We're having a great time hanging here in Alpine. We've decided to stop for a few days in nearby Fort Davis on our way back from Big Bend, so our sightseeing agenda here has been abbreviated. That's given us more time to do one of our favorite things and to try something new.
We love to go geocaching. But, it just never seems like we have time to go in search of caches. This year, we've set a goal: to find 250 geocaches this year. Before yesterday, we were up to - eh - five . (Really, we have no excuse!) We picked up the pace yesterday and found three caches around Alpine. This isn't exactly a cache-rich part of the world, but the three we went in search of and happily found gave us a 360-degree tour of the town and one steep and rocky climb. Going 3-for-3 and getting in a nice hike made it a very good day.
Today, we made our maiden voyage into a bit of genealogy research. We don't really have much interest in this pursuit, but it turns out that Paul had a great uncle who lived in Alpine for awhile in the 1930s. So, we were curious to know if we had any peeps here in town. We made quick stops at the public library and the tax assessor's office. The latter pointed us to the archives at Sul Ross State University. There we found a most helpful librarian who set us up for our search. She knows a couple of newbies when she sees 'em. And, she cautioned us that there was probably just a 50-50 shot that we'd find anything.
With our expectations in check, we started looking. Within minutes we'd made a discovery. Turns out the great uncle owned a couple of restaurants back in the day. In the days way before Starbucks, the ol' uncle had the hottest coffee spot in town. We got some dates and saw a helpful old photo or two. Even the librarian was excited about our finds. After that, the trail ran cold. But, we had learned something! That's where, we think, people get hooked on this whole genealogy gig. But, not us. We'd rather be out hiking hills in search of geocaches than sitting with our noses in old books in the library. But, it sure was fun.
We might try it again, someday. But, for now, we have 242 caches to find this year!
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8 comments:
glad you found the book..now it is on to the geo-caches..and maybe a few long lost relatives along the way!!
So now that yer a gonna inhairent them millions from that starbunks company, are ya gonna change yer lifestye?
We have tried a couple of the ge0 caches, but just have found it that exciting yet.
Gets you out and about!
we just started geocaching. there are several over at Fort Davis. Are you going to Big Bend National Park? Its one of my favorites- we just came from there in fact. There's a really neat hike that isn't on any of the maps- let me know if you want to know about it.
enjoy the geocaching! lots of fun finding the 'out of the way spots'
I.M - Uncle Eddy's been dead for decades. But, now the secret is out! That's right, our fulltiming is being funded by a West Texas coffee baron!
Chuck and Anneke - Hope you stick with it. Our first cache took us two days to find. I thought it was the dumbest game ever. Now, I'm hooked.
Sue - Sounds like we just missed you. Bummer! Yes, we are heading to BB. I read your post about the secret hike. I want to know more. I'll email you.
When we stayed in Alpine way back in 2001 the Sul Ross State University had the most marvelous cowboy/Western exhibition. We spent several hours there one day.
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