Sabrina's and Sydney's fabulous hunt for Squiggly!

August Squiggly location

2007-08-07T19:58:00.001-08:00

Squiggly is on campus. This is an easy one, so no excuses. Go out and find it!

I started out at the SSB building (aka, the Consortium Library) and walked towards the Science Building. I took this picture, looking to the right, just before crossing the street at the crosswalk to the Engineering building. See that guardrail? Head toward it and you'll see a road and a pathway that lead behind the Engineering building.

Follow the path and you'll soon cross a bridge with a little gazebo/bench next to the creek on your right.

With your back to the creek and looking through the gazebo thingy, you'll see a bush with a large fern to its left. Walk around the right of the bush and Squiggly is hidden under one of the fern fronds laying next to the ground.

You can just see the white bottle under the frond in the lower right corner of the photo. The frond, by the way, was already laying against the ground. No ferns were harmed in hiding Squiggly. The path does continue on behind the Student Union building and ends in the parking lot behind the Wells Fargo Sports Complex so if you are coming from the west end of campus you can just come at it from that direction.

Foiled!

2007-08-04T18:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I was going to hide Squiggly in the Cuddy midtown park but once I pulled onto the street that leads to the parking lot there was a big orange sign telling me the park was closed for my safety until Summer 2008. Sure enough, on closer inspection, they had the lot and some of the path torn up. It was all fenced off as well. Nothing to see here folks, move along.

So I did, to the Potter's Marsh boardwalk. It was pouring rain but I was determined. I even obeyed the No Pets Allowed sign and left the dog in the car. It rapidly went down hill when I realized the batteries in my camera were dead. No problem, I'd hide and come back later for photos. I walked all the way to the end of the boardwalk and found no place to securly hide Squiggly without it potentially falling into the marsh. I stopped and watched the salmon swimming in through the culvert and thought maybe I'd just hide it in the trees back at the parking lot. Alas, that too was a foolish idea. The whole perimeter of the lot had been hydrosprayed with grass seed recently. There was no way to get to a hiding place without destroying the new landscaping. I got back in the car totally defeated, not to mention, totally wet.

I will attempt another hiding place tomorrow.

Squiggly to be placed in August location soon

2007-08-01T12:22:00.000-08:00

I've picked up Squiggly from the dorm location today. I'll place it in its August location Saturday morning (8/4) and get the directions posted by Saturday night. In the mean time, it'll be sitting on my desk in SSB 346 if you want to drop by and pick up a chip!

Squiggly's location for July

2007-07-15T18:39:00.000-08:00

Or at least what is left of July. Squiggly is by the dorms. It should be easy enough to find on your lunch break. Take the path to the dorms at the corner of Alumni Loop and Providence Dr. Follow the path to the end and go to the left of MAC 2 (in picture below) and follow the path that goes around to the front of the dorm building so that MAC 2 ends up on your right.

Walk past MAC 3 and 4 (these will be on your right as well) and take a right when you get to this sign which is just past MAC 4:

Walk across the bridge toward the little island of mini-trees in the grass to the right of the emergency phone.

Squiggly is in the tall grass at the base of these little trees. You can just see the blue cap in the clump of grass below.

Squiggly update

2007-06-29T09:29:00.000-08:00

My ambition was to get Squiggly to a new spot by July 1st but that just isn't going to happen. I, like almost every other Alaskan, will be out enjoying the camping and fishing scene over the next few days. So, if you still haven't found Squiggly by Campbell Creek you have until July 6th to get it done. Squiggly will be placed in his (its? does a poker chip have gender?) new location on the 7th. I do hope this doesn't throw anyone's universe off kilter. I'd hate for that to happen. Have a Happy 4th!

Moving Squiggly soon

2007-06-25T10:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, I will be moving Squiggly this week so that it is ready and waiting in a new spot for July. I think it will be on or near campus so that people can search for it on their breaks or at lunch time.

Well my steps have been a roller coaster for the past few weeks. The bathrooms in my building are under remodel so instead of a mere 50 steps down the hall and back I actually log in 600 steps round trip to make it to the nearest available facilities. A second hand elliptical machine recently came into my possession. That bad boy really kicks your butt and it racks up 203 steps per minute on the conversion chart. So, the steps have been really high most days due to these two factors. Alas, Syd and I took a trip to Homer this past weekend and due to the crummy weather I got in a lot more fish and chips eating than beach combing so I averaged about 5000 steps for the past three days. Pathetic. And yes, Walking Wendy is leaving me in the dust on the standings page.

