Logs for fraygirls 

Well, YES, we actually did feel stupid when we arrived near the posted coordinates. We had a different type of destination in mind and the real object of our search here differed dramatically from our assumptions. This was a very cool spot, and we're so glad that we were wrong!

The last time we were near here was over ten years ago, before the junior fraygirls were born. The frayguy and I were just wandering around the city aimlessly and were near this spot when we were approached by some fellows who were really very interested in acquiring our money. This was on a busy sidewalk! We didn't think that our new friends would do anything too bold or violent in such a setting, so we took on the role of foreign tourists who did not speak English and therefore did not know that they were being mugged. We spoke Russian and broken English and pulled out a map and asked the lead guy if he could show us where the big museum was. All the while yammering on in Russian back and forth, back and forth. It was like early Borat and these poor guys were completely confused. We were able to walk away unharmed and with all of our beer money. Remember friends - when in an unexpected situation, you can gain a degree of advantage by doing the unexpected yourself.

Thanks for the cache and the memories! 

Finally found this neat cache after hearing about it all day at GW5. Did my best to keep it moving...into the hand of the next cacher! Thanks for sharing! 

Oakdale Cemetery, Wilmington, NC...

While exploring historic Oakdale Cemetery, we came across the grave marker for General William MacRae. The grave was located in a small family plot, and there were four other Confederate soldiers and leaders of various ranks in this one family (at least in this plot). Here's some information about General MacRae from the Special Collections Library at UNCW:

General MacRae (1834-1882) was a descendant of the clan MacRae of Rosshire, Scotland. He was trained in Philadelphia and began a career as a civil engineer for the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad. His military career began when he enlisted in the Monroe Light Infantry at the beginning of the Civil War. He rapidly rose through the ranks and was made a brigadier-general in 1864. General MacRae distinguished himself in many of the major battles and was considered to be a natural military leader. He was well loved and respected by the troops. After the War, General MacRae resumed his career as a civil engineer for the Macon and Brunswick Railroad. He died in Augusta, Georgia of pneumonia on February 11, 1882 at the age of 47.

General MacRae is at rest in a truly magnificent place...Oakdale Cemetery is peaceful, beautiful, and full of interesting history. 

Here's an old train depot which currently serves as a museum in Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina. We were disappointed that this was closed on the day of our visit to the area -- it looks interesting. The exterior of the building is beautifully restored, so we can only imagine that the inside must be really cool. We'll be back to visit this one! 

We stumbled upon a wealth of Whispering Giants at the NC Museum of Forestry in Whiteville, North Carolina! Here, we found two large sculptures, as well as a smaller one...all still works in progress. An employee at the museum told us that Mr. Toth has been working on these since October, and that he thinks that the two large statues are numbers 70 and 71. One is being made for the nearby Waccamaw Siouans, and the other large sculpture will remain at the museum. These are being carved from massive cypress tree trunks which, according to the museum worker, were so heavy that the truck delivering them was barely street-legal.

Looking at these statues, I was reminded of a sight from my much-younger days in Rhode Island. I felt like I had seen one of these before. The museum had a book of all of the Whispering Giant locations and, sure enough, Mr. Toth had carved one of these in a park in Narragansett, Rhode Island back in 1982. It was a weird deja vu moment.

We're only claiming one of the two Whispering Giants which can be found at this site. The other, facing the fire department, is available for another geocacher to claim! 

Fort Fisher State Park, Kure Beach, North Carolina...

We were checking in on a couple of our caches near this area when we happened to notice one of these huge sirens. We've only driven by it...oh,...thousands of times without ever noticing it before! We're impressed that this thing is even still here -- it has survived many, many hurricanes. 

Downtown Wilmington, North Carolina...

Dolphins and a sea turtle spotted along the Cape Fear River!!

This mural dominates the view from the northern end of the riverwalk, but it's off in the distance so we could never tell if it was an official Wyland mural. Today we thought it would be cool to figure out how to get to the base of the mural so we could give it a closer look. Sure enough, there was that crazy signature (and the date: 1993)! 

