Geocaching is a great way to enjoy an hour or a whole day outdoors with the family or by yourself, playing treasure hunter in the woods or a suburban mall parking lot. We got into it as a way to get out of the house and explore when E was about 3 months old. If you haven't ever heard of it before, the simple explanation is: it's a high-tech treasure hunting game. You'll need a smart phone at the least, and a hand held GPSr unit is better. Coordinates to a "geocache" are obtained online, on a variety of websites: www.geocaching.com , www.opencaching.us, www.terracaching.com. Once you have a set of coordinates to a "cache", you simply navigate to the cache, find it, sign the logbook contained there, trade trinkets or items if there are some and you want to, and replace it carefully. Then you can log your find on the website where you found the coordinates, or not, too. It's entirely up to you! Geocaches can be as small as a vitamin capsule (called nanos, and they are TINY) or as large as a deep freezer, though you'll typically find that most are closer to a tupperware sandwich box or a standard size ammo can, re-purposed. Some require clever puzzles or long hikes, and some are easy enough to reach without getting out of your car. They are sprinkled all over, and you may be amazed how many you've passed each day without knowing it. Sneaking and treasure hunting is enough to make anyone feel cool, and it helps that it's a low cost hobby, especially once you have a way to hunt them. A great free android app is c:geo, though keep in mind, using a phone instead of a GPSr can leave you with a larger "margin of error", so search a wider radius before giving up!
Want to know more? Leave a comment and I'm happy to answer questions! This video can clear up a lot of questions as well.
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