Who Knew Cactus Grow In Iowa??

The four of us went geocaching this afternoon.  The first ones we found were located at the Sand Prairie near Eddyville.  We had heard a lot about this area before, but had never visited.  Yes, it's a natural prairie area and yes, the ground is very sandy.  Yes, there are cactus plants there!  In Iowa???  What's the deal?  

A few years ago, when a new 4 lane road was built by-passing the town of Eddyville, there was much conflict regarding where the road would be, because the original plan took the road near or through this prairie.  The short story: preservation of the prairie won.   

We decided March was a great time to discover these caches, as most of them will be more tricky when the prairie grass gets tall and thick.  We all agreed to return here later in the spring and summer to investigate tadpoles, frogs, and other plant and animal wild life.  This is truly an awesome place to visit.
We found four geocaches hidden in this area.  The girls were very instrumental in retrieving all of them.  Big sis found the first one on her own.  Cool Daddy-O found the second one, but we needed Big Sis to retrieve it (cramped quarters).  As a reward for being the first to find this cache, Big Sis pocketed a gold dollar coin.  Lil Sis retrieved the third one and it's obvious by looking at the above photo how proud she was.
After we left the prairie, we went back into town where we climbed down a hill and managed to be the first to find this cache well hidden under a big tube.  The cache container is actually shaped like a hand (very clever).  

This week is Spring Break around here.  Today marked our 93rd geocaching find.  I think we can hit 100 this week if we go out another day or two.  Look out world, here we come!