Shrek and I have had lots of plans to get out and do some geocaching, but we hadn’t had time to get out until this weekend.  Chantel and Adrian (Chantel’s boyfriend) decided to come with us today.  Our adventure began in Roseisle, Manitoba.

This beautiful rose was built by a fabulous combination of artists ….. cousins of mine - Clifford McPherson and his wife Vicki - the welder and designer - and the artist who painted it - Stephen Jackson - who taught me everything I need to know about calligraphy.

I remember going with my Dad to Cliff and Vicki’s house to see the progress of the rose statue.  Cliff and Vicki showed us so many photos that they had taken of the wild roses, enlarging them, measuring the roses, stems, thorns, etc. on their photos, making sure that each and every detail of the wild roses would be exactly to scale.  Stephen Jackson painted them, making them come to life as if seeing an actual plant of giant wild roses.  Beautiful piece of art created by beautiful people.

We had no signal, we could not geocache in Roseisle, Manitoba, but we did have a lot of fun.  Wow, it’s been a long time since I was back to Roseisle ….. before I started the scrapbooking store, I was there everyday - doing homecare for my clients.  I have very good memories of Roseisle, I was happy to be there.

I had no idea that Roseisle had added these to their rose garden, how cool, we had fun with these photo ops.

Three roses, no thorns ….. aren’t they cute!

I’m not quite sure about Shrek’s photo taking abilities, for some reason, he cut off half of the display - nevertheless - it’s a cool photo and I wanted to share.

Next stop, Ste. Claude, Manitoba.  There was lots of geocaching flags showing up here, but before we headed in their direction, I wanted to stop and see this big pipe.

I have been to Ste. Claude many times, but never really knew the story behind the pipe until now.

We headed in the direction of the geocaches and came to a fabulous bunch of museums.  Into the first building, (while Shrek was geocaching outside) I found some gems.  Look at the awesome COKE stand.  And look at the ice cream cone box hanging behind it.

What a beauty this is - look at the details in this cash register and those keys are just fabulous!

Yes, all Tim Holtz fans will be excited to see this!

Bottles, bottles, and more bottles.

Cans, pitchers and look at those crocks!

Washing and ironing at it’s best.  Wish I had an old wash board.

This is just freakin’ fantastic!

Shoe shine anyone?

Tobacco cans galore - yikes!

Wouldn’t it have been so cool to be at the theatre, listening to the noise of the movie spinning on this reel on this old gem?

As we wandered through this museum, I would constantly be checking on Shrek who was outside geocaching.  I wanted to see if he had found anything.  There were 5 flags showing, but every time we turned to head towards one, we couldn’t find it - the compass was very confusing.  Now this was a multiple geocache - one that we have not done before - so I’m not sure what we were doing wrong - but we just couldn’t find what was there.  We will have to do some more research on these multiple geocaches.  However, we had a great time in Ste. Claude, and would not have found these museums if we had not been geocaching.

We then headed to Portage la Prairie, Manitoba to do a little shopping.  We decided our geocaching was done for the day, we would shop a little and go out for supper.

On our way home we spotted some geese, and had to stop to take some photos.

Love how they got into the water and formed a line.

Years ago, when Paul and I were dating, we came to this little pond at Island Park in Portage la Prairie.  I remember sitting beside him on a bench, not saying anything, just being with him, looking into the water, and knowing that we were falling in love.  Beside him I knew I was safe, I was comfortable, and I was in love with him, he was the one for me.  It was nice to come back to this spot and reflect upon those memories.

I wonder ….. will these two come back to this spot one day and reflect upon their memories of falling in love?

We did not have such a successful geocaching day, but we had a fun day, a good day, one filled with good times and lots of memories.

Posted under Adventures of Shrek+Fiona

The title of this blog post makes me smile.  It is the start of a new adventure for Paul+Lori AKA Shrek+Fiona.  This past week I bought Paul a magazine full of apps, information and reviews for over 500 iphone apps.  I just knew that he would get great enjoyment out of this magazine.  I also knew that I would enjoy many texts from him full of information about the new things he would read about.

I have received many texts full of information about his new findings, but there was one that Paul was so interested in and excited about that he would not text me, he had to show me when I got home.

Geocaching - have you ever heard of it before?  Have you ever done it?  Would you?  (Click the word geocaching - it will take you to the website).  Well, he nor I had ever heard of this, and I had to sit down with a cup of coffee and listen to him.  I didn’t quite understand it at first, but as he explained and I looked at the website and read - I got it.  If you know me, I am a person who loves to take off with no set destination, no time limits, I just like to hit the road and see what we can find that’s new and different.  Paul, on the other hand, he is a planner, he likes to know where he is going, what time we are leaving, when we will be back, etc.  As he was reading the information to me about this geocaching, I am thinking that this just might be something fun that we can do together, it will suit both of our traveling likes/dislikes and we would make a great team.  I am a great navigator, Paul is a great hunter - can it get any better than this?

Oh yes, it can, it most absolutely can - because - it will be SO perfect for *Smashing!* and Paul - I mean Shrek, *grin* - he agrees with me - he also thinks it will be cool to have a record of our geocaching adventures.  Today, we went on our first adventure, and I wanted to share it with you.  We had so much fun, we met some great people along the way, and we had such a fabulous day of being the team of *Shrek+Fiona.*

We left home, but we had to make sure that our very first geocache find was right here in Miami.  We both were so surprised how many are right here in Miami.  I will not share the location of the geocache, but I will show you pictures in the general area, and things we found throughout our day.

