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Dino Cache Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Tycoon Otto: Time to retire this cache.
Thanks for all that found and enjoyed this location. :)

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Hidden : 10/10/2013
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

And now, for the rest of the story...

My hunch is one would be hard-pressed to find a person living on Bainbridge Island who hasn’t seen the happy dinosaur on High School Road sporting getups for every occasion. He pokes his head above a wooden fence out of an apple tree across from where High School intersects with Weaver. He changes a lot but always keeps his big toothy smile. Michelle McClure and Pete Weigel. Yes, he’s a he and a dinosaur, though his creators don’t mind if people think he’s a dragon, which they often do. He doesn’t really have a name, but the people who made him do. Pete Weigel and Michelle McClure invented him about 11 years ago, back when they lived together in Seattle near Roosevelt High School on 15th Avenue and 16th Street, before their twins Otto and Marty were born. The dino was popular in Seattle, and when Michelle and Pete moved to Bainbridge five years ago, they made sure to bring their smiling friend along with them and find a house where he would get noticed. The person who bought Michelle’s and Pete’s old house in Seattle took their tradition to heart, deciding he would mount a large giraffe head in place of the dino. Turns out he is the son of Michelle’s former high school teacher from Poulsbo, where she grew up. Graduation dino. Since the dino moved to Bainbridge, he is so noticeable, in fact, that Pete and Michelle often get notes from appreciative Islanders thanking them for making their lives a little happier. One note, which they had up on their kitchen bulletin board, was from a woman who used to see him in Seattle and then moved to Bainbridge around the time Pete and Michelle did. She left them the note to say how delighted she was to still be able to see his Rudolph costume every holiday. The dino even made the police blotter once after he was taken on a “walkabout” and was later returned to Michelle’s and Pete’s driveway with some damage to his nose. On a lark Pete and Michelle reported the incident to the police, citing $20 in damages for the papier-mâché and fiberglass shell materials they had to buy to fix him. With amusement, they told me they figured it was probably high schoolers having some fun. They said the good part was that a dino fan who read the report in the police blotter left them a note with a $20 bill to cover the damages. Another time someone took down the dino, dressed him in a necktie, and remounted him. Football season dino. When I asked how they came up with the idea, Pete said that Michelle had an epiphany after they visited Dinosaur National Monument in Utah. She had a vision to put a dinosaur head in their big rhododendron hedge looking out on 15th Avenue in Seattle. Pete helped make the dino a reality, and ever since he has been the guy who “dresses” their “pet” in his array of outfits: a mortar board for graduation, an Uncle Sam hat for July 4th, sunglasses and a sunhat for summer vacation, a ghost costume for Halloween, a Pilgrim look for Thanksgiving, a red Rudolph nose and antlers around the holidays, a Saint Pat’s Day hat, bunny ears for Easter, and for today, the first day of school, a football helmet painted in Spartan blue and gold. Once someone offered to buy the dynamic dino. Luckily for all of us, Michelle and Pete didn’t put a price on his head. Hope you all enjoy this location. :)

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Jngpu lbhe fcrrq.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)