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The Peabody Hotel Marching Ducks Traditional Cache

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Hidden : 6/14/2012
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

The Peabody Hotel is a luxury hotel in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The hotel is well known for the famous "Peabody Ducks" that live on the hotel rooftop, but which make daily treks to the hotel's lobby in a daily "March of Ducks" celebration!


The custom dates back to the 1930s. The General Manager of the time, Frank Schutt, had just returned from a weekend hunting trip in Arkansas. He and his friends found it amusing to leave three of their live English Call Duck decoys in the hotel fountain. The guests loved the idea, and since then, five Mallard ducks (one drake and four hens) have played in the fountain every day.
In 1940, a Bellman by the name of Edward Pembroke volunteered to care for the ducks. Pembroke was given the position of "Duckmaster" and served in that position until 1991. As a former circus animal trainer, he taught the ducks to march into the hotel lobby, which started the famous Peabody Duck March.[1] Every day at 11:00 a.m., the Peabody Ducks are escorted from their penthouse home, on the Plantation Roof, to the lobby via elevator. The ducks, accompanied by the King Cotton March by John Phillip Sousa, then proceed across a red carpet to the hotel fountain, made of a solid block of Italian travertine marble. The ducks are then ceremoniously led back to their penthouse at 5:00 p.m. Over the years, The Peabody Ducks have gained celebrity status with television appearances (along with their Duckmaster) on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Sesame Street, and the Oprah Winfrey Show. They have also appeared in People magazine. The position of "Duckmaster" at the Peabody Memphis is one of only three such positions in the world, the other two being the Duckmasters in the Orlando and Little Rock Peabody Hotels. Celebrities have also assumed the role of Honorary Duckmaster from time to time, including Zane Lamprey, Paula Deen, Joan Collins, Molly Ringwald, Kevin Bacon, Peter Frampton, Emeril Lagasse, Patrick Swayze, Queen Noor of Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Rudolph van Veen and Gayle King. The custom of keeping ducks in the lobby fountain may date back even further than the 1930s. A pre-1915 postcard highlights the ducks playing in the fountain, and one source claims the custom goes back to the hotel's opening in 1869. However, the Peabody itself claims the duck tradition to have started in 1933, as on December 3rd, 2008 they unveiled a new "Duck Palace" located on the rooftop, for the 75th anniversary of the duck tradition. The 24 by 12 foot enclosure features granite flooring, ceiling fans, a scale replica of the hotel, a fountain decorated with a pair of bronze ducks, and a large viewing window for guests to see them in their new home. The Duck Palace cost approximately $200,000 to construct.

(Wikipedia.org.)

Now on to the cache! It has absolutely nothing to do with what you read but my very saddenned family had gotten their spirits lifted a little when we found ourselves there after being evacuated from huricane Katrina.

You are looking for a camo'ed micro metal pill-holder. I may redesign it in the near future but for now you need to hold the lid inside-part up, put scroll in the lid and bring container down on top. Otherwise, if you put in container first, lid may slightly crush log.


Please enjoy my absolutely arbitrarily named cache responsibly! Have fun!

--HAPPYCRAZYROBOT

CONGRATS TO PGILLEN FOR BEING THE FTF!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Fubhyq or na rnfl teno rira ba gur ohfvrfg bs qnlf vs lbh ner aba-punynag nobhg vg.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)