Geo-caching

Today, Garrett, Bonnie and I went geo-caching. This is like a high-tech treasure hunt. People hide little boxes (usually tupperware or plastic containers) with little trinkets in it and a log book, where you can sign your name when you find it. People hide these containers all over the place and log the coordinates on their GPS. Then, they put the coordinates on the internet, with or without some hints, where others can download the coordinates and try to find the cache.

We searched out four geo-caches today and found three of them. 75%, not bad! The first two were quite easy to find. Both were in the river valley park, hidden in tree trunks and covered with bark. One of these just had trinkets, none of which we wanted, and the other had magnets, again, none of which we wanted, but we did leave behind two magnets ourselves - a styling 'All-Weather Windows' magnet, and an 'Epcor Save Power' magnet.

The third cache was the one we couldn't find. We walked a long ways down the trail, to figure out that it was up the hill somewhere. Luckily there were stairs nearby, which we climbed up and then climbed off of into the bushes. We wandered, we searched, we were led astray by the GPS (bad signal in the trees) until we finally decided we weren't going to find it.

The last cache required us to drive across to the other side of the river and then disembark to go down into the ravine. The last cache was tricky to find as well. Garrett climbed a hill twice before he finally found it (Bonnie and I worked hard down at the bottom of the hill, er...searching). Garrett called to us from up top that he'd found it. We told him to hide it again so we could find it too! And we did! In a tree stump (like usual). This was the coolest cache so far, because it was a movie-swap cache. We brought a 4$ movie that Garrett bought awhile ago, called 'Excalibur'. Inside the cache were a number of other movies: Garfield, Shrek, Exit to Eden, and some other great numbers that I can't remember (all VHS). We left our movie and took 'Monty Python and The Holy Grail'.

Then, instead of climbing back down the hill and then back up the ravine again, we decided to keep going up the trail we were on, feeling confident that this well worn trail must go somewhere. We climbed for awhile and came smack across - someone's backyard. A very pristine, groomed backyard of a very large, well-windowed mansion. Hmm...

We stood there for several minutes debating whether we should run through the yard or go all the way back down the trail, then all the way back up the stairs to the car. Bonnie wanted me to act like a handicapped person so her and Garrett could walk me through the yard - I declined. Finally, we decided the worst that could happen was whoever lived in the mansion was home and might yell at us. Garrett climbed through the hedge (which I might add, it was apparent others had done before), and I was following suit when we heard a voice 'I would prefer you didn't do that.'

Stupid rich guy was home. He was probably watching us the whole time as we decided whether or not to cross his yard.

We turned around and went back down the hill. We were pretty tired by the end of our trekking, but had a good time overall.