GeoWoodstock 2018 – Cincinatti, Ohio

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It is GeoWoodstock time!  The event was being held at Coney Island, nestled next to the Ohio river.  Weather forecasts called for intense thunderstorms by mid-day, so we planned to get an early start on the day. Apparently everyone had the idea and the line for entering Coney Island started on the bridge.  Despite the number of visitors, the park was well organized and we soon were parked and searching for the registration tables.

It was a day of rides, swimming, geocaching, and exploring.  Plus, I invented a new traveling Geocaching Log book and National Park Stamp book, which I unveiled at the event.

Coney Island Fun

After we parked, we were in the amusement park riding rides and enjoying a beautiful Saturday in Ohio.  And yet again, the kids were making me feel old. I still remember being like them, eager to ride EVERY spinning, looping, puke-inducing ride ever invented. Three times. Each.

Now, I ride one ride and I get off and need to recover.  Since Tom’s kids are young and hearty, they wanted to ride every ride multiple times.  Most of the rides were centrifugal rides, based on spinning. Blurgh. Tom and I took alternating turns taking the kids on retch-rides until we couldn’t take it any more.

Carol, who is much smarter than me, had settled in for a serene moment by the lake. She had found a bench swing overlooking the beautiful lake and watching the storm clouds rising up thick and white over the horizon. Carol waved as I was led away by giggling kids, and settled in for her moment of zen. So I was envying her choice of relaxation while I was on a ride spinning me loopy.

Unveiling the new log & stamp book

After a while, Tom took his kids to the giant swimming pool. Carol and I slipped away and grabbed two beers and settled into the picnic area.  I purchased a travel bug sticker and created my new Geocaching Log book and National Park passport stamp book.  Carol penned the first and opening entry in my book. Then as we enjoyed our beers, we met several fellow cachers who also signed my book.  Several traveled in from other countries, including New Zealand and the Netherlands.

The conversation naturally turns to caching numbers. I was proud that my finds were in the 700’s – a big accomplishment for me. But then the people around me were spouting off numbers in the thousands. One gent told me he had over 75,000 finds.  I couldn’t believe anyone would have such numbers. But this guy does!  I looked up his profile and less then a month later he’s  over 83,000 finds.  I can’t imagine how he does it. That’s over 10k finds in about one month.  How?

Then the rain came down, down, down

The horizon showed a gathering storm all day long. After time, the storm did make its way to Coney Island.  Thankfully, it was close to closing time anyway – so the rain didn’t ruin the fun.  The rain did chase everyone out rather quickly. We huddled in my car and let the storm pass. Once it cleared, we decided to do more of the Donut GeoTour.  And off we went to explore Ohio.

 

Road Trip Destinations

• Fort Necessity
• Hayden Falls Park
• National Museum of the US Airforce (WPAFB)
• Wright Bros Memorial
• Paul Dunbar House
• Cooney Island – GeoWoodstock 2018
• GeoTrail through Ohio
• Devou Park
• William H. Taft Historic Site
• Hopewell Culture National Historic Park
• The Golden Palace

 

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