Paranormal Ghost Cache: Scott Theater

LaGeek at Scott Theater

Once upon a time, when I was still in college, I worked at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History running the afternoon planetarium shows. When I had the time, I’d grab a corny dog (the cheapest meat item on the menu at the museum cafe) and go exploring the other museums in Fort Worth’s Museum District. At that time, the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum was located right next door (now it’s down a couple of blocks).

When I taught kindergarten, I would bring my students to the Scott Theater for an annual field trip to expose the kindergartners to culture.

I thought I knew the area fairly well so I was surprised to find that the Scott Theater is haunted. I learned this when I went geocaching in the Museum District during Spring Break.

According to the cache description, two ghosts haunt the Scott Theater. The ghost of William Scott is supposed to enjoy straightening and moving paintings hung within the theater. The stage is supposed to be haunted by the lighting designer and actor, Ken Yandell.

Although I didn’t see any ghosts, i did see a painting of William Scott. I also found the cache hidden right there on museum grounds. I love that I learn more about local history while becoming a more cultured person… and it’s all because of geocaching.

FYI: This building next door (look for the cowboy mosaics) offers free parking, as long as you park for less than 45 minutes. The parking attendant, though, seemed a bit peeved …

Free Parking?

Update on Spring Break 2013

I have one day left for Spring Break. Let’s look at what has already been accomplished.

• I have 888 minutes of the 1049 minutes on the IditaWalk. I still have two weeks to complete my IditaWalk.
• I mowed the lawn and we cleaned up 9 bags of lawn debris. There’s still a lot to do, though.
•  I passed my “Healthy Woman” check-up.
• Of the two caches I wanted to find, I found one.
• I got my book on how to identify Texas fossils. Now I need to read it.

In addition, I got a new pope. I stayed true to my goal of eating only at one-off restaurants. I finally read The Davinci Code. I played vintage video games and pinball at the Texas Pinball Festival. I visited the Log Cabin Village in Fort Worth for the first time.  I am halfway through my third cap of the week for Camp Happy Times.

I was right. It’s been a fulfilling week.

Downtown Dallas

All told, there are only about 24 caches hidden in downtown Dallas. Caches may come and go but one of my long-term goals is to find all the caches in the area bounded by I35E, I45, I75, I30, and TX366.

Getting to downtown Dallas isn’t difficult. I can take the TRE train for $7 and spend the entire day geocaching. The train is much cheaper than parking.

Then there’s the added benefits. Beyond the obvious health benefits of walking, I see a lot of art and architecture I’d miss driving by in my car.

Did you know that downtown Dallas has a Lady Liberty? I didn’t until I found her. There’s a cache hidden within her. The owner of the shop whose doorway she graces is quite helpful about finding it. He’s used to cachers hunting on his doorstep. He’s also a nice guy to just chat with.

If you ever see downtown Dallas’ Lady Liberty, stop. Chat with the owner. And, possibly, log a cache.

Dallas’ Lady Liberty

LaGeek Goes to Paris

Texas’ Eiffel Tower

I promised my husband a trip to the most romantic town in Texas: Paris.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. As my husband checked us in, he asked the young clerk, “What’s there to do In Paris?”

“Nothing,” was the glum reply.

This isn’t really true. They have a nice movie theater, a bowling alley, a skating rink, and a couple of dance clubs she was probably too young to get into. Paris is probably a really good town to raise a family but it’s probably a really good town to escape from if you’re a young man or woman with big dreams.

I brought us to Paris for one reason alone: the Texas Eiffel Tower. The plaque indicated that the Eiffel Tower hadn’t been built until the 90s… which is funny because I thought it was much older. In any case, I figure we’ll probably never make it to the famous Paris with its Eiffel Tower way over across the Atlantic but I could do second best: the tallest Eiffel Tower in the United States. (Tennessee has a Paris, too. Their Paris also has a tower but Texas’ tower is taller due  to the cowboy hat.)

The trip to the Eiffel Tower was a two-fer. In addition to the romance of the location, the Eiffel Tower of Texas is a virtual, or ghost, cache.

No town is boring with geocaching to do.

Spring Break!

Spring Break began at 4:15PM yesterday. I’ve been sick for the past three weeks, laid low by the common cold. For two of those weeks, I concentrated on the two S’s of the common cold: sleeping and soup. I left a trail of Puffs kleenex wherever I went but I’m finally weaning myself off Puffs and moving onto my healthy life with healthy goals.

• I’m participating in the IditaWalk 2013. As of today, I have walked 548 of the 1049 minutes. I mean to seriously whittle those minutes down in the upcoming week.
• My yard is a wreck. It requires mowing. It requires clean-up.
• It’s that time of year: the annual “Healthy Woman Check-Up” looms on Monday.
• There are two caches which have intrigued me for the past couple of years. I’ve never made time to get them. This week I’ll make the time!
• I’ve learned of a fossil park in Mineral Wells. If possible, I’d like to take a mini Spring Break vacation and spend a day in the park hunting for fossils and, possibly, logging the earthcache.

Have I taken on too much? Probably.

Will I have a busy and fulfilling Spring Break? I hope so.

