Last night we had a picnic dinner at Audubon Park with the Wisers - a boyhood friend of Pat's. Ryan and Melanie are teachers in town, but I share other things in common with them. Ryan is a big soccer fan and Melanie grew up in Security - a few miles south of where I grew up and currently live.
At the end of the picnic Ryan suggested we hunt for a cache with the kids. I hadn't been geocaching for probably 10 years, since I last lived up here. Funny how things come full circle. We drove to the nearest cache and the group of us all looked for it in the bushes. I finally found it after scraping up my hands and arms. I'm obviously allergic to that type of evergreen bush.
Julia was really excited and gave me a big hug for finding it. She kept a little backpack for B, Jonathan left with a little car, and Jonah a spaceship. This was their first ever geocache and both of them seemed to really like it. I think they liked it because it was a little bit of treasure hunting but mostly because they got toys out of the deal. Julia keeps asking to do more, so we'll hit up Manito Park tomorrow morning.
This was my first time geocaching with an iPhone. It was really easy and convenient. Obviously it's way more interactive now then ten years ago when you did it with just a handheld GPS unit. Assuming you have service, you can use the phone to navigate, read the description and hints, post comments, log your visit, and upload photos. Pretty fun and nerdy.
I bagged three more today - this time in Coeur D'Alene while Stacey and the kids met with Shannon. Like hiking 14ers, I don't really care that much to find the actual cache or reach the summit. That will be for the kids. For me, forgotten until now, the best part is that they usually take you to great places and views that you might not otherwise know about. If it weren't for this, I probably would have never hiked up Tubbs Hill. I probably would have just stayed around the hotel and wasted a few hours.
