Caching in Central Park

Kerry, Ruth, and I took a trip to New York City last weekend. If you haven't been there, it is true - you MUST go. I always got tired of people telling me that, but it turns out they're right. I still can't picture myself living there (I think the concrete jungle would eventually suffocate me - I'm just a simple girl from central Ohio), but I plan on visiting New York at least once a year if I can pull it off. It was expensive - but if I could control my problem with immediate gratification and keep from buying everything I see that catches my eye, it wouldn't be so bad. Not that we really shopped, except for going in to some of the stores in Soho. I just picked up things here and there - for some reason the stupid NBC store at Rockefeller Plaza is where I did the most damage.
You might think I'm posting something again that has nothing to do with actually geocaching, but not so. I took Gordie, and the first thing we did was drop our bags at the hotel, which was on W 77th Ave, and walked the 3 or 4 blocks to Central Park. I was able to locate several caches right on the side of the park we were on. Not only on that side, but the ones that were right where we walked in to the park off of 81st. Keep in mind that Ruth has never cached before, though she does know about it. So she tolerated Kerry and I following Gordie's directions around because after all - it was a good way to see the park. So while we're tramping around this bridge in the bushes, we look down the hill, and there's a woman milling about with a sheet of paper in one hand and something else in the other - she looked at us, we looked at her, and she said "Are you looking for a plastic container??" It was the first time any of us have run in to another cacher while caching. It was sort of funny, and she was the sweetest person. Her cache name is 'sun-n-ski' (I do know what her real name is, but I shall not forsake the geocaching handles). She is a flight attendant on a business jet (I assume it is someone's personal jet, but not sure) and she lives in Los Angeles. We had both brought travel bugs to drop off at the site, so we simply traded. That was the only cache Kerry and I were planning on doing, but sun-n-ski was so much fun we decided to go with her and help search for another one, called The Castle. It is a castle located in Central Park, orginially built as a lookout point. Very cool - it came complete with a guy dressed up as some sort of guard, though I failed to get up enough nerve to ask for a picture with him. We parted company with our fellow geocacher there, and went on to see Strawberry Fields, after which we had to leave the park to go back to the hotel to change for our evening at Times Square. When I go back I will definitely go continue my adventures in Central Park - I couldn't believe the sheer size of the park, the twisting paths, and the different landscapes. If you go to New York City, Central Park should on your list of things to see.