Tuesday, March 18, 2014

What is a Geocache?

A couple of years ago I was inspired by a Facebook (Dis, WISH, racing, etc.) friend, Lily, to look into a hobby of her's called Geocaching. Simply put, it is a hide and seek game of items that is worldwide.

There are a few different host sites, however the more popular one is www.geocaching.com.


To start out, I downloaded a free trial onto my iPhone and went for a walk with my son. On the app, it said that there was a cache hidden only a couple of blocks from my house. Could it be? We walked over there. Stood there looking at a house. Now what?!? I was uncomfortable walking around the house staring at it, but it had to be there right? So I literally stood on the sidewalk and tried to see it from there. Then I walked up by the porch...could it be that close to a house? The whole thing made me very uncomfortable. The neighbor lady saw me looking around and came out to help. She had two sons a couple of years older than mine and they themselves were cachers. She said, "Well, you were close!" She took me around the side of the porch and near a door...she crouched down and lifted up a branch from a bush. There it was!! It was a bigger container and it contained a travel bug. A travel bug, as she explained to me, is a trackable tag that is placed into a cache and has a mission. Some are placed by firemen and want to have it's picture taken in as many firehouses as possible. Some really want to travel overseas. Some are looking to go to Disney! She suggested that if I want to continue, that I take the bug. So I took it, went home, logged it and dropped it in Michigan the next week. At that point, I was hooked!! I was trying to get as many as I could and I even got my husband and my dad involved. It was becoming a family hobby!

Skip over two years...we are now placing our own geocache and my son is old enough to really be involved!! If you have kids, or even if you don't...I highly suggest that you try it! It's a great way to enjoy nature and get outside. Many times you will get some exercise in as well ;)


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