in a different state or country and we found it difficult to attend the previous years. And when we finally planned for it Covid happened. So now when we find out it is in Flagstaff there is no excuse so on we go Friday after work stopping only at a Mexican restaurant on the way to buy some dinner.
We stay at an A-frame cabin which is quite cozy and well appointed with snacks and drinks and other small welcome amenities. We explore the cabin as fast as we can as we are quite hungry and it is time to bring out our Mexican dinner.
It is quite good really, but we are soooo hungry that we would have eaten anything at this point. But it is good that it is good food that we really enjoy:)
In the morning we notice the bird feeder on the patio and then we watch the birds come in, first acorn woodpeckers but then also beautiful black headed grosbeaks also.
The view from the terrace is right into the forest where a private trail leads to a public trail further below. However that is for tomorrow today it is breakfast time and then it is time to drive to the Geowoodstock site.
We are about 20 minutes away from the site of Geowoodstock XX in Flagstaff at Fort Tuthill County Park. The close by parking is full by the time we arrive so we park further away and then walk through the blowing wind towards the entrance with seemingly hundreds of other participants.
And then we reach the queue. We are surprised there is queue. Why is there a queue? As we continue slowly towards the entrance we understand what is happening they have security controls at the entrance, really unexpected, that are looking through all the bags. We have nothing forbidden and in we go to sign the huge log of Geowoodstock XX, this is where many people are congregating for photos and to sign the log obviously.
There is an auditorium where there are multiple presentations throughout the day and also an vintage Chevrolet car in remembrance of the “Take it Easy” song by The Eagles which was inspired by a stay in Flagstaff. The car itself is driven by the mascot of geocaching, Signal the Frog, fun.
There are also vendor stands selling geocaching related objects and also many events that require interaction with other participants. We participate in quite a few of them and have a lot of fun but unfortunately we do not win anything substantial just some fun little items.
We are really surprised at the number of participants but it is fun to watch so many geocachers in one space. They are wandering around looking for caches and making friends, cool.
One of the events requires you to walk around the event venue finding a few caches placed specifically for the event. We use the time to enjoy some alone time, find a few permanent caches also and do some birding too.
Returning at the venue we attend a few lectures, explore a bit more and then it is time to move on as there is one more site we want to visit as part of the Geowoodstock celebrations.
The second site is the GPS Adventures Maze on the other side of town, we are not sure how it is set up as it seems it is located in a mall. And it is in the mall, in an empty space in the form of a maze that we have to explore with lots of information on the history of geocaching. Unfortunately we cannot enjoy it as much as we want as one of us got a grain of dust in the eye from the blowing winds and suffers through the visit and the rest of the day even.
We end the day with a celebratory dinner at a pizza restaurant, Fat Olives. It has an award winning pizza, the Belgio Dolce Pizza, and that is what we order with two mocktails. The pizza is quite good and the mocktails too and we also order a Tiramisu which is really good also. Full we are ready to return to our cabin and watch TV and then rest as tomorrow we have a full day planned. And the plan changed from what we intended because we get something unexpected from the AirBnB owner, a free extra night. Because we arrived late the first night she offers us an extra night for free, an offer which is really extraordinarily kinf and that we cannot refuse even though it means we have to leave the last day at 6 AM to arrive in time for work on Monday.
