July 3, 2008

"Kite Boarding"

By: Metal Tek Difficulty: 2.5 Terrain: 2.5 Container: Regular

The 3rd of three Metal Tek caches today. Wow, was this a busy spot! There must have been 50 parasails out on the water, and many others (like me!) gawking from the shoreline, or enjoying the start of a holiday weekend with friends. I spent a good 30 minutes watching people launching themselves from the shore, and taking off like a rocket across the waves. Definitely a lot of skill and experience is required to control the sail, and my admiration for those who had it mastered increased a lot. Thanks for showing me a fascinating spot!

Belmont Slough/ Wildlife Refuge

By: Metal Tek Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 2.5 Container: Micro

Thanks for pointing out this neglected sign! On a Friday afternoon with gorgeous weather, the path was quite busy and I had to dodge several bicycle riders. Fortunately everyone seemed intent on doing their own thing. TFTC.

Shade tree

By: Metal Tek Difficulty: 2.0 Terrain: 1.5 Container: Micro

This was a quick find after I realized that I had transposed a couple of digits in the coordinates while entering them in the GPSr. My initial search area matched with the hint...sort of, so I spent some time searching fruitlessly in the wrong spot. Since the views along the way were great and the weather was perfect, I really didn't mind. TFTC.

Where do you get those small zip-lock bags?

By: UncleTom Difficulty: 3.0 Terrain: 1.0 Container: Small

Uncle Tom's puzzle themes cover a broad spectrum, and occasionally there's one that I know something about. Well, that's how this one appeared on the surface. But, after trying various ideas relating to the chemical structure and composition of the plastics, I was no closer to solving it than when I started. At this point, however, I was too invested to let it go! A flash of inspiration (plus a decision to actually listen to what the cache page was telling me!) led me to realize that I was over-thinking big time. There was one little bump on the way to the solution (which apparently led to Tom's rant), but things came together pretty quickly, and I had the cache in hand this morning. Thanks for a fun puzzle!