Geocaching with the Girls

The day dawned bright and sunny (unlike yesterday) and we had promised the Girls to go geocaching! It is sort of a worldwide treasure hunt; you search for hidden caches using GPS info from the website.  You can place caches and/or search for them.  I am in the search mode, since if you place one you also have to be around to check on it periodically.  One of reasons I thought it would be fun was doing it with the Girls.  And, today was our first time geocaching with them.  We all had a ball, but geocaching was only part of the fun.

Frequently, the caches have little trinkets inside them and you trade yours for one in the cache.  Rule is you leave something at least as nice as you take.  Some caches are too small for that, you just sign a log book and go.  We did not want the kids to think of this as a "treasure hunt" for goodies so we decided to go first for a cache that was log book only and it was only about 1/2 mile from the starting point - their house.   Well, it seemed close enough to walk so off we went.  However, the distance on the GPS was "as the crow flies" and after taking a number of turns to follow the available roads and not getting much closer we headed back to get the car!

So we head out in the car and soon find the playground that is our "target".  But, finding a parking place was another issue - a issue the Girls did not understand or like!!  But, eventually we found a spot surprisingly close to the campground!  (Besides, I figured I could spot a cop writing a ticket, if it came to that!)  So after discussing the geocaching plan with the kids, they immediately headed for the playground and forgot all about geocaching!  Which turns out their plan was better then mine!  I searched and searched for the cache and with BJ's help (while she watched the kids, too) homed in on the benches immediately outside the small playground.   A little later I found the cache - it was the smallest I have ever encountered.  About half the size of a sewing thimble and magnetic so it stuck to the metal bench.  Fortunately, the kids were about ready to move on so I showed the cache to them and Reagan was interested in the log which was  a long narrow ribbon of paper rolled up to fit inside.

We pressed on to the next one which was also adjacent to a playground.  While the kids hit the play equipment with BJ in attendance I thought I would check out the cache first.   Fortunate that I did as when I found it it was a little too far off a walking trial through nearby woods and thorns abounded and I knew it was not a good location for the kids.  I went back and after a while we moved on.   The Girls asked about the cache briefly but that was it.

I had one more cache to check out and it was near a local library - I figured BJ would like that one!  BINGO, we found it pretty quickly and it was a gallon plastic jug full of treasures for little geochachers!! 

The Girls and their treasure cache!

Well, after this exciting afternoon of geocacheing we retired to the Girls house and had a cool apple juice together and started planning the next trip!!  Not!