As with all of my blog posts, you can click on any picture to see it larger.

I always am so proud to walk through the Memory Garden - it is so beautiful and every year it’s such a pleasure to see.  The flowers right now are absolutely beautiful.

Here it is, our first find - it’s a log - of everyone who has found it - and Shrek+Fiona are now on the list.  It was in such a cool spot - my Dad would be smiling.

We drove out of Miami, gave each other a *high five* for finding our first geocache right here in Miami - and turned left and headed down the highway to see what was waiting for us next.  As we were traveling to our next destination - we found out this bit of information.  It was so cool to hear Paul be happy about this - woohoo - he’s becoming a country boy at heart.  He said he wants to go to this and that Mark Chestnut is one of his favorites.  Well, this is so awesome, we can geocache and go to a outdoor music concert - all which means spending the day together - can’t wait!

We stopped and had a little snack, decided which way we would turn next, and when we were close to our next destination, we chose a new geocache to find.  We parked fairly close to where we thought it was - turned the iphone app to compass - and I began to navigate.  Not that far - maybe 500+ feet, and I said - okay Shrek, we are close.  He found it, in a matter of a little more than a minute - there he was - big smile on his face - and he brought it to show me.  And it was in an official geocache container - this is cool you know!  I couldn’t help but notice a gentlemen who was close to where we parked.  He was watching us very closely as we were searching around the area for our geocache find.  He, of course, likely had no idea what we were doing and probably thought we had lost our minds.  Haha!  It made me laugh thinking about him wondering what the heck we were doing.  He watched us for a long long time.  I then signed our names, took this photo, and off we went.

Along the way, we came across this fabulous fruit and vegetable store - filled with many other goodies.  I got us some of that fabulous home grown garlic.

Look at the cool birdhouses and birdfeeders - and they also had an amazing assortment of birdseed.  15% off - an added bonus.

I found these two little gems there - 95 cents each - not sure what I am going to do with them - but I told Shrek that it will be fabulous when I figure it out.

Oh yes, I was drooling, look at the delicious fresh veggies.

The carrots - even the color says they are delicious.

Corn on the cob and tiny new potatoes - it doesn’t get any better than this.  I took a big bag of those little gems - they are just the best - they will be for Sunday’s supper.

Except for this jackpot - Oh Wow - look at all those red beauties!  I can taste those toasted tomatoe sandwiches now.  After spending quite awhile in this store, and coming out with a couple of bags of fresh veggie goodness, we were on our way to search out another geocache.

We chose a new one, a three part one - and all these cattails were along the path we had to walk down as we started to search for this next geocache.

Shrek, he tried to navigate this time, but in the end, he handed it to me.  Haha!  I love being the navigator!  I got him to the spot, and within seconds, he found it - with the instructions on how to get to part 2.

We walked a long way, probably over a mile in total, but I didn’t have my knee brace with me, and it was an uneven walk - not bad - just not safe for my knee - so we decided to turn around and go back.  Maybe another time we can find out what it at station 2 and 3 of this geocache.  This picture was taken at the start/end of this geocache search.

We stopped for a little something for supper, and then headed on our way home.  On the way home, the opposite side of the sign we had seen at the beginning of our journey showed us this announcement.  Paul knew who this band was, I didn’t, but he said Chantel would like them and likely be going.  Cool - something for the younger crowd, something for the older crowd - I like it.

Beautiful view of this golden field on the way home.

As we pulled into Miami, we wanted to find our fourth and final geocache for the day.  While navigating, I found these gorgeous flowers - just love them.

And this was a large geocache - filled with some goodies to look at.  Signed our *Shrek+Fiona* signature and left them a bonus little cow.  This was a fun hide to find.

I love this shot that I took by the railway track - I think my photographer teacher would be proud.

And, we were back at home.  I forgot to tell you about the ham and bacon piroshki we bought at the fruit and veggie store we stopped at.  I had to try one while I was putting things away - and oh yes, they are divine! 

Juicy red raspberries - my favorite - and they are now safe in my freezer for a cold winter day when I have a craving.

During our journey, we found a store that carried Jeanne’s Cakes.  I have heard a lot about these cakes, and we bought one to try.

After putting everything away, we enjoyed a piece of this red velvet Jeanne cake - it was quite good - I would buy one again.  A perfect ending to our day.  Paul has set up our logs on the computer - and we have officially reported our day as *Shrek+Fiona* and have joined the world of geocaching.  I can’t wait to start my Smash folio about our geocaching adventures.

It’s fun to seek out things and see if you can find them, it’s fun to go new and different places, meet new people and see things you wouldn’t normally see, and most important - it’s fun to spend the day with someone you love.

If you would like us to visit you area and geocache, we’d love to come, and I’d love to blog about it.  It’s fun to share the new and different things we find with everyone who reads the blog.  Please leave a message here, so send us an email at loveisinthedetails@mts.net - subject - Shrek+Fiona.

Till our next adventure ….

Posted under Adventures of Shrek+Fiona