I had to post about this as I am a reader and can't believe places ban books.  As an art form, books should challenge you to see the world differently.....like geocaching!  "Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Intellectual freedom-the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular-provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.

The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings. Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections. Imagine how many more books might be challenged-and possibly banned or restricted-if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society."

Top 30 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009:

1 Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2 Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3 The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4 And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5 Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7 Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8 His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9 TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Myracle, Lauren
10 The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
11 Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
12 It's Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
13 Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
14 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
15 The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
16 Forever, by Judy Blume
17 The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
18 Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
19 Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
20 King and King, by Linda de Haan
21 To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
22 Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
23 The Giver, by Lois Lowry
24 In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
25 Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
26 Beloved, by Toni Morrison
27 My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier
28 Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
29 The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney
30 We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier

For more books and information visit The American Library Association (ALA) site:
http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedbydecade/2000_2009/index.cfm

Placerville Waymarking

Within a short walk of our Placerville bed and breakfast you will find this cool marker.  And waymarking is a great website to find others!  "Established on banks of “Hangtown” Creek as rich mining camp in spring of 1848. Millions in gold were taken from its ravines and hills. Supply center for surrounding mining camps and transportation terminus for famous Comstock Lode. John M. Studebaker, Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford, Phillip Armour, and Edwin Markham were among well-known men who contributed to Placerville’s early history. Also, “Snowshoe” John A. Thompson who carried from 60 to 80 pounds of mail on skies from Placerville over the Sierra to Carson Valley during winter months."

Geocache in Placerville

I love innkeeping, but I also am addicted to geocaches, geocaching, and all things caches related. So I thought I would give you a list to all the caches you can find under my name on Geocaching.com

To Boldly Go....  this was my first puzzle cache
Caching iz cool   nope, it is sneakier than an LPC
Gold Bug Park   my first Earthcache here in the only gold mine owned by a city
Somewhere Over the ... think donuts...
Walk Softly   nice place to rest
Care-ful   Stop, before you look
Big Whistle Blow  near the old railline
Historic Victorian Homes  by the Albert Shafsky House B&B
Archer  at a favorite winery
In Memory of Clem  in San Luis Obispo for Rit'a brother
Happy Anniversary Geocaching  another favorite winery
Vineyard View   another favorite winery

Geocaching in Placerville and a cool podcast for you

Okay, so most of you know that Steph likes to geocache (a lot) and that Rita would rather put pins in her eyes....and that there are a bunch of caches near our Placerville bed and breakfast. Now we have discovered a great podcast about Geocaching that is on every week!   I have been listening on my iPod faithfully for a few months now and decided to write about them as they do such a great job supporting my hobby, obsession, whatever you want to call it?

Sonny and Sandy, a husband and wife geocaching team in Southern California have created a podcast about geocaching.  It is a high quality, family-friendly show that would informs, inspires and entertains all at once. Geocachers are adventurous, use computers, and are very mobile; also a good description for podcasters! So they designed a program that delivers news, tips and tricks, tools of the trade, caching stories, interviews, live audio events, and more!

At PodCacher you will find:

Shownotes to our audio PodCasts
A written journal of our geocaching experiences, musings, rants, raves and opinions
Links to really cool and helpful stuff
Always Family Friendly!

PodCache (pod-kash)
n. 1. A store of goods or valuables concealed in a hiding place designed to be found by other “podcachers”.
2. A game in which the players attempt to find hidden articles by means of a series of audio clues.
v. 1. A geeky techy fun new way to hide things (treasure stashes) for others to find. Combining the aspects of Podcasting and Geocaching.

Thanksgiving and geocaching in Placerville

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Albert Shafsky House B&B

Find more than Thanksgiving leftovers by geocaching in Placerville! You will never look at the world outside the same way.

PLACERVILLE, CA, August 14, 2009 -- Albert Shafsky House B&B to offer geocaching with the innkeepers this Thanksgiving.

This Thanksgiving you can find more than turkey and stuffing in Placerville. The Albert Shafsky House Bed and Breakfast is offering a "How to Geocache" over the holiday weekend with the innkeepers. Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunt, where you use a GPS to locate a cache that has been "logged" into Geocaching.com. Fun for all ages, there are plenty of caches in the gold rush town of Placerville to keep you busy all weekend.

