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Bring back country based souvenirs


NYPaddleCacher

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I did the same for a cache in Austria and an Austria souvenir *did* appear on a users souvenir page, but attempting to link to the full artwork still resulted in the "souvenir does not appear in our database" message.

 

Really? I have not come across a profile of a cacher with a souvenir of Austria, not even among those cachers who found a recently hidden cache today, see

e.g. here

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=d6c0a512-8ac4-4f8b-aefb-f72c528c25b8

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Hmm, the new ones were working last night, because that's how I got the links. Tuesday is the day they usually do site updates, so maybe they were released prematurely and later rolled-back. Without any communication from Groundspeak, all we can do is guess.

 

I did the same for a cache in Austria and an Austria souvenir *did* appear on a users souvenir page, but attempting to link to the full artwork still resulted in the "souvenir does not appear in our database" message.

Really? I have not come across a profile of a cacher with a souvenir of Austria, not even among those cachers who found a recently hidden cache today, see

e.g. here

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=d6c0a512-8ac4-4f8b-aefb-f72c528c25b8

They were only being awarded for a certain portion of yesterday and possibly overnight and early this morning (Seattle time). Logs submitted today apparently don't get them. If you look for logs from yesterday (Feb 26), you'll have a better chance of finding one of the new souvenirs.

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Hmm, the new ones were working last night, because that's how I got the links. Tuesday is the day they usually do site updates, so maybe they were released prematurely and later rolled-back. Without any communication from Groundspeak, all we can do is guess.

 

I figured that was the case. I'm still not convinced that the release of some of the souvenirs wasn't an unintended side effect of adding state/regions to quite a few new countries. That would have required a database change and they may have inadvertently set a column to a value which indicated that souvenirs were available for those countries. I can't really think of a good reason why they might have started awarding them and then stopped.

 

 

I did the same for a cache in Austria and an Austria souvenir *did* appear on a users souvenir page, but attempting to link to the full artwork still resulted in the "souvenir does not appear in our database" message.

Really? I have not come across a profile of a cacher with a souvenir of Austria, not even among those cachers who found a recently hidden cache today, see

e.g. here

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=d6c0a512-8ac4-4f8b-aefb-f72c528c25b8

They were only being awarded for a certain portion of yesterday and possibly overnight and early this morning (Seattle time). Logs submitted today apparently don't get them. If you look for logs from yesterday (Feb 26), you'll have a better chance of finding one of the new souvenirs.

 

Here's a user profile that has an Austrian souvenir: http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=d3cf9f59-5955-4215-a136-551a8c46fc42

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Been a while since I've read this thread. What exactly is the problem? Do we users need to create the icons and offer them up for usage on the site?

 

Let me summarize.

 

A few years ago Groundspeak created souvenirs.

 

Region based souvenirs were created and awarded for U.S. states, Canadian provinces, some German states, and four countries (based on polling in the old feedback site.

 

Then GS decided to put region based souvenirs on the back burner.

 

A year ago or so a Flickr page showed up which had the artwork for all of the country/state souvenris, include a dozen or so countries for which souvenirs had not yet been awarded (i.e. Spain, South Africa).

 

I started this thread last summer, suggesting the GS bring back country based souvenirs. It got a lot of responses, overwhelmingly in favor of the suggestion.

 

A couple of months ago A-Team created a web page that had a complete list (including non-regional souvenirs).

 

A couple of weeks ago, per my suggestion, the A-Team added the list of souvenirs from the artwork list on that Flickr page.

 

A few days ago, OZ2CPU posted that they had found a cache in Sweden and had been awarded a souvenir for the country.

 

The A-Team updated their page again, this time identifying the new countries/regions which mostly included souvenirs from that Flickr page but also some additional countries/regions such as South Korea and some regions in Ireland. Coincidentally, the released of these souvenirs seemed to coincide with how the search "by country" worked in that there are now many new countries which have States/Provinces identified (including South Korea).

 

Less than 24 hours after that OZ2CPU post, the links to the full artwork stopped working and those that found caches in the "new" countries were not receiving souvenirs. The retroactive awarding of souvenirs for those countries (getting a souvenir for finding a cache in one of the new countries prior to the 26th) wasn't working either (that's a separate process).

 

That's pretty much where we stand today and there has hasn't been a word from Groundspeak about the new souvenirs nor the new countries which have been broken down into states/provinces.

 

That should bring you up to date.

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I think it has something to do with the celebrations of the 2 millionth cache.

