Racoon, Ants, & Chiggers...

We took the GPS out tonight to give it a whirl as a family. Truth be told, in some instances we found it helpful, in some, we just walked around in circles. Of course, it would help if I actually read the manual, but I'm just not a manual reading kinda girl. :)

We started off the evening looking for a couple of caches, had dinner (played with the GPS during dinner trying to figure it out) and then went and looked for a couple more. I say "looked" because we didn't find a couple we were looking for.

So, here's a rundown of today's hunt.... dirty hands, ant bites, chiggers, stung by something, Racoon in the woods with a message, fun & aggravation.... typical geocaching experiences? :)

Grandpappy Amos & Luke
Made a quick stop on the way to my son's Karate class today. Took us a few minutes, finally found it. Once you find it, it's obvious. :) SL

Not Roy's Brother's Park
We looked hard for a long time and never found this one! I hope it's still there. We will be back after we see someone else finds it. Nice park though... never been there before. Nice stroll, good place to come and play. Thanks for the exercise, and the exercise in hunting...however futile. :)

At Home in the Woods
Too cute! Found this one while out caching close to home tonight. Wish I hadn't read the logs before we went though. SL In: Bracelet, toy car & toy coin Out: Baseball cards

Ride the Stadium Shuttle II, Almost
We found this one tonight while caching in the dark. It was a little scary after reading the snake post earlier! Found it without too much trouble, had to fight off some huge red ants though. SL
In: Red Serendipity Travel Bug, bracelet Out: Nothing

I'm a Grinnin'
This is at a business office planted by a worker there - I'm sure for their entertainment! Someone would have been grinnin at us had they been watching us tonight. We were like the 3 Stooges searching in the dark. It's pitch black there at night and we only had one lousy flashlight! We looked high, we looked low. We didn't find it. But, we will be back during the daytime!

Geocaching in the News

First Hide ... "24 Hour SVC at the Y"

Today I hid my first Geocache. Just a little camouflaged magnetic key holder hidden just about 1-1/2 miles from my house.

Since it's so small and there's not really room for anything, I only left one of those gold dollar coins for the FTF. It's a fairly easy find. The name gives the location away pretty well and it's in a location where it should be found quite a bit.

We are putting together our first ammo can to hide. Trying to figure out someplace really good to put it where we can still have access to monitor it and take care of it. My son is really excited about this one and wants to do it NOW but until we figure out where, he'll just have to practice patience. :) I'm glad he enjoys Geocaching with us. The only problem is, he's not really into "looking", he only gets excited when it's found and he gets to open it and check out the "goodies". Probably very typical for a 9 year old cacher!

Shopping for a GPS & a few more finds...

A few days ago I decided to go ahead and purchase a handheld GPS unit. After looking around a little bit trying to decide, I ended up with a Magellan Triton 200. I'm having a heck of a time figuring it out... I can't get the drivers to load into my computers (we tried it on 2 different computers) so I can't get the computer and GPS to connect.

I have gone and found a couple of Geocaches using it trying to see how accurate it was. I have to say where I was looking, the Google maps were easier for me to use to find things. However, using the GPS, the coordinates were right on for the caches I've found. There are a couple more that I got very close to according to the GPS, but there was a police officer parked right next to one and pond and a fence in between me and the other. So I'll have to go back for both of those.

I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to keep this Magellan or take it back and get something else. If you visit and have an opinion on any of the GPS units, please feel free to use the comment link and share your thoughts with me.

Found in the last few days:

• Stars and Stripes: Flying High
  My 9 yr old found it easily since we'd seen this type of hide before. However, I didn't understand the name or the hints given by others. Hmmm.... Left something.
  
  
• For Sale...Pond complete with ducks & cranes
  Coordinates were exact according to my GPS. Found it without too much trouble other than huge spider web, thick woods and a Momma bird who didn't like me that close to her babies! Took Red Serendipity Travel Dog Bug to move along to another cache. Left USA by Madhatters Neverland Geocoin, Butterfly keychain & bookmarks.
  
  
• Right on Target - Out in Plain Sight!
  Coordinates were exact according to my GPS. Drove right up and found it right away. It was cool camo though, wouldn't be noticed by anyone but Geocachers. Getting log back was a challenge!
  

