No GPS :(

While we were visiting my mom in West Jordan, I left my GPS and Geocaching stuff at her house. It has been the longest week and a half. Every time I think about going out for a walk and a quick cache...Oh! Can't! Don't have my stuff. It's so frustrating. The weather has been so nice; It would have been perfect to go for a cache run. Now a storm is coming and I won't be about to go for a while. I can't wait to go until I get my GPS back and can go get find another cache.

Mom's First Cache Run

(Me and my GPS)

I've told my mom all about the joy of geocaching. When she comes to visit we usually go out for lunch and the whole drive there I tell here, "Oh I found a cache there" "there's one there but I can't find it" "See that tree? I found one there". So last weekend Nate (the hubby), G (the baby), and I went up for a visit and while the baby was sleeping (or so I thought), I took my mom and step dad on their first caching run and man did we have fun.

We found that there were 5 caches within a half a mile from my mom's West Jordan home so I mapped it out and off we went. The first one was way easy; we didn't even have to get off the sidewalk. Out of the next 4 we found 3. One this one the clue was "At the Middle amigo's waist" so when we pulled over I knew that this one had to be in the middle tree. My mom was the first to spot this one and she was so happy that she ran to the truck to show my step dad, Greg.

(Mom showing Greg)

(This is me with the cache.)

(Me putting the cache back.)

Then we got back into the truck and drove about a block to the next cache. Greg was a little confused because I kept saying "Oh! Right here! Pull over!" "No wait! It's up farther. Park up there." That's one of the reasons Nate doesn't like going with me. GO! STOP! I can never make up my mind.

The next one was one of the coolest finds. The clue was "Grapes make fine Wine" so I was pretty sure that it was in a grape vine somewhere and another cacher had commented that the copper was really shining so he turned it so I was pretty sure the cache itself was made out of copper but when we found this one I just had to laugh. It was so cool, even Greg got out of the truck once we found it.

And the last one was in the same parking lot. When we got close to the bushes Greg said "It's in that one!" and he was right! This one was a great last find. Quick, easy, and fun. That's the way we like it!

What's in a Name?

The first thing you need to do when you get to the geocaching website is to register your user name. I don't know about you but I hate trying to think of new user names. Every name I come up with is already taken and that can be frustrating. Since I am happy 98.7% of the time our family decided on the HappyHunters. Pretty fitting I think.

Now there is a rule in geocaching that if you take something from a cache, you leave something. I searched around my endless supply of junk and found just what I was looking for. In my craft draw, I have a bag of foam shapes. I grabbed all the circles, a black magic marker, and started drawing happy faces and there you have our signature item.


Now you don't need a signature item. You could leave anything. I've found matchbox cars, pennies, barrel of monkeys monkeys, anything you can think of I bet it's been in a cache.

The only real guidelines are NO food. Since caches are outside and subject to the elements you should leave anything that can spoil, rot, or freeze. Other than that, the sky is the limit. Go crazy! Find anything that fits your personality.

Getting Started

Geo caching has become my new obsession. From the first night that I got on to the the Geocaching website and learned that there was a cache no more then 500 feet from my house, I've been hooked. For those who don't know, Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment.

My goal for this blog is to introduce people to the joy of geocaching by sharing my experiences (good and bad). I'm new to the game so a lot of the time I don't know what I'm doing but that's part of the excitement. I won't tell you the name of the cache because if you know the name, see my pictures, and read my notes then you wont get the surprise of figuring out for yourself. I know, I'm a nerd but maybe people will see how much fun I'm having and join in the hunt.