We have a new hobby!

Our newest friends, Tom and Kay, have introduced us to the wonders of geocaching.  Let's just say it's addictive.

For those of you who don't know what this is, think of it as a high tech scavenger hunt using handheld GPS systems.

The names of the caches are interesting and often provide a clue.  Our second find was Harry Tres (with aqua). It instructed us to bring a pen and two quarts of water.  Bringing your own pen usually means it will be a very small cache and there was no room to add a pen to the logbook.

But bring water?  Hmmm.  This was out in a field and it was hidden inside a plastic pipe with a hole in it.  You had to block the hole and pour in water to float the container to the top.  It was a good thing we had many hands to help with this one.




The caches come in various sizes from micro mini to fairly large.  Inside is a log to sign in, and then you also post it to the website.


 

 

The website guides you to caches near your location and describes the level of difficulty and the type of terrain.

Some are harder to find than others and it was great to learn first hand how this is done.  I think it might have been hard to figure out on our own.  It certainly would have been much more frustrating.

 They patiently guided us through the entire process from the very beginning to the end, including the logging process.

we didn't need a GPS to find lunch

After finding several easier caches we went to the local restraunt for a "little" bite to eat.  As you can see, the portions here are massive.  This is moussaka with grilled chicken and it had little pita bread pieces on the side with some salad.  It also came with soup or salad and followed by dessert...for $7.25.  We all ended up taking a good deal of it home to enjoy another day.

 

There was only one cache we simply could not locate and finally had to admit defeat and leave.  As we were searching for it a truck drove by and shouted "check the chair!" Wow, drive by hints and we still failed.


Now when I see a group of people all looking at their cell phones and looking lost, I wonder if they are geocachers.


this is the one I finally found,
it was hanging in a tree

We've already upgraded our membership at Geocaching.com to the premium membership to get more options, and we're reviewing which gps system we might want to get.

We are looking at the Garmin Oregon 550 right now, but any suggestions or preferences would be appreciated if you have been bitten by this "bug" and want to share your opinions. 

I'm thinking I need to get the decal for the car now or at least a t-shirt with the scan code on it.  Then you become a moving cache.  Our friends had seen this on a Volkswagen bug - that would be so cool....a real travel bug!

There is so much more to learn!  We can't wait to get into the Mesa area and search in earnest and then teach this to the grandkids when they come to visit.

Long Live the Queen of GeoCachers