Ripley's Aquarium, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina...

We were checking out the "Titanic" exhibit at the aquarium when the middle fraygirl noticed that one of the displays showed coordinates. The display shows a telegram from the Olympic which acknowledges receiving the Titanic's distress signals, and cites the coordinates at which the Titanic struck the iceberg. Creepy. 

Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina...

We found this lovely lady while enjoying a fun-filled day of shopping and geocaching!! She is covered with red, white, and blue mosaic tiles, and looks awesome on a sunny day. Hope you like her! 

Hilton Park, Wilmington, North Carolina...

So here is the official "World's Largest Living Christmas Tree". This is not a hoax! The lighting of this tree (and a visit from Santa) has been a city tradition for 77 years. Here's a link to the Special Events page on the Wilmington's website, where you can read all about it:

http://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/specialevents/tabid/203/Default.aspx

We're not so sure about the veracity of this claim, though. When we first moved to this town a few years ago, we were very excited to go and see this Christmas tree. When we arrived at the site, though, the head fraygirl couldn't help but wonder: "Have we moved to Loserville?". There's a gigantic tree there, all right, but it is NOT what one would consider a traditional Christmas tree. In fact, the tree is not even of the evergreen variety...instead, it is a whopping huge Live Oak covered with Christmas lights!!! That's just kind of weird!!

Now that we've been living here for nearly a decade, though, we are thankful for the World's Largest Living Christmas Tree, and for all of the deeper, Charlie Brown-esque thinking that it has inspired. The World's Largest Living Christmas Tree has bestowed upon us the gift of a paradigm shift. What *is* the true nature of a Christmas tree? Is a Christmas tree best defined by the tree or by the lights? Who are we to think that this isn't a Christmas tree, just because it's an OAK?! 

Front Street, Wilmington, NC

We found this faux storefront mural painted on an empty building while strolling around downtown today. The windows (including a bay window), the awning, the people...all fake! We like how someone attached real Christmas wreaths to the "windows". A nice touch for the holiday season, huh? 

Wilmington, NC...Pointing to the Cape Fear River!

Here's an interesting trail tree, which is situated right near one of our cache hides. We had never heard of trail trees before, and a geobuddy of ours suggested that we check out this locationless after hearing our description of the tree. This tree points to the Cape Fear River, specifically to an area that still brings the local fishermen lots of tugs on their fishing lines.

This is our favorite locationless cache so far. It might even be our favorite cache overall, because it has made us aware of such a cool piece of our continent's history -- one that still speaks to us today. We are fascinated by this topic, and hope to find out lots more about it (and to run into more of these trees!). We've also been inspired to create our own trail tree for future generations to contemplate: we're going to manipulate a sapling in the woods behind our house in the hopes that it will grow to resemble a trail tree. It's going to point to a spot where we're going to bury a time capsule/treasure! YEAH!!

Thank you for an awesome cache! 

Wilmington, North Carolina...Where Orange Street meets the Cape Fear River...

This station of the Underground Railroad actually involved boats! Many slaves were able to escape this area at this site thanks to the constant presence of vessels calling at the Port of Wilmington. Ships from the northeast provided a means of escape, thanks to captains and crews with abolitionist sympathies.

According to the sign posted at the site, the largest escape took place on September 21, 1861 when 22 slaves used three sailboats to flee the area. Starting from this point at the foot of Orange Street, they navigated the 28 nautical miles to the mouth of the Cape Fear, which has an extremely quick current and a multitude of random eddies. After bypassing the heavily-armed Fort Caswell, they were picked up by Union blockading ships. The 22 former slaves were now freedmen, and they enlisted in the Union Army. 

