A Different Special Guest!

A couple of days ago, I played hooky from work for a special reason. A longtime reader of the site was visiting the area for a week and wanted to come down to Austin to see what the city has to offer from a caching perspective. Would I ever pass up a chance to meet with a visiting cacher or show off my city? Not a chance!

PattiNH normally can be found in New Hampshire and many points northeast, but she was visiting family near Fort Hood (soon to be Fort Cavazos) and ditched them all for an afternoon. We started with some lunch and then headed to grab a few caches. The first one did not bode well. What’s even the point of a Foucault’s pendulum that isn’t running? We continued a little further downtown to the Texas State Cemetery for the Virtuals and the Adventure Lab series contained therein. That gave us a little time to commune with some of the most famous and influential people who have passed through this state. Of course, there’s always something new to find. I don’t know if it had always been there or if it was new, but I found a cenotaph for Bill Pickett. I also discovered an ancestor of my daughters who I didn’t know was there. PattiNH visited the likes of Barbara Jordan, Fred Gipson, and Gene Cernan, among others. After walking among the stones a little, we took off to get into downtown proper. Rolling to the dulcet tones of The Clash, I knew the next cache would be appreciated.

Who knew that a music fan would also enjoy Stevie Ray Vaughan? This also gave me a chance to show off Lady Bird Lake (which I still call Town Lake, but whatever). We talked about shows we had seen and how she saw many famous bands before anyone had ever heard of them when she lived in New York in her youth. She told me about seeing an unknown R.E.M. as the opening act for Joan Jett and another big act, the name of which escapes me. Her friend’s band, A Flock of Seagulls, was supposed to open that show but was bumped for the local favorite Jett. But that’s beside the point. We briefly considered doing a nearby Whereigo, but she didn’t feel like messing with a cartridge at that moment, and I totally get that. Despite knowing that she’s a reader and knows more than most about the things I’ve done and places I’ve been, it never ceases to throw me when I run into someone who has been spending time with all these words I bang out. As I thought about it, I realized there was a way to sweeten the pot.

I knew that friend of the site Razorbackgirl would be downtown, so we dropped in on her and chatted for a while. We all talked about New England caching, places in Arkansas, upcoming Geowoodstock, and a bunch of other stuff. With a tentative trip to Connecticut on the calendar, there was some question about the best caches to hit up there, PattiNH having completed the state (I was pretty sure I’d make it to Owensboro, but that’s starting to look remote, though Memphis is still on the table, but no promises yet). Eventually, we had to make our way north from downtown because the best was yet to come. For the few of you who don’t know, Austin is home to the third-most-favorited cache in Texas, the Necropolis at Britannia Manor. Of course, I had to drag her out there!

We went through the gate and followed the path. I’d been there a number of times, but this time I was thrown by a new wrinkle. Every time I’d been out before, the lock on the cache had been broken. Now it had been repaired, so we had to bounce around looking for the clues to open it up! But we found what we needed, and treasure lay within! We used a quarter for what it was for (if you ever go, trust me and take some quarters) and took in a view of the Hill Country. I grabbed a trackable while I was there, and she gave the cache a favorite point because it deserves them all! We were about ready to call it a day, but she noticed that I hadn’t logged any caches myself, which is true because I had already found all the ones I took her to. She insisted that I needed to get my daily cache. We popped over to a nearby park for a little walk along its trails and found a sturdy old camouflaged PVC pipe with some damp swag and a log inside. Mission accomplished.

That was all worth ditching work for. It was a lovely day with lovely company. I was more than happy to roll with PattiNH, even if it was just for an afternoon. And, of course, everybody is invited to Austin! Not to my house, mind you, but to the city! We should all go caching!