"2016 PokemonGo - Your Most Memorable... Um... Memories of the Year..."

#PokemonGO: I know I don’t post a lot, but I do check in here every week or so. I just want to say thank you to the mods and the contributors who have posted regularly. I probably owe several of the guys in my Pokedex to this forum. Thank you again to everyone involved. I am also two Pokemon away from completing the original 1st Generation Regional Pokedex (I have walked Grimer 30 km and still have a long way to go, and I swear Niantic is keeping a 10 km egg with Chansey inside from me as part of some kind of evil, diabolical plan).Long story short, I downloaded the app on a strange whim because I thought my 7 y/o daughter and I would enjoy playing it for one weekend in Gulf Shores, AL as we walked on the beach, and it has become an almost obsession for us as we have climbed to Level 32 and become gym rats. So, as we close out 2016, I was wondering if anyone wanted to share any stories about Pokemon hunting that they will remember forever. To contribute, just tell us the whens, wheres, and whos of the story of a legendary Pokemon moment.Here are my top 3:My 3 y/o daughter had her birthday party (which was Pokemon themed at her request) at Leeds Memorial Park outside Birmingham, AL (where we live) in October. I taped up about 100 small pictures of Pokemon all over the park, and the kids had a blast running around and trying to find them all (they all napped well that day, I guarantee it). As the kids are running around and crossing them off the pokedexes my wife had made, I opened the app to show a dad who was there how PokemonGo worked. Sure enough, Dragonite appeared at that exact moment.I did not catch him (he took about 4 raspberries and ultra balls before running away - I managed not to swear due to the presence of so many kids). But once he popped up, I yelled to my 7 y/o daughter to come, and the look of sheer exuberance on her face as she ran over is something I will never forget. My wife did a great job for the party even though she doesn’t know a Snorlax from a Diglett (and neither did I 6 months ago). The kids all had Pikachu ears and we played pin the tail on the Charizard. It was a great day.I took all three of my daughters and my oldest daughter’s best friend to the last Pikazoo at the Birmingham Zoo (we missed the Dragonite there too…). We caught so many Dratini and Magikarp though that we would have never caught otherwise (and we would have never evolved our Dragonite and Gyardos if not for that day). Everyone was so nice and telling us where to go. Some people were dressed up as Team Rocket and made my oldest daughter’s day by posing for a picture. It was awesome.The biggest thing about that day though was my realization of how many other people were as into this game as I was. I kind of felt like a loner until I saw all those other parents (dragging around their kids) and young people running around catching Pokemon. Since that day, I have ramped up my gym battles. I try to hold at least 10 each day (my handle is CelieMonster if you live in the Ham, and I am team Valor, so maybe you have seen me). I have met a lot of nice people battling gyms too. Well, at least nice Team Valor people… :)Since #1 story was about the one that got away, how about one story about a catch I never expected to make. I live about 25 minutes outside the city in a relatively rural area (Liberty Park, AL). I had about 130 different Pokemon but no Snorlax. I had seen the big bugger on my nearby several times too (and he had beat my bottom in gyms many, many times), which made not having him even more painful. One day though, I walked out of my house to get my mail, decided to open the app, and unbelievably…There he was. He was standing next to my mail box pretty much in the middle of nowhere. I only had like 15 regular balls and no raspberries at the time, of course. So, I threw one at him (perfectly) and he didn’t fight it and I claimed him as my own. I ran in the house to tell my daughter with a ridiculously huge smile on my face. She gave me a huge hug but then looked at him and said “only 1100 CP dad, but he does have a good moves.” It was at that point that I knew she - like me - had become a Poke expert.So, in sum, the game has brought me and my all my daughters closer, and it has resulted in me and my whole family exploring outdoor places in Birmingham that we never would have ventured to if not for the game. I have probably been to every park within a 25 mile radius of my house thanks to the game. I am thankful for it coming into my life even though I knew nothing about Pokemon before starting out (my daughter is now an encyclopedia of knowledge, BTW). Thanks to y’all for the info and camaraderie…And let’s catch ‘em all in 2017! via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2irkOir