How to Get a LANMonkey Geocoin!

If you follow our YouTube Channel then you might know that we ran a contest to win one of the first ever LANMonkey geocoins!

Watch this video of the livestream announcement to see who won, and find out how you can get a coin if you weren't a winner in the contest.

Keep reading below for more details on the coin itself, and how you can obtain one if you'd like.





So congrats to this contest winner(s), and if you'd like to get your hands on one of these coins here's the deal:

An online order form has been created if you'd like to either order a coin from me to have mailed to your address, or "put one on hold" to buy from me in person at GeoWoodstock XVIII (GC86VDF) Aug 22, 2020 or sooner at the GIFF 2019 event in Coquitlam BC (GC8EG76) Nov 10, 2019.

The order form can be found HERE!

Online mail orders will need to be paid via PayPal. Check the coin order form for more information.

LANMonkey Geocoin - front design

LANMonkey Geocoin - back of coin design, tracking code obscured

If you have questions feel free to ask me!

Thanks to Sharkzcoins.ca for the amazing product that turned out better than I had dreamed it would, and to everyone who participated in the contest!

Don't forget to follow me on social media to never miss any cool news or updates on exploring and traveling the Pacific Northwest, or geocaching!

Cache safely, and cache often!
Jay

LANMonkey's Geocaching Adventures are written by Jay Kennedy, outdoor adventurer and photo-journalist. All content is affiliated with the Wander Network. Experience his adventures on Twitter and Instagram by following @LANMonkeyGC, and subscribing to LANMonkey on YouTube. He is also a regular co-host of the Caching in the Northwest geocaching podcast.

Nor-Way to Go! Episodes 3 & 4 of Geocaching Adventures

It's time to share our insider info on Geocaching Adventures Season 1 - Episodes 3 & 4 from artful Oslo, Norway.

In case you've missed those episodes, you can watch them here!

Episode 3 - Norway to Go!

 

 Episode 4 - Art Attack!

Where Did We Go?

We explored the city of Norway; in episode 3 we explored entirely on foot from our hotel near Munchs Gate and Keysers Gate, right by the virtual cache "Grass Roots Square" featured in episode 3. 

Most of what you'll see in episode 3 is from walking through City Hall area and down to the waterfront near the new virtual rewards geocache "Oslo City Hall - V&V #27."

We followed the shoreline to the South-East and that's where you'll most of the sights we shared in that episode.
 
Some of the key places we visited are:

• Grass Roots Square
• Sehesteds Gate
• Spikersuppa
• Oslo Radhus (City Hall)
• Akershus
• Vippa

In episode 4, we used the Oslo Hop On - Hop Off tour bus to explore our way around a larger part of the beautiful city.

The tour buses run a standard pattern; effectively a loop that is clearly illustrated on their website. 

In the 4th episode we took you along to:

Vigelandsparken (Vigeland Statues Park)
Norsk Folkelmuseum
Norwegian Maritime Museum
Oslo Opera House
Jernbanetorget

What Geocaches Did We Find?

Here's a list per episode of key geocaches we found. Good news - there's been several more virtual reward caches placed in Oslo since we visited. OK, good news for YOU planning a trip there, or perhaps for us, since I'd love an excuse to go back!

• GCJ3CA AG#20 - Akershus Castle and Fortress 
• GC4WRAR Akershus festning's berggrunn   
• GC7B979 Grass Roots Square 
• GCH7FB Ibsensgate (formerly Ibsenringen)
• GC3PQCE Iddefjordsgranitt i Monolitten
• GC1AE04 Kon-Tiki - Catch #60 
• GC2PN8J Norsk Folkemuseum   
• GC3X2NJ Marble at the Opera 
• GC1BA8Q Phantom of the Opera   
• GC7B6KV The City of Tigers 
• GC2J6WN The Nordmarkitt Lions   

Want to Know More?

If you have questions, please post them in the comments section below, or use Twitter @LANMonkeyGC and I'm happy to do my best to answer them.

If there is something else that would be helpful or interesting to you, please make sure to leave a comment. If you enjoyed it, please make sure to share it on social media and use @LANMonkeyGC so I can thank you.




LANMonkey's Geocaching Adventures are written by Jay Kennedy, outdoor adventurer and photo-journalist. All content is affiliated with the Wander Network. Experience his adventures on Twitter and Instagram by following @LANMonkeyGC, and subscribing to LANMonkey on YouTube. He is also a regular co-host of the Caching in the Northwest geocaching podcast.



 

The Alaskan Caching Cruise - Days 2 & 3

Welcome to our first full day at sea! Day 2 of the Alaskan Geocaching cruise started off with us learning the ropes of the breakfast buffet, and then joining the entire group for a meet & greet in the Crowsnest.