The Browntown School, located on US 17, near Scott's Hill, North Carolina

We've always been curious about this building, and this cache gave us the perfect excuse to stop and investigate. Most of the doors and windows were blocked or gated, but we did manage to get a peek inside(through a crack in the plywood). Unfortunately, this building is really dilapidated, both inside and out. This fact is even sadder considering what we discovered when we started researching this school on the internet...

The Browntown School is one of the smaller Rosenwald schools, built in the early 1900's when Julius Rosenwald (then the CEO of Sears, Roebuck) joined forces with Booker T. Washington to improve the educational opportunities for African Americans in the rural south. In 2002, these schools (as a group) were included in the National Trust for Historic Preservation's "11 Most Endangered Historic Places".

Further research showed that the Browntown School building was used as a pottery studio within the last decade, but it is currently vacant and appears to have been that way for quite some time. The future for this particular school does not look promising, as the land upon which it sits is along a well-traveled road and happens to have a big FOR SALE sign posted prominently right in front. 

When we were first contacted by fishingdude about helping him out with this cache, we had a good idea of where to find the coordinates: super-scenic Wrightsville Beach. No problem! But when we drove to the right area, we ran out of land before we hit the right numbers on the GPSr. So the first spot ended up being in the water between the north end of Wrightsville and Figure Eight Island. We looked across the waterway to the land on the other side, where we knew we would be able to find a marsh-front view intersecting with the coordinates. There was only one problem with this option, but it was a significant one: the land over there was in an exclusive community which had gates and guards and there was no (ahem, legal) way to get in there.

So, despondent, we drove over to a nearby outdoor mall with the intention of drowning our sorrows in some overpriced caffeinated and/or chocolatey beverages. We hated to disappoint poor fishingdude. Then we realized that we were really close to the @#&% coordinates again, so we walked around until we found the perfect spot. Fishingdude's coordinates put us at a retention pond on the edge of the mall area. Yes, this sounds pretty depressing, but this spot is actually pretty cool...almost every time we drive by here, we see some interesting form of wildlife. We've seen hawks, basking turtles, and even deer at this spot. Today, as if on cue, there was a heron in the water. And we thought: COOL, that heron is a bit of a fishingdude, too! 

Here's the Wrightsville Beach drawbridge in action! Rather than sit in the line of traffic waiting for the bridge to open, we thought it would be cooler to pull into a nearby parking lot and take pictures...just in case this one had not yet been logged. We grabbed the coordinates while crossing the bridge a little later.

The bridge, built in 1935, spans the Intracoastal Waterway and connects Wilmington, NC with the small coastal community of Wrightsville Beach. This bridge has survived many devastating hurricanes, most notably Hazel, Fran, and Floyd. We were lucky enough to catch the bridge in its upright mode, and saw many yachts and boats floating through as though on parade. Beautiful day for a flotilla! 

Are you still looking for lighthouses? Here's one that hasn't been logged for this cache!

"Old Baldy", located on Bald Head Island off the coast of North Carolina, was built in 1817 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

A few years ago, an intrepid group of locals decided to ride out a hurricane in this structure rather than evacuate the island. Can you imagine what that was like?!! 

This one was starting to bring on insomnia. Was our challenge too difficult? Is our challenge being ignored because we're unpopular? Is our idea of creativity just really stupid? Oh, the self-doubt!

Then, after more than a month of hopeful and then doubtful anticipation, we have this brilliant submission from the SoccerFanatics, who managed to find the carousel and presidential props even though they were just traveling through the area. *Amazing!!*

Superior effort, SoccerFanatics...great picture and history lesson! The next quest is yours to offer - we can't wait to see what it will be! 

Moores Creek National Battlefield (National Park Service), located near Currie, NC.