Check back by this weekend for the instructions to Squiggly's new hiding place.

Finally!

2007-06-10T08:06:00.000-08:00

What a morning it is. I took my cup of coffee out to my back deck and just sat for an hour sipping and enjoying the sun and blue sky. It was so quiet I could hear the birds' wings as they flew from the trees to the bird feeder on my deck. Syd and I have been enjoying the pair that have taken up residence in a barn shaped bird house we hung up last summer for decoration. Apparently it is good enough to live in. Don't ask me what kind of bird it is because I have no idea. It has wings and goes chirp, chirp. That is the extent of my birding skills.

Yesterday morning Syd and I hunted down the other Squiggly that Wendy has stashed by University Lake. We found the beavers' hut on the lake edge by taking the lower slanted path. It was a balmy 49 degrees when we set out at 9:30AM. We both had wool hats on and Syd even wore gloves. It was a lovely walk in spite of the cold and we saw many different types of waterfowl on the lake. It appeared that some had even made nests right on the water. I'm not sure how that works. I recommend taking your binoculars, I wish I had.

Get out and enjoy the day!

Sunday morning excursion

2007-06-04T08:57:00.000-08:00

Syd and I checked on Squiggly early Sunday morning before going to church. All was well and three people had found it so far. The mosquitoes were definitely out so beware! We played on the toddler play ground for a few minutes. I highly recommend the little scooter mounted on the big blue spring. I could really get that little sucker rocking back and forth and side to side. The MOA grounds keeper who was out picking up trash yelled (good naturedly) that he was pretty sure it was just for little kids. Oh well. I think he was just jealous.

Squiggly is chilling by Campbell Creek

2007-05-29T17:16:00.000-08:00

Syd and I, with geriatric dog Zipper in tow, set out to place Squiggly on Sunday morning.

Zipper obviously could not read the NO SWIMMING signs posted around the lake. Several people were out jogging, walking and fishing at 9:30 AM taking advantage of the sunshine. There was just enough of a breeze to keep the bugs down.

To find Squiggly, take Dimond Blvd. to King St. Go North on King St until it dead-ends at a 3-way stop. Turn left and drive into the Taku-Campbell Creek parking lot. The picture is of the lake from the parking lot. As you approach the lake follow the paved path on the right side of the lake.

For a few extra steps at the end of the lake you can take a little side trip to the right, up the new foot bridge. It crosses the creek toward the end of the bridge and it's fun to look way, way down to the water below. Come back to the path by the lake and continue around the end of the lake. You will pass a field and picnic shelter on the right and a toddler play ground up on the left (for those of you doing this with kids in tow).

Stay on the main path and walk under the imaginative fish lure path light and funky metal salmon chairs. We noticed a few trees in this area felled by beavers. Walk under the C St. bridge (check out the glyphs under the bridge).

Once out from under the bridge, the path veers to the left and a little short cut dirt path goes right. Take the dirt path a few paces in. There are three huge spruce on your right that sort of lean in to each other at their tips. You can see the first spruce in the photo leaning toward the right.

Syd is pointing to the spot. I'm standing on the paved path taking her picture.

On the ground at the base of the spruce are three old fallen tree trunks. Syd is sitting on them.

Two of the fallen trunks make a v-shape. Squiggly is lodged under one of these trunks. Write your name on the paper and take your Squiggly chip!

If you really want to rack up the steps you can continue on the path. It follows Campbell Creek under Arctic and under Minnesota and eventually spits you out on Dimond across from Fred Meyer.

Let me know how it went by leaving a comment.

Squiggly breaks free from UC

2007-05-22T19:24:00.000-08:00

Sabrina says: Welcome to Sabrina's and Sydney's walking blog. I've volunteered to take over the other hunt for Squiggly for UAA (the one that was previously hidden in the University Center). My daughter has a great spot picked out. We'll hide Squiggly this weekend and post directions by June 1. I'm proud of my daughter for sticking with the Orient Express program. She wears her pedometer faithly. We often have stand offs. She'll face me like a gun slinger and flip open her pedometer asking, "OK mom, how many steps have ya got varmint?" Alright, she doesn't say varmint, but you get the idea. I flip my pedometer open with trepidation. While I sit at a desk all day she's off at school enjoying recess everyday and gym twice a week!

Sydney says: I have kick ball and soccer games too! Last night I had 15,000 something steps. Sorry momma. Wooooooo hoooooooooo, school is O-U-T! ; - )