This cache was placed after finding NannyOgg and The OggDogg’s “Family Stories Gas Saver and a Challenge” cache. We loved the idea and just had to hide another cache in the series! Parking for this cache is right next to NannyOgg’s “Family Stories” cache, behind the Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital. The hike to and from the cache is on mostly level trail and is no longer than 2 miles round trip (may be quite a bit shorter but we didn’t have a map; but keep in mind that the trails snake everywhere!), and you should be able to get to ~15 feet from GZ without any bushwhacking.
Now, the family story for this cache: When my mother was six years old, her family moved to a house on Casco Bay just outside of Portland, ME. Her father was getting whatever jobs he could find under FDR’s works progress administration digging road ditches and building bridges, so they traveled around a lot and she was never in the same place for more than a few years. She loved Casco Bay, though, and loves to share warm memories of exploring the old ship yard with giant ships and playing on the beach.
Years later, they settled down across the country in Sandy, OR. Her father built all his own houses (including the one that they lived in in Casco Bay) and although he died before he could finish everything in the house in Sandy, my mother still lives in the same home to this day. When she was 40, she married a man from outside of Portland and they had me! I grew up in Sandy before leaving for college in the Northeast. There I met a dashing young man from Massachusetts. Years later, I found out that he had grown up in Casco Bay as well! And a few years after that, I asked him to marry me.
We decided to have the wedding on Long Island ME, a little town a few miles off the coast in Casco Bay and years after leaving Maine to live in Oregon, my mother returned to walk me down the aisle. She was so excited to be back, to smell the salty New England air and see the birds and wildflowers- it felt like coming home!
Cache is close to the ground and may not be winter friendly when there is much snow. BYOP! If you feel like it, leave a brief story in the log about a place you call home.