Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Family Fun On the Cheap

Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is our family's newest hobby. Although it takes an initial investment of a GPS unit, after that, it is FREE! We picked up a little hand-held Garmin GPS at Target on clearance for $75.00.
So what the heck is geocaching? Well, it's like an urban (or rugged, depending on your location and mood)treasure hunt. You go to the geocaching website and pick a "cache" to find. You are given coordinates to put into your GPS and sometimes are given a few hints, then you go to that location and either find a "treasure" box or some sort of container holding a log that you can sign proving that you found the cache. Below are pictures of one of the caches we found. It was in a neighborhood about 1/2 mile from our house, hidden in a box that looked like a small electrical box with a magnet on the back. It was stuck to the backside of a big electrical unit next to an alley.
The kids each took a small trinket (Goofball picked an little robot toy, and Sweetpea chose an eraser), and they left a marble and plastic ring as a trade. It is so much fun! We will go out for an hour or two after dinner before it gets dark. It is really family friendly, and we all have so much fun. Has anyone ever tried this, or even heard of it?

4 comments:

Kari said...

okay, i've never even HEARD of this! you'll have to tell me more about your outings next time i see you! you've peaked my interest!

Erin said...

My best friend and I were just talking about doing this!

Unknown said...

Sam and I have wanted to do it for the last few years, but haven't attempted yet. It sounds like fun! There are a bunch of hiking trails around our area that are marked for that. I'm glad to hear you guys are having fun with it! Makes me more motivated to go try it out!

Krulls in Haiti said...

Do it! You can do it anywhere (city, hiking, on vacation!)... we are so enjoying it, and the kids love "treasure hunting". Gary and I are planning a geocaching date sans kids to go hiking.

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