Difference between revisions of "2023-08-30 42 -87"

Latest revision as of 14:42, 13 September 2023

Location

In a public park near Skokie.

Participants

Plans

Going to take the train out in the afternoon!

Expedition

Because this hash appeared to be in a public park next to a bike trail, I set out to take the train to the nearest station to the point in Evanston and walk the roughly 1.5 miles to the hash point. I just recently downloaded Pokemon Go on my phone (a gps based mobile game) so I was hopeful I would have plenty to do along the way. The train journey to Evanston was uneventful, and I set my way out towards the hash, taking in the lovely architecture and generally enjoying the weather. I didn't actually play the mobile game that much because I didn't want to drain my phone's battery prematurely.

As I approached the trail to head through the park, however, a disappointing sight appeared. A locked gate barred access to the trail. Along side was a sign that indicated the sports fields beyond the gate were for use be permit only. I've never encountered a limited access public park before. Now I had no intention of using the soccer fields, I just wanted to walk down the trail, but there were crews working on the fields at the time so I didn't think they'd let me through the gate. I felt quite defeated and was ready to turn and head back to the train station when I remembered that there was a different park on the other side of the trail, and it was technically closer to the hash point. There wasn't a sidewalk to head around the sports park so unfortunately I had to walk through a busy mall parking lot all the way.

The other park turned out to be called Pooch Park, and was actually a dog park, but adjacent to it along the trails was a skate park and playground as well. And wouldn't you know it, there was no gate blocking access to the trail along the sports fields. I set out walking the short way to the hash point, reasoning that if any of the field crew asked what I was doing I could very legitimately tell them I was wandering around playing Pokemon Go. Two steps off the trail into the grass and I was at the hash point. Success! My first in the Kenosha graticule. Once again I didn't want to hang around too long and retreated back to the Pooch Park entrance to get the photo with Sylvie.

The walk back to the Evanston train station was wonderful, and I very much enjoyed seeing the neighborhood. Then just before reaching the station a flash of pink and blue in the corner of my eye drew my attention. To my amazement there was a pride flag on display outside an adorable indoor plants shop. I couldn't tell if they were open or not, and if they were I didn't have the time to stop in, but I made a note of them so I can come back and shop there in the future. And with that I took the trains home with a big smile on my face!

Photos

Gate blocking access
Permit only public park
Hash point along the trail
Success grin from Sylvie
Friendly little plant shop in Evanston
Proof

Achievements

Tarasaurus earned the Land geohash achievement

by reaching the (42, -87) geohash on 2023-08-30.

