Day 10- Geocaching

Have you heard about geocaching yet!?!?  I thought I knew what it was, but then I actually TRIED it, and ohmygosh, NOT what I was expecting.  It's SO fun!!! Like, really fun for grown ups AND kids, and probably for advanced grown ups, too!

(DAD, you are going to LOVE THIS!!!)

So before I get much further, you'll have to learn what geocaching IS so that you can follow along.  Here's what explained it best for me.  It's a minute-fifteen second Youtube video that explains pretty well what it's all about.  Check it out and then come right back, ok?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YTqitVK-Ts

As you now know, it's like real-life treasure hunting, using your phone with a GPS.  You pick a "Cache" that you want to look for, read the description and clues, follow its coordinates on the map, and then look for it!  Usually the cache will be within 10 yards or so from the coordinates.  Some are easy, others hard, and they come in a variety of shapes and sizes.  Once you find it, you sign the log book, and then you can even trade little knick-knacks that were left inside from other geocachers!

I cannot WAIT for the weather to get nice again so I can go geocaching all the time!

THIS is where it all began.  Once I downloaded the app, I pulled open the map and saw this:

I’m probably stating the obvious, but each green dot is a Geocache!  I couldn’t BELIEVE that there are so many in Medina!  And there are close to 50 geocaches in each city around Medina (including Brunswick, Strongsville, Cleveland, Fairlawn, Wadsworth, Lodi, Wooster…) Maybe this makes me a huge dork, but I think it's REALLY exciting!

Anyway, back to my story... we grabbed knick-knacks from around the house (and marked them with #Ems30by30), packed up the kids, and headed out to find our first Cache!  We decided to try finding “Cache Noel” which is located right by Castle Noel, south of the Medina Square.  J was SOOOO excited to be on a “treasure hunt,” and T just picks up on her enthusiasm, even when he doesn’t know what’s going on.  It’s terribly precious.  Once we got to the exact coordinate of the GPS, the cache was supposed to be within 10 yards or so.  

We searched high and low, and then… WE FOUND IT!!!  Here we are, checking out what was inside:

We signed the log book, and found my girlfriend’s name (the one who inspired me to do a 30 by 30, and also who told me about Geocaching!):

  

And we traded knick-knacks.  J was so excited to pick a bouncy ball, and T couldn’t care less, so we just took the one!

I cannot WAIT for the weather to get nice again so we can go geocaching all the time!  If you want to try it out, just start by downloading an app for Geocaching... of course there's one that costs $10, but I just used the free one! :)

OKAY, now I have the CUTEST PICTURE of when we found the geocache, so this is a MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!!! Don’t scroll down unless you won’t do this cache or don’t mind knowing where it is!!!

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Pulling out the Cache...

...and putting it back!