On the celebration page you can read:

 

To celebrate – Geocaching will be rewarding the global community with previously unreleased Geocaching Souvenirs. Hundreds of thousands of geocachers will receive never-before released country and region souvenirs. Find details here. Geocachers also have a new way to thank geocache hiders. Share this new “Thank a Geocache Hider” video with those who place and maintain geocaches so many enjoy.

 

Now that the treshold has officially been breached, we should hopefully see the new souvenirs appearing any hour.

Edited by Astartus
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I got a souvenir for Spain retroactively awarded to me (I found a few caches in Barcelona a few years ago). The thumbnail is pretty generic and the link to the full artwork is broken (like the ones that I believe were inadvertently pre-released a couple of days ago). It still goes to a Souvenir Details page with the message: "There is no souvenir in the database that matches your request."

 

 

Unfortunately:

After all the souvenirs are released no more state or regional souvenirs are planned.

http://blog.geocachi...tive-geocaches/

 

I don't know actually how many new souvenirs we'll see but when they stop people are going to be disappointed if they have found a cache or going caching in the future in a country which didn't make the cut.

 

I wouldn't expect them to continue to release 5 a day but adding a few new countries a month doesn't seem like it would require a significant amount of effort. I realize that there are a lot of countries which have very few caches but that just makes qualifying for one for that is for a country with few caches more interesting. I see it like coin/stamp/etc. collecting. Anyone from the U.S. can collect the set of U.S. State quarters but a 1921 Standing Liberty Quarter is a lot harder to come by (current value around $190).

 

Once they stop released the new ones on their list I'll be starting a new feature suggestion to continue adding new country based souvenirs.

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Ok, I can finally see the Austria souvenir being awarded for me, and several of my friends also having Spain and Sverige.

 

Really too bad that Groundspeak is stopping further development of souvenirs afterwards. Now it goes in line with Webcams, Virtuals, Wherigo and Challenges. Started but never fully finished.

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Ok, I can finally see the Austria souvenir being awarded for me, and several of my friends also having Spain and Sverige.

 

Really too bad that Groundspeak is stopping further development of souvenirs afterwards. Now it goes in line with Webcams, Virtuals, Wherigo and Challenges. Started but never fully finished.

 

I checked a few minutes ago and it looks like the links work for the first three on the list (Austria, New South Wales, and Dublin) but Spain and Sweden were not yet working...they may be working by the time I type this.

 

I thought the same thing about starting but not finishing yet another features. I'd add the beta Cache Submission Process to that list.

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I just checked and have all 5 of the new ones. I like Souvenirs!! Much better idea than those silly challenges.

 

From the latest word from a lackey, an "isActive" flag had not been set for Spain and Sweden but that's been fixed and all five of the souvenirs "officially" released today should be working.

 

He also indicated for those souvenirs that were inadvertently awarded on the 26th-27th (i.e. one for South Korea) that the thumbnail link will remain broken until the souvenir is officially released.

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Looks like the Queensland Aus souvenir has been released, as i just earned it after logging a cache. When i logged the last one in QLD, i didnt get anything and that was on the 19th...

Yep, a number of new souvenirs have been released today. See my post here for the new ones, or here for my list of all souvenirs.

Odd, I received a NSW suv, but not a QLD one. :unsure:

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Looks like the Queensland Aus souvenir has been released, as i just earned it after logging a cache. When i logged the last one in QLD, i didnt get anything and that was on the 19th...

Yep, a number of new souvenirs have been released today. See my post here for the new ones, or here for my list of all souvenirs.

Odd, I received a NSW suv, but not a QLD one. :unsure:

 

The QLD souvenir hasn't been *officially* released. Condorito got it due to new souvenirs accidentally being awarded a couple of days ago. At the time, GS had not yet turned on retroactive awarding so you wouldn't have received it, but Condorito logged a cache in Queensland that day and got the thumbnail for the souvenir. Over in the blogs a lackey indicated that after the five that were released yesterday, and the five released today, that there will be six more on Monday, 7 on Tuesday, and 7 on Wednesday of next wee. The one for Queensland will be one of them and you'll get it when it's officially released.

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Looks like the Queensland Aus souvenir has been released, as i just earned it after logging a cache. When i logged the last one in QLD, i didnt get anything and that was on the 19th...

Yep, a number of new souvenirs have been released today. See my post here for the new ones, or here for my list of all souvenirs.

Odd, I received a NSW suv, but not a QLD one. :unsure:

 

The QLD souvenir hasn't been *officially* released. Condorito got it due to new souvenirs accidentally being awarded a couple of days ago. At the time, GS had not yet turned on retroactive awarding so you wouldn't have received it, but Condorito logged a cache in Queensland that day and got the thumbnail for the souvenir. Over in the blogs a lackey indicated that after the five that were released yesterday, and the five released today, that there will be six more on Monday, 7 on Tuesday, and 7 on Wednesday of next wee. The one for Queensland will be one of them and you'll get it when it's officially released.

