Dutchess County, Putnam County, and Central Jersey
Took the day off on Friday to make a 3-day weekend. I hadn't been geocaching in the I-84 corridor from Fishkill to Carmel in quite a while so I allowed 3 days for that. It went a lot faster than I thought (29 caches on Friday, 32 on Saturday), so I finished off the weekend in Central Jersey instead.
Went to Fishkill and Wappingers Falls on Friday after doing 2 geocaches in Orange County on the way up. Notable collections of geocaches were along the Fishkill Creek ("Down by the creek" series, 1.5-mile round trip hike) and in Carnwath Farms ("Four of a Kind", even though there were more than 4 in the series :) ). Aside from those, geocaches were spread out along the major roadways, making for easy travel.
Dinner was 4 pieces of fried fish and a fish taco at Long John Silver's in New Windsor because I had a $10 gift certificate from a complaint resolution. I had to stop at around 8pm to get there before they closed the dining area but by that time, I was pretty much done in the area anyway. Well, looks like they did pay attention to my feedback. Although they still lock the dining area at 9pm sharp, they're no longer discouraging customers from using the dining area shortly before 9pm. The place was in fact busy near closing time so it is worth catering to late arrivals.
Did geocaches in Carmel, Kent, and Mahopac on Saturday. I hadn't been there in such a long time that almost every geocache in the area was new to me. I followed US-6 and Route 52, and made a side trip to Patterson. Best part of the day was taking in the view at scenic Lake Carmel at Bottoms up! Then in Mahopac, I was asked directions by movers because someone who's looking under a bench for a geocache must know the area well, right? :) They were about 10 miles off course but luckily, it was easy to tell them how to get back to the interstate.
I used US-6 and the Bear Mountain Bridge to go home just to get one last geocache in Peekskill along the way. I'm glad I went home that way. I found out later that traffic was at a standstill on the Tappan Zee Bridge due to night construction. They should've built a new Tappan Zee Bridge a long time ago. It's now in poor shape and needs work all the time because of holes that keep appearing on the surface. Not much by way of dinner options so I had a spicy chicken sandwich at Wendy's in Palisades Center. I was surprised that they were still open in the food court long after most of the mall had closed.
Sunday had been forecast to be a rainy day so I remained relatively close to home and geocached in Central Jersey. Didn't do as many as I did on Friday and Saturday but my big achievement of the day was finding Minute, a 5-star difficulty cache. To be fair though, I think it has gotten easier over the years as the hiding spot rotted away. Also, although this cache is pretty small (it is a Listerine breath strips container), it is no longer considered tiny by today's standards.
The rain started in the late afternoon so I grabbed two more quick caches and stopped for the day. Dinner was steak tacos at Chipotle in Bridgewater Commons.
Friday:
End of the Toll Brothers Line (New York)
Fifty--Two Ska--Doo--Two (New York)
Stuck in the Middle (New York)
GOOOAAAALLLLLL! (New York)
Negatory (New York)
"Down by the Creek Series #3" Mini Falls (New York)
Down by the Creek Series #6 "Standing Around" (New York)
Down by the creek series #5 "Antique Gas Station" (New York)
"Down by the Creek Series #4 "Mr. Heron" (New York)
"Down by the Creek Series #2" Branching Out (New York)
"Down by the Creek Series #1 " Cheeseburger Bird (New York)
A Pine On Nine (New York)
Bad Breath (New York)
The End of Merrits Way (New York)
A-Corny Cache (New York)
Rt 9 TB & Coin Lodge (New York)
5th of Four of a Kind (New York)
6th - Four of a Kind (New York)
4th from Four of a Kind (New York)
Carnwath Farms (New York)
First of 4 of a Kind (New York)
Option "B" (New York)
Lucky Numbers (New York)
The Return Of Zippy (New York)
Down by the Creek Series #7 "Tree Eating Cache" (New York)
What a Loooong and Straaange Trip This has Been ?! (New York)
NLIDY (New York)
If you want it, here it is, come and get it (New York)
Chianti - Hudson Valley Wine Trail (New York)
Saturday:
Muggle Depot (New York)
Paladin Quest #5---Yellow (New York)
Route 6 Series "Stage Left" (New York)
Are you coming or going ? (New York)
The Forty Niner (New York)
Route 6 Series Add-On " Trail Rail " (New York)
Route 6 Series "Bird's Eye View" (New York)
Route 6 Series "How Stealth are You?" (New York)
Common Place (New York)
In the Middle of Nowhere #2 (New York)
Over the river and thru the woods (New York)
Real or Fake? (New York)
Cousin It Started Here! (New York)
Breaking the Law (New York)
Bottoms up! (New York)
Lake Carmel River Run (New York)
FTF Challenge - Karensplace08 (New York)
Rusted Root (New York)
Ryan's Cache (New York)
Take the $ and Run!! (New York)
Heaven On Earth (New York)
Watch out for the Alligators! (New York)
The Red Mapple Cache (New York)
Off The Beaten Track (New York)
Carmel Hide Away (New York)
F.D. Wildlife Sanctuary (New York)
Sybil Ludington's Ride (New York)
Old Mine (New York)
Route 6 Series "Red Light, Green Light, 1-2-3" (New York)
All Aboard (New York)
Bring Me The Head Of Chucky (New York)
C&S Drop (New York)
Sunday:
Downtown / Main Street USA: Harlingen, NJ (New Jersey)
Tiny Often Empty Park: Harlingen, NJ (New Jersey)
Minute (New Jersey)
Alexis' Secret Hangout (New Jersey)
Melrose Park (New Jersey)
The Craver Cache (New Jersey)
through the woods (New Jersey)
Tiny Middlesex Park (New Jersey)
F-Stop (New Jersey)
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, (New Jersey)
911...What is your emergency? (New Jersey)
That's a lot of Bull (frogs that is) (New Jersey)
Minit Bench (New Jersey)
Went to Fishkill and Wappingers Falls on Friday after doing 2 geocaches in Orange County on the way up. Notable collections of geocaches were along the Fishkill Creek ("Down by the creek" series, 1.5-mile round trip hike) and in Carnwath Farms ("Four of a Kind", even though there were more than 4 in the series :) ). Aside from those, geocaches were spread out along the major roadways, making for easy travel.