Tarasaurus earned the Public transport geohash achievement

by reaching the (42, -87) geohash on 2023-08-30 via Metra.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-<!-- If you did not specify these parameters in the template, please substitute appropriate values for IMAGE, LAT, LON, and DATE (YYYY-MM-DD format)
+{{meetup graticule
-[[Image:{{{image|IMAGE}}}|thumb|left]]
-Remove this section if you don't want an image at the top (left) of your report.   You should remove the "Image:" or "File:"
-tag from your image file name, and replace the all upper-case word IMAGE in the above line.
-And DON'T FORGET to add your expedition and the best photo you took to the gallery on the Main Page! We'd love to read your report, but that means we first have to discover it! :)
--->{{meetup graticule
 | lat=42
 | lon=-87
 | date=2023-08-30
-}}<!-- edit as necessary -->
+}}
 == Location ==
 In a public park near Skokie.
@@ Line 22: / Line 14: @@
 == Expedition ==
-<!-- how it all turned out. your narrative goes here. -->
+Because this hash appeared to be in a public park next to a bike trail, I set out to take the train to the nearest station to the point in Evanston and walk the roughly 1.5 miles to the hash point. I just recently downloaded Pokemon Go on my phone (a gps based mobile game) so I was hopeful I would have plenty to do along the way. The train journey to Evanston was uneventful, and I set my way out towards the hash, taking in the lovely architecture and generally enjoying the weather. I didn't actually play the mobile game that much because I didn't want to drain my phone's battery prematurely.
-Success! More detail later when I'm not tired - Tarasaurus
+As I approached the trail to head through the park, however, a disappointing sight appeared. A locked gate barred access to the trail. Along side was a sign that indicated the sports fields beyond the gate were for use be permit only. I've never encountered a limited access public park before. Now I had no intention of using the soccer fields, I just wanted to walk down the trail, but there were crews working on the fields at the time so I didn't think they'd let me through the gate. I felt quite defeated and was ready to turn and head back to the train station when I remembered that there was a different park on the ''other side'' of the trail, and it was technically closer to the hash point. There wasn't a sidewalk to head around the sports park so unfortunately I had to walk through a busy mall parking lot all the way.
+The other park turned out to be called Pooch Park, and was actually a dog park, but adjacent to it along the trails was a skate park and playground as well. And wouldn't you know it, there was no gate blocking access to the trail along the sports fields. I set out walking the short way to the hash point, reasoning that if any of the field crew asked what I was doing I could very legitimately tell them I was wandering around playing Pokemon Go. Two steps off the trail into the grass and I was at the hash point. Success! My first in the Kenosha graticule. Once again I didn't want to hang around too long and retreated back to the Pooch Park entrance to get the photo with Sylvie.
-== Tracklog ==
+The walk back to the Evanston train station was wonderful, and I very much enjoyed seeing the neighborhood. Then just before reaching the station a flash of pink and blue in the corner of my eye drew my attention. To my amazement there was a pride flag on display outside an adorable indoor plants shop. I couldn't tell if they were open or not, and if they were I didn't have the time to stop in, but I made a note of them so I can come back and shop there in the future. And with that I took the trains home with a big smile on my face!
-<!-- if your GPS device keeps a log, you may use Template:Tracklog, post a link here, or both -->
 == Photos ==
@@ Line 33: / Line 27: @@
 -->
 <gallery perrow="5">
+Image:2023-08-30 42 -87 gate.jpg|Gate blocking access
+Image:2023-08-30 42 -87 sign.jpg|Permit only public park
+Image:2023-08-30 42 -87 hash.jpg|Hash point along the trail
+Image:2023-08-30 42 -87 grin.jpg|Success grin from Sylvie
+Image:2023-08-30 42 -87 plants.jpg|Friendly little plant shop in Evanston
+Image:2023-08-30 42 -87 proof.png|Proof
 </gallery>
 == Achievements ==
 {{#vardefine:ribbonwidth|100%}}
-<!-- Add any achievement ribbons you earned below, or remove this section -->
+{{land geohash
+    | latitude = 42
-__NOTOC__
+    | longitude = -87
-<!-- =============== USEFUL CATEGORIES FOLLOW ================
+    | date = 2023-08-30
-Delete the next line ONLY if you have chosen the appropriate categories below. If you are unsure, don't worry. People will read your report and help you with the classification. -->
+    | name = Tarasaurus
-[[Category:New report]]
+}}
+{{Public transport geohash
-<!-- ==REQUEST FOR TWITTER BOT== Please leave either the New report or the Expedition planning category in as long as you work on it. This helps the twitter bot a lot with announcing the right outcome at the right moment. -->
+    | latitude = 42
+    | longitude = -87
-<!-- Potential categories. Please include all the ones appropriate to your expedition -->
+    | date = 2023-08-30
-<!-- If this is a planning page:
+    | busline = Metra
-[[Category:Expedition planning]]
+    | name = Tarasaurus
--->
+}}
-<!-- If all those plans are never acted upon, change [[Category:Expedition planning]] to [[Category:Not reached - Did not attempt]]. -->
-<!-- An actual expedition:
 [[Category:Expeditions]]
--- and one or more of --
 [[Category:Expeditions with photos]]
-[[Category:Expeditions with videos]]
-[[Category:Expedition without GPS]]
--->
-<!-- if you reached your coords:
 [[Category:Coordinates reached]]
+{{location|US|IL|CO}}
---><!-- or if you failed :(
-[[Category:Coordinates not reached]]
--- and a reason --
-When there is a natural obstacle between you and the target:
-[[Category:Not reached - Mother Nature]]
-When there is a man-made obstacle between you and the target:
-[[Category:Not reached - No public access]]
-When you failed get your GPS, car, bike or such to work:
-[[Category:Not reached - Technology]]
-When you went to an alternate location instead of the actual geohash:
-[[Category:Not reached - Attended alternate location]]
-(Don't forget to delete this final close comment marker) -->


Wed 30 Aug 2023 in 42,-87: 42.0305702, -87.7094871 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox