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Post by NorthWes on Jul 14, 2008 15:53:01 GMT -9
I send out Travel Bugs and geocoins for one basic reason: to experience travel through the hands of other cachers.
Oh sure - I like to share cute little toys and really cool coin designs with other folks - but the #1 reason I spend the time and money on launching travelers is so I can travel vicariously (experiencing travel by imagining I was in the traveler's shoes), seeing the rest of the geo-world through the photos and detailed logs of the cachers kind enough to take time to post them.
As an incentive for we Alaskans to enhance Travel Bug and Geocoin experiences when we log them, I'm putting up three unactivated geocoins as prizes in a TB photo/log contest. We'll pick three 'excellent' examples posted here of TB logs with photo(s) and a caption that lets the TB owner experience the geo-traveling thrill we had with their traveler.
I'll post an entry (by cutting & pasting my caption under my photo) as an example. Perhaps a side effect for we cachers will be learning how to add photos & captions to our forum posts!
Open to all folks authorized to post here. Please don't post spoiler photos of caches, or TB numbers! Logs can be from anywhere you've posted a picture with caption of a TB transaction. Please indicate date and cache the photo was posted from (we may audit entries!) Let's be current - limit your entries to logs since January 2008. Contest begins now and ends August 31st.
Take those photos of Travel Bugs and Geocoins in Action! Judging criteria will include log/caption details (relevant to the TB), inherent 'quality' of the photo (focus etc), photo composition (remember the law of thirds?), and inclusion of the location in the photo. (As in retail, geocaching's all about location location location!) Most of all - have fun with it!
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Post by NorthWes on Jul 14, 2008 15:58:58 GMT -9
akglacierdog's Caching Memories Geocoin at the Muggle Migration TB Hotel 7-12-08: Caching Memories Geocoin - Anchorage Waterfront... Looking NNW up Knik Arm, past the mouth of Ship Creek and the Port of Anchorage.
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Post by FrostG1anT on Jul 14, 2008 16:12:13 GMT -9
Here is my example entry as it is to old for the contest... My little buddy Ponk (GCQ242 Gold Dredge No. 3 May 25, 2007): Sit back and listen while I spin this yarn. I went for a visit and was given a job at this post. Ponk, being no slacker accepted the task at hand. While some would call it abandonment, I like to look at it as a forced call to duty. There is this old gold dredge sitting in the wilderness in Chatinika, AK just waiting for a work crew to return and put it back to work. Well, the years of it sitting, frozen in time and dormant of functional activity have worn on it. Birds have left it a bit of a roost and juveniles have expressed their artistic prowess across its bow and fore flanks. While it is a standing relic of a long ago day, it's time of service may be gone forever. Still it waits. So when I came to visit and had my cute mug shot from the rear deck, I never expected a medical emergency to cause for my services as The Night Guard to be called upon. My traveling companions rushed off to town some 40 miles away and left good ol' Ponk to batten down the dredge in their absence. Never one to shirk my duty, I sat that night at the helm of the old girl and listened to the eerie creaks and moans of the steel expanding in the heat and cooling at night. The carrion birds traded turns circling overhead and alighting on the deck in front of me for palaver. All clear was my call and creed. No one came to visit me but for the spirits of the men who had gone before. Each of them ambling past me and nodding as I kept watch over their long forgotten home. The following morning, bright and early my companions came for me again. I can say I was relieved to see them, and know all was well. I held my ground and let the ghosts of those before have the evening off to carouse late into the night. Heck, my man...it was Friday night and everyone needs a little time to light out and let it all out once in a blue moon. My time as The Night Guard has been served and now I am back on the road again. This ride keeps getting better and better as I go along. Ride On!
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Post by ladybugkids on Jul 14, 2008 17:13:19 GMT -9
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Post by Forum Admin on Jul 14, 2008 17:49:34 GMT -9
akglacierdog's Caching Memories Geocoin at the Muggle Migration TB Hotel 7-12-08: Caching Memories Geocoin - Anchorage Waterfront... Looking NNW up Knik Arm, past the mouth of Ship Creek and the Port of Anchorage. Gee! A Scobey cache.
