A few months ago, Brad brought up this thing called geocaching and I thought it sounded ridiculous and silly and even complained that random people were out littering our world with supposed "treasures" and the whole point was to find these? Geez...dumb...Until I tried it.
Folks, I'm hooked.
It is cheap and fun entertainment! Since we are beyond the definition of broke, and had originally planned to go camping this weekend, we decided to first walk the Discovery Trail in Sequim to check out the Balloon Festival, which was a tad bit, (okay, EXTREMELY), out of our price range. Unfortunately, the balloons must have been "in flight", so we felt that was a waste and decided to go to the park nearby. We walked around Carrie Blake Park, where Maddy played on the playground for a little bit and enjoyed checking out the ducks in the several ponds at the park. I told Brad about this place in PA near the Fine Arts Center, Webster's Woods, and, wouldn't you know, there was a geocache at this location. We decided this would be our first geocache hunt. We downloaded the app, calibrated our GPS on our phones, and set off to Webster's Woods, shortly after Maddy's afternoon nap.
Webster's Woods is a unique, diverse 5 acres of a wooded forest, intertwined with numerous trails and a an open meadow, and numerous exhibits constructed by various local, national, and international artists. I'm not going to lie, what constitutes as art can be a bit absurd, but I assume that is what people thought of Dali or Picasso's works, as well, and look at them now. With the clues in hand and the scavenger hunt on, we tried locating the cache and, unfortunately, this was a no go. We vowed to go back after church Sunday, as the GPS kept taking us places we thought were not right, or our coordinates were off. When we returned the following morning, we still had no luck, so, in frustration, we ventured to find "easier" caches.
Easiest was a digital one on the City Pier. There were several others in that area, too, but too many "Muggles" for our tastes, so we went to the Hook. On the way out, we initially stopped at the marina looking for one, but this deemed difficult and annoying, and we had to explain to two boaters watching us what we were doing, who informed us we would probably have a better shot at low tide. We found 2 of the 3 on the Hook, which was exciting and we triumphed big time for our hard work had finally paid off! We even spent some time letting Maddy play in the sand while we watched a harbor seal checking us out as it lounged on a few logs floating in the water, close the paper mill.
However, today was less eventful of a hunt. We ventured to 2 locations, which both said would be "easy finds", but ended up being super difficult. Our GPS would be right on top of the cache and then would wig out or not calibrate fast enough and throw us off course. We were unable to locate them, despite recent logs by other adventurous geocachers, and spent well over 2 hours at one, both of us taking turns to tend to Madelynne. We have determined we need to buy a GPS, one that works, so that way our caching adventures will be more accurate and more fun.
This is definitely a new pastime for Brad and I, and I would highly recommend trying it out. It's cheap, easy, and fun. We've already talked about locating other caches in some of our favorite vacation destinations, like Jackson and Colorado. I cannot wait for Maddy to get older, (though I am not rushing it by any means!) to help us with her keen, youthful eyes, and find these hidden caches!
Folks, I'm hooked.
It is cheap and fun entertainment! Since we are beyond the definition of broke, and had originally planned to go camping this weekend, we decided to first walk the Discovery Trail in Sequim to check out the Balloon Festival, which was a tad bit, (okay, EXTREMELY), out of our price range. Unfortunately, the balloons must have been "in flight", so we felt that was a waste and decided to go to the park nearby. We walked around Carrie Blake Park, where Maddy played on the playground for a little bit and enjoyed checking out the ducks in the several ponds at the park. I told Brad about this place in PA near the Fine Arts Center, Webster's Woods, and, wouldn't you know, there was a geocache at this location. We decided this would be our first geocache hunt. We downloaded the app, calibrated our GPS on our phones, and set off to Webster's Woods, shortly after Maddy's afternoon nap.
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| En route to geocache! |
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| This chair is just the right size! |
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| Testing his exercise skills |
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| Getting in a mean warm-up! |
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| This one was a bit trickier |
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| Pond at Carrie Blake Park |
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| Beautiful day! |
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| Getting excited watching the ducks |
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| Pointing at the ducks |
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| Sleeping ducks, that Maddy didn't disturb, right by us |
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| Walking along the path at the park |
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| You THINK caching is easy, hmmmm....? |
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| Sculpture |
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| Made out of plastic bottles |
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| View of PA & the Strait of Juan de Fuca |
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| Cool sun sculpture |
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| Many spiders in Wesbter's Woods |
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| Gate and Bird Sculpture |
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| Just a spoon full of sugar... |
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| Pi sculpture in the meadow |
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| I see you! |
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| Time Garden |
Webster's Woods is a unique, diverse 5 acres of a wooded forest, intertwined with numerous trails and a an open meadow, and numerous exhibits constructed by various local, national, and international artists. I'm not going to lie, what constitutes as art can be a bit absurd, but I assume that is what people thought of Dali or Picasso's works, as well, and look at them now. With the clues in hand and the scavenger hunt on, we tried locating the cache and, unfortunately, this was a no go. We vowed to go back after church Sunday, as the GPS kept taking us places we thought were not right, or our coordinates were off. When we returned the following morning, we still had no luck, so, in frustration, we ventured to find "easier" caches.
Easiest was a digital one on the City Pier. There were several others in that area, too, but too many "Muggles" for our tastes, so we went to the Hook. On the way out, we initially stopped at the marina looking for one, but this deemed difficult and annoying, and we had to explain to two boaters watching us what we were doing, who informed us we would probably have a better shot at low tide. We found 2 of the 3 on the Hook, which was exciting and we triumphed big time for our hard work had finally paid off! We even spent some time letting Maddy play in the sand while we watched a harbor seal checking us out as it lounged on a few logs floating in the water, close the paper mill.
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| Mr. Seal |
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| Close up |
However, today was less eventful of a hunt. We ventured to 2 locations, which both said would be "easy finds", but ended up being super difficult. Our GPS would be right on top of the cache and then would wig out or not calibrate fast enough and throw us off course. We were unable to locate them, despite recent logs by other adventurous geocachers, and spent well over 2 hours at one, both of us taking turns to tend to Madelynne. We have determined we need to buy a GPS, one that works, so that way our caching adventures will be more accurate and more fun.
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| Is this the small tree in the clue, mom? |
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| I love PB & J! |
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| Lunch |
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| Me and My Girl |
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| Posing for the camera! |
This is definitely a new pastime for Brad and I, and I would highly recommend trying it out. It's cheap, easy, and fun. We've already talked about locating other caches in some of our favorite vacation destinations, like Jackson and Colorado. I cannot wait for Maddy to get older, (though I am not rushing it by any means!) to help us with her keen, youthful eyes, and find these hidden caches!
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