The theme for the week is “educational geocachingâ€, so we thought this would be a great spot for a log for this cache. On a crisp fall day, we found ourselves strolling along winding trails which were punctuated by monuments and signs detailing the events which took place here in 1776. Here’s what we learned:

The Battle of Moores Creek Bridge, February 27, 1776

At this site, a brief but pivotal clash took place between a small band of patriots (numbering 1000) and a larger force of loyalists (numbering 1600) who were marching toward a rendezvous with a British naval squadron. The patriots were first to arrive here and were able to create a defensive advantage, building earthworks around their positions and sabotaging the bridge to hinder the loyalists’ crossing. In the ensuing battle, only one patriot was killed and the loyalist march to the coast was effectively blocked. This patriot victory is credited with ending royal authority in the colony of North Carolina, and it also encouraged North Carolina to instruct its delegation to the Continental Congress to vote for independence from Britain. North Carolina was the first American colony to do so.

The monuments here were very interesting: there was one dedicated to the lone patriot who fell in battle here (Private John Grady), another monument to the loyalists who fell (who “did their duty as they saw itâ€), and another honoring the heroic women of the Cape Fear region. Hey, that’s us!! We also spent a long time on the reconstructed bridge waiting for an alligator to surface, but no luck.

This was a very interesting place to spend the afternoon. Thanks for giving us another reason to come here...It’s not every day that you get to learn a little about pre-Revolutionary War history *and* log a find for a cache!
 

We managed to snatch this one right out from under the nose of digndirt, a local cacher who has some kind of sixth sense about locationless caches and where to find them. He is going to be so annoyed when he reads this log!! Oh well, sometimes youth and exuberance actually *do* prevail over old age and treachery. Bahahaha!

This marker is located near the Welcome Center, which sits along US 17, just south of the NC/SC state line.

[This entry was edited by fraygirls on Wednesday, October 05, 2005 at 3:44:34 AM.] 

Here's a really cool Turner sculpture, located at the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher. The sculpture is called "Spade Fish", and although there was no plaque at the site, we were able to find this listed on the Public Commissions page at the website provided in your listing:

http://www.turnersculpture.com/commissions.htm

The Memorial Garden behind the aquarium has a few smaller commissions by Turner nestled along the paths: a heron, an otter, a dolphin, and a mallard duck...there are probably others that we have forgotten or just didn't notice! We particularly liked the spade fish work, as the fish seemed to be suspended in mid-air. 

Spotted this carved door on our way to a coffee date in downtown Wilmington, NC today. The door (and the attached house), located on Third Street in the historic district, has seen better days. Hopefully someone will buy and restore these beauties soon! 

Your next quest is “The Presidential Carousel Ride!â€

Now that the school year has started, we feel that the next challenge must somehow combine fun and learning. Oh, that’s an easy one...

You must submit a picture of yourself accomplishing the following feats simultaneously:

a. Riding a carousel animal;
b. Holding your trusty GPSr; and
c. Portraying one of our 43 Presidents using a mask or other props.

Your log must include the coordinates and location of the carousel, as well as some information about the president you’ve chosen to portray. Completely meaningless extra points will be awarded to you if you are able to somehow connect the president with the animal you’re riding.

FYI, submissions containing political propaganda will not be accepted. Also, portrayals of presidential candidates who were not ultimately elected (H. Ross Perot, etc.) will not be accepted. Lastly, a picture of you dressed up like Abe Lincoln while standing in front of a carousel will not be accepted...you must be riding on the carousel.

We hope that you have fun with this quest! Don’t worry about making a fool of yourself; we do it all of the time, and it’s not as bad as you’d think.

 

Oh, the things that we will do to earn a smiley! We've known of the perfect spot for a photo for this leg of the scavenger hunt for ages, but the start of the school year and the price of gas had both conspired to delay our plans (we live in faraway Wilmington, NC). We even shared the location with local cachers who, for some reason, did not feel like dressing in drag to mimic the statue. Go figure...

So we finally found enough money in the couches at Starbucks to finance a tank of gas and a trip down Rt 17, and our first stop was this fountain at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, SC. We snapped this picture just before the angry Customer Service Matron emerged from her little building to scold us for putting our feet in the water. The head fraygirl replied: "But my feet have to touch the water if I want to get credit!" That lady gave us a look which we imagine can only be achieved by a southern lady of (or past) a certain age. The head fray gave her a look which can only be achieved by a cacher about to be scolded out of a find. It was a bit of a showdown there for a minute before the Customer Service Matron blinked and continued: "That water is full of chemicals and electricity...", and she beat a hasty retreat back to her building.

