First up we had to run to an open house to pickup our season passes at Tyrol Basin. The pass pickup went a bit slow for the boys, waiting in line is not much fun. We got our pictures taken and passes printed out and headed out to check out the gear sale. Since all our gear is only a half season old the deals on snowboards, while tempting, will have to wait a year or two. Kevin did score a pair of boarding pants for 25% off. Zack who did not get a season pass or any new gear didn't strike out, he got to go in the bounce castle they had setup while I waited to pay for the new pants. Of course being Zack he had such a good time he came out with a bloody nose. We decided to skip the chairlift ride since it would require getting out of the sale area, which was a pain, exactly like leaving Sam's Club only slower.
I don't recall how we came to agreement on a picnic lunch and geocaching at Devil's Lake but once home Jen packed a snacky lunch and I made sure we had caches loaded in the GPS. Jenny told Kevin to grab his camera which was a good thing or we would have been stuck with cellphone pictures yet again.
Devil's Lake is a great park in the off season. The trees still had pretty good color and Kevin took a bunch of good pictures when his mom wasn't borrowing his camera. Not only did Kevin have his camera but a tripod as well making group shots much easier. Even if I had remembered our camera I always forget the tripod. We picnicked at a table far enough from the main parking lot we were pretty much alone. Up next was the geocache. I had three programed but the boys didn't want to walk real far so we headed to the closest. We had been stumped by this particular cache once before, the GPS would change the heading repeatedly as it did again. The rocks we were climbing on were somewhat wet and covered in wet leaves making it a challenge. Jenny eventually found the box hidden in the rocks and Zack grabbed a toy car while she signed the log book.
After some more pictures we walked the railroad tracks back to the north beach area for even more pictures before heading back to the Jeep.
I had seen a farm market advertising apple cider doughnuts so we had to stop on the way home. A good way to wrap up an unplanned trip that we all enjoyed.
The doughnut can be found about here:
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