Monday, February 1, 2010

Geocaching...have you done it?

Staying on the theme of family fun, let's talk Geocaching! Heard of it? Here's an explanation from the website: "Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment." What you do is go on the website, http://www.geocaching.com/ , put in a zip code and see where the hidden caches are in that area. They are in almost every city all over the world. There are hundreds in Tucson. In order to find the caches, you need a GPS to get the coordinates or your laptop to look at the map. Once you get close, you just start looking around. Sometimes there are clues online or pictures to help you find them. There are different difficulty levels and sizes. They range in size from an ammo container, to the size of a pencil eraser. Some have trinkets in them to trade, if you take something you have to leave something. Once you've found it, you record your name (can be initials or a code word) and date on the log. Remember to bring a pen cause some are too small to hold anything but the log. This a fun and addicting activity the whole family can enjoy. Depending on the area you go, it can be quite a workout as well. Many are hidden in the mountains or along hiking trails. There's actually caches placed along the whole route of the Tour de Tucson! Pictured here is my boyfriend Brian and his two kids looking for a cache. This one was in a wash fairly close to our house so it was a nice walk/bike ride before dinner! The cache was pretty hard to find though. The person who hid it glued dirt to the top of the container and covered it with sand at the base of the tree. Took us about 25-30 minutes to find. Hope you check out this fun activity, we love it! Happy Geocaching!

4 comments:

  1. i HAVE done this...in fact, I have spent years doing this...and its a blast. Haven't done it since I left WA state, but was just telling someone the other day that we should look into it locally....thanks for the reminder!

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  2. Hey Jenny,
    I think we, the 9 AMers represented pretty well yesterday. It was alot of fun. I think I can speak for all of us that we are looking forward to your hounding us to get better over the next 8 weeks.

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  3. Great job Ellie & the 9 AMers! I look forward to seeing your progress and I know that all of you are going to kick ass. Way to represent, proud of you guys!

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  4. Great first person account, I love geocaching.

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