What Does Your Family Think About Caching?

[GeoFD]

Are they with you, or do they think its a waste of time?

[+Mastifflover]

My wife loves it, has her own account and her own gps. My stepdaughter is slowly coming around.

[+PandyBat]

While nearly everyone of them say, Wow...that's neat!, none of them do it or want to do it.

[+quills]

they're all interested. Some more than others but they've all been caching. i guess it's like anything else some show more interest than others.

[+Torry]

What Does Your Family Think About Caching?

 

 

... That it's the least dangerous of my psychotic acts and a great source of free golfballs.

[+mcweb]

My dad got a GPS for his job, and he's the one that found the site and started the family in on it. I now have probably 8 relatives who actively geocache (cousins, uncle, siblings) and I got my husband hooked. Too bad he's not as addicted as me, or at least doesn't have as much time to be addicted. My husband and I have 3 GPSr for the 2 of us.

 

McWeb

[+Kitch]

Still think its nuts...

 

but the kids love it.....

 

and my wife is hating the GAS bills, and the upgrading GPS bill

[GeoFD]

My wife and kids love it but arent that good at it, my wife cant find her way out of a paperbag, and my 5yr old is very loud, so I end up finding all our caches, but the family likes to get out of the house.

[+Melrose Plant]

Balboagirl, my wife, found out about geocaching, bought the GPSr, and found our first cache, but from then on, 'caching is kind of a touchy subject. So far, I've found 108, I think she had in mind 10 in the same period of time, maybe 12. Now I'm stuck with the funny name.

[+Boot Group]

Standing in line is a waste of time (unless you are lining up 2nd graders, then it somehow seems appropriate). Sitting in traffic is a waste of time. Waiting in a doctors office is a waste of time. How could someone see that taking in fresh air, getting excersize, and finding a hidden treasure a waste of time?

[+bons]

My wife and my mother-in-law are going on a geocaching trip to Mall of America.

 

They're not taking me with them.

[ducky189]

My boyfriend got me started & now he's worried that I'm gonna have more finds then him ( thats not what its about for me). My dad thinks its fantastic, I have taken my cousin(he's up for anything, though) & my brother( who doesnt show much emotion about anything, but at least I got him to go) & ALL my friends make fun of me. It could be worse.

[+Riddlers]

It's all my parents fault. and I mean it, it's all their fault that I am doing this.

They came to visit with all these pieces of paper and maps and stuff and said, this is what they wanted to do while they were visiting and look what happened. Now we are hooked too.

[+Night Stalker]

My wife bought me my first GPS. I thought it was so she could go geocaching with me, but I was wrong. It's not that she won't go, because she will as long as it is not rated over a 2 for terrain. Her real interest is BUYING the geo-treasures we put in the caches.

 

My daughter never wants to go, but once we get there she always finds something in every cache that she needs to trade for.

 

My son wont leave an area until we have found the cache. I don't think he deals well with failure.

[+briansnat]

My wife enjoys it and even has her own account and GPS and is about to break 100 finds. SHe's yet to find one without me though, so I guess she sees it more as spending quality time together. Our 14 year old daughter wants nothing to do with it. She's come out on a few hunts and had a look on her face that said she'd rather be sitting in a dentist's chair.

 

I have young (4 and 6) neice and nephew who love it and whenever they see me they want to go geocaching. The rest of the family sees it as a quirky hobby, but my mother does enjoy my "celebrity", being that I was featured in several newspaper and magazine articles about the geocaching. She ran out each time and bought out the news stand. I'm not sure she even fully understands what the sport is about, but seeing my name and pictures published is a big deal to her and every relative and friend gets a copy of the articles.

Edited May 15, 2004 by briansnat

[+BigJon]

My wife enjoys it sometimes, when its not hot or cold. My kids really enjoy it, we usally combine a Geocache trip with a trip to a kids park, so they can play.

[+sledgehampster]

I got Bravesfan (Hi Mom!) into it AFTER I started and now she has more finds than I do! She is actually about to break 400, probably this weekend...

[+Team DEMP]

My kids go with me a lot of the time (hence the "Team" name). My wife has come on maybe 10 finds. My parents think it is neat and ask about it often. My brother and his son went and got his own GPS but have only done 3 hunts, all with me and my kids.

