GeoWhat?

I have the coolest husband in the world. Seriously! The other day out of the blue he asks the girls if they want to go on a treasure hunt. Not sure where he was going with this I thought I saw the opportunity for a nap looming in my near future while he played with the girls in the backyard.

Uhm... not exactly.

Instead I found myself in the car asking just as many questions as our two overly excited little girls. Where are we going? What do you mean we are going to look for treasure? What kind of treasure? Are you crazy? {OK so maybe it was just me asking that last one!}

My wonderful husband ended up leading us on a real treasure hunt, seriously. We followed a 'map' on his phone and really and truly found a treasure. A little box hidden under a bridge in a local park, overflowing with odds and ends. Complete with a little log book to sign to show we had been there.

Our very first geocache find!
Please ignore how horrible my 'roots' look in this photo.
I'm obviously WAY overdue a trip to the salon...
its not gonna happen anytime soon so I hope they don't bother you that much!

Apparently, {you're not going to believe this!} there are hundreds and thousands of these little 'treasure chests' hidden all around the world just waiting to be found.

It's called geocaching... and it is super fun!

I can't think of a better way to spend a fun family afternoon. And just because I am the coolest person in the world ever* I figured I'd give you step by step instructions on how to plan a fun filled geocaching afternoon.


*Or, you know, the coolest person who ever told you all about geocaching.

First you head to www.geocaching.com Here you can decide which cache(s) you want to look for.

I make a list on the computer of all the cache's we want to find in a day trying to plan a 'route'. { You can pay to get an upgraded membership that is supposed to do this for you but we have the basic and by using the map feature we don't have any problems making our own.}

Enter coordinate's into your gps device. (We used an iphone application.) Once you get to those coordinates look high and low... it can get tricky.. and of course the coordinates aren't always right on so thats where the fun comes in!

When you find your treasure (technically called swag in the geocaching world) you always leave behind more treasure swag for the next person. A few things we have used include small stuffed animals and toys, gaudy pins from Mommy's jewelry box, silly bands, samples of Avon lipsticks and perfumes, and all sorts of other things. Remember one person's trash is another person's treasure swag!

A word to the wise: if going geocaching anywhere outside of the blacktop jungle, don't forget insect repellant... trust me itching your legs until they bleed is no fun. Don't ask me how I know! Also, it may be worth your while to familiarize yourself with the leaves of poison ivy and other such botanical evils!!!

Mosquito netting around the littlest geocacher in your group completely optional!

While out on the cache route you may be presented with the opportunity to indulge in a little spontaneous history lesson if you feel so inclined!

Thanks to earthcaches your adventures may lead you to some really cool finds, like for example your husband may or may not discover he lived a couple miles down the road from a cave when he was a child without ever realizing it! EarthCache's are super cool and super informative and great if you're a homeschooling family or just a family who likes supplementing public education with fun family learning adventures. This particular day we learned all about geology and how caves are formed! I'm sure we'll be back over the years for more in-depth hands on studying!

Many cache's are hidden at parks so feel free to pack a picnic lunch!

Taking along a grill and talking your hubby into grilling up some yummy turkery burgers is, of course, completely optional and may or may not lead to an interesting afternoon sitting and chatting with a homeless dude so drunk you can't understand a word he is saying....

This concludes our GeoCaching Tutorial... now get out there and find a cache with your kids. You won't regret it!

PS) I am pretty sure this geocaching discovery is a direct result of this decision we made several months ago. As you can see, so far we are reaping great benefits as a family from our decision!