I've always wanted to try Geocaching. You know, where you use a GPS, put in the coordinates and head out to find the hidden treasure? I read in a magazine how the sport is getting more "kid friendly" with the release of new "kid friendly" GPS units. I thought maybe with a "kid friendly" GPS unit I could actually do it. With the approach of summer I decided to go for it. With the "kid friendly" GPS in hand the kids and I set out. I must say the initial setting out is quite exciting. You just drive and follow the arrow. Since I've driven these streets for many years it doesn't take long for me to figure out what park or open area we are approaching as the GPS counts down from miles, to hundreds of feet. We park the car pile out and start off in the direction the arrow is pointing as the GPS counts down to tens of feet. This is about the time that the excitement starts to fade. Inevitably in our limited geocaching experience the arrow is now pointing ominously toward a towering pine tree. I know that the hider of the cache has a delicate balance in choosing a location. It has to be hidden well enough that normal (non-geocaching) people or worse normal (non geocaching) children trouncing around carrying sticks won't stumble across it, take the loot and mess up the game for everyone- but it also has to be findable and according to the magazine article "kid friendly". Climbing pine trees is not my idea of a "kid friendly" activity. At this point in "geocaching Taylor style" we give it a good looksy. We pull back branches, crouch down and look underneath, circle the tree a few times and inspect the surrounding grass and then we give up. We have yet to find an actual geocache on our own. We did find two only after Garrett had a geocaching scout activity and then took us and showed exactly where they were. One was the size of the tip of my pinkie which we never would have found anywhere, and the other was the size of a mini-M&M's container that was tied to the branch of, you guessed it, a towering pine tree.
The ironic thing is that our geocaching adventures are still fun even without finding the cache. I think we've mentally adjusted the object of the game to finding the pine tree where the geocache is probably hidden. Hey we're together, out in the fresh air, getting a little bit of exercise... works for me!
Here are some pictures from today's adventures. We took a couple of cute little friends with us which made it even more fun.
Getting ready to head out.
The first pine tree of the day.
The second pine tree of the day.
Cedar finding his own treasure- a big stick!
The best treasure of the day found hiding in the weeds.
This is after we gave up on geocaching and went exploring!
2 comments:
Looks like you had a fun time.I have thought that it sounds fun as well. Mike's 20 year reunion is on July 3rd and one of the activities is geocaching...maybe we will give it a go.
Don't give up on Geo Caching after one or two failed attempts. Geo Caching is a blast and all of the kids get involved. When you are looking for caches, it should tell you how big or small the cache is and how hard it is. The Big One's are the best and easier.
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