We've been geocaching for over five years now. We've accumulated a lot of geocoins. I say accumulated, because we haven't bought many. We've limited most of our purchases to groups in which we belong and events or places where we've attended or cached. The rest have come mostly from friends, a few from prizes at events we've attended, a couple found in caches, and a number from geocaching promotions and challenges. Last week I was activating a few coins to share with attendees at our event. I was searching in the geocaching forums to find a way to retrieve an activation code for one of the coins when I noticed a Tardis geocoin! If you've never watched Dr. Who, this portion of this post will be lost on you, but the Doctor, Daleks, the Companions, K-9, and the Tardis have been a favorite for me for a long time. I started watching this BBC series years ago when PBS showed it regularly. Now it has sadly slipped into the world of cable, and we are not that interested in television. Yes, it is a geeky show, but I am one of the few people to have my own Dr. Who BBC record album. You don't remember record albums? Maybe some other posting in one of my different blogs... :-)
Anyways, the arrival of the Tardis coin and activating a few for the event got me thinking about a few of the coins we have and where they come from. We have a small box of stuff we have traded from caches. Our coins stay in that box. The stuff is silly including small toys, signature items from the days when geocaching wasn't about the numbers and people left sig items in caches, and the coins. They are memories of the times we have spent together and with friends on the trail. Many coins have special memories.
The Year 1 Millennium Cell Coin came from a cache during a 2007 vacation to the Delaware Water Gap and Pine Creek Gorge. We cached in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We hiked the AT and visited Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. The coin isn't trackable, but it's a much different coin and part of a great memory.
Delaware Water Gap
Pine Creek Gorge
Eleven coins in our collection came from our adventures in the Allegheny Geotrail. The AGT spans ten counties with up to twenty caches in each county. All the coins are well done, but my favorite is the Warren coin. It is simple and elegent in its design. It is also a place we call home. From caching through Warren, McKean, Clarion, and Forest Counties with friends to caching together on a vacation in 2008 through Elk, Cameron, Jefferson, and Potter Counties, each AGT coin has its own memories.
Tanbark Trail... Warren County AGT
It was really a strange coincidence for us to find yet another edition of the Millennium Cell coin while vacationing for AGT caches. We made a trip from Potter County to Pine Creek Gorge and a few caches when we found this nice coin.
Leonard Harrison State Park
We have completed the five state park series in the Ohio State Parks each year caches have been placed. This year, the five park series was joined by a nineteen park series with 100 geocoins being awarded to those completing the series. It was a little pushed trying to visit more state parks than usual, but we had a great time.
Tinkers Creek State Park
We would probably have never completed the New Jersey County Challenge if Ali's sister had not gotten married this summer. We had a few counties near her sister's home from visits and a couple counties from our last trip to Delaware Water Gap, but it wasn't until the wedding date was set that we decided to make New Jersey a vacation spot this year. I was glad we did. It is a super state with amazing variety.
Monmouth County New Jersey
It was really strange to find yet another Millennium Cell coin during this trip. We don't cache eastern PA and New Jersey that often.
Sweet Arrow Lake Park
Soon the snow will be low enough to return to the woods and create more memories.
