Independence Day

This morning was overcast and humid, so I jumped on my bike to get a ride in before it became bright sunshine and humid (my least favorite combination).

I decided to find a couple of new geocaches. Some of the old ones in this area have been archived, and it's nice to see new caches springing up.  The "rules" say you can't place them within 2 miles of each other, so sometimes you have to wait to place on in an "ideal" spot until someone else's goes away.

At any rate, the first was at the base of a bridge.  With all the rain over the last 24 hours, I wondered whether it would still be there!  But yep, it was!

Here's the view from that bridge -- upstream and then downstream. It's on a walking/biking trail spanning Lake Thoreau.  Just beyond the upstream view is a golf course. Everyone peacefully co-exists!

Next I rode up to a local shopping center. It's right next to Oracle, so usually there are TONS of people nearby which makes it tough to get the geocache without being seen (we refer to those people as muggles).  No problem this morning.  This is the pond area where I found it:

One of the pretty growths along the pond's edge:

And at first, this patch of lily pads doesn't look so remarkable. 

But the second photo reveals the treasure (not the cache)!

After I found the cache in this location, I rode home and made wonderful banana muffins to share with our "boys in blue" (local firefighters).

Happy Independence Day!

p.s.  Here's the recipe if you want it

1 1/2 cup flour

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

3 bananas, mashed

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 C melted butter

Streusel:

1/3 C brown sugar

2 T flour

1/8 t cinnamon

1 T butter

Preheat oven to 375. Prepare muffin pan.  Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  In another bowl, mix together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter.  NOTE: Make sure to slowly temper the egg/banana/sugar mixture before pouring all the melted butter into the bowl so the egg does not cook. (I just melted the butter in the microwave and then popped it into the fridge for a few minutes)

Pour banana mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened.  Spoon batter into muffin cups.

In another bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 T flour and cinnamon.  Cut in the butter until it resembles a coarse meal, sprinkle amply on top of the muffin batter.

Bake muffins 18-20  minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

NOTE:  I backed off the flour and substituted 1/4 wheat germ to make them somewhat healthy.