Oh, I see. Thanks! B)

 

I'm sad to see that Groundspeak is discontinuing souvenirs. I guess it's not a HUGE deal, but my souvenir gallery is going to be incomplete, now. It doesn't make sense to start something and then not finish it, leaving incomplete galleries forever in each cacher's profile. Doesn't make sense, but has now become expected where Groundspeak is concerned. :(

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I'm sad to see that Groundspeak is discontinuing souvenirs.

 

I am, too. But on the other hand, I am glad to see that they are no longer stuck in limbo, like they had been for the past, what, 18 months?

 

It would be better if they kept making them. But it is nice that they finished making more.

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I'm sad to see that Groundspeak is discontinuing souvenirs.

 

I am, too. But on the other hand, I am glad to see that they are no longer stuck in limbo, like they had been for the past, what, 18 months?

 

It would be better if they kept making them. But it is nice that they finished making more.

This is true. I'm glad that they released the already made souvenirs.

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It would be better if they kept making them. But it is nice that they finished making more.

This is true. I'm glad that they released the already made souvenirs.

I'm wondering now if they're even going to release all of those.

By my count, there are 22 remaining souvenirs for which artwork was published in the Flickr gallery but haven't yet been released.

Two Ireland souvenirs have already been released, which were not in the Flickr gallery. Presumably the other 3 regions in Ireland will also get them, so let's add another 3 to the number of souvenirs that still need to be released.

We now have a total of 25 that need to be released.

In the blog post comments, Eric said "We'll release 6 more on Monday, 7 more on Tuesday and then the last 7 souvenirs on Wednesday." That's 20 souvenirs.

This doesn't add up. Either someone flunked basic math, or there will be some already-prepared souvenirs that won't be released.

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I'm sad to see that Groundspeak is discontinuing souvenirs.

 

I am, too. But on the other hand, I am glad to see that they are no longer stuck in limbo, like they had been for the past, what, 18 months?

 

It would be better if they kept making them. But it is nice that they finished making more.

 

According to what I read, there will be more souvenirs released on Monday (6 souvenirs) Tuesday (7), and Wednesday (7) of next week and then that's it.

 

Based on the five that were released yesterday, and the five today, by my calculations there are 12-13 countries that have not yet been released (accounting for the remaining regions in Ireland and Australia). Based on the list that the A-Team has on his souvenirs list page, there are 4 countries for which souvenir artwork has been created that won't be released. Here is the list of countries have have artwork on the Geocaching Souvenirs page but are not yet released:

 

Bulgaria

Denmark

England

Ethiopia

Finland

France

Iceland

Japan

Latvia

Luxumbourg

Netherlands

New Zealand

Scotland

South Africa

Switzerland

Wales

 

So, if GS hold to their state that 20 additional souvenirs will be released there are four on that last which are not going to make that cut. We've also seen one released for South Korea so there may be others we don't know about, but other countries which may not get souvenirs include:

 

Belgium, Italy, Mexico, and every country in South and Central America.

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When souvenirs were first released I didn't really care about them. But when the new country ones suddenly popped up last week I got really excited. And now I would love to have souvenirs for all countries that there are. Hey, I love visiting other countries to cache there, I love my country stats, and the souvenirs just add this little bit of extra there. I really do hope that GS reconsiders and publishes more. Can I now have a souvenir for Mexico please? Oh, and Qatar! It's my third highest country count.

 

Mrs. terratin

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I like Japan's, especially since the trees were still in fall display when we were there.

 

Iceland's is ok. I think I would have gone for one of the eleventy bajillion waterfalls, but such is life.

 

Then again, if I ran souvenirs, Alabama wouldn't be drunk and falling over toward Mississippi.

 

fceba857-a15f-4477-895a-3a554ef93583.png

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I like Japan's, especially since the trees were still in fall display when we were there.

 

I was there in the early fall as well, and the only thing I noticed about the trees was that they provide a source of shade for the summer like heat.

 

 

Iceland's is ok. I think I would have gone for one of the eleventy bajillion waterfalls, but such is life.

 

Then again, if I ran souvenirs, Alabama wouldn't be drunk and falling over toward Mississippi.

 

fceba857-a15f-4477-895a-3a554ef93583.png

 

Think of it this way, perhaps it's not falling toward Mississippi as much as it is trying to get away from Florida.

