2010-03-06 26 -80

About

In someone's backyard in Tamarac, near Nob Hill Rd. and Southgate.

Planning

The hashpoint is about 0.5 km (0.8 km on foot) from Million_zillion's home. I'll head out around 4-ish and meet the neighbors.

Expedition Reports

Million_zillion

Let me first say that this was a beautiful day for a walk. Clear blue skies and 67° F.

I set out on foot at about 4:15pm, after first fiddling with the GPS SW in my Android phone for a bit (yay, GeohashDroid!). Along Southgate Blvd, I took a couple of pictures of Tephford Park, from across the street. It's been there for maybe a year now, less than 1/4 mile from me, but I'd never bothered to go over and enjoy it before.

I found the house where the hashpoint was, and I saw that there were no fences or other obvious "Keep Out" signage between the front and the backyard. I knocked on the door anyway, since I wouldn't want to startle these folks by wandering through their yard unannounced. As it happened, nobody was home.

The houses are close together around here, and it's not too unusual to see someone unfamiliar in the small backyard spaces between the houses (utility workers, neighbors' relatives, kids playing with novelty flying discs, etc.). So I walked over to the backyard of this house and found the hashpoint, just behind the swimming pool. (BTW, I commend the homeowners for putting up a child-safety fence around their pool.) I took a few scenic pictures and left.

I spotted a few interesting sights on the way back to the main road, including possible signs of "costumed adventuring" (see the gallery), and I decided to take a small detour through the park as well for a better look at the big art installation there (Under the Shadow of the Big Tree by Ilan Averbuch).

I'll post my tracklog as soon as I figure out how to do that.

Dtobias

I didn't actually make it to this hashpoint, but I did have a Mensa games night only a mile or two away, and afterward (about 11:30 PM, just barely still within the proper day) I did a drive-by. I snapped an iPhone picture, but it was too dark for anything to be clearly visible in it (I might play around with brightening functions to see if anything can be discerned, like in all those CSI-type programs where the cops take an undistinguished photo and manage to get intricate detail from it.)