It was pretty distracting to look out the panoramic windows as we cruised along the north coast of BC to sights like these...

 Which frankly are pretty spectacular in person, and maybe don't translate as well to an image on a blog... However, the rest of the group on  board was a fun and interesting bunch with some cool stories such as:

• The person who placed the first geocache in Canada
• A couple on their honeymoon who had shared their proposal at the mainstage of a Mega event
• A cacher who had previously worked as the brakeman on the train we'd be taking as an excursion later in the cruise (spoiler alert)

Later Chris from the Landsharkz held a seminar for the group on how to take ideal vacation photos. Lots of great tips that likely helped all of us take better photos this cruise.

Then dinner. Then bed. Then breakfast. Then Juneau.

Welcome to Juneau!

Although slightly overcast, it was still a great visit in Juneau. Of course we were excited to get ashore and find some geocaches, but knowing that our primary excursion here was a trip to Mendenhall Glacier, and that we had a number of Earthcaches lined up... well, that was good news!

 We enjoyed the visit to the glacier, the park, and some wildlife (a trio of bears feeding on spawning salmon, then we got as close as we dared to a porcupine) and learned all about the park and the glaciers from the rangers who were very patient with us geocachers. I think it always helps to show a little interest in learning something beyond the required answers for the earthcaches.

Oh, and the Mendenhall Glacier earthcache was find #9,000 for the LANMonkeys. So we achieved the Geocaching.com souvenir for Alaska, and then our personal caching milestone!

A great time with a bunch of great new friends in the park, then we caught the bus back from the park to Juneau (and I should mention our bus driver was an absolute hoot).

Back in Juneau we then took the tram up Mount Roberts for some amazing views down over the city of Juneau, and then a nice loop hike where we met up with some other caching friends from the cruise and picked up some caches with amazing views. So glad we have lots of favourite points to award!

 After taking in the amazing panoramic views we made our way back down, toured the town (finding a few more geocaches, of course) including a fun group find at an iconic statue near the wharfs. 

Thanks once again to Chris from Landsharkz for taking so many great photos of the trip, including this one of RCA777 trying to figure out *how* Mrs. LANMonkey got that geocache out of *that* part of the dog statue...

And finally, after some more exploring and caching and even a stop for some local chocolate treats, it was back to the ship for dinner and another night's rest before the next adventure in Skagway!

But that story will have to wait for another day (or so)...

The Alaskan Geocaching Cruise - Day 1

Let us tell you a story about five passengers who set sail that day... oh wait, wrong story.  

How about the one where 54 geocachers set sail for Alaska & the Yukon in August 2016? Yeah, we'll tell you that one.

It starts in the departing port city of Vancouver. Lucky for us, it's our hometown, making the start of this adventure pretty easy.

So how did 54 geocachers come to be on the same cruise? Well that's thanks to the Landsharkz who organized the cruise and drew the geocachers from across Canada and the US to come together for this amazing adventure.

 So day 1 we got ourselves onto the ship and learned a lot about boarding and navigating your way about a cruise ship - did we mention this was our first cruise? Well now we have. And with that we were on-board the Holland America Neiuw Amsterdam and ready to head North!

So farewell Vancouver, we are adventure bound North by Northwest. 

We enjoyed discovering some of the amazing amenities of the ship that we made good use of throughout the rest of the cruise, including the library and coffee shop on the top deck where we spent some evenings reading, relaxing, and enjoying the company of several of our co-cruisers.


So day one ended with a nice dinner, then we rested as we prepared for our first full day at sea, a chance to meet all the geocachers on-board, and more exploring the ship and admiring the amazing scenery of Northern Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlottes/Haida Gwai.

Win a Geocoin/Trackable Tag from CachingNW.com

It's contest time again! So Geocachers, how would you like to win these for your collection? 

Our friends at Landsharkz have generously donated a set of the geocoin and trackable tag created for their 2016 Alaskan Geocaching Cruise Adventure, and you could be the new owner!

This contest is super-easy to be entered into, and we'd love to see you be able to show off your new trackables, so don't delay!

Here's what you need to do:

• Visit the Landsharkz travel webpage
• Check out the various stops on their 2017  Canada - New England Cruise
• EMail us at CachingNW (feedback@cachingnw.com) letting us know:
• Your geocaching name
• One of the ports of call (cities visited) on the 2017 Canada - New England Cruise

Make sure you send your email BEFORE 9:00pm Pacific on Wednesday Sept 21 and your name may be announced as the winner by the Landsharkz when they join us on the Caching in the Northwest podcast Thursday, September 22 at 9:00pm Pacific.

So that's it - email a correct answer and your Geocaching.com name to feedback@cachingNW.com ASAP and you are automatically entered!

