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On weekend trip to Sioux Falls, SD, Laura and I decided to explore the Cathedral of St. Joseph. The Cathedral is an unbelievable example of architecture and I am in awe at what was accomplished at the turn of the 20th century. Built in 1919, this Roman Catholic marvel is the center of the Diocese of Sioux Falls. I regret that we were not able to attend Sunday mass to hear the sweet Kilgen pipe organ.

Enjoy the photographs (click thumbnails for larger view)..

2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD	2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD	2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD
2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD	2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD	2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD
2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD	2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD	2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD
2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD	2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD	2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD
2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD	2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD	2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD
2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD	2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD	2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD
2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD	2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD	2013 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD

I passed through the town of Spring Grove, MN, a couple of years ago and discovered the row of cabooses as you enter town from the east. I was disappointed that I had not had my camera along for the ride. During the 2013 spring turkey hunt in Caledonia, MN, I knew Spring Grove was just a short eight miles down the road. This time I came prepared. I suspect that the cabooses are privately owned as they appear on the lot of an industrial site. Searching Google doesn't reveal much of anything about these beauties.

Enjoy the photographs (click thumbnails for larger view)..

2013 - The Cabooses of Spring Grove, MN	2013 - The Cabooses of Spring Grove, MN	2013 - The Cabooses of Spring Grove, MN
2013 - The Cabooses of Spring Grove, MN	2013 - The Cabooses of Spring Grove, MN	2013 - The Cabooses of Spring Grove, MN

Sunday April 21st, 2013, Molly celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation. She celebrated this wonderful day at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.

Enjoy the photographs (click thumbnails for larger view)..

2013 - Molly Celebrates Confirmation	2013 - Molly Celebrates Confirmation	2013 - Molly Celebrates Confirmation
2013 - Molly Celebrates Confirmation	2013 - Molly Celebrates Confirmation	2013 - Molly Celebrates Confirmation
2013 - Molly Celebrates Confirmation	2013 - Molly Celebrates Confirmation	2013 - Molly Celebrates Confirmation

For Your Eyes Only (GC47072) by bflentje

I had recently been playing with Arduino microprocessors for fun. They're fairly powerful programmable circuits used primarily in the robotics community but they're really limitless in nature. I'd been experimenting with various sensors and even wireless circuits just to see what I could put together and make work. It dawned on me as I was messing around that I could use these circuits to build the ultimate multistage geocache. And that's what I set out to do.

Beyond the idea of just wanting to build the ultimate multistage geocache, I had no idea what so ever what I was going to do. I did not have a theme, no location, I didn't have details in terms of stages, how difficult, how easy, I knew nothing. It wasn't until my family and I were immersed in a James Bond movie marathon celebrating 50 Years of Bond did the James Bond theme come about. My daughters and I spent the next couple of months trying to put the Bond theme on the map, planning and building the stages, brainstorming ideas, and laying everything out.

Believe it or not, the biggest obstacle in creating this geocache was not the stage assembly, but where and how will it be hidden. A vast amount of space was needed for a 12 stage geocache where each of the stages did not interfere with other geocaches in the vicinity. Lebanon Hills has way too much traffic for such a geocache so while remote from the metro area, Miesville Ravine was the most logical option. In order to avoid conflicts with the county, after all, wires and circuits in ammocans sounds fairly suspicious, every stage of this geocache was presented to the county for approval.

Now that the venue had been chosen, the cache was coming together. To make this an experience to remember, there were elements that had to be built into the cache. There were to be 12 stages. The first 10 stages each being unique in nature, contained a secret code. When you arrive at stage #11, the secret codes you collected from the previous 10 stages are to be used to derive the coordinates to the final stage #12. Each of the stages was to have a James Bond theme wrapped around it. There had to be a bit of tree climbing to simulate danger, but nothing overly challenging. In order to encourage social geocaching, I wanted to integrate the TEAMWORK REQUIRED attribute into one of the stages that could not be cheated. And finally, there had to be a backup plan in the event someone gets stumped. Check.

SPOILER ALERT Do not proceed unless you want to completely ruin your fun.

Enjoy the photographs (click thumbnails for larger view)..

2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)
2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)
2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)
2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)
2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)
2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)
2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)
2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)
2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)
2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)
2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)
2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)	2013 - For Your Eyes Only (GC47072)

Our family volunteered this evening at Feed My Starving Children. The five of us and Kelly provided an hour of our time to assemble MannaPacks which are bound for the African nation Burkina Faso. Our entire shift packed 91 boxes of MannaPacks, which can allegedly feed 54 children for an entire year.

Enjoy the photographs (click thumbnails for larger view)..