 

I have nieces/nephews (some older then my kids and some younger) that ask me about it, but normally when we get together as a larger group, we're not appropriately dressed for geocaching.

 

On vacation at my in-laws, we took some ferries to 2 islands and did some virtual geocaching, and they tagged along, but that was more for the trip and not the geocaching.

 

I think geocaching is one of those sports/hobbies that until you do it, you don't understand the satisfaction. I never understood fishing until I went bass fishing with a friend and caught my first fish and the enjoyment you get from pulling it in each time and then releasing it back into the water is something you need to experience to understand.

[+tstar]

When I first started and was explaining it to various family members, some had that look on their faces. Some of them still don't get me.

 

Other family members, like my coolest 2 1/2 year old nephew, just thinks it's the greatest thing since sliced bread...he just loves to go "neasure" hunting. It's worth it just seeing the look in his eyes when we find the cache .

 

I'm about to get my brother and his 4 boys started. They will love it!!

 

Tstar

[uperdooper]

everyone in my family thinks it's cool except my husband. he has gone on a few hunts with me, but just for the walk. oh well! i guess he is a semi-muggle.

[+Seamus]

I got my parents interested in GeoCaching, and they went a few times on their own, as well as a time or two with me. Then, we made a "friend" on one particular cache hunt...

 

 

Suddenly, even urban micros are frought with life-threatening danger , and anything involving hiking in the woods is right out . I still enjoy Geocaching immensely, and dad's still cool with it, but I don't think mom's ever going to go cache hunting again. These things will happen - we do live in Florida, after all...

[+garri]

Firstly i bought a GPSr, then hooked in geocaching

 

My father bought another GPSr after me because he like the idea of geocaching.

 

My mother think that virtual caches are better.

 

My nephew likes geocaching too, wen I ask for him he always go with me.

 

And my dog, evidently she don't know what is geocaching but she loves hiking for hours, and peculiarly she is very excited in the last meters to reach the cache (she runs, jumps and play), She must see in my face a special smile or excitement.

Edited May 15, 2004 by garri

[+Team Gootz]

Our kids love to go "Treasure Hunting". We kind of stopped caching for awhile, no excuses, just didn't bother to go anymore, when my 4 yr. old daughter asked why we hadn't gone treasure hunting anymore. We went out again on Mother's Day-and saw a little snake. Since I was only wearing sneakers & carrying the biggest of two kids, I decided now would be a good time to buy a pair of hiking boots. We cache as a family, and do mainly urban caches with playground equipment at the end of the day. What better way to spend with your family than finding treasures together? May they never grow too old to enjoy the hunt!

 

Mother Gootz

[+Sloopy]

My dad has caught the geocaching bug and goes along with me sometimes. He bought a GPS V after our first cache hunt together, and then a couple weeks ago he splurged on one of those new wrist GPSrs that Garmin makes because it would be "easier for geocaching." It's kind of funny how enthusiastic he is about it.

 

My mom and sister have both been caching with me, but neither of them are really outdoors types, so they didn't enjoy it all that much. I also took my brother once, and he seemed to think it was okay, but he hasn't gone again (he's still in college and doesn't get a chance to come home often).

[+rover-r-us]

my wife loves to go caching.and she has a GPS .how do you think i find caches and i make her go get them...

[+Alan2]

My wife thinks this is "big boys toys" and we all should grow up and get a real hobby. Actually, she has been a pretty good sport about it and has come along, hiked a few but mainly stayed in the car at the trail head reading the newspaper. Or stayed home. Our dog loves it but because he got Lyme desease twice and RMSF once, she won't let him go any more into the woods during tick season. But she hasn't objected to my caching because of ticks. Hmmm.

[TwentySeven]

The wife and (2) kids love to go! This is how it works. We all go to the area, normally a park, the kids run off the the playground. The wife accompanies me to where the "pavement ends". Then:

• I go bushwhacking
  
• Find the cache
  
• Take it to the wife to sign the log
  
• Holler, "I got it!" to the kids
  
• Kids come running
  
• Kids dig for goodies
  
• Kids run back to playground with new toys
  
• I add my trade
  
• Place cache back in place
  

If there is no playground we all go for the hike. But after pulling 100 ticks off each other in Le Sueur County, MN and Walnut Grove, the kids shy away from the woods. I can't wait for the mosquitos !