 

Of course, that's just one of the boring U.S. State thumbnails and when you click on it you get to see....um, nevermind.

Edited by NYPaddleCacher
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I know it's been posted tons of times, but I can't find it in a quick search. :anicute: What is the correct address to write to if I want to get a souvenir retroactively? I just realized that it looks like New Hampshire was never given to me, even though I found a cache there.

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I know it's been posted tons of times, but I can't find it in a quick search. :anicute: What is the correct address to write to if I want to get a souvenir retroactively? I just realized that it looks like New Hampshire was never given to me, even though I found a cache there.

Just the regular contact email: contact@geocaching.com

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I know it's been posted tons of times, but I can't find it in a quick search. :anicute: What is the correct address to write to if I want to get a souvenir retroactively? I just realized that it looks like New Hampshire was never given to me, even though I found a cache there.

Just the regular contact email: contact@geocaching.com

What, no special souvenir address? :D suv@geocaching.com

 

Thanks. ;)

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I like Japan's, especially since the trees were still in fall display when we were there.

 

I was there in the early fall as well, and the only thing I noticed about the trees was that they provide a source of shade for the summer like heat.

 

 

Iceland's is ok. I think I would have gone for one of the eleventy bajillion waterfalls, but such is life.

 

Then again, if I ran souvenirs, Alabama wouldn't be drunk and falling over toward Mississippi.

 

fceba857-a15f-4477-895a-3a554ef93583.png

 

Think of it this way, perhaps it's not falling toward Mississippi as much as it is trying to get away from Florida.

 

Of course, that's just one of the boring U.S. State thumbnails and when you click on it you get to see....um, nevermind.

 

I should clarify: the trees were in "fall display" in early December. Surprised us, but since Montgomery doesn't exactly have a stunning display of autumnal foliage, we were happy.

 

And yeah...preaching to the choir on that crummy Alabama state art. Balloons, for which we're not known? Bears? Some sort of berry? I don't get it.

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I like Japan's, especially since the trees were still in fall display when we were there.

 

I was there in the early fall as well, and the only thing I noticed about the trees was that they provide a source of shade for the summer like heat.

 

 

Iceland's is ok. I think I would have gone for one of the eleventy bajillion waterfalls, but such is life.

 

Then again, if I ran souvenirs, Alabama wouldn't be drunk and falling over toward Mississippi.

 

fceba857-a15f-4477-895a-3a554ef93583.png

 

Think of it this way, perhaps it's not falling toward Mississippi as much as it is trying to get away from Florida.

 

Of course, that's just one of the boring U.S. State thumbnails and when you click on it you get to see....um, nevermind.

 

I should clarify: the trees were in "fall display" in early December. Surprised us, but since Montgomery doesn't exactly have a stunning display of autumnal foliage, we were happy.

 

 

Here's what it looked like from a spot close to one of the caches I found:

 

f83f9c11-ec96-439e-9930-579df0f17631.jpg

 

I found the cache after taking a 10 minute light rail ride from the airport (in the town of Narita) and about a 20 minute walk from the train station. I had a six hour layover so I had plenty of time but it was so hot I only stopped to find one other cache on the way back.

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I like Japan's, especially since the trees were still in fall display when we were there.

 

I was there in the early fall as well, and the only thing I noticed about the trees was that they provide a source of shade for the summer like heat.

 

I should clarify: the trees were in "fall display" in early December. Surprised us, but since Montgomery doesn't exactly have a stunning display of autumnal foliage, we were happy.

 

Here's what it looked like from a spot close to one of the caches I found:

 

f83f9c11-ec96-439e-9930-579df0f17631.jpg

 

I found the cache after taking a 10 minute light rail ride from the airport (in the town of Narita) and about a 20 minute walk from the train station. I had a six hour layover so I had plenty of time but it was so hot I only stopped to find one other cache on the way back.

 

Weather was prety nice for us in December: not really cold, but good fall color.

 

kyoto52.jpg

 

Iwo Jima was a little warm the day I was there, though. Went from 40s and windy in Fussa to 86 and steamy on Iwo to.

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So the final seven regional souvenirs are dropping today.

 

Five Aussie souvenirs have dropped already, and they're numbered X of 8. So I'm guessing three will be Australian.

 

Hoping Munster gets one for Ireland, it would be a little odd to leave it out.

 

I can't remember what else was in the album I saw last year. What else do we get? (I know, I could wait til the end of the day, but I like speculation and rumor.)

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I can't remember what else was in the album I saw last year. What else do we get?

Go to the last section in my list to see which ones haven't been released yet.