2013 - Feed My Starving Children	2013 - Feed My Starving Children	2013 - Feed My Starving Children
2013 - Feed My Starving Children	2013 - Feed My Starving Children	2013 - Feed My Starving Children
2013 - Feed My Starving Children	2013 - Feed My Starving Children	2013 - Feed My Starving Children

Lateral Potholes (GC272EE) by bflentje

There seems to be some difficulty in finding this geocache. Here are spoilers to aid in scoring the find. But please keep in mind, using spoilers for a 3/5 rated geocache could be embarrassing if your friends find out. So use this with discretion. It should be noted that the reservoir has been drained down for the winter. The normal waterline is three feet higher than shown.

Enjoy the photographs (click thumbnails for larger view)..

2013 - Lateral Potholes (GC272EE)	2013 - Lateral Potholes (GC272EE)	2013 - Lateral Potholes (GC272EE)
2013 - Lateral Potholes (GC272EE)	2013 - Lateral Potholes (GC272EE)	2013 - Lateral Potholes (GC272EE)

Exploring Lake Byllesby Sea Caves (GC272D5) by bflentje

There seems to be some difficulty in finding this geocache. Here are spoilers to aid in scoring the find. But please keep in mind, using spoilers for a 4/5 rated geocache could be embarrassing if your friends find out. So use this with discretion. It should be noted that the reservoir has been drained down for the winter. The normal waterline is three feet higher than shown.

Enjoy the photographs (click thumbnails for larger view)..

2013 - Exploring Lake Byllesby Sea Caves (GC272D5)	2013 - Exploring Lake Byllesby Sea Caves (GC272D5)	2013 - Exploring Lake Byllesby Sea Caves (GC272D5)
2013 - Exploring Lake Byllesby Sea Caves (GC272D5)	2013 - Exploring Lake Byllesby Sea Caves (GC272D5)	2013 - Exploring Lake Byllesby Sea Caves (GC272D5)

Today our family did Sunday Brunch with Santa at the Roasted Pear. The food was good but the company of family was even better. Merry Christmas to all.

Enjoy the photographs (click thumbnails for larger view)..

2012 - Breakfast With Santa	2012 - Breakfast With Santa	2012 - Breakfast With Santa
2012 - Breakfast With Santa	2012 - Breakfast With Santa	2012 - Breakfast With Santa

2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN

 

 

Hanging over the St. Louis River in the state forest near Cloquet, MN, there's a 1" steel highline connecting the two river banks. No one knows why it's there. No one knows when it was built. Even the MN DNR is not sure of its history.

Mounted aboard the carriage that rides the line is a geocache named Highline (GC3EHXK) by EskoClimber. Today, in an attempt to practice safety in numbers, we held a geocaching meet-and-greet event in order to complete the 4.5/5 rated geocache. About twenty of us gathered for the The Great Geocaching Circus - A Highline Adventure (GC4023F) and while I was the defacto chosen one to ride the wire, I think it is safe to say that all of the event attendees had a great time.

In order to ride the wire out to the carriage, I had built a zip-line trolley out of 1/4" plate steel. Two plates were held in place with four 1/2" bolts. Two steel idler pulleys were mounted between the plates using 1/2" class 8 bolts serving as a shaft. The idea is that for safety, the trolley gets mounted onto the wire. Therefore, if any single piece failed, the entire trolley should stay mounted on the wire. The device worked more or less as planned. Though, one small design change would have significantly lessened the amount of work required.

Enjoy the photographs (click thumbnails for larger view)..

2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN
2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN
2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN
2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN
2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN
2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN
2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN
2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN
2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN
2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN
2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN
2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN
2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN
2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN	2012 - A Highline Adventure, Cloquet, MN

Following our stop at Grand Marais, we decided to drive the 40 miles to Grand Portage State Park to view Pigeon Falls. Located on the border between Minnesota and Ontario, only the primary falls on the Pigeon River was flowing today. Low water levels left the secondary falls to the left at a mere trickle and the secondary falls to the right were non-existent. We still marvelled at Minnesota's highest waterfall and enjoyed the history lesson provided by state park signage.

Enjoy the photographs (click thumbnails for larger view)..

2012 - Grand Portage State Park, Grand Portage, MN	2012 - Grand Portage State Park, Grand Portage, MN	2012 - Grand Portage State Park, Grand Portage, MN
2012 - Grand Portage State Park, Grand Portage, MN	2012 - Grand Portage State Park, Grand Portage, MN	2012 - Grand Portage State Park, Grand Portage, MN
2012 - Grand Portage State Park, Grand Portage, MN	2012 - Grand Portage State Park, Grand Portage, MN	2012 - Grand Portage State Park, Grand Portage, MN