Signal the Frog in Europe

Deban and I traveled to the Czech Republic for a mission trip in early July. We were part of a four person team that traveled to Slaný to lead an English/Basketball Camp. This was our first time in this location, but our team leader, Amy Blumberg, has been coming here for many years. Our fourth team member was Hudson Standbridge, an outstanding young man who was brave enough to travel with three old ladies.

I have so many photos to share from that trip, that I’ve decided to divide them into three blog posts: Signal the Frog, general sightseeing photos, and photos from our English/Basketball Camp. Some folks may be interested in seeing all the photos, while others may be more interested in one category than the others. There will be some spillover from one category to the other, since Signal was with us for sightseeing, geocaching and the camp. I invite you to browse through whatever interests you, and skip the rest.

So, here is a pictorial description of Signal’s first trip to Europe:

As we prepare for our flight from TRI to ATL, Signal reviews the safety card information so he can perform his duties as an occupant of the exit row.

Signal’s first look at the United Methodist Church in Slaný.

Signal enjoyed the views of Prague.

He was a little less enthused with some of the sites on Charles Bridge in Prague.

On the first day of our English/Basketball Camp, he sneaked a peak of the children’s afternoon activities.

We then took the children to find their first geocache. Here, Signal is overseeing the signing of the log sheet.

Our group at the site of their first geocache find.

Can you find Signal in this crowd?

The next afternoon Signal and I spent some time explaining how to log a cache online.

We then took a walk to find another geocache.

This is our ‘found it’ pic.

The kids enjoyed taking turns carry Signal on our geocaching adventures.

Deban found a girlfriend for Signal in a local store. Her name is Sparky.

Signal and Sparky pose in front of a cache.

On our way to our next adventure.

Wednesday’s caching group was smaller and more manageable.

It was about a 3 mile roundtrip for Wednesday’s cache, so Signal and Sparky bummed a ride.

The frogs made a new friend at English Camp. Her name is Tracy.

On Friday, the children took turns holding Signal and Sparky while Amy read them a story about frogs.

On Saturday we went to Brno and attended a geocaching event. This was the event log.

This was a Mary Hyde themed event. Mary Hyde was a pirate, so the hosts planned a float down the river for those who brought a boat.

Some of the floatilla from the event.

On Sunday we went to Prague again, and had the chance to log the most visited cache on planet Earth.

Our trip home on Monday was interrupted by an unplanned 24 hour layover in Brussels, Belgium. Signal rode a train for the first time.

We also got to log our first Belgian geocache here.