A Mom and a Family of Men!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Just for YOU, LAURA! (Geocaching, what is it?)

My sweet friend Laura is always like "WHAT IS THIS YOUR DOING!" when I post about Geocaching.

So today we spent the day caching Laura! Enjoy this post. :)

You go to www.Geocaching.com and get an account. Once you have an account you can search for caches in your area and see the coordinates. The cache can be a tiny piece of paper rolled into a little container or a box full of tiny trinkets and toys.

The first cache we went on was to a local rodeo/cowboy place in our area. I looked up caches in my area and wrote down the coordinates. The man called this one "Cowboy's need cache too" because he said his son had worked at a local restuarant and the cowboys NEVER tipped well. Hee hee. The clue was in the title as it often is. the cache meant cash, hence the tips his son never had. :)

You put the numbers into the GPS system, these are bogus numbers of course.
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And then you click GO!

And drive to the point of destination. The GPS can get you RIGHT on the cache or very close to it. It just depends.

Here is a photo of the place it was at.
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It was hidden in the light post near an ATM, cowboys need cache you know! LOL!
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The box was a magnetic key holder with a little paper inside. You take it out and sign it. These are called micro caches.
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After signing you put it all back the way you found it and log it on the site as found and when you found it.

Then it was on to cache #2 of the day.

My GPS has a little checkered flag to mark the spot, sort of like the traditional X the pirates would use. *LAUGH* I am too corny, I know.
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This one was called BarFoot Twins. The road we found it on was Barfoot Road. When I saw the trees I knew we had found our twins. ;)
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Then you search! The boys were into the many rocks (crystals) all over and the mating love bugs on the golden rod so I found this one. ;) Let those boys enjoy a new place. :)

I found it! Sometimes they are hidden under leaf clutter or sticks. This one was a lock box with treats inside.
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Of course when you find the treasure the boys come running to look inside after my hard work. *wink*
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This is what it looks like when you open the box.
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I put these in...
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And since this wasn't a good cache for the kids, meaning no treats they liked, I did take the highlighter. I needed a pink one for Eli's blood sugar charts anyway.
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Sign and date the log.
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Put it all back together and put it the way you found it.
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Be sure to take cute photos of your kids!
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This last one is called Reflections.
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Can you tell why? Well, cause there is a little cache hidden here!
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It was hidden in an old fim canister.
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Here is my Mattmos putting it back the way it was after I signed the log. The kids and I stayed in the car because it was a quick park and cache. And the massive mosquitoes were out and swarming in this area. My hubby enjoys the neat ones like this anyway. Let him have it. :)
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Okay Mrs. Laura, now you know about Geocaching! I bet your hubby would love it and he drives all over so he could get them all the time!

13 comments:

Laura said...

That is SOOOOOOOOO neat!!! Am I the only crazy one out there that didn't know anything about all this?!?!

Unfortuantely, for us, we don't have a GPS (yet! Santa may be bringing one to Wayne for christmas!) so I guess we can't play along right now.

How did you find out about this?

Michelle said...

It all sounds like so much fun. One day I will purchase the GPS and try it out.

missy said...

This is my very first visit to your site and I'm so tickled. My family geocaches as well! My husband is a bit obsessed with it, actually. He belongs to a local group whose sole mission seems to be being the first to find on each new cache. He has new releases sent directly to his cell phone and then poof! He's out the door. Its hilarious.

Glad to find ya!

Mama Teaching 3 said...

Laura, you are NOT the only one who didn't know about this. But now you do! My husband's day/week job is as a manager of a camera store and they sell GPS's. Back when we lived in Maryland some of the guys who came into the store cached. I always thought it was neat. And then we moved here and one of Matt's employee's had a dad addicted to the sport in a BIG way! So I was like I have to do this! :)

Wayne SO needs a GPS! OR we could have a two family hunt day together if you like!:)

Missy! Hello and welcome! So glad you found me! :)

Heather the Mama Duk said...

That is so cool! I'm always fascinated by your geocaching posts. That and letterboxing are so nifty.

Melissa said...

Ah! I'm so glad you posted this post! I went researching to try to figure out what it was ages ago, just never really figured it out, lol!

Anonymous said...

That looks like tons of fun! My boys would really enjoy that. Maybe Santa needs to bring us a GPS so we can play along, too. ;)

Mama Teaching 3 said...

Oh yes, you do need one! :) I know your men would love it. :)

Jessica said...

Oh, wow! That is just the coolest thing I have ever seen! Who knew that there were a bunch of little hidden treasure hunts every where? My Emily would LOVE this! Thanks for the tip. I think this is something we would have fun doing. Your boys look like they have fun. Real life pirates searching for real treasure.

Brenda said...

I knew what it was, but your pictures make it look really fun. How close to your house were these?

Sherri said...

I would just like to say that you look great! Your face is so much thinner, and look at your baggy pants...haha! I can really tell that you have lost weight, friend! Keep up the good work!

Mama Teaching 3 said...

These were about a little of a drive, but we have found the ones close to us already! :)

Sherri!!! Thankyou for saying that! I am seeing it in my face too and from the side view of my tummy. LOVE YOU, hugs!

Tonight we are going to the fair and I am eating tons of crappy food! HECK YEA!

jugglingpaynes said...

That's so interesting. Thanks for sharing the experience. In a lot of ways it reminds me of letterboxing.

Peace and Laughter!