Geocaching with my Girls

My friend Kendra invited me to start geocaching with her.  I had heard about this activity a few years back.  It is essentially a scavenger hunt to find hidden canisters and boxes all throughout the US (and the world) using GPS coordinates.  Sounds nerdy?  That's because it is.  And right up my alley.

When I first heard about this, we didn't yet have smart phones.  Using the old GPS seemed too difficult and frankly I was daunted by the website.  I still don't find the website to be super userfriendly, but I downloaded an app for my phone that really helped.  It was free, showed all hidden caches in any area code I selected, and allowed me to use a compass and gps to get within 3 feet of the cache.  

Now I can't just leave the house and not take a kid with me, so I took Ainsley.

We started by using the app to choose local caches Kendra had yet to find.  We also wanted to choose caches that weren't too difficult or tiny, so Ainsley could participate without getting bored.

It should be 70 meters in this direction! 

 Most of the caches were stashed in shrubs.  We found one that was about the size of your pinky and another the size of a laundry soap container.  The small ones are only large enough to fit the paper log to sign once you find it.

So many people geocaching had already found this one!

 As we continued our day, Kendra found most of them.  She graciously would lead Ainsley over to the cache and give Ainsley clues, letting Ainsley believe that she had found it first.

Ainsley thought she was hot stuff.  We were just glad she was having fun.  She was pretty excited that caches had been hidden in locations she's actually been to and knew personally.

Digging through more bushes.

 It was astonishing that so many have already been hidden so close to my home.  That I've driven and walked passed so many of these for the last few years and never knew about it.

Some caches are larger and contain trinkets left by former seekers.  The rule is take something, leave something.  Kendra had brought a small toy deer to leave if we found one of these.  It was always Ainsley's job to inspect the find to determine what to take.

She would look each item over carefully.  

 In the end, she always decided to keep Kendra's deer for herself.

We found six here in town, many of them at local businesses.  We were crawling around on our hands and knees next to the tourists as we searched for the caches.

Guess what?  Searching in the shrubbery.  

 Many people specifically hide caches in scenic locations to enhance the quality of the search.  We were traipsing through paths, creeks, seeing flower gardens, sitting on stone benches.  It was such a nice day.

Ainsley only wanted to hold Kendra's hand as we searched.  

 Each of the containers is a little different.  Some are camouflaged and very difficult to find.  Others seem so obvious that it's a wonder I never spotted them before.

We found another!  

 Ainsley soon grew tired of searching through shrubs, ivy, and plantlife.  She began to explore the out-of-doors on her own.  It became increasingly obvious to me that this will have to be a life-long hobby for me and my children as we travel around the United States.  Scavenger hunts in beautiful places?  I'm in.

After finding a few in town, we began to expand our horizons.  We found one at an old cemetery that almost smacked Kendra in the head as we searched.  We headed into another town to find two more.  One of the ones we found was excellently camouflaged.  Kendra and I looked and looked before Ainsley just walked up and said, "Look what I found!"  We couldn't believe it.  

Just imagine us, in all of our dorky glory, high-fiving as we crawled out of the shrubbery.  

Putting them back carefully so future geocachers can find it again.  

This was one of my favorite days all summer.  

With two of my favorite girls.