Good luck you guys, we're looking forward to hearing from you.

And remember, whether you are entering geocoin contests or moving trackables; to cache safely, and cache often!

The LANMonkeys

#GeocacheRoadTrip Contest

This summer, from July 01, 2015 to July 31, 2015, Geocachers* have an opportunity to win cool prizes by submitting photos of themselves out geocaching and tagging them creatively with #GeocacheRoadTrip.

What do we mean by “tagging them creatively?” We want you to incorporate the #GeocacheRoadTrip hashtag into your photo, in whatever manner you deem best. Perhaps holding up a sign with the hashtag on it? Maybe photoshopping it in afterwards? Be creative, and have fun!

Submit up to three photos per Geocaching username, each including the hashtag #GeocacheRoadTrip by email to: geocachingroadtripcontest@gmail.com and ask everyone you know to vote online by “liking” the photos as we post them up on the CachingNW Facebook page. Be sure to include your Geocaching.com user name, return email address, and any story you wish to share about your photo in the body of the email.

The photo with the most votes by 9:00pm Pacific time August 12, 2015 will be the Best Overall #GeocacheRoadTrip Photo winner and have first choice of prizes from our awesome prize sponsors!

But if you don’t win that category, there’s even more chances to win! Ten other finalists will be chosen by our panel of celebrity judges for selection of three more winners on August 15, 2015 by Geocaching.com Lackeys live at the 2015 Geocaching Block Party.  

Online voting starts from July 1 (or whenever we get the first entry) and closes on Aug 12.

The top prizes will be for:

• Best Overall #GeocacheRoadTrip Photo - This will be the “audience favourite” and the one with the most Facebook votes. Whatever really got everyone’s attention.
• Most Creative Use of the Hashtag - how did you incorporate #GeocacheRoadTrip into your photo? Permanent marker on your forehead? Arranging your family into a “pound” sign?
• Most Aesthetically Pleasing - just the nicest most appealing photo overall; landscape, still life, chickens, whatever turns your crank.
• Wildest Adventure - however you determine what makes a wild #GeocacheRoadTrip share it with us; toddlers loaded up in the station wagon? T5 geocache success? Scuba gear power trail? Just cache safely, and cache often!

Prize Sponsors:

• WorldCaching
• OpenCaching NA
• Cache-Advance
• Coins & Pins.com
• LandSharkz
• “How to Puzzle Cache” author Cully Long (ChildofAtom)

*Rules:

• This contest is open to anyone in (meaning legal residents of) the USA or Canada, to a maximum of 3 photo submissions per contestant/geocaching username.
• Canadian winners will have to answer a (simple) skill testing question so that we don’t get in any trouble.
• Photos without the #GeocacheRoadTrip hashtag will not be eligible to win.
• Submissions will be accepted from July 01, 2015 to July 31, 2015
• Online voting starts from 08:00AM Pacific July 1, 2015 and closes at 9:00PM Pacific August 12, 2015
• Entries submitted without the Geocaching.com username and preferred return email address in the body of the email will not be possible to include in the contest.
• The on-line voted Best Overall #GeocacheRoadTrip Photo winner will not be elligible to compete in the August 15, 2015 selection by Geocaching.com Lackeys for the reamining three categories.
• One prize will be awarded for each winner of the four categories. Prizes will be selected by the winners on a first-come, first served basis.
• Winners will be announced on the “Caching in the Northwest” podcast & website, “Only Googlebot Reads This Blog”, and related Social Media channels.
• Physical prizes selected will require the winner to provide their physical mailing address to Caching in the Northwest or our prize sponsor in order to be able to send it to you. Your name/address will not be used for any other marketing purpose.
• The remaining three categories (Most Creative Use of the Hashtag, Most Aesthetically Pleasing, Wildest Adventure) will be judged by Geocaching.com Lackeys from the ten finalist photos provided to them by the CachingNW celebrity panel of judges, based on their personal opinions, on or during August 15, 2015 at the Geocaching.com 2015 Block Party event.
• Judges decisions for the ten finalists and top three overall winners are final.
• All photos submitted will be considered “public domain” (Creative Commons attribution) and must not be copyrighted or otherwise legally unable to be shared freely on the Internet.
• Any/all photo submissions may be kept online indefinitely. Winners will be posted on the CachingNW.com website for 1 year after the close of the contest.
• Prize sponsors will be entitled to promote the contest, winners, entrants, and their photos during the contest and for 1 year after the close of the contest.
• Caching in the Northwest and Dave DeBaermaker reserve the right to reject any submissions deemed offensive or otherwise inappropriate representations of the values of the show and hosts, and the principles of geocaching.