 

Shane

[IronMaiden]

When my husband first told me about it. I thought, now we have a use for this GPS we found awhile back (he's a bit of a pack rat). I went out with him and I was hooked.

 

Now I have gone to some caches without him. He taught me how to use the GPS and I can program it myself. As long as I'm safe he's fine with it.

 

As for our son (sometimes referred to as IronMike) he has gone a couple with his dad. Mainly the night ones, those are the ones he love.

[+OzGuff]

My wife likes to go on hikes in the mountains and will sometimes let me find a cache during the hike. She thinks I spend too much time and money on this addiction. If I was more balanced with my caching I think she would be more supportive. She REALLY hates when I go off on long hikes by myself without telling anyone. Can you believe it?

 

The kids are hot and cold. However, once we get out on a nice hike they get into it! Of course the lure of stuff also helps!! Both kids have over 100 finds many of them without me so they must enjoy it somewhat.

 

I have infected my sister and her husband (and their boys), my father-in-law, my sister-in-law, my father (and his wife), my mother (and her husband), and a couple of friends. I don't tell anyone about this activity unless I feel it might be something they could get into. Then I let them have both barrels and they usually wind up coming out with me to find a few.

[+Evil Chicken]

My husband & I love this sport. It took awhile to convince me to actually go out and look for one, but once I found my first cache, the hook was set.

 

The kids on the other hand have varying degrees of interest.

 

The oldest (she's 11) is the most interested in the sport and has scaled the side of a practically vertical hill to find a cache and has bravely gone into a few areas while mom is busy scouting for crack addicts, dealers, pedophiles, etc.

 

The middle child (who also happens to have the "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha" syndrome) also seems to have the most trouble on the trail. She has had more mosquito & tick bites, has had poison ivy, several leech bites, etc., while the rest of us remain relatively unscathed.

 

The baby (she's 3) hates it! Reminds us constantly that she'd rather do something else. About 100' in, she starts with "Dad, can I get on your shoulders?" The standard answer is "*exasperated sigh* After we find the cache."

 

The only saving grace is a well-stocked cache full of McToys. They seem to forget their troubles for a brief, shining moment as that lid is taken off. Because of this, we only do micros sporadically and when we do a cache run, we try for a 1:5 ratio.

 

Mother Hen

[+flask]

my brother-in-law is a casual cacher, but my sister does not cache.

 

my mom is an enthusiastic albeit infrequent cacher.

 

my dad has just gotten a hundred finds.

 

that about covers it, ayup.

[nickie218]

My husband hates it, he cant understand why I would spend time looking for a box that has "nothing" in it.

 

My children like it except when we get lost in the woods, or get stuck walking 3 miles....

 

My family thinks I am nuts and cant understand my excitement for the game or what the urgency is behind being the FTF.

 

Otherwise everyone is ok with it.......lol

[dampeoples]

My kids can hardly contain themselves...who am I kidding...they can't contain themselves

My wife isn't a very outdoorsey person, although she'll go on one every now and again.

[+clearpath]

My wife thinks I'm a dork. And running around places staring at a GPSr gives her plenty of evidence to make her claim. That and given the fact that I was almost arrested in San Fran this weekend during a Biotech protest. Some over zealous police officer thought I looked like a protester. I told this to my wife and she just laughed and said the police realized I was a dork and let me go ... I explained to my wife that I AM NOT A DORK, I'm really a geek instead. Please don't confuse the two. Why doesn't she take me serious ....

[+rossinator]

My 2 daughters (age 17 and 18) are totally freaked out that I go geocaching. They think it makes me look like some sicko lurking in the woods.

 

My wife is in the "big boy toys" club, and has gone with me, but is totally not interested in the cache itself.

 

I being my nephews out (age 4 and 6), to them it is treasure hunting, and they love it.

[+All4OfUs]

Well, as the wife, I think it's great! We get outside and have some exercise, we go to areas that we normally wouldn't get to, and we are all together. What more could we want? Us grownups love the outdoors and hunting for the cache and the kids love checking out the contents and the hunt. I enjoy it so much that when asked what I wanted to do on Mother's Day, the answer was caching. We now take pictures (generally) for each cache and I have a scrapbook started just for our geocaching.

