Recently I was trying to think of something fun for my family to do over the 4th of July holiday and stumbled across a forum post about geocaching and decided it would be the perfect activity for us. It would get my tv/video game/computer addict 11 year old outdoors and geocaching was something I had been wanting to do for awhile anyway!
So I began my research 2 days ago, decided on a gps unit (Garmin eTrex Venture HC), and within 3 hours of UPS delivery of it this afternoon we found ourselves walking around in circles, deep in the dark woods with no flashlight and no hope of ever finding the cache.
The sun was low in the sky when we'd left home so I picked what I thought was an easy, quick hunt. I wanted the first one to be simple and fun so that my son would really enjoy it and want to do it again. In hindsight we should have just waited until tomorrow, but I have little patience! And not much sense!
So there we were getting poked by sharp branches, walking up and down a path, then into the deep woods, then out again because the GPS was like a woman with PMS...okay, so maybe I was the woman with PMS who shoulda read the instruction manual before leaving home. I hate instruction manuals.
We'd trekked through brambles and high grass, and both had sweat pouring down our faces in the hot late afternoon Texas sun when my son uttered the unthinkable, "What if we don't find it today?" I thought, "We HAVE to find it! The first hunt has to be successful or else he will go back to his video games and turn into a pasty white couch potato!!" But instead I said, "Of course we will find it!"
About that time I turned and there it was. I squealed and pointed and jumped up and down. I let my son have the honor of retrieving it and then began the mystery of how to open an ammo box! I tugged and pulled and finally got it open but by that time it was pitch black so it was hard to see the contents and sign the log book. Using the dim light of my cell phone and with sweat dripping onto the pages I wrote something down, now I have forgotten what it was because I was too excited to concentrate!
My son was thrilled about the baseball he found inside but when I began digging through the box I didn't see anything I really cared about. There were magnets, note pads, pens, beads, etc. Then I saw IT and had to have it....a playing card with a 3 of diamonds. Might seem silly but three is my lucky number and diamond is my birthstone. What a perfect souvenir for my first hunt!
We left a Harry Potter book and some other things, resealed and replaced the ammo box and headed back towards the car. My son was so happy and said he couldn't wait until tomorrow to do more! "And this was the best exercise ever!" he exclaimed!
Misson: Accomplished!