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Post by oleruns on Jul 14, 2008 21:27:58 GMT -9
I don't do the TB thing very much and I know this will not win on the photo but this log to me is funny - Log: I didn't know Termy could talk. So here I am under a bridge looking for a cache out in the middle of the woods. I hear someone on the bridge, I am very quiet waiting for them to pass but I was on ice as the creek is frozen and my back was getting cold. So I rolled over on the pocket Termi was in and this loud, "TALK TO THE HAND" belts out. Scared me to death! Next thing I know I have three dogs under the bridge with me. What fun! Thanks for the bug. He wouldn't fit in the cache (GCM1QJ).
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Post by ladybugkids on Jul 19, 2008 19:19:55 GMT -9
WarrenPeace's For the Love of Caching geocoin at Malcore's Top 15 cache. "Goldbrickers Need Not Apply for this Cache Locale...the view features Baldy Airstrip and Turnagain Arm from above!" The cache location is near the top of what locals call "Coyote Gulch," Chugach Mountains, Alaska.
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Post by ladybugkids on Jul 19, 2008 20:53:47 GMT -9
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Post by NorthWes on Jul 26, 2008 8:34:56 GMT -9
Only 3 Alaska cachers carry cameras to capture 'coins while out capering about caching? Enough alliteration - START TAKING PHOTOS OF THOSE TRAVELERS IN PLAY!Gotta say that those are some awesome photos Ladybug Kids posted. However, you don't need to be at a 'nosebleed elevation' cache to get a good picture of a TB in play... there's great 'stages' all over this town and state... show off where you travel!
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Post by nategrumby on Jul 26, 2008 20:50:37 GMT -9
If you look really really closely you can see my STS-122 Orbiting Astrolabe TB16CKV. Really. Just squint a bit. Does this count?
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Post by FrostG1anT on Jul 27, 2008 8:08:28 GMT -9
Does this count? This is a great photo, but isn't it a stock photo taken by NASA from one of the mechanical cameras at either of the two launch pads in Cape Kennedy? If a person stood on the tower to take the photo, while they would get an incredible picture they would only get credit for it posthumously as the launch blast heat would make their day end quickly. Incredible photo and incredible coin that was made from it.
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powmia
Silver Cacher
Caches Found/Hidden xxxx/x
Posts: 208
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Post by powmia on Jul 31, 2008 14:59:40 GMT -9
I am submitting this photo just for its simplicity. I found a cache (July 31, 2008) on a back road near Lynden WA. in the farmlands. It is nothing but a wooden bridge over a small stream. The cache was Fishtrap Flynn (GC1ACH6). So I set an AK micro coin on the rail and made the shot. Not much.
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powmia
Silver Cacher
Caches Found/Hidden xxxx/x
Posts: 208
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Post by powmia on Aug 1, 2008 9:24:49 GMT -9
August 1, 2008 I went to the Farmer's Market area in downtown Bellingham, WA to a cache named "This Little Goat Went To Market (GC1C0XG)". This area is similiar to the Anchorage downtown markets where local vendors sell items and hundreds of people peruse the wares. The goat is right at the edge of the market. This was my second attempt at this cache (a silver bison). A lot of stealth was required to pick this one and sign, since I was not able to feel it, I also had to look interested in the statue. There is an Alaska Microcoin placed on the goat's forehead.
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Post by ladybugkids on Aug 3, 2008 23:42:53 GMT -9
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Post by TundraQuad on Aug 5, 2008 8:06:39 GMT -9
Dropped off jeeps at Finger Mt. Cache is Great Alaskan Jeep Migration Destination GC14TAJ.
