Sounds like "cash" but doesn't spend like it.

Several years ago some friends of ours told us about an activity they liked to do called Geocaching.  Geocaching involves using a GPS device so immediately the ears of the "gadget" people in my house (aka Jeff & Henry) perked up.  Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. (This is the description on the Geocaching website.  I like the idea of considering us as "treasure hunters" and "adventure seekers"!)  The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online.


Fast forward now to Henry's Spring Break 2010 on a day when he is bored and you've got yourself the perfect activity to get him off the couch and outdoors.  We finally decided to give Geocaching a try.


If you go to the official website, www.geocaching.com, you can enter in your address and a list of cache sights will be displayed.  (You of course need to register for a free basic membership on the website to access this list.)  We were surprised when we entered our address and found several sights within short walking distance of our home.  I can practically see one of them from my front porch!  There are 1,035,638 active geocaches around the world so the odds of finding one near you too are pretty good.


Once you get your GPS coordinates you just start hunting.  The coordinates get you to the area but that doesn't always mean you will find the cache right away.  I believe most are strategically hidden to make it more challenging and to discourage "muggles" from moving the items.  A "muggle" is a non-geocacher.  As most everyone probably knows, it is based on "muggle" from the Harry Potter series, which is a non-magical person.  Usually this term is used after a non geocacher looks puzzled after befriending a geocacher searching for a cache, or when a non-geocacher accidentally finds a cache.

Jeff and Henry set out to find their first cache.  (Watch out for muggles in those cars!)

They zero in on the location.

Jeff thinks it may be buried around this tree somewhere.

Hmmm...where is this thing?  Let's check the GPS coordinates again!

And then finally we find our cache!!!  Oh happy day!!!

Notice how small it is in Henry's hand.  Not all are this small or even a metal container.  Another one found that day was a little stick that had a magnet glued to the back so it could lean up against a metal sign without falling over or blowing away.  How creative is that?!  This little metal container had a screw off top and inside was a little piece of paper so you could sign your name and date of your find.  Now I won't pretend and tell you that this was easy to find.  Actually the coordinates and clue given on the website were really good but since we didn't know how creatively these caches were hidden, we didn't realize how to look for them.  The one Henry is holding in the picture was found about an hour after we first started out.  By this point, Jeff and Henry had found a few others that were a little easier to find and Mom and Jack had already headed back home after making a pit stop at the nearby park.

Now some of you may be wondering...."Where did you eventually find that cache?"  Of course I can't tell you...that would spoil the fun right?  Plus, if I told you, then I'd have to kill you!!!  (This is just my attempt to be funny.  Please don't take this as a serious threat!)