The $150 package includes:

special check-in reception
introduction to geocaching and hands-on experience hunting for caches
tips for successful "finds"
Geomate.jr. for guests to use and take home (one per room)
supplies to make your first "hide"
** 3 nights lodging at the Albert Shafsky House B&B in Placerville (AAA rated and number 1 on Tripadvisor) not included in package - rates will vary depending on your room choice
The Geomate.jr. is preloaded with 250,000 geocache locations in all 50 U.S. states and is a great way to get started in the world of geocaching. The festivities will begin on Thursday at 6 pm with wine and nibbles at check-in. Learn how to cache after breakfast on Friday, then head downtown with the innkeepers to find your first cache of the weekend. Saturday after a delicious breakfast, we will create your first hide (materials provided), be shown how to create a free account on geocaching.com, and look up hints and tips for finding more caches. “Geocaching is not only great fun for kids and adults alike but an excellent way to explore any neighborhood” said Warren Hewerdine, Senior Director of Marketing at Apisphere and co-inventor of the Geomate.jr, “By offering a geocaching program like this, the Albert Shafsky House B & B is not just offering a great way for their guests to explore the local area, but introducing them to an activity that they can enjoy long after their visit.”

For still more reasons to visit, Placerville will be starting the holidays off with a tree lighting on Friday, November 27th from 5:30-8:00 pm which closes Historic Main Street to cars and offers music, entertainment, Santa, stagecoach rides and shopping for that special gift. Saturday, November 28th the shops on Main will welcome you with coffee, cider and seasonal goodies to tempt you...and maybe you can find the cache at the Historic Bell Tower too!

The innkeepers of the Albert Shafsky House (Rita Timewell and Stephanie Carlson) have been hunting for caches for over a year and have over a hundred "finds", large and small, near their award winning bed and breakfast. "It gets us out of the inn, and let's us see the world (and our neighborhood) in a new way" said Carlson. The inn has three guest rooms, each with private bath, offers wine, wireless and of course a delightful breakfast during your stay.

SOURCE: Albert Shafsky House Bed and Breakfast

CONTACT:
Albert Shafsky House Bed and Breakfast
Email: stay@shafsky.com
URL: http://www.shafsky.com

For more information about the Geomate.jr: email warren@apishere.com or to to www.mygeomate.com

Geocache near the Placerville Bed and Breakfast

Recently there have been more people staying at the inn who know what geocaching is about. For those of you who are not familiar with this sport here is some background from Geocaching.com

"Getting Started with Geocaching
Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache's existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS device can then try to locate the geocache.

Easy Steps to Geocaching

Register for a free membership.
Click "Hide & Seek a Cache."
Enter your postal code and click "search."
Choose any geocache from the list and click on its name.
Enter the coordinates of the geocache into your GPS Device.
Use your GPS device to assist you in finding the hidden geocache.
Sign the logbook and return the geocache to its original location.
Share your geocaching stories and photos online."

We (okay, mostly Steph) have been out several times to enjoy the local area in a different way--and have discover some interesting bits of history we did not know were so close and in some case nearly right under our noses! There is also a site where you can post waymarks, "Waymarking is a way to mark unique locations on the planet and give them a voice. While GPS technology allows us to pinpoint any location on the planet, mark the location, and share it with others, Waymarking is the toolset for categorizing and adding unique information for that location" called waymarking.com where the Albert Shafsky House B&B is listed.  Try it next time you visit a new place or just want to see things in a different way in your own home town.

A little Geocaching in Coloma, El Dorado County

Some of you may know that I have been geocaching near our Placerville bed and breakfast for a while now. I blame my Aunt and Uncle who recently innsat for us for getting me started.....in fact, I found one in Florence while they were innsitting the B&B! So, our pals at the American River Conservancy (great group) are holding a class this Sunday for more information.

Geo Caching-Add Adventure to your Hike
Because of rain, this program was rescheduled to...
Sunday, April 5th 9 am - 12 pm

If you were unable to attend this in March, you'll be happy to know it's been re-scheduled due to rain.

The class will start with about a 20-minute lecture and then off to find your first cache. You will learn about how a GPS works, what kind of caches there are, and some techniques on how to find them. At each cache you will stop for few minutes to learn something new. Walter Cullop, ARC volunteer and GPS enthusiast, will be teaching this informative program. This is a 3-mile moderate hike for ages 12+. Please call to sign up and for meeting location (Pilot Hill area) 530-621-1224 or contact julie@arconservancy.org.

FREE/Members, $5/non-members.