Thursday, June 2, 2011

Another Kind of Treasure Hunt, continued

Start with Part 1 of this post here.

The real joy to be found in geocaching, is happening upon places you'd never otherwise know existed. Equipped with our trustee iPhones, Kenny and I decided to explore some of the smaller towns around the Madison area on Memorial Day. Places where you wouldn't typically think there would be anything "to do."
Here are some of the magical places / things we came across:

Lovely lakes and bridges-
Local produce market-
A yummy chocolate malt-
 A brewery that we didn't realize was so close to home-
Black Beauty-
Some of our favorite places to geocache are cemeteries. Kinda creepy and strangely beautiful. The caches are never placed on or around graves, so nothing is ever disturbed. 

And then this- well this was just epic. A cache popped up on the GPS called "Cream Puffs as Big as Your Head". Well we didn't end up finding the cache (we did find 9 out of 12 that day) but we DID find said cream puffs.
 
Listen, that cream puff was sold at a gas station of all places...the price? $2.75!!! Could.not.believe.it.
And we literally would have never come across any of this had it not been for this little "game" !!

Another Kind of Treasure Hunt...

We all know what a treasure hunt thrifting can be. But there's another kind of "treasure" I'm also pretty passionate about. Do you geocache? If not, let me open a (potential) can of worms for you.

*Warning: addiction alert!

To summarize the point of the"game" directly from the official website:

Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online.

The unbelievable thing guys, is that these "caches" are right under your nose. I guarantee you pass by these containers on a daily basis right within your own city- probably practically in your own backyard. 

My guy and I spent our Memorial Day on the rural country roads of some tiny Wisconsin towns. Here's a peak into our adventure...
 Geocaches can be found in quite the variety of containers:
An ammo box
Some weird taped up thing
A 35mm film canister wrapped in camo tape
I seriously don't even know what this little magnetic thing would really be used for. Tiniest.cache.ever
And a few examples of where geocaches might be hidden:
Under a log
At the bottom of a road sign post
Hanging in a tree
In the middle of a tree
Attached to a planter
Tucked inside the tiniest crevice
Once found, you have to sign the log with your team name. The log could be a small notebook, or strip of paper.
 And sometimes there are tiny little trinkets waiting for you with the containers!
Do you see what I mean about how this could become addictive?? As the weather is warming up, we try to get out and "cache" as often as possible. Expect more geocaching posts in the future! (In fact, I'm adding a part 2 to this post-took too many lovely photos!)


If you have a smartphone, you're in luck. Its a simple as downloading an app (supported devices here).
If you end up trying it out- shoot me an email and let me know how much fun you had! I'd love to hear about it!!