Peace Arch: Children of a Common Mother Multi-Cache

The given longitude and latitude for this cache mark the entrance to the parking area for both stages. To find the caches themselves, you've got to turn your attention northward and put your thinking tuque on.

STAGE 1

Get ready to Google and take the Canadian Quiz:

Q1.	French Canadians have contributed much to their nation -- their beautiful language, the great Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier, and this: a popular Canadian side dish consisting of french fries topped with gravy and cheese curds (that's right -- cheese curds). No, there hasn't been some horrible accident at the lunch counter, it's just...  _ _ _ _ _ _ _.
Q2.	When America invaded Canada in the War of 1812, this young woman earned the appellation "Canada's Joan of Arc" for sneaking across enemy lines to warn her compatriots of U.S. attack plans. Perhaps better known to modern Canadians as a brand of chocolate candy, her name was... _ _ _ _ _    _ _ _ _ _ _.
Q3.	From Nelson Eddy in "Rose-Marie" to Stephen Wright in "Canadian Bacon," Hollywood has long honored the proud figure of the Mountie. Today, they're more likely to be found busting drug dealers than singing duets with opera stars, and they're more often referred to by this four-letter abbreviation of their full name:  _ _ _ _.
Q4.	Ah, what would Sunday night TV have been like back in the 70s and 80s without the familiar faces of Nick, Relic, Molly, and all the loveable characters of Gibson's Landing, BC? Well, exactly the same for the vast majority of Americans who've never even heard of this CBC series, though it lasted 19 seasons and was beloved (or at least watched) by millions of Canadians. What the show may have lacked in scripting it surely made up for in locale, set as it was on British Columbia's breathtaking Sunshine Coast. The name of that comedy-drama series was, of course... "The _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _."

OK, now here's how you turn these answers into your Stage 1 coordinates. Convert each letter in your answers into a number, using this simple formula: A=1, B=2, C=3, etc. Then add up the value of each answer.

• To get the Stage 1 longitude, let X=Q1+Q1+Q3+Q4-Q2-Q2. Stick a decimal point in front of that (in other words, divide X by one thousand) and add that value to the given longitude for this cache.

• To get the Stage 1 latitude, let Y=Q1+Q2+Q4-Q3. Stick a decimal point in front of that and subtract that value from the given latitude for this cache

The Stage 1 cache is a small container with only one thing inside: a slip of laminated paper providing the longitude and latitude of Stage 2. Just one problem: While the longitude is for the U.S. second stage, the latitude is for the second stage in Canada.

STAGE 2

All right, folks, now it's time to team up with your fellow geocachers north of the border. You're going to have to trade latitudes to find Stage 2. Here's how you do it:

• Take a look below for notes anyone in Canada may have posted to this website requesting a partner to exchange latitudes with. If you find someone, click on their user name to get to their profile page, then email them via geocaching.com and arrange the trade between yourselves.

• If you fail to find any such notes, you can post one yourself on our counterpart cache page in Canada, "Peace Arch: Dwelling in Unity." Hopefully, someone in Canada who needs an American partner will read your note and contact you via geocaching.com. You may have to wait a bit for this, of course.

• If you've waited more than six weeks without finding a partner, please contact the Canadian cache owners, and they will give you the second-stage latitude. (Of course, we could give you the number ourselves, but that wouldn't be in keeping with the international spirit of this geocache project.)

UPDATE: September 2007 - The cache was relocated a few miles west of its original location, with some fresh swag. Thanks to GroundClutter for all the cool Canadian content she's provided over the years!

IMPORTANT NOTES

• Please do not post premature "found it!" notes. If you post a "found it!" note on either website before completing Stage 2, your note will be deleted (after fair warning, of course).

• Also, please remove any partner-seeking notes you post on the Canadian cache page after you've found a partner. Otherwise, you'll keep getting contacted, and folks up there will be frustrated by the clutter of old notes. Whenever we find outdated notes on these two cache pages, we will remove them.

• Finally, please don't post any coordinates on either of these cache pages. Posts that include coordinates will be deleted as soon as they are discovered.

Trails will get you within 200 feet of both stages.

Happy hunting! If, at the end of this, you find yourself wanting a fuller understanding of what it means to be Canadian, we encourage you to view this brief, informative video.