Christmas Card Lane Flash Mob

One of my personal favorites...

Last night I attended the 3rd annual Christmas Card Lane flash mob event (link) hosted by Silver Horde.  The cache 'Christmas Card Lane Cache' is also on the premises (link) and is one of the few caches that is only available to log during December. I've attended this event every year and this year was as good as ever.  Christmas Card Lane only exists one month out of the year, when a typical suburban neighborhood is transformed into a colorful spectacle of lights.  Each house in the approximately two block area has a theme, and creates a Christmas Card-like display.  I think it is so cool that the neighbor participation rate is so high, probably more than 90%.  It makes the area really a magical place and people come from all over San Diego to see it.  The place is just packed with people and cars! The flash mob event started three years ago and it was one of my first events as a geocacher.  I didn't know many people back then, but it was a fun (and quick) event, plus the walk around the neighborhood was very cool.  So, we have made this a yearly tradition.  Last year, we brought our new puppy with us and he broke free from his collar and raced across Black Mountain road.  Cars were zipping by at 50+ mph as he chased away from our frantic efforts to catch him on the side of the road.  A terrifying moment that still gives me the shivers, but we finally caught him unharmed. A Christmas miracle! He made his return this year and has a trackable collar now, so both of our dogs could be discovered.

Disney themes were common

Anyhow, it was fun chatting with some old friends and meeting some new ones. ClanCambellChandler, SDGEOMOM74 and I talked about Munzee (in hushed tones, of course). FlagMan and Deniel3 were also there, so we caught up a bit.  Said hello to LLOT, Trixxster, and of course, the gracious host, Silver Horde. Lulu499 was the winner of the FTF raffle (yea Lulu!). The event meal was larger this year, including both candy canes AND chocolate kisses. Mmmm. As the event was winding down, we did a group picture (below) and then were serenaded by a group of young carolers.  If this doesn't get you in the mood for the holidays, you should probably have your pulse checked!  I grabbed a couple of trackables from the table and I was off to see the neighborhood.

Harry Potter

My family arrived right after the event, so I arranged to meet them at the site of a new cache 'Day 18 - Christmas light car tour in PJs' (link).  This is part of the geo-advent calendar series that FlagMan is putting out this year.  One cache gets published per day.  Like the 12 Redneck Days of Christmas series (a hysterical series put together by Habu! two years ago), it will probably take me years to finish them all, but no matter, it's all good. I found the cache quickly, but I waited out several waves of muggles who wanted to pet the geopets before I was able to sign and replace the log.  By that point, my family had arrived and it was time to put the GPSr away and enjoy the lights.  Let me know about your favorite Christmas-themed caches in the comments below!

Flash mob group shot
(photo courtesy of Trixxster, with permission)