Our First Time Caching as a Family

Last night I got online and plotted out some Geocaches along S.R. 13 which is right by our house. I picked 10 caches along the route which took us about 8 miles down S.R. 13 and back. This was Tim's first time out and with gas prices what they are, we wanted to stick close to home.

We ended up finding 8 of the 10 we looked for. The ones marked in red are the ones that eluded us.

• Is that fish I smell?
  This was Tim's first. He and JT went looking and it was obvious he was embarrassed that someone might see him so he wasn't looking too hard. After a few minutes, I got out of the truck, walked to where they were and found it right away. It was a magnetic key holder cleverly placed. Log only.
  
  After enjoying lunch at Mandarin Ale House, we returned to this shopping center to go to the Word to Light Christian Store that is run by Jim, a motorcycle riding buddy of Tim's. We picked up a few buttons, guitar picks, little cards and other witness items to leave in caches we find. If you're in the area, stop by and visit the store, it's really nice.
  
  
• The Tree
  This was a pretty easy find near The Tree Steak House. Tim found this one. Log only.
  
  
• Pushing Tin
  This was behind a shopping center and all trashy. We looked and looked but never found it. Maybe another time.
  
  
• Mount St. Helens, Not.
  This was another fairly easy find for me. But as soon as I uncovered it hundreds of HUGE red ants came crawling out. Another Log only.
  
  
• Between a Clown and a King
  We knew this was up a little high and it was raining pretty hard, so Tim went out of the truck solo on this one. It didn't take too long to find once he looked in the right place. Log only but we left one of the witness pins we just bought.
  
  
• Hail to the Chief - 3
  JT found this one hidden in an area of trees/bushes that he fit in better than us. I was surprised it was hidden so well given the bright color of the plastic box. There was quite a bit of stuff in this one. JT ended up taking a $2 Canadian coin and we left a McToy and another pin.
  
  
• Cold Kangaroo
  This was at the end of our trail before heading back and working the other side of the street. It was a nano and we never found it. There was some new wood fencing and we wonder if it was recently replaced and the cache gone.
  
  
• Fun in the Sun
  This was our best find of the day and the furthest we had to trek away from the truck. It was near Mills field and we had to hike around a little lake to the woods. After searching for about 10 minutes and getting bitten by a few mosquitos, Tim finally found it. It was an Ammo can full of all kinds of stuff. The instructions were to leave something sports related, so we left a Football card, McToy and some other stuff that people might could use at a ball park. We took a rain poncho, a light up ball and a USA Gold Madhatter Trackable GeoCoin.
  
  
• Ace in the Hole
  This was a pretty easy one. Tim and I found it at the same time, he was tugging on one end and I was tugging on the other. Log only but we left a pin in it.
  
  
• Slow Down What's so Urgent
  This one took us a little longer to find than it should have. Tim looked right at the spot and so did JT and they both missed it at first. Tim finally went back and found it. Had I paid attention to the title, we would have found it easier. Log only but we left a mood ring.
  

So, after 3 hours, which included lunch, that concluded our day of caching. JT was disappointed we didn't have more to go find. I was ready to be done for the day. It was a nice day of family fun without spending a bunch of money or sitting at home doing nothing.

So, I score that as a winner of a day! See all photos here.

More Springbreak Fun

We decided to go to Adventure Landing on the Westside today, so I checked to see what Geocaches might be available on the way. We picked several to check out.

The first one "Bens or Chucks?" was behind Bennigans near Chucky Cheeses. This was a fun one to find, I needed to lift JT up to reach it. It was pretty rusty, but we took a couple of things and left a couple and signed the log.

The next stop for lunch brought us to "I'm looking over..." Fortunately JT was there because he had to get down on the ground on his belly to get it. He was pretty excited since it was his first find on his own. We found some cool stuff and left the trackable Geocoin we found yesterday.

