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.