We have a new hobby! I gave Chris a hand-held GPS unit for Christmas so our family can start Geocaching. For those of you not familiar, Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a GPS to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value. Currently over 700,000 geocaches are registered on various websites devoted to the pastime. Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica. (thanks Google)
Our good friend Clay, has been Geocaching for a while now and graciously took us out last weekend to get us started. There are 5 caches hidden in our town.
Chris assumes the official "Geocache stance"...head down, oblivious to all obstacles in front of him. We downloaded all 5 caches before we left home and followed the coordinates to our first find.
I'm not sure the kids fully "got" what we were doing. Once they found our first cache however, they were hooked!
The first one they found is a traditional cache, placed in a waterproof vessel. Inside is a log book for us to sign and various trinkets. The "rule" is, if you take a trinket you leave one behind. We didn't have anything to leave so they were a bit disappointed. We promised we would have something ready for our next outing. I need to come up with something creative that represents our family. (I guess we won't be leaving behind any dollar bills!!! hee hee)
Caches aren't always so easy to spot. Here Chris finds a "nano-cache" inside a fence post along a busy street. These just have a small scroll of paper inside for you to date and sign. Try convincing a 10 and 7 yr old that it's all about the hunt NOT the prize!
I love this picture because Chris is using his GPS unit and Tony is using Clay's. You can see Tony way off to the right in front of Liv in her red jacket. I wonder which one is going the RIGHT way???We had a great afternoon and found all 5 caches in town. We really look forward to pursuing this activity more as we travel and camp around the country. Sorry, Tony, we will NEVER find the ones in Antarctica!
6 comments:
Never say never!
That looks like a lot of fun! So who hides these Caches? Can anyone make one and hide them? Have you thought about what trinket you'll leave behind next time? Tony, maybe you could make your famous eggs and leave some of those? Or maybe you guys could leave one of your cool bead suncatchers. Happy Caching!
Whoops, forgot my name. That comment was from Ernie incase you couldn't tell.. Doh!
We have a GPS but, we have never tried acutally going out and looking for things!! Liv, I LOVE your white hat!!!
What fun! Who found it, Chris or Tony? Auntie B
Tony! I heard there are tons of caches in Hawaii! Let's convince your mom and dad we need to find them!!!
coooool hobby. i think i need to find a hobby now. thanks for the great pictures...fun to watch you guys do all those fun things.
p.s. you should leave frozen nelson turds as your trinket.
brian
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