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powmia
Silver Cacher
Caches Found/Hidden xxxx/x
Posts: 208
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Post by powmia on Aug 5, 2008 10:15:29 GMT -9
This cache is near Custer, WA. and is aptly named Custer's Last Hand (GC14A63). I could not resist a photo of "the hand" holding an Alaska Microcoin. There is enough space inside the hand for small items and a log.
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powmia
Silver Cacher
Caches Found/Hidden xxxx/x
Posts: 208
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Post by powmia on Aug 5, 2008 10:18:48 GMT -9
This is another shot of Custer's Last Hand (GC14A63) with the coin and Mr. Tahoe's AK license plate. I could not figure how to insert both photos into one post. Hence, the second posting.
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Post by NorthWes on Aug 5, 2008 12:24:02 GMT -9
I like it! One TB, Two Photo Entries. If anyone else doesn't like it, they can talk to the Hand...
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powmia
Silver Cacher
Caches Found/Hidden xxxx/x
Posts: 208
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Post by powmia on Aug 7, 2008 18:45:13 GMT -9
An Alaska Microcoin at Whatcom Spirit Quest--Lakeside (GCRWR4) near Lynden, WA. The owner has put out caches in most of the older cemeteries in Whatcom County, WA. In Lakeside Cemetery's long history, it has also been referred to as Clearbrook Cemetery, Pangborn Lake Cemetery and Van Buren Cemetery. Set in the midst of the rich farmlands surrounding Lynden, a one and one-half acre plot was originally donated in June 1899 by Henry C. Ehlers to the trustees of the Lakeside Cemetery Association of Clearbrook, WA. Is this an example of where old coins end up?
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Post by ladybugkids on Aug 9, 2008 14:02:37 GMT -9
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Post by ladybugkids on Aug 9, 2008 14:11:02 GMT -9
The Yellow Monster 764 TB wants to play in the snow in Alaska. It's a bit early for that (we hope!), but he's having a good time visiting Alaska's Golden Heart near the Fairbanks Travel Bug Drop Box where in just a couple of months the scene could be much whiter.
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Post by FrostG1anT on Sept 3, 2008 16:07:40 GMT -9
I know it's September now, but here are a couple entries. Jimmy Tompkins would like to say hello to his fan base in Alaska and the Yukon Territories of Canada and British Columbia for such a hospitable welcome while he was traveling through. Thank you, Thank you very much Groundspeak did some more mods with their servers and shrunk the default size of images posted. They are all so little bitty now.
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Post by FrostG1anT on Sept 21, 2008 8:51:09 GMT -9
Deke Rivers Was Here
For those who couldn't come to the show, it is now brought to you in living color directly from home. Sit back with some popcorn and a good friend and enjoy the show.
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Po1ar
Silver Cacher
Posts: 122
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Post by Po1ar on Sept 22, 2008 16:11:50 GMT -9
That video was great! thanks for sharing!
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Post by NorthWes on Nov 12, 2008 11:14:43 GMT -9
There were so many entries (oops - I couldn't find a smiley with a tongue in cheek look that was obvious...) that it took the judge a long long time to come up with the winners...
powmia wins an unactivated geocoin for his relentless campaigning of the famed Alaska Mosquito Microgeocoin across America (that little geocoin of powmia's went everywhere! - kinda like another campaigning Alaskan recently seen in the news, eh?) And in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit a soft spot for seeing those little Alaska geocoins out in the world...
Ladybug Kids earns a well-deserved place in the winners circle for his demonstrations of the kind and loving care he provides for travelers in his care. His traveler logs are exemplary of the best sort of treatment a traveler can experience on the road with a photo-dedicated geocacher.
Finally, Frostg1ant gets a nod for his oddly quirky photographic treatments of the travel bugs he's carrying about. More than slightly odd in some cases, but always worthy of a good close look!
Winners can get their prize booty at the soon-to-be announced GEOFEST event, or make side arrangements with NorthWes. Keep up the good work logging travel bugs with a photograph to help owners know where in the world their little TB's been!
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