GeoCaching - "Sunflowers are always in bloom" one for Patty

What is Geocaching? Please refer back to my blog "What is GeoCaching" or visit http://www.geocaching.com/  to further help you appreciate this 'sport'.  My family (brother and dad) as well as myself, Black Rose, her boyfriend and friend all geocache.  We have experienced many things, many places and many containers.  Geocaching has taken us to locations (such as in Newfoundland) that maybe we wouldn't have known about or gotten to see. Because one can't disclose the location of these geocaching sites, I can't tell you exactly where they are, but I will tell you about this one as a point of interest GeoCache location.   Arrow Air Flight 1285-On Thursday, December 12, 1985, the chartered DC-8 plane carrying 248 members of the 101st Airborne Division of Fort Campbell, Kentucky and 8 crew members returning home for Christmas from peace keeping duties in the Middle East, crashed during takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland. There is a beautiful memorial site and one which we visited while in Newfoundland in July.  Very humbling this location is.

Many of you have been reading my blog for a long time now and have known of our experience with Wilsons Disease.   We recently placed a GEO'cache' in honor of Patty - below is the description as well as the hint on where to find this 35mm film cannister that GeoCachers use to log their 'find'.   We have recently placed a puzzle cache (or first) using her stone and the information from within to get the cordinates for another cache location.

"Sunflowers are always in bloom"
A cache by NB   Hidden : 10/04/2011 Difficulty: 1.5 Terrain: Size: (Micro)
Description:
Remember when you used to run barefoot through the grass? Or jumped into a pile of leaves in the fall? Or enjoyed Sunflowers as the birds came by for seeds? Sunflowers are always in bloom is placed in memory of Patty. Patty loved Sunflowers! Patty, like this area, was a yet to be discovered 'gem'. She was attending University to become a Teacher when she became unable to continue with her education as a result of Wilson’s Disease. She would have loved this area – children can run and play, adults can sit and watch or walk the various short paths while still being able to see them. Or maybe head down by the river and look for minnows as we did when we were kids. Bring a picnic and stay a spell. Please bring a writing stick.

Additional Hints (Encrypt)
needles are no fun

A Quiet Moment to reflect and enjoy Newfoundland

Rose Blanche NL (2)

A glance out the window as the rain continued.

Rose Blanche NL

Come along as we visit the fully restored Rose Blanche Lighthouse , located in scenic Rose Blanche , just a 45km drive along Route 470 from Port aux Basques, NL. Built in 1871 from a nearby granite quarry, this lighthouse stands as a proud sentinel of our shores. D & T Stevenson, lighthouse engineers from Edinburgh, Scotland, designed the original apparatus. This is the family of noted author Robert Louis Stevenson.

On July 26, 1871, Neville selected the location and work began soon after. Of granite construction and built by local workers, the building operated as a lighthouse from 1873 to the 1940s. The original light was a 4th order dioptric lit from sunset to sunrise at a height of 95 feet above sea level. It could be seen for 13 miles in clear weather.

There were six keepers over the approximately 70 years of the lighthouse's existence. They were: John A. Roberts, John Cook, Bruce Cook, Philip Hatcher, James Skinner and again Philip Hatcher. Hatcher was the last keeper to serve at the lighthouse.  After it was abandoned, the building fell into ruins. (The top photo)

The light currently on display is a sixth-order Fresnel lens that is one of the few remaining lenses of this type. Restored in 1999 and furnished with 19th century reproduced furniture and local antiques, this lighthouse is a must-see for all lighthouse enthusiasts. The lighthouse is open to the public on a seasonal basis.

Current Rose Blanche. 

Isle aux Morts

We are on the bridge that crosses the Isle aux Morts river on route 470 NL.

The bridge used to have a wooden surface and rails, that was replaced in 2008 with a steel surface and rails.
In the winter of 2000 a Department of Highway's salt truck /plow coming from Isle aux Morts hooked a wooden plank and lost control, it went through the railing and fell 90 feet below into the river. The truck landed on it's wheels. The driver survived the fall.

If you look about 600 feet down the river you can see the remain's of another bridge that crossed the river before this one was built. It was built to replace the first bridge that crossed the river. A one lane bridge. It washed away in the winter of 1957. Two young men from Isle aux Morts were not so lucky, they died when their car went into the river.

Colony of Avalon Archaeological Site - Newfounland (GPS 47.0228, -52.879)

Step back in time to 1621 and visit an Archaeological Dig in Ferryland, NF.



 

Below is a well - it was told through the generations that

there was a well into which a child had fallen and had died- afterwhich it was covered over.

A local 'older gentlemen' told the Archaeologist were he

believed (from stories old) the well to be. 

It was found after just 3 test holes were dug.

Lisa - our kitchen guide - asked us to look at this

and to figure out how to drink of this without

spilling the contents.  We figured it out :)

Below is Lisa.

Cape Spear Newfoundland -Battery

 

Journey back in time and explore the remnants of the sites World War II coastal defence battery – Fort Cape Spear. Walk in the footsteps of Canadian and American soldiers as they guarded St. John's from attack from lurking German U-boats.

This gun could shoot and reload in a minute and a half.  It raised up over the

wall and down and lowered within 3 minutes from it's location.

GeoCaching in Newfoundland (2) - Cape Spear

This is Black Rose's Travel Bug that she placed while we were on vacation.

She named him 'Jitter Bug' :)   

We took him from NB to NF and back (3400+ km).

He even travelled to Cape Spear.

Stand here with your back to the sea and the entire population of North America is to the west of you.

Face the sea and the next stop east is Ireland.

Port Aux Basques Newfounland July 10th 2011