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Or at least the root of most angst-filled forum posts. And here I thought the word that did that was "micro".

Tyson's Corner is fairly removed from the City of Washington, and therefore most of the government buildings and structures. If you venture into DC, you may need to be extra careful. But, unless you prefer urban caches, I suggest you head West, away from the cities. There's a lot of beautiful land in the western part of Virginia.

Here is a link that discusses the rail trail. It's not terribly long, but should be plenty for kids the age of yours. It's in very good condition and easy to ride. It's very popular, but seems to be used responsibly.

And if the site does provide such a thing, some people will complain that they were taken along an interstate rather than a scenic bypass. And other people will complain that they were directed to a back road rather than something more direct. And if the site doesn't generate the routes, then people will gripe about how hard it is to enter their routes. It sounds like a huge can of worms, and a perfect reason for people receiving a free/cheap service to complain even more than they do now.

I suggest you head about 10-15 miles east of Hershey to the Mount Gretna area. There are lots of nice woodland caches, several of which are geared towards kids. And the Colebrook Twin Kiss can't be beat for a nice break in the middle of the day. My seven-year-old loves the area. Try searching a couple of miles out from N 40 14.500 W 76 29.000 and you're bound to find some you like. If you're bringing your bikes along, there's a nice rail trail that you can ride to a couple of the caches.

Those people are tools because they don't use it? Or because they're easily deterred? Sorry - couldn't resist.

That made me grin, but I prefer the classic, "Who peed in your corn flakes?" (Hopefully I quoted that correctly. I must remember to use it myself when the occasion calls for it.) Anyway, I suspect the OP has taken one course on web development, and is therefore "expert" enough to pass judgement on others. I join with the others that proudly support this site and offer my thanks and respect for the effort required to keep it running as well as it does. Add me to the "satisfied customer" column.

But if you find any green TEAS, please remove them before they attract critters.

Wow, that's a good question. I've been leaving DVDs (legal copies from the Wal*Mart bargain bin) in caches recently, thinking I was doing a good thing. I hope I don't end up inadvertently causing harm to somebody's DVD player. So, what - did the Mythbusters do something on this?

I had a nice experience with a cache placed on private property. In the cache description they gave enough specifics that you knew which was the right place. Turns out it was a B&B owned by a retired couple. I found the cache quickly and as I was signing the log the owner came out and we had a nice chat. He wasn't a cacher, but his grandson was, and that's who placed the cache. So, we had a pleasant early spring sunset chat about kids, caching, and the business trip that brought me to the area. Pretty cool!

I've used my Legend in a variety of rental cars, and have never had a problem. I just wedge it between the dash and the window, and it stays pretty nicely.

The $8 I spent for Cachemate plus the $20 I spent for GSAK constitutes some of the best money I ever spent for software. Both of them are perpetual licenses and include free upgrades. I was very happy with Cachemate after I bought it, and thought that was all I would ever need. But after reading some recommendation on the forums, I decided I would try GSAK. I was working with it for about five minutes before deciding I was going to become a registered user. Both of these products working together, along with Garmin's MapSource, make for a very pleasant caching experience.

I hit the same thing recently. I ended up doing as RK suggests - getting a USB to serial adapter. These are a available from a variety of sources, the most expensive of which is Garmin. I use the same unit that RK references, with great success. Note that the laptop port with three rows is for connecting a monitor. There's no way that can be used as a serial port.

I'll pile on with the Legend advocates. Not much more expensive than the yellow, especially if you consider that it comes with a computer cable. I've had mine for a year and have no regrets. There are times that I wish that I had gotten the color version, but for caching, I really have no complaints with the regular Legend.

It's not as passive as a watch list, but you can keep an eye on the activity of others by looking them up, going to their profile, clicking User Stats and then All Cache Finds. You have to know the user ID of course.

And of course, that brings up the question of which 10% stay and which 90% go. Would there be a governance board established to invoke a rating system? Or would there be a vote across the entire GC community? Who really wants to take time out of their caching activities to deal with this? As for me, I don't include micros in my PQs, so they don't exist. There - I've eliminated 100% of them from my world. Now, off to the woods I go...

No fair, teasing us like that. You need to post the pic. My family and I were in Teton and Yellowstone a couple of years ago, and were determined to spot some moose. We saw everything else that the area has to offer, including coyotes, but no moose. Well, we were taking a raft trip down the Snake River, and the guide pointed out a moose to us. But we think it was a wooden cutout to make people think they saw wildlife.

I went through the front page the other day, and the pictures were of dogs, with no humans included! Imagine if a human were exploring Geocaching and saw that! They'd think that this is a dogs-only sport and would abandon it without checking into it any further. When will we wake up, people?

This has clearly and substantially improved my relationship with my youngest son. It gives us something to do that we can both enjoy. Being the father of three, I've come to the conclusion that there are things that the kids enjoy and the parents endure, and other things that the parents enjoy and the kids endure. Anything that you both truly enjoy is to be treasured. Edit: I just reread the OP, and it said not to include improved relationships. OK - so I broke the rule. But this change has altered my outlook on a lot of things, so I'm standing by it.

