Do you Geo?

Cache, that is. have you heard of Geocaching? 

Today, more than 1.4 million geocaches have been hidden, and found by more than 4 million people worldwide. More specifically, the United States and Germany lead the world in this activity, with the Czech Republic, Canada and the United Kingdom following. Geocaching continues to grow in popularity across the United States from California and Texas to New York and Florida. Some of the cities with the highest geocaching activity (based on visits to the Geocaching.com website) include Seattle, New York, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Source.

A short Twitter convo with @RthyCrunchyMama on Friday gave me the idea to share Geocaching with all of you!  It's a great activity to get outdoors, spend quality family time, and enjoy a little healthy competition amongst the fam {or even yourself}.

First, let me tell you how I got started.  Right after I graduate college, I took a position as a Teacher Counselor in a Residental Home for young ladies with Mental Retardation.  The Adventure Counselor had us do a fun activity one weekend.  It seemed to me, at the time, like a high-tech Easter Egg hunt.  Looking back as an experienced Geocacher {totally using that term lightly}, that's exactly what it was/is!

So, what is it?  Here's a short video that you can find on the main website.

It really is alot of fun!  Before we had Sophia, Rob and I used to geocache quite a bit on the weekends.  Actually, he used a geocaching adventure to propose to me!  Now that Sophia is getting a bit older, this is definitely a hobby that I want us to return to as a family.  It promotes physical exercise, family time, and critical thinking skills... which are all important to teach our children!

So, what do you need to geocache?  

• Handheld GPS.  I bought mine off Amazon a few years ago and they're relatively cheap.  I paid around $75 then and it still works perfectly fine.  Your GPS will take you to the cache, but once you get within 30 feet, you'll have to rely on critical thinking to find the cache... Easter Egg Hunting skills required!
• Connection to the Internet.  You'll hook up your GPS to your computer and download waypoints. {physical location of a cache}.
• Car/Walk.  Depends on how close you are to caches.  Note: They can only be hidden on public property, so you'll never be at risk of getting into trouble.
• Stealth!  Don't announce to the world what you're doing, because if Muggles {non-Geocachers} find the cache, they may move it.
• Pen.  To log your find of the cache on the cache logbook {found inside the cache}.
• Rules.  The only rules are: {1} If you take something from the cache, leave something of equal or greater value, {2}Write about your find in the cache logbook {found inside the cache}. {3} Log your experience at www.geocaching.com.

I encourage you to look up the website and see if it's an activity that you and your family would enjoy.  If you try it out, be sure to let me know OR if you already geocache, I'd love to hear your experiences {maybe I'll share our engagement story sometime!}.