HAH! Only a rank amateur would let a little bit of chemicals and electricity get in the way of a cache find! We do have some questions, though: Did this lady scare other cachers away from taking their pictures here? Not that we are bothered by that. And the more interesting question is this: Why would a family-oriented place like B at the B build a fountain and fill it with chemicals and electricity and tempting statues of people having fun in the water? They're just asking for trouble and lawsuits!

We will wait to receive the nod from The Commissar! before posting the next challenge...

[This entry was edited by fraygirls on Sunday, September 18, 2005 at 4:15:28 PM.] 

Today was a good day to visit Airlie Gardens, near Wrightsville Beach, NC. With Hurricane Ophelia hovering right off our coast, we just had to check out all of the egrets which call these gardens home. We figured that we would be able to divine the future impact of the hurricane by studying their behavior. Also, there just happens to be a little chapel situated in the middle of the gardens which is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. It’s not often that one has the opportunity to perform some egret-based meteorological divination while logging a find for a cache at the same time.

Mt. Lebanon Chapel, number 86002879 on the National Registry of Historic Places, was listed with the registry on October 16th, 1986. The tiny chapel was built by Thomas Henry Wright in 1835, restored to its former glory in 1974 and it still opens its doors for special services and weddings today. Local lore claims that Wright built the chapel for his bride-to-be, who enjoyed the outdoors. Rather than installing the traditional stained-glass windows, Wright opted for plain windows which could be opened with ease. He wanted to be able to open the windows when his bride was in the chapel, so she could hear the birds and feel the breezes; he wanted it to seem that the surrounding woods were inside the chapel, too. Take note, Gentlemen-Geocachers: That’s Romantic!

After finding the chapel, we made our way over to the spot where all of the egrets traditionally hang out. We figured that their behavior would tell us a lot about the future impact of Ophelia - if they were just perched in the trees as usual, then things wouldn’t be so bad. If, on the other hand, their behavior was at all unusual, we would hurry home and prepare for the worst. When we arrived at the egret pond, the egrets weren’t there. Not one. That...well, that is not a good sign, really.

So our next stop was the beach. We just had to experience the pre-Ophelia waves and wind. It was an impressive sight, but the sand on the beach was quickly transforming into an army of stinging lethal projectiles, and the little fraygirl was having trouble standing upright in the wind. We knew we had to escape with haste, but we had one more important task to perform. Yes, we did what any liberal arts-educated person who was about to experience a hurricane named Ophelia would do. We turned to the raging sea and, in unison, shouted: “GET THEE TO A NUNNERY!!!†(apologies to William Shakespeare and Hamlet). The surfers and the Weather Channel groupies on the beach didn’t know quite what to think.


[This entry was edited by fraygirls on Thursday, September 15, 2005 at 4:54:15 PM.] 

We found this sign proclaiming that Hampstead, NC is the "Seafood Capital of the Carolinas" along Route 17 today. This could be true, but we think that the folks down in Calabash, NC (another self-proclaimed "Seafood Capital") would probably be skeptical about this claim. Come on people; can't we all just get along??!! 

This dam is located at Lake Waccamaw, in Columbus County, NC. The lake is one of the largest Carolina Bays in the world (and is the site of an Earthcache), and the dam is the point of origin for the Waccamaw River, which flows down through South Carolina. 

Well this was a fun cache...always nice to learn something new. It was pretty daring of you to seek a cache with a witness from the media. In the same situation, we would undoubtably NOT FIND the cache, and our failure would be documented forevermore. We're glad you found yours.

Oh, and that person in question #3 really needs to come up with a new hobby.

Many Thanks!