 

My folks think it's a little bit odd but they're worried about the "wierdos putting things in boxes" aspect. My in-laws are good sports and have even been on a hunt with us. As for the siblings, well, I don't think that they have a clue that we do this much less what geocaching is.

[+wimseyguy]

My wife is sorta OK with my obsession. She occasionally comes with if it's a nice walk in the park buts hates the yukky stuff in the woods especially the spider webs . She also likes to only find one or two and then do something else. I want to go all day long. That's enought to keep her away. She's totally cool though and bought me my 60c for my birthday. She does wish I had a bit more balance in how I spend the little time I'm away from work and didn't neglect the house/pool/yardwork as much as I do.

My sibs think it's totally odd, but my brother in law would like to come with me more often . The neices and nephews think going 'treasure hunting' with uncle wimseyguy is waay cool though . I just wish they lived closer so we could.

Edited June 10, 2004 by wimseyguy

[+Snoogans]

MtnFrog & Camel (Sis & Bro-in-law), Lookin 4 Cache (14 y/o Nephew) are geocachers now. I think my nephew would be at it a whole lot more if he could drive. MtnFrog & Camel could care less about logging their finds, they just do it for fun on their frequent trips.

 

Almost everyone else in my family (Including my Mom who is 80.) have tried geocaching at least once.

 

They all think it's cool as do all of my friends.

 

Nearly all of my coworkers think it's the stupidest thing they ever heard of.

 

Sn gans

[MMACH 5]

My wife is just tired of hearing about this cache and that cache and "Here's an idea for a hide" or "How do you like THAT camo?". She just rolls her eyes. She has been caching with me before, but I think I burned her out on it.

 

I usually go by myself after the kids are in bed but when they come with me, they do enjoy it. They take turns helping me hunt for the cache; it's actually very sweet when I know my son, (10) sees it but doesn't say a word until one of his little sisters has found it.

[OuttaHand]

I'm very fortunate that my wife enjoys going out caching with me. I can't drive so I have to depend on her to get me out and doing them! She enjoys the time together, the walk, and using my camera to take lots of pictures. She's also quite adept at finding the actual cache once we reach ground zero.

My dad really took to it, too. After doing a couple caches with me, het hit eBay, got himself a GPS, and got his own geocaching account. I believe he just broke 50 finds. So he and I go caching whenever we can get together (we live 100 miles apart).

My brother joined us once at a geo-campout. He enjoyed the camping but seemed pretty bored with the caching.

Our kids have absolutely no interest in it whatsoever. They're teenagers and have their minds elsewhere.

[+KaiserKlan]

My wife and I have taken a good number of the KaiserKlan with us on one or more caching adventures, everywhere from Minnesota, to Texas, to Nevada, and Arizona, including;

 

Sister Karen in MN, NV, AZ

Brother Kurt & wife in AZ, NV

Nieces Anita & Alica in MN

Dad in MN, NV and AZ

Son Nate I think was with us for one in MN

Son Brendan has come with me on several in MO

Daughter Shannon in MO

 

That only leaves my other daughter Bridget and a brother Kraig, I need to work on them I guess.

 

I have a great family!

 

-- kaiserklan.com

Edited June 11, 2004 by KaiserKlan

[Rangers of Ithilien]

When I found out about caching and explained it to my hubby, he loved the idea cos it meant playing with gadgets........

 

The thing is, he has lost interest while I still love it. Unfortunately I dont have my own transport and so am limited in what I can do.

 

I usually go caching with my sister and her little boy (The Scooby Snacks). My brother has just got hooked too cos of me!

 

I know my dad would have loved it.....not so sure about my Mum!!

 

Tiffany

[Zoptrop]

Complete & total newbie here...

 

Discovered the sport/hobby last weekend.

 

So far, all of those I tell about it think it's kinda weird (or at least mildly amusing) until I have them go to geocaching.com and enter their zip codes. Once they see all of the hidden stuff around their house/neighborhoods they seem to get more interested.

Edited June 11, 2004 by Zoptrop

[+TeamJiffy]

My wife and I both like caching - a lot. We vary as to our level of interest at any given moment. We used to insist that we find every cache together - to keep geocaching a "we" thing vs. "you" and "I" thing. But since our interest level will vary so much, we've agreed that if we both want to go caching we will, but that doesn't stop either one of us from going on a hunt by ourselves or with others.

