How We Got Started Geocaching

Back in July of 2008 a friend of ours introduced our family to this outdoor activity called Geocaching. He had just learned about it and thought our family should also look into it. Since we were going on our family vacation in August, we read up on it at www.geocaching.com and decided to give it a try, and as they say, the rest is history! Thank you “djbones!”

We took out a basic membership, purchased a GPS – it had to be kid friendly because as parents, we wanted to be able to figure it out. We headed to Maine for our vacation, stopping in Quebec to visit relatives and of course try some more geocaching.

We geocached a bit more in New Hampshire and then spent our vacation along the coast in Maine and Boston, Massachusetts. Of course we geocached often, as we found that this activity took us to so many interesting places. Places we would never have noticed except for the fact that we were geocaching.

It has been almost five years now and we are still geocaching, and still loving it! My husband’s favourite seasons for geocaching are early spring when everything is just greening up, and fall when the leaves are changing colours.

I enjoy geocaching anytime, but find that I come across far fewer snakes in the winter time, and to me that is a bonus.

Our teenage kids tend to lead fairly busy schedules these days with high school, university, work and sports, so it is often just my husband and me getting out and enjoying some geocaching together. We are still able to entice our son to come with us from time to time when we tell him there is a tree to climb, or a creek to jump. Our daughter has a crazy schedule, but will occasionally humour us by tagging along for the odd geocache.

Our Geocaching adventures have helped us to learn more about the world in which we live. We have visited historical areas, geographical features, beautiful trails, and scenic lookouts. We have visited museums, science centers, and historic ruins, and supplemented those outings by finding a few related geocaches nearby.

We have found geocaching to be a nice distraction and great stress release from the busy work-a-day world. We find that no matter what the day has thrown at us, a little geocaching along with a nice country drive or hike down a wooded trail makes for a refreshing end to the day.

Well, that’s how we got started . . . now its up to you do get out there and discover a part of our great outdoors that you never knew existed.

Play ~ Learn ~ Cache! You’ll be glad you did.