Memorial Day 2014: Monumental Geocaches

The remaining two caches in Erie were virtual geocaches. Heading back into town, our first stop was on a non-descript residential street to visit Auto Art. These are my absolute favorite types of caches, especially when I am a guest in an area. Without the cache, there would be no reason for us to be on this residential street, yet we would have definitely missed out on Pennsylvania’s own version of the Cadillac Ranch. The sculptures here are varied but have a common real-transportation-meets-science-fiction theme.

Erie sure has some big Beetles!

Our final stop in Erie took us right to the shore of Lake Erie. Some may argue that it seems as if the Civil War ended yesterday in the South, well on Presque Isle you could say the same about the War of 1812. To be fair, it was a nice change of pace. The area around the Perry Monument was nothing short of picturesque. A quiet inlet off the lake enabled an organization to host an event to teach children how to fish and tour groups on foot and bicycle were everywhere. Despite the cold water, we even saw folks swimming in the lake. “Don’t Give Up the Ship” is dedicated to the Perry Monument and the critical roles in the Battle of Lake Erie of both Erie and Commodore Perry.

Perry Monument on Presque Isle

After successfully finding the three geocaches in Erie, we headed west to Ohio. We hopped on I-90 and only a few miles down the road we were passed by a car with Washington State plates, we couldn’t help but wonder if they were going all the way. I-90’s western terminus is in downtown Seattle, after all.

We stopped for lunch in the Cleveland suburb of Mentor, Ohio to try out Melt Bar and Grilled. Melt is the evolution (revolution?) of grilled cheese sandwiches. We ordered the Melt Pierogi to start, it was golden delicious. Then I ordered the Chorizo and Potato, fresh ground spicy sausage and potato hash, sharp cheddar. It was delicious! Though shortly after finishing up one of my friends espoused the greatness of the Peanut Butter & Banana (caramelized banana, house made peanut butter, sweet cream cheese, candied peanuts, mixed berry preserves) and I’m a little bummed that I didn’t go that route. 

After filling our bellies and the tank of the car (it sipped fuel, getting 26 to 30 mpg all weekend), we headed to Twinsburg, OH to seek Twin Pirates Treasure Hunt. This multi-cache took us to scenic Center Valley Park on Tinkers Creek. Each stage of this multi cache introduced us to a different trail in a different part of the park. The hike was not particularly strenuous, it was just about right. The use of field puzzles and unique containers at each of the stages added an extra layer of fun to the cache. The whole time we sought the cache (total of about 90 minutes) we couldn’t stop commending the cache owner on an excellent cache design. Much to our surprise, the final stage of the cache was even better: a real treasure chest and a talking skull. While heading back to the car, Chris and I were trying to figure out where this cache falls in our top 5 caches found. It was worth every single mosquito bite on my back!

Yo ho, yo ho the final stage of the Twin Pirates Treasure Hunt

Once we wrapped up in Twinsburg the afternoon was wearing on. We decided to check out another cache in the Cleveland suburbs, but it was in the cache owner’s front yard. Front yard caches are hit and miss for me. In this case we had to walk up to the house to obtain a tool to retrieve the cache. The door to the house was open and it felt like a hundred eyes were on us. We decided to skip this one and make a bee-line for Columbus. Besides, I needed some quality time with my phone to arrange lodging for the night once we arrived there.