Discovering my neighbourhood (through geocaching)

Yesterday, I was on my way home from work.  It had been a long, tediuos day, and all I wanted to go was go home.  I was not up for adventures.  However, I needed to remain committed to my month long challenge, so I pulled out my phone and did a quick scan of my neighbourhood for one that wasn't too difficult.

I noticed one that said it was in a park nearby, so I hit the "navigate" button, and my phone swiftly dictated its robotic instructions at me and told me where to go.  Five minutes later, I found myself turning onto a dead-end street.  (Note:  Geocaching often finds you turning onto dead-end streets.)

As I drove to the end of the street, I noticed a park appear behind the parked cars, and I smiled.  Maybe today would be a good day after all.  I quickly parked and approached the park.  It was a rather large field, and there were a few people out with their dogs, who seemed quite happy to be running around off-leash.  I noticed one of the "little free libraries" on a post at the edge of the park.  I went over to open it and have a look at the current books inside.  One caught my eye - a book by Oliver Sacks about ferns.  I couldn't resist - traded for it, and closed the little door.  There was also a box underneath the little library for lost and found items - a neat idea!  It's always fascinating to see the little quirks that neighbourhoods come up with.



As dogs ran around in the open field, I felt fairly exposed as I made my way to the cache hiding spot.  I didn't really need my GPS - the hiding spot was quite obvious.  I mean, how could you NOT hide something here?  There was a fence impeding my access, though, so I elected to go the long way around.

I walked over to the edge of the park where there was a gate to access some stairs that seemed to go down into a ravine.  I went in, and walked alongside the inner part of the fence, carefully moving branches out of my way as I went.  As I approached the stump, I saw that it was full of snow from a recent snowfall, and I had left my gloves in the car.  I quickly found a stick and used it to move the snow around, brushing it here and there.  A blue silly band revealed itself.  "Uh oh", I thought to myself.  Little trinkets like this should be inside the container.  As I uncovered a small string of beads and an empty plastic baggy, I thought that certainly this cache had been "muggled" (i.e. discovered by a non-geocacher and vandalized).  However, as I persisted in my sweeping away of snow, I suddenly saw a small corner of a black box.  Success!  I had to pry it open with my car keys since the lid was frozen onto it, but I soon had it open and an otherwise empty container, except for the Logbook.  I signed my name, put it in the little baggy I had found to keep it more waterproof, wiped off the trinkets I had found in the stump and placed them in there, too.

I drove home, happy at my little mini-adventure and discovering a new part of my neighbourhood.  I will have to go back when it's warmer and see where that ravine leads.

The experience reminded me of when I was a child.  I used to pore over my father's Toronto street guide map books, fascinated by all the patches of green, wanting to explore and discover where they all went.  When I got into my teens and had the freedom to explore alone, I would put that large street guide in my purse along with a compass, and take public transportation to one of the large green patches.  I discovered so many ravines, parks, and other fascinating hidden parts of the city this way.   I would walk for hours, and eventually use the street guide and my compass to direct me out to the streets so I could figure out where I was and how to take public transportation back home.  Geocaching allows me to do the same thing.  It's not so much about hunting for the container, although that has its merits.  It's about exploring areas I never would have known about, especially right here in my own city.  Quiet parks, best-kept neighbourhood secrets, are suddenly at my fingertips.

Today, I had to go deal with a parking ticket, and on my way home I decided to grab my daily cache.  My first attempt was in a strange parking lot that said it was for church-goers only; however, there was no church in sight!  I searched for a few minutes, but there was a lot of snow build-up and I wasn't too hopeful.  I continued on my way home and stopped for another, more likely-to-find cache - near a public library.  The container was quickly found and signed, and then I stopped into the library to check it out.

Interesting "Letter Factory" game

Electronic educational table

According to the cache description, Cedarbrae Public Library "was home to the first self-check-in and sorter in the Toronto Public Library system", and recently underwent a renovation.  The library had a number of interesting features, which I enjoyed seeing.  There was a manual letter-creating game for young children, an electronic table with different educational games, and a beautiful mural of animals in the children's books area.  While I was there, I remembered to ask if they had any of the "City of Toronto Biodiversity Series" books.  These are free, full colour photographic books that explain and explore the different types of life in the city.  All you have to do is walk into any public library and ask for them (they usually keep them hidden behind the counters) and they will give you as many different ones as you want.  I picked up two that I didn't have yet - "Reptiles and Amphibians of Toronto" and "Mushrooms of Toronto".  Maybe next time I'm out geocaching, I'll be able to identify the name of that interesting mushroom or frog!

Children's reading area

This is why I geocache, and why I made myself start this February challenge to begin with.  What could have been two uneventful days of going to work, coming home, doing errands/etc., suddenly turned into two small, exciting, interesting memories of my day.

The difference between a mediocre day and a memorable day is largely one of choice.  I can chose to do what I always do, or I can chose to do something different.  I can chose to take a walk in my neighbourhood and see something I've never seen before.  This is what my February challenge is about