Speaking for myself, I just don't get any joy out of worrying about whether I'm being observed by security guards or surveillance cameras. The prospect of having to explain myself to authority figures doesn't fill me with glee. I realize some people think it's more fun that way, but I just don't get it. I prefer a leisurely walk through the woods, enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of nature, not worrying about whether I'm being watched. I'm not uncomfortable being around others. Coming across other hikers and bikers is a pleasure, and meeting other cachers on the trail is always very cool. But having to dodge people while I'm searching for a cache, and dragging the cache container to a secret place to sign a soggy scrap of paper is something I'll save for those that enjoy it. Different strokes...

My son loves caching. I don't "drag" him out - there have been times when I woke up on a weekend and he said, "Dad - you're finally up! Let's go Geocaching." He enjoys finding and leaving toys, but he also enjoys the hike to the cache and the hunt once we get to the general area. Once we find it, he enjoys digging through for goodies (and not so goodies) and picking something from our pack that he'd like to leave. The first time we came upon a micro, he was incredibly disappointed, because there was no trading. That being said, I also go caching by myself when I'm out of town on business. In those cases, I have no interest in trading anything. Who wants to drag swag on a plane both directions? (Travel bugs are another story - I love giving them a ride, although some of them can raise some eyebrows with airport security. "So why do you have Donald Duck in a hula skirt with a metal tag chained to him?") I don't really get that much of a kick out of trading. It's fun to see what others have left, then put it back, sign the log and be on my way. However, regardless of the fact that I don't trade when by myself, I continue to filter out micros. For some reason they don't seem "real" to me. I hate having to hide from crowds of people in a crowded park when I could be having a nice hike in the woods. And unrolling a damp piece of paper, trying to find an empty place to sign my name, then rolling it up without tearing it to shreds, finally stuffing it back inside a tiny container with my sausage-like fingers - somehow isn't my idea of fun. Hmm... maybe it's all about the log books. I've never thought about that, but maybe that's it. If I cared about my find count, I'd probably go after micros. But if it's not fun, why bother?

I have a Legend and MapSource MetroGuide. It's a winning combination for me. When I was trying to decide between MetroGuide and Topo, I went to the Garmin web site and looked at samples - you may want to try that as well. I was surprised to find many trails there. Certainly not everything, but it's been good enough for my Geocaching needs. Depending on where I am, I may take a look at a printed topo map if there's one available. Another reason I like MetroGuide is that it allows me to enter waypoints and it creates a route for me. Then I can just load the routes directly from my laptop to my Legend, click navigate and let it tell me where to go. I travel out of town fairly often, and this is very helpful for me to find hotels, restaurants, offices, local points of interest and, thanks to GSAK, geocaches. So I can enter my hotel as a starting point, and a cache I'm interested in as an end point, and let it tell me where to go. As somebody else mentioned, MetroGuide is a memory hog, but as long as you don't need to load a huge area, it's nice to have all that information at your disposal. This combination works for me. If your needs are strictly for the outdoors stuff, then Topo may be better for you (or, as you said, get both). One word of warning, I've heard it said that the MapSource Topo information is kind of out-of-date. I've had my Legend for just under a year, and I have no regrets.

The ability to pan and zoom the maps is kind of cool, but I don't use it that much anymore, because I have better alternatives (read on). Like others have said, the PQs are the best thing since sliced bread. You can set up to filter by location (lots of options), cache type (hate micros? you'll never see them again), difficulty (get only the ones that are "just right" for you), etc., etc. Then load the PQs into GSAK or a similar product, and go crazy. Filter and sort to your heart's desire. I export from GSAK to my Garmin MapSource software, so I can really play games with maps, which is the reason I don't use the on-line maps very much. I also export the coordiates straight to my GPSr and to Cachemate so I can have all the cache info on my Palm. I suggest you try it for a month. You'll be hooked. Oh yeah - cool mountain stream, cozy fire, and all that stuff, too.

Did you see Rod Serling standing in the background?

I suggest you create a new database in GSAK for Maui. I travel a lot on business, and I create a new database for each new city I visit. That will give you a clean slate without losing what you've accumulated for your home area. Load it up with a Pocket Query and you'll have only what you want for your trip. Then just delete all geocache waypoints from the Legend. Delete by symbol for Geocaches hidden and found. After they're all cleaned off, use GSAK to load the waypoints for Maui, and you'll have what you want and nothing else. For what it's worth, I use Cachemate for my Palm. As a rule, I'll delete everything in the Cachemate database and upload only what I need for the area I'll be visiting (i.e.: the new GSAK database). It cuts down on the sync time between PC and Palm. When I get back home, I just open up my "Home" database in GSAK, clean out and resync the Legend and the Palm, and get out in the woods.