2010-02-08 36 -76

Location

In the northernmost back corner of the Rosewood Memorial Park in Virginia Beach, VA. Will someone win the elusive Coffin Potato Achievement?

Participants

Archer27 and his kids (StrongAbby and Stuntman)

Plans

After missing 2 good hashes over the weekend due to weather and other plans (including one in the hard-to-capture Virginia Beach graticule), I was excited to see one close by when I checked today's.

Seeing that the hash was in a cemetary, I hoped that I would be able to get there before they closed any gates or anything (Cemetaries have gates, right? Are they 24/7? I don't really know anything about them). I decided that I could run by the house and pickup my gear and still get out there with enough time and daylight to spare to make a nice hash.

Expedition

I left work and ran by the house to grab my expedition bag. Apparently it was also Ladies Night (that I was not aware of) so the kiddos had to come too. I grabbed them also and we piled into my trusty hashmobile. I let StrongAbby sit up front and hold the Google map to help navigate.

In an effort to avoid the highway (and thus an additional trip of 15 minutes), I skillfully took neighborhood roads right to the cemetary entrace. Based on the Google maps, I wasn't entirely sure if the hash was actually in the cemetary or just outside of it, but decided to try there first in case it closed. Turns out they have no gate or even a chain to close it up, so we were ok time-wise. I took the lane around inside, following the arrow on the GPS with StrongAbby's help.

When we finally reached the back of the place, the hash appeared to be several hundered feet off the road and among the graves (cue spooky music). I left my compatriots waiting in the car (because one of the them was asleep) and went the rest of the way on foot.

The hash turned out to be right on someone's grave. I took the requisite photos and thought about a hashmark, but decided that under the circumstances it would not be appropriate ("oh Harold, I miss you so much....what the heck is xkcd??"). I did the Stupid Grin^tm and returned to the car.

I had really wanted to make this a GeoSquishy Achievement, but felt I didn't have enough time to stop and get them - too bad because there was a fine establishment right across the street. Having missed the refreshing drink opportunity, I decided that we should celebrate in the age-old post-hashing tradition of lumpia. I went to a local Phillipino bakery mere blocks from the hash, only to discover that they do not accept credit cards. As a married man with 2 small children, I'm not even sure that I remember what cash looks like, so we had to forgo the Southasian feast for a more staid chicken fingers meal at home.