 

Based on the stated number of souvenirs that will be released today, not all of the unreleased souvenirs will be released. However, as has been shown by the last few days, someone failed basic math when they announced how many would be released each day (there were actually 8 yesterday), so maybe they just really screwed up the numbers and we'll get all 10 today.

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Looks like today's list is the last two Australian ones, Luxembourg, Munster (Ireland), Latvia, Denmark, Switzerland, and a UK one. Yes, that's 8.

 

So I guess that leaves Ethiopia and then the separate England, Scotland, and Wales ones off the A-Team's list.

Wonder why they'd do a UK one instead of the separate ones, and why they'd leave Ethiopia off the list?

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So the final seven regional souvenirs are dropping today.

 

Five Aussie souvenirs have dropped already, and they're numbered X of 8. So I'm guessing three will be Australian.

 

Hoping Munster gets one for Ireland, it would be a little odd to leave it out.

 

I can't remember what else was in the album I saw last year. What else do we get? (I know, I could wait til the end of the day, but I like speculation and rumor.)

 

Munster got one as did Australia Capital Territory and Tasmania. The other countries included were Luxembourg, Latvia, Denmark, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The flickr album to which you are referring actually had separate artwork for Scotland and Wales but it looks like they were combined into the one for the United Kingdom. The other country which had artwork, but does not have a released souvenir is Ethiopia. I thought the artwork was really nice and have no idea why chose to create souvenir artwork (seen here) for a country that only has 13 caches but I wouldn't complain if they added it. I just found out this morning that I might be receiving an invitation to participate in a meeting in Addis Ababa at the beginning of May.

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So we've got 81 now. And we don't even have all 50 states yet, nor do we have any Seattle-centric ones other than the A.P.E. cache. Woot.

 

Interesting that Ireland gets 5 and the UK gets but one. Especially since Northern Ireland is covered by the Irish Ulster souvenir. Remind me not to ask Mrs. B how she feels about Wales getting the cold shoulder.

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On the Latitude 47 blog, Eric Schudiske states:

Unfortunately we don't have the resources to produce more souvenirs currently, but definitely wanted to share all the amazing souvenirs we had previously created.

 

In my opinion, Groundspeak does have plenty resources: about 5 million geocachers! Why not write out a design contest for country souvenirs and let the community vote/choose the best designs? I bet there are a lot of geocachers who are great designers and would love to contribute. It would be a fun and easy way, to release a souvenir for every country that has geocaches.

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Six more souvenirs were released today. I got one for France, Japan, and South Africa (the last two are especially nice). The other country released was for Iceland and there one more region I Australia and Ireland were released.

 

Yes, I noticed that my nephew Finley just got the souvenir for Island. (Do they give one for Mountains too?) And Ulster! Which the souvenir says is part of the United Kingdom. But GS claims that it is Ireland. Whom to believe?!? I guess that GS is not noted for it's consistency? He also picked up Leinster, Dublin, Munster, and some other cheeses. And UK!!

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On the Latitude 47 blog, Eric Schudiske states:

Unfortunately we don't have the resources to produce more souvenirs currently, but definitely wanted to share all the amazing souvenirs we had previously created.

 

In my opinion, Groundspeak does have plenty resources: about 5 million geocachers! Why not write out a design contest for country souvenirs and let the community vote/choose the best designs? I bet there are a lot of geocachers who are great designers and would love to contribute. It would be a fun and easy way, to release a souvenir for every country that has geocaches.

Many Koreans were upset when the Korean souvenir was previewed at GC2WT8Z that Groundspeak did not get a Korean to do the art. We were told by the reviewer that GS wants only in house artists because they don't want people hiding things in the art.

 

Strange.

Edited by releasethedogs
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I like them. I'm up to 86 souvenirs now. Only 1 of them is undeserved Alaska (A traveling cache not in the system yet.)

 

I think you've got about the most of any that I've seen, although I have seen profiles with more countries in which they've found a cache. I've "only" got 35 souvenirs in mine but I don't have any of souvenirs that could only be obtained by going to the PNW (HQ, block parties, lost and found celebration, original stashe, geocrush souvenirs, etc)

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Thank you for releasing some more country based souvenirs - we got a few of them :)

 

Are you going to do any more country based souvenirs please?

 

It seems unfair that some countries have multiple souvenirs for each state / district, and some countries are still without a souvenir. :(

 

I'm sure with the over 5 million Geocachers there will be plenty of people that will be to help out -

Maybe run a competition for the countries without a souvenir - where only cachers who live in that country can apply?

Put the photos up on Flickr like your other souvenirs, the ones with the most likes would win?

 

Would this be possible?

Many thanks

Heather aka Cache on Wheels

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