Last weekend was a fun day with the Mini Cooper Club, as we drove around our beautiful mountains looking for geocaches. We did this last year too (Geocaching), and had such a good time! This year our hosts took us to different spots to look for the little caches. If you’ve not done this, you look for the caches using coordinates on a GPS. We gathered in Maggie Valley to start.
DH got this fun little ‘key’ for our car to have for the Easter parade, but the event was canceled. He put it on the car in the parking lot as we gathered, and waited to see if anyone noticed. Of course they did, and lots of pictures were taken. Cute, isn’t it?
Anyway, off we went, a line of about a dozen Mini Coopers.
Driving around the pastoral countryside, we passed lots of old barns.
We went over a river or two…
and through valleys surrounded by tall mountains.
Our first stop was at a little flea market and produce stand. I started looking around in a spot that seemed likely. Unfortunately, I was looking for a tupperware container, and the geocache was disguised.
Here it is, an artificial pine cone with a key slot on the underside. It held a long strip of paper where people had put their initials. The member that found it wrote our club on it.
I bought some fresh veggies, and a wrought iron table, and we were off again. It had threatened rain all morning, and while we were on this leg of the journey, the rain started. Our second stop was at a park with a temple, and unfortunately not only was it raining at the time, but there were hundreds of people there for an event. I stayed in the car while a couple of the more intrepid folks found a stone in a wall that had the cache. Then we were off again.
We ran in and out of the rain. At one point, I got this photo of all the cars behind us while we were stopped at a stop sign.
The third stop was near a church and cemetery. The cache seemed to be in a thicket with poison ivy, so no one wanted to go find that one.
Instead, we admired the view from the parking area. That’s Sweet Pea in the photo, one of our member’s furkids.
Off again, we went to a member’s home for a barbecue dinner with pot luck side dishes and desserts.
One more picture in the mirror as we approached the house. Yummy food, good friends, and a great day.
This has to be my favorite photo of the day. The amazing thing is I snapped it on the fly with the high speed setting on my point and shoot camera.
Have you had a fun outing or day trip this summer?
Sharing at Take Me Away!
From My Carolina Home 
Sounds like you had some fun. How did that key stay on? That was cute!
Looks like a great day, even though there was a bit of rain.
Such a beautiful and tranquil scene Carole. Wouldn’t this make a lovely calendar picture, or, depending on the style of your home, a calming picture on the wall. I can see why this is your favorite picture of your Mini outing for the day, and I think your husband’s car key is fantastic. Is it something that mounts to the car, or just sits there temporarily, looking so darn cute? Have a good day.
Looks like a fun outing, Carole! Love the wind-up key for your mini; makes me smile. Who plants a geo in poison ivy, anyway? Haha.
This looks like a fun adventure!
The minis make me smile every time I see them. And the wind-up key is a hoot! You are a great photographer, as well as blog writer and quilter and stamper and… Sometime I’m so focused on the pic’s content, I miss the great shot! Ha.
Thanks for sharing this enjoyable outing.
Hello Carole, I certainly enjoyed being along for the ride! Seeing all of the beautiful scenery that you share along the way is always pleasant. Your favorite photo turned out perfectly! It is a photo, I could look at for hours and just get lost in thoughts in, such as how many people from the area helped to build it and then was it a great hide and seek barn and so forth. Thank you for sharing your beautiful and fun adventures with us! I always enjoy them. Have a fabulous day!
What a fun day, and such beautiful scenery, too! You really got some great photos, Carole. We’ve never tried geocaching, but I would like to. Hoping to get to spend a day hiking in our beautiful mountains this week!
Hi Carole! Just an FYI-I’ll be mailing out my safelight package tomorrow!
Fun day out, always love some geocaching, would be good to do it in a big group. You saw some beautiful scenery.
What a great adventure and potluck with friends. Your photography was wonderful, and hope you may have seen a barn quilt on one of the barns along the way. My DH and I recently took a day trip about 2 hr. away to visit a wildlife park where you drive through at your own pace to enjoy viewing animals of all kinds. We were lucky to have a cooler than normal day and many animals were either on or near the road. Afterwards, we visited a favorite farm to pick up fresh fruits and veggies. A nice day, just the two of us.
What a fun way to enjoy your beautiful area. The barn photo is really a winner.
I did geocaching quite a bit a few years ago, and less now. But we did learn quickly that it was much easier to find the woodsy ones in winter, when there wasn’t so much poison ivy to deal with!
No fun outings here yet! That looks like another great day of fun. I can’t understand why you didn’t want to go into the poison ivy. LOL
What a fun trip. I enjoyed riding with you in the mountains. What a great group of friends you have and I know how much you enjoy being with them.
Love, Mom
Hello fellow Miniac! We were just in Salida, CO for the MINIs in the Mountains meetup. Your photos of Minis all in line remind me of my own. I’m still going through my pics trying to choose which ones to include in my blogs. Your event looks like a lot of fun, although I am not familiar with geocaching.
The “key” on the trunk of your Mini is positively awesome!