Dinner was 4 pieces of fried fish and a fish taco at Long John Silver's in New Windsor because I had a $10 gift certificate from a complaint resolution. I had to stop at around 8pm to get there before they closed the dining area but by that time, I was pretty much done in the area anyway. Well, looks like they did pay attention to my feedback. Although they still lock the dining area at 9pm sharp, they're no longer discouraging customers from using the dining area shortly before 9pm. The place was in fact busy near closing time so it is worth catering to late arrivals.
Did geocaches in Carmel, Kent, and Mahopac on Saturday. I hadn't been there in such a long time that almost every geocache in the area was new to me. I followed US-6 and Route 52, and made a side trip to Patterson. Best part of the day was taking in the view at scenic Lake Carmel at Bottoms up! Then in Mahopac, I was asked directions by movers because someone who's looking under a bench for a geocache must know the area well, right? :) They were about 10 miles off course but luckily, it was easy to tell them how to get back to the interstate.
I used US-6 and the Bear Mountain Bridge to go home just to get one last geocache in Peekskill along the way. I'm glad I went home that way. I found out later that traffic was at a standstill on the Tappan Zee Bridge due to night construction. They should've built a new Tappan Zee Bridge a long time ago. It's now in poor shape and needs work all the time because of holes that keep appearing on the surface. Not much by way of dinner options so I had a spicy chicken sandwich at Wendy's in Palisades Center. I was surprised that they were still open in the food court long after most of the mall had closed.
Sunday had been forecast to be a rainy day so I remained relatively close to home and geocached in Central Jersey. Didn't do as many as I did on Friday and Saturday but my big achievement of the day was finding Minute, a 5-star difficulty cache. To be fair though, I think it has gotten easier over the years as the hiding spot rotted away. Also, although this cache is pretty small (it is a Listerine breath strips container), it is no longer considered tiny by today's standards.
The rain started in the late afternoon so I grabbed two more quick caches and stopped for the day. Dinner was steak tacos at Chipotle in Bridgewater Commons.
Friday:
End of the Toll Brothers Line (New York)
Fifty--Two Ska--Doo--Two (New York)
Stuck in the Middle (New York)
GOOOAAAALLLLLL! (New York)
Negatory (New York)
"Down by the Creek Series #3" Mini Falls (New York)
Down by the Creek Series #6 "Standing Around" (New York)
Down by the creek series #5 "Antique Gas Station" (New York)
"Down by the Creek Series #4 "Mr. Heron" (New York)
"Down by the Creek Series #2" Branching Out (New York)
"Down by the Creek Series #1 " Cheeseburger Bird (New York)
A Pine On Nine (New York)
Bad Breath (New York)
The End of Merrits Way (New York)
A-Corny Cache (New York)
Rt 9 TB & Coin Lodge (New York)
5th of Four of a Kind (New York)
6th - Four of a Kind (New York)
4th from Four of a Kind (New York)
Carnwath Farms (New York)
First of 4 of a Kind (New York)
Option "B" (New York)
Lucky Numbers (New York)
The Return Of Zippy (New York)
Down by the Creek Series #7 "Tree Eating Cache" (New York)
What a Loooong and Straaange Trip This has Been ?! (New York)
NLIDY (New York)
If you want it, here it is, come and get it (New York)
Chianti - Hudson Valley Wine Trail (New York)
Saturday:
Muggle Depot (New York)
Paladin Quest #5---Yellow (New York)
Route 6 Series "Stage Left" (New York)
Are you coming or going ? (New York)
The Forty Niner (New York)
Route 6 Series Add-On " Trail Rail " (New York)
Route 6 Series "Bird's Eye View" (New York)
Route 6 Series "How Stealth are You?" (New York)
Common Place (New York)
In the Middle of Nowhere #2 (New York)
Over the river and thru the woods (New York)
Real or Fake? (New York)
Cousin It Started Here! (New York)
Breaking the Law (New York)
Bottoms up! (New York)
Lake Carmel River Run (New York)
FTF Challenge - Karensplace08 (New York)
Rusted Root (New York)
Ryan's Cache (New York)
Take the $ and Run!! (New York)
Heaven On Earth (New York)
Watch out for the Alligators! (New York)
The Red Mapple Cache (New York)
Off The Beaten Track (New York)
Carmel Hide Away (New York)
F.D. Wildlife Sanctuary (New York)
Sybil Ludington's Ride (New York)
Old Mine (New York)
Route 6 Series "Red Light, Green Light, 1-2-3" (New York)
All Aboard (New York)
Bring Me The Head Of Chucky (New York)
C&S Drop (New York)
Sunday:
Downtown / Main Street USA: Harlingen, NJ (New Jersey)
Tiny Often Empty Park: Harlingen, NJ (New Jersey)
Minute (New Jersey)
Alexis' Secret Hangout (New Jersey)
Melrose Park (New Jersey)
The Craver Cache (New Jersey)
through the woods (New Jersey)
Tiny Middlesex Park (New Jersey)
F-Stop (New Jersey)
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, (New Jersey)
911...What is your emergency? (New Jersey)
That's a lot of Bull (frogs that is) (New Jersey)
Minit Bench (New Jersey)