After having a bunch of fun at Adventure Landing, we were heading to visit my sister when I remembered there was one near a cemetary I played at as a kid that was supposed to be fairly easy. So we swung by their on the way and after just a few short minutes, I found the cache "5082". I took the Believer's Pin, a Butterfly & Rainbow pin (perfect to wear for Emmaus), and JT signed the log and left some of his treasures he had just won at Adventure Landing. I think he put in a pirate ring, fake fly, chinese finger cuff, silver cross and an Energy drink mix.


Judging from the fun he and I had today, I think we're going to become addicted to this! Tim had never heard of Geocaching until I started this week. Hopefully he'll be able to join us for his first time sometime this weekend. I think he's going to enjoy it as much as we are.

"The Star of Coffee Houses"

On our way home from the Zoo, we decided to stop at the Starbucks by our house because there is supposed to be a small cache hidden there. It's a magnetic key holder with just a log in it to sign. JT and I searched the area quite extensively twice, but were unable to find it. There were "muggles" watching us, plus the area is near the drive-thru so I'm sure people were wondering what we were up to.

We'll wait until it's found by someone else, see what they post in the log and then maybe go back. Since JT is still on Spring Break, we'll hit a couple of spots tomorrow in search of others.

Our First Find - "It's a JUNGLE out here!"

After reading all about Geocaching last night and using Google maps to locate where are few are around here, I was ready to go hunting for one today and hoping that JT would be as excited as I was about "treasure hunting". I guess I read a little bit too much about it last night because I remember dreaming about finding two micro-caches in my backyard on a windowsill. Pretty weird, but I'm prone to weird dreams! Besides, I knew they wouldn't be that easy to find... (at least in my awake state!)

Since we planned on going to the Zoo today, I had searched and found a cache called "It's a JUNGLE out here!" (originally hidden 06/10/05) just outside of the Zoo's entrance. Using Google maps satellite photos, I felt confident that we could pinpoint close enough to the Geocache to find it. So before we went into the zoo, we went to the location where the cache was hidden. JT and I got out of the truck and started searching. We looked all through the bushes, the grass, the mulch, the trees, a concrete thing... all around. We were at a private businesses parking lot and on their property going through their landscape, so I didn't want to stay long. Just as I was about to give up I remembered the log had said it was cleverly camouflaged... so I looked with new eyes.

I was pretty excited when I finally found it. It was truly hidden well! It looked like a plumbing fixture that normally you wouldn't think about touching. But, I checked it closer and realized I had found it! To be honest with you, I was more excited about finding it then I thought I would be. JT held it while I took a photo of him with it and then we took it to the truck to check out the contents.

In it we found a trackable Geocoin, a small action figure toy, some really gaudy homemade Christmas earrings and the log. I signed the log, took all the items and left a Free Zoo admission coupon in it and we returned it to it's original location like we found it... hopeful that soon someone else would come along and enjoy the find as much as we did!

When I logged our find on geocaching.com, I discovered that the coin was in memory of a man who had passed away. It started out in Washington state on 01/04/07 and has traveled by way of many caches across the country to Florida. It is now my responsibility to put it in another cache so it can keep moving along. So, hopefully tomorrow we'll be off to find something near home we can drop the coin into.

Discovering Geocaching

• "Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value. Today, well over 540,000 geocaches are registered on various websites devoted to the pastime. Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica." From Wikipedia

I've heard about Geocaching before and it sounded like fun, but since I didn't have a GPS and I thought most people hid things in hard to find or hard to get to places, I didn't really look into it.

Tonight I was online and came upon a mention of Geocaching again so I thought I would look into it. My husband, Tim, has been wanting to purchase a portable GPS unit for his motorcycle, so I thought this might be something fun for us to do as a family and give me an excuse to want to invest in the GPS unit.

So I logged onto Geocaching.com and spent quite a bit of time reading all about it and looking around. What I discovered is that there are Geocaches EVERYWHERE! There are several right here in my suburban neighborhood in public places.

I also discovered that with Google Maps, I should be able to pinpoint some of them close enough to be able to find them. So I decided my son, JT, and I would give it a try tomorrow. He's on Spring Break and bored and this would give us something fun to do. We are headed to the Zoo tomorrow so I looked for something near there and found one that is right near the entrance so we will check it out in the morning.

I'll post here how that goes!