 

As to our extended families, when we are with my family, they love caching with us, but even after purchasing my Dad and sister a GPS receiver each last year, they haven't gone on a single hunt by themselves, as much as they said they would want to. So it is obviously, for them, a way to spend time with us when we visit. That's fine, and actually touching that they will do this activity with us that is not too enjoyable for them. When we are with my wife's family, they may find one or two caches with us, but generally ask "are you still doing that!?!" question.

 

-Jif

[+ZackJones]

We have 4 in our house now and 3 of us are into it. The 4th, my 19 year old stepson has gone out on a couple of hunts and found caches both times he went out be he's not into it like the others are.

 

Last weekend we (Wife Donna, stepdaughter Steffanie and I) were out searching for a cache that Donna and I couldn't find before and either one would give up the hunt until we found it. I'm quite proud of both of them.

 

We now plan day trips to different parts of GA so we can spend a day caching and taking in the parks and other places we'd never see if it weren't for caching.

 

We'll be heading down to the Tifton, GA are this Sunday and will hit Charleston, SC and Myrtle Beach, SC during our 1 - 5 July road trip.

 

Zack

[+Chuy!]

My wife thinks I'm a geek; she has yet to accompany me on a hunt. She got me my Vista about 2 years ago; only because I ask for it for Xmas. I was not into caching then, I wanted a GPS for its mapping capabilities.

My 8 year old daughter likes micros and easy hikes. My 6 year old daughter will go anywhere but will insist on a shoulder ride on long hikes. She even enjoys nighthunts. Our golden retriever will go anywhere I am willing to take her. I got my 5 and 9 year old nephews hooked. This has made me their favorite uncle, out of 5 candidates.

Edited June 13, 2004 by Chuy

[+Leapin' Lizards]

We called the nearest Fishermen's Marine Supply store... 90 min away... after trying our first cache, to keep them open late that afternoon. We drove like the proverbial bat and impulse-bought a $300 Etrex.

Since then, Slyther is definitely the most interested, but the least capable of actually spotting a cache. I'm all about log-writing, cache prizes, and actually getting everybody else into the car.

If there's a new cache nearby, we used to have to chain Slymed to the chimney stack to get him to wait till dawn. Now he gets interested in it once every couple of months (probably to calm Slyther down).

Gulp hasn't gone since he got a driver's license and could transport himself to his girlfriend's house. He went along for 2 yrs, though, and once on the trail is totally obsessed with finding the cache before Dad so that he can project "mentally-superior-and-obviously-more-cool-than-you" attitude about it. He has no fear of what might be around the cache container and we can't believe he hasn't been bitten, stung, poisoned, or drowned yet.

Had a Japanese exchange student last year that was a caching maniac. He got 80 of 'em before he left and we bought him a Legend for his birthday. New exchange student has tried one and obviously thinks it's lame. Sigh.

[phantom]

...well I THOUGHT the kids were getting into it, but I guess not. I have all but quit the hobby because no one wants to go with me and its hard being in a wheelchair to go alone. The wife thinks it is simply stupid to get out and do somthing such as this. Guess I'll just keep dreamin' and lookin' for friends who are interested.

[+CordedTires]

My husband has been a good sport about my latest enthusiasm. We went looking for our first one together. He still will come along sometimes, though not as often as I'd like. But he did sort of make a face today when we had to walk through the doggie relief area at a rest stop micro.

 

I'm sure he figures it's a lot better than some of the motorsports stuff I've done (especially the dirt track).

 

My kid is ok with it as long as I am careful not to try terrain that is too hard for him. My 83-year-old parents came along once, enjoyed themselves, and are politely interested.

 

I just got back from a family gathering where all my cousins laughed quite a bit at me. You do WHAT?!?

[+spiritfilledfamily]

I think my Dad and my sister are the ones who got us into this "caching thing." We have infected my other sister, my husbands parents and a few friends.

 

Sorry to say we can't hunt as much as we would like because that thing called "life" gets in the way, but we try to go as often as possible.

 

I am usually the instigator of it all, but as soon as I mention it, my husband and kids are raring to go. Maybe in September when both the boys are in school, my husband and I can get out more by ourselves!

Edited June 14, 2004 by spiritfilledfamily