caching in

That's no mere walk in the park, folks. No, that's what known as geocaching, which is the coolest thing ever, because a) it's fun and b) Hijo's uncle Frank, who is the coolest person in the world, introduced it to him. Here's the deal. Turns out that people have gone and hidden stuff all over the place. Wherever you might be, there's probably something hidden right there, but you don't know about it because you haven't logged on to the handy dandy geocaching.com website.

If you were cool, like Hijo and his uncle Frank, you would have logged onto the geocaching.com website, and there you would have learned about some cool hidden stuff, and most importantly, you would have learned the coordinates of exactly where the cool hidden stuff is hidden, and you would enter those very coordinates into your cool GPS gadget. Ah, yes! Although you cannot see it in this picture, Hijo is holding a GPS gadget which points him in the direction of the cool hidden stuff. So, you can see why this is appealing. It's a treasure hunt PLUS a cool gadget to play with. That's boy nirvana right there.

This is how it works. You go to the geocaching.com website and pick a couple of cool caches to find. You enter the coordinates into your cool gadget. You hop in the car with your mom and drive to the parking spot nearest to the coordinates. You hop out of the car, point your gadget to the sky, and then you start walking. At first, it is all very exciting, as the gadget tells you exactly how many feet away from the super secret hidden cool stuff you are. And you walk. And you get closer. The suspense is almost too much. But then you get really close and the gadget goes all bonkers on you and tells you the cool hidden stuff is this way. Oh wait, no, it's THAT way. It's five feet, it's thirteen feet, it's, well, it's time to look for it your own damn self.

Which is really fun. Really fun at first, that is. After oh, ten minutes of looking in all the possible hiding places around that area which has to be the right place because the gadget has gone beserk, and look, there's a bridge, this must be right. After ten or so minutes of that, it starts to get a wee bit frustrating. You start to feel rather like an idiot. People come by walking their dogs and they look at you kind of funny because you've got your butt up in the air and your head stuck under a bench. Or you are tromping around off the main pathway sticking your hand into weird places that probably harbor giant spiders or worse. You become quite sure that you have looked EVERYWHERE, and there is no cache.

"Hey Hijo," you call out, "maybe we should just give up on this one, OK?"

"NO! There is no giving up!" Hijo will let you know.

So you tromp around some more. And move this vegetation, and go under this thing, and walk around in circles some more. This geocaching has to be the stupidest thing in the whole world, you conclude.

"Please, can't we just try something else for awhile?" you whine.

"NO! There is no giving up!" Hijo says again, even though you know perfectly well he is frustrated, too, because his voice has risen two octaves.

So, you go back to that one place, that place you have looked 67 times already, and you twist your head at a slightly different angle, and you stick your hand into the cobwebs just a wee bit farther, and ta DA! There it is! Woo hoo! You found it. You pull out the box, and you look at all the magical trinkets within, and you sign the log book with a flourish. You and Hijo give each other a high five. Smiling, you seal it up, and you re-hide it waaaaay back with the spiders. You have a spring in your step as you walk away.

This geocaching is the best thing in the whole world, you and Hijo agree.

Comments

[xath]

I've toyed with doing this but i think it would be way funner with a kidlet (even an older one) to boost your flagging spirits. Glad you found the treasure.

[Patricia Edwards]

I've got me 3 boys... two under 11 and one over 50... that LOVE geocaching. This is a good thing. It allows for more mama quiet time!