 

Kids + iPhone + App = Tons of Family Fun

I don’t have any kids; I merely teach them. I believe, though, that kids ought to be spending a whole lot more time in the great outdoors than my students do. (I once had a kindergarten student whose eyes watered every time we went outside for recess. He’d never run in a straight line in his life before school.)

Geocaching is a great activity for the family. If you have kids and want to spend more time outside as a family, read this article for advice.

The best advice in the article for any geocacher is…

ALWAYS TAKE A PEN!

GC43QVC – Skin Game: Geocaching as Art

Geocaching is an art!?!

Skin Game Art

Ann Alan’s art is inspired by the blood her geocaching partner has bled in their quest to earn smileys.

To tell you the truth, I don’t “get”her art. I’m an urban geocacher. Blood, poison ivy, and visits to the doctor are not my goal. But I can appreciate those brave geocachers who aim high for those 5/5s. Me, I’m more of the 2/2 type.

I’m not ashamed of my 1/1s. Heck, those are some of my favorites. But there’s a 5/5 in Fort Worth I’d like to see someone else accomplish. Is Anne the same way? Does she prefer others to earn their blood and broken bones while she watches in relative safety?

Her partner attended the showing. He looks sane and relatively normal. Ann appears sane and relatively normal. She’s in charge of Fort Worth’s public art so she must be responsible. Still, art such as hers makes me wonder…..

12/12/12 – Updated

I just realized that I hadn’t updated you on my 12/12/12 find.

I left work later than I wanted; I was unable to attend the event held by the SouthWest Arlington Geocaching group (SWAG). However, after a quick search of the local area, I found a PNG (Park-n-Grab), lamppost, skirt cache just 1.2 miles from home. It was already dark when I arrived at home but I rather thought that a light wouldn’t be an issue with a lamppost cache.

As it turns out, I was wrong. The light in the lamppost was burnt out. Using my emergency flashlight from the car, I earned my 12/12/12 badge.

This badge marks my father’s birthday, my first night cache, and my first use of a flashlight to find a cache.

The Badge for Logging a Find on 12/12/12

Family Reunion at GC119Y1

My father turned 66 on 12/12/12. In honor of the occasion, we held a family reunion in Alice, TX. Before we left town, I wanted to visit my grandparents’ grave.  It was a beautiful 68 degrees in December with clearing skies after some morning showers.

We had a few hours to kill before our flight from Corpus back to the Metroplex so we decided to do some geocaching. The closest geocache to our hotel was in the same cemetery where my grandparents are buried. Obviously, this, along with the lovely weather, was a sign.

I’d returned to Alice for Grandma’s death. I remembered that her grave was near the back of the cemetery, near the road, next to some trees. We drove around the small cemetery for almost 45 minutes looking for that grave. No luck. I was getting frustrated and we were beginning to get funny looks from families who’d found their family graves.

Finally, I gave up. “Let’s just get the cache,” I told Sweetieheart.

Looking at the recent logs, I learned that the last two cachers who’d looked hadn’t found the cache. It had been DNFed twice! “Let’s just go check it out anyways.” I just wanted out of the car before I stuffed myself into an airplane for four hours.

There’s a whole part of the cemetery not accessible by car. I hadn’t known this until we hunted for the cache. “How do they get to the graves?” I wondered aloud.

The hint said that the cache would be found in the middle of multiple tree trunks. There were three likely trees near the DZ. I took the one to the east while Sweetieheart hunted in the one to the north.

“I found it,” Sweetieheart announced.

“You’re kidding! It’s been DNFed twice!”

“Nope.” He found a nearby bench and signed the log.

Sweetieheart Signs the Log

We were .7 miles from the car. I could just barely see it between the mesquite and cedar trees. As we walked back, I told Sweetieheart I wasn’t quite ready to climb back in. Would it be all right if we walked around the cemetery and looked at graves? It’s a very colorful cemetery and families are active in maintaining it. He likes the cemetery as much as I do so he was fine with walking around.

Ready for Christmas Graves

Halfway down the block, we found my grandparents’ grave. I was able to spend some time honoring their memories. Thank you to the geocacher who placed this cache! Because of you, I was reunited with my grandparents.

My Grandparents’ Grave

Solstice vs. Equinox

Equinox Sculpture Arch

As summer ended, I went on a geocaching adventure. Sweetieheart and I ran out of stamina once the temperatures hit the hundreds (again) and before I could get to an intriguing cache.

This site is very interesting to visit twice a year as it is an equinox sculpture. This large mass of metal “does something” twice a year on the spring and fall equinox, if the sun is out.

I marked it in my mind and, as school let out for the winter break and the Mayan Prophecy still hadn’t happened and I realized that I had a free day and 12/21/12 was the winter solstice, I decided I had to find the cache. After all, it was only about 15 miles from school and I was free! (Cue: “Free Falling“)

Equinox Sculpture Plaque

I must have been more tired than I thought. For some odd reason, I thought the equinox and the solstice were the same thing. It was a definite V-8 moment (knocking side of head with palm). But I logged the find anyway.

LAGEEK at the Equinox Sculpture