Play in the City

The Wehr Nature Center

One of my favorite things in life besides the first bite of a perfect burger is the first taste of summer weather.

That’s why when I woke up to a gorgeous 70-degree day I couldn’t wait to get outside. After a few quick errands, Eric and I made our way to Whitnall Park and to the Wehr Nature Center to explore the 200 acres of southeastern Wisconsin’s natural best.

We zigzagged around passing kids playing on the playground, folks walking their dogs, and families bicycling along the paths until we finally found the Wehr Nature Center. Then, we parked and headed inside to the Visitors Center where we paid $3 for parking, which was reasonable considering admission is free.

At the Wehr Nature Center, you have the option of taking a self-guided tour or participating in one of Wehr’s many programs led by their knowledgeable staff of naturalists. Eric and I opted for the self-guided tour and grabbed a trail map from the reception desk on our way out.

Besides the map, there are wooden posts that act as landmarks along the trails and are labeled with a graphic – a tree, cattail, footprint, and so on – that represent each individual trail loop. Also found throughout the area are signs that help explain each habitat and what flora and fauna are found there.

The Wehr Nature Center has over  five miles of trail loops. Each loop ranges from 0.5 to 1.7 miles and takes visitors through natural environments such as an undulating prairie and an expansive savanna, and vast woodlands and lush wetlands.

When we stepped out of the Visitors Center and onto the trails, I deeply inhaled the faint smells of summer and I could feel the warmth fill my lungs. Without further delay, Eric and I began our hike along the Wetland Loop. This trail took us through a variety of swampy habitats – lowland forest, wetland underbrush and sedge meadow – and down two wooden piers and a bird blind where we paused to watch a gaggle of mallards bob in the lake and paddle after their afternoon snack.

Next, we followed the woodchip path as it led us beneath rainbow canopies of blossoming trees, and through colorful Monet-esque landscapes and canvases of sprawling wildflowers. I’m not going to lie, I literally stopped to inhale the fragrance of each periwinkle Trillium and every Jack-in-the-pulpit that decorated the verdant terrain. Being cooped up all winter, I almost forgot how fresh air smells and what it’s like to get outside and be fully surrounded by nature.

Geocaching Extraordinaire

Alright, I admit it. I thought it sounded a bit geeky. I was skeptical. I can admit that now because I've actually taken part in it - and I was wrong.

Geocaching is COOL.

Yesterday Dave and I met up with Charlie and Dina to do some geocaching. Charlie and I became acquainted via this blog (and his blog), and Dina was a friend of a friend who was meeting Charlie for the first time yesterday, too.

We met at a coffee shop on Brady Street at noon. Introductions were made and then we were off. I had borrowed a GPS from a guy at work but I didn't use it much because Charlie had already programmed all the caches into his system and we didn't need two of them leading the way. He had printed out the coordinates and clues for five caches in the area. (In order to find caches, you just need to go to the official geocaching website and type in your zip code.) He'd actually only been geocaching once before, but since he was the most experienced one in the group, he led the way.

The day was hot and sticky and we were all pretty sweaty from the get-go. I had worn sandals because I didn't think we'd be covering too much rough terrain - and we didn't - but we did cover more than six miles and I should have worn tennis shoes. But oh well.

I don't want to give away specific locations to any would-be local geocachers, so I won't say exactly where we went, but in the two and a half hours we spent, we found three actual caches and one virtual one, or "ghost" cache.

The first was down by the Milwaukee River. The GPS guided us to the general area and then the four of us spread out and searched. Dave finally found it after a good ten or fifteen minutes. It was a coffee can buried beneath some brush and we were all excited since it was the first one. We all signed our names in the logbook, and then I left a trinket for the next person - a starfish. Plus a Play in the City business card with the date written on the back. I equated that to attaching my name and address to a balloon and letting it go (which I did a few times when I was younger) - maybe someone will find the cache, take my card, and visit this site and read about the day I was there. (hello if that person is YOU!)

Anyway... the second cache was at a park in the middle of the city. It was tiny and hidden ... well, I can't tell you exactly where since I'm posting pictures of it. We all dug around and Dave finally located it. We signed our names and Charlie left his Brewers ticket stub from the night before since that's all that would fit.

The last actual cache we found was a two-parter: first, we went to a local school that had a big mural painted on it. We had to count the number of children in order to figure out the coordinates of the next location. We were led to a local church and had to roam around the courtyard for a good while. We all got a bit wet as we repeatedly dodged a sprinkler watering the grass, and I was ready to give up when, once again, Dave found it, hanging in a tree. We had all been searching with our eyes to the ground - it goes to show you have to think outside the box sometimes!

I added some matches from a restaurant in Chicago and, of course, we signed our names. It was always fun to see who had been there before us, and when. Some people had been there last week, some had been there a year ago or more. But there were always plenty of names, meaning that lots of people are geocaching!

As we wandered the streets of Milwaukee, I thought about how to most people, we just looked like four friends taking an afternoon stroll. But really, we were on the prowl. Charlie said that if we were really geeky, we'd have names for the people we encounter who AREN'T geocachers (oh, yes, there are names for those people.) They're called "muggles." (I think this comes from Harry Potter ... ? Though I'm not sure since I've never read the books - but Charlie made some Harry Potter reference.)

Well, I found this just hilarious, so for the rest of our journey, I referred to passersby as "muggles" every chance I got.

The fourth cache was a virtual one, and it was simply a really great view of the lake and the city. There was a kite festival going on down below so we got a cool view of that.

The final cache was a two-parter that we didn't have time to complete. The first part was at a watertower, which we made it to, but the second half was almost another mile away and I had to get back in order to get ready for work. So all in all, we found four locations and it was a really good time.

We made our way back to Brady Street and by then had traveled more than six miles. We were tired! And I had to work the rest of the night, which I really wasn't looking forward to. We bid farewell to Charlie and Dina and said we should do it again sometime! Honestly, with a lot of the things I try, I want to do them again but don't really know if I'll get to, but geocaching is something I'd really try again. I went to places in my city yesterday that I never would have gone otherwise!

I thought it was really neat that if I had never known about geocaching, all those hidden things would still be there. Anywhere I go in the city, there might be a cache hidden right under my nose that I don't know about. Geocaching is kind of like a big "secret society."

I had also never used a GPS before. Man, are those things awesome! With every set of coordinates we punched in, the system pointed us in exactly the right direction, and it also told us how fast we were walking, how long it'd take us to get to the location going at the pace we were going, and how far away we were from the destination. I think I want one.

Yesterday was really fun. I guess if geocaching is geeky, then I'm a big old geek. And I'm definitely ok with that.