2009-01-22 47 -122

Thu 22 Jan 2009 in Seattle: 47.6723626, -122.3859647 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

About

The heart of Ballard, near the Community Center and Archie McPhee. Looks like it's right in the middle of the road - sidewalk chalk at the ready.

Participants

Thomcat and kids, Robyn

Expedition

Thomcat

Made a first pass by on my way home from work. Pulled in at just 4:00 - on the wrong street! One block north of the spot. *sigh* Around the corner, onto the spot, now 4:05. Looks like I didn't miss anybody. Chalked, marked, and headed home to meet up with my wife and kids.

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Thomcat and Robyn

Then the kids and I headed back to the geohash! Would have been there at 5:25, but we stopped first at the local Squishy vendor (a mere 200 meters from the geohash) to pick up another award, er, a carbonated beverage! "I'm so cold" was all my son could manage. We arrived back at the spot and I invited the kids to add to my earlier chalk marks when along came Robyn!

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After obligatory photos, we went to Archie McPhee, the local purveyor of oddities and kitsch. Like a glow-in-the-dark puffer fish. Robyn, more prepared than I, brought addresses for a Hashcard. We then traveled to the Totem House and dined on fish and chips (and a sourdough chowder bowl), and finally returned to the Squishy vendor and the hash point.

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  Geosquishy vendor 200 m from the geohash.

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  Kids, T-Rex and etrex at the geohash

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  GPS screen in cool night mode

A highly succesful expedition (my 42nd!) and I have to think hard of excuses not to make a Midnight return to the same spot via Bicycle.

Robyn

Another easily accessible (taking a car is so so cheating) geohash, straight off I-5 exit 173, just following one road that changed names three times, and then a right turn onto the road with the geohash. I was proud of myself for being within a minute of my predicted arrival despite travelling 220 km across an international border and stopping for another geohash on the way. "Gee," I said out loud, "What could all these people be doing in the middle of the road?" I don't have much to add to Thomcat's account. My camera died (yes, it's always doing that: I need a new battery) before I could take a group shot, so I have to rely on Thomcat's.

Thanks to Thomcat, this was my introduction to the world of geosquishies. We were going to buy a geosquishy from the 7-11 next to the fish and chips stand, but it was 1.04 km from the geohash and therefore didn't make spec. I'm now forced to figure out what all the stars and stuff mean. I also bought a glow-in-the-dark pufferfish, which was very cool, but then I realized that I couldn't import it to Canada without paperwork and stuff, as I would not have been out of the country for 24 hours, so I left it with Thomcat's children for safekeeping.

I bought a postcard showing the area five blocks away, as it appeared in 1913, and mailed it to another geohasher at a post office that was about eight blocks away. I didn't know how much postage would be required, so I stuck on all the American stamps I had and now cross my fingers that a) it arrives and b) the recipient deems it to meet the rigid requirements for Hashcarding.

Hashcard

Whoo Hoo! I got a Hashcard! I think five blocks away is close enough. It has 6 very exciting stamps, and three of them don't have postmarks on them either, so I guess there was enough to get to Australia! However, my mother was rather worried. Robyn's postcard arrived while I was overseas in Europe, or so mum thought...When a postcard arrived from America, she was very concerned that I hadn't been entirely truthful as to where I was...