Elemaris

Actually, Christianity has a lot of parallels with geocaching. You spend your life trying to stay on the right path. You have faith that in the end you will find what you have searching for. You try to treat everyone you meet on the trail in a friendly and accepting manner. Interesting.... ..And to follow the right path, you need guidance from above.

I think it is a wonderful blessing that we live in a country where we can have freedom of religion and speech and have these debates. Religious persecution is still rampant in many parts of the world. People are dying for their beliefs every day, while we worry in America about "being offended" and achieving "Freedom FROM Religion", and getting all in a huff about someone putting a bible tract or the like in a tupperware container in the woods. I think this is the same part of the brain that panics when it can't find the remote control, or complains when their McFries or a little too cold. Being easily offended is a sign of weakness. Take that however you would like. I don't care--I don't get offended! That being said, I would also like to give my brief opinion on Bible tracts and the like. If anyone should be offended by bible tracts and religious advertising left in geocaches, it is Christians. No one has ever been converted or accepted Christ by getting a tract shoved in their face, or left in a geocache. It's the junkmail of Christianity. If you want to represent Christ, show love the way Christ did. If you come upon a cache in disrepair, fix it up. If you open the cache and it is filled with junk, replace it with some nice stuff. Treat nature with respect. Treat private and public property with respect. Practice Cache In-Trash Out. Live life in the service of others, helping those who deserve it and those that do not, and if someone is seeking and they ask you "why you do what you do", then share with them the message. A lot more "effective" than unsolicited junkmail. But if someone feels this is how they would like to share the message and spread the word, it won't offend me, just disappointed that there is one less matchbox car, dollar store action figure or McToy treasure for my kids to choose from.

We (my son and I) did our first cache this weekend with another family that had a GPS. We took a homemade signature coin and a quarter. We left a nice carabiner/compass/keychain and a handy bungee cord loop. The rest of the cache was pretty much a sad mix of junk. I like the signature coin made by "the snail"-nicely done! I think I will eventually do this once I come up with something really nice, but for now I have a nice mix of first aid kits, carabiner keychains, compasses, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, and mini flashlights, each worth $1-2. I agree that there are some important teachable moments with kids in regards to the cache exchange part of geocaching: fairness, giving more than you get, unselfishness, sharing, self control, etc, etc. Thank everyone for the responses!

OK, I have yet to start geocaching (my GPS is a birthday gift from my wife--she hid it in the closet until August 25th). So in the meantime I am getting as much info as possible, Checked out the idiot's guide a a few other books from the local library, soaking up info like a sponge and am eagerly anticipating our first GPS family adventure! My question is, when my family and I find our first cache, does everyone in the group take something-leave something, or just one exchange for the group? Do you let the kids take turns? I can hear the fights now: "I want the duckie keychain, Isaac got to get the red emergency poncho last time, and Emma got the plastic Cinderella toy" WHAAAAAAA!

Awesome info, Thanks!! It looks as if no matter which unit I go with, there is a way to connect it to my Powerbook. I am leaning toward the Explorist 210 over the Legend, because of the USB, 22MB, and auto routing. Does this make sense to all you GeoVets out there? It's actually not going to cost me anything because I am "buying" it with "vitality bucks" I earned through my company health insurance. If I really get into this, I can always upgrade next year to a more powerful unit, If I so desire. I can't wait to take my kids out and find our first cache!

I am very interested in geocaching and would like to buy my first GPSr. I have been perusing the forums and soaking up as much information as possible, but perhaps getting more confused in the process. I have a Mac Powerbook G4 running Mac OS X 10.3.9 (may be upgrading soon) I also have a Palm TX. I am looking to buy my first GPS and can afford one of the following units: Garmin Etrex "Yellow" Garmin Etrex Legend Magellen Explorist 210 The geocaching website is great, so I would like to be able to get the waypoints to the unit using either my mac or the palm. Any recommendations or suggestions between these units would be helpful. Thanks!!!