Milaca couple find Isanti park medallion while on a date

If couples are looking for interesting date ideas, Caleb and Ashley Halverson have a unique suggestion.

The couple and their two sons — three-year-old Uriah and seven-month-old Gideon — enjoyed a “date day” at Becklin Homestead County Park on Tuesday, Aug. 13. There they found the Isanti County medallion, which for the past 10 years has been hidden in a different Isanti County park.

“We’ve been looking since 2017 — we missed a few years, but it’s been a long time,” Caleb said. “I grew up near Springvale Park, and we started dating in 2017.

“And every time [the medallion hunt] came up, it sounded like fun.”

This was not the first time the couple had enjoyed a date at a park.

“Countless dates, actually,” Caleb admitted. “A lot of our dates were spent going to parks.

“We live in Milaca, but it’s a small town. And we love the outdoors.”

Ashley said the couple love the parks for a variety of reasons.

“We would walk around the parks, looking at the signage and the conservatories,” she said. “We would drive to Taylors Falls and go to state parks and walk along the river there. We liked the landscape and the views.

“I guess we like the spontaneousness — and we like nature.”

Please don’t tell Caleb’s boss that the Halverson family went to Becklin Park on Tuesday.

“I called in sick that day to go hunting [for the medallion],” he said with a laugh. “I went to the dentist the day before, so I said I had a toothache. Actually that was sort of true.”

Clues mentioning “hunt” and “pines” led them to the park.

“We noticed that the first couple of hints lead you to the park where it’s hidden,” Ashley said. “Then the hints lead you to where it’s hidden in that park. Uriah wanted to play on the playground, so Caleb went to the loop on the west side of the park. He saw the little offshoot, which he had skipped the first time.

“So he went back to check it out. He found some signs that he followed, and just when he was going to walk back he went to the back of the tree — and he found it.”

The medallion was hanging on the back of the ancient willow tree at the end of the Tomtegubben Trail at the park.

“It was hanging on the back of the tree, right in front of my face,” Caleb said. “The first time I went there I found one of those geocaches, then I found a mouse’s nest. …

“When I found the medallion, that was a heart-pounding excitement.”

Caleb and Ashley celebrated the moment with a unique toast.

“I brought two bottles of Coca-Cola from Mexico, which has the cane sugar in it,” he said. “I packed two of those for a victory date.

“So when we found it, we clinked glasses and said, ‘Cheers.’”

While the couple was not able to keep the medallion in this, the tenth year of the hunt, they did receive $900 in prizes from a variety of local businesses.

“We wanted to keep the medallion, so we were a little sad that we didn’t get to keep it,” Ashley admitted.

Caleb agreed, then added, “It’s decently heavy — it’s not made out of tinfoil. But just finding it was super cool.”

One of the unexpected pleasures of these searches, or dates, is the unexpected friends they have made.

“We met one of the previous winners, and we got to hold the medallion,” Ashley said. “That was super-cool. Last year we met the same guy, Tom [Lauinger], who won in 2020, so we have become medallion-hunt friends.”

Uriah said the medallion was an unexpected bonus to spending a day at the park.

“I had fun playing at the park with my monster trucks,” Uriah said. “And it was fun to hold the map.”

Both Ashley and Caleb said they did not need to find this year’s medallion to convince them to keep looking in future years.

“As Uriah and Gideon get a little older, they’ll be able to look for the medallion as well,” Ashley said.

Caleb agreed, adding, “Even when we don’t find it, it’s a great family day.”