Geocaching

Nick got a new GPS for his birthday/Father's Day, and we've put it to use as our new Sunday afternoon family activity. We've got out hiking to Curt Gowdy and Vedauvoo State parks so far. It's fun for the kids to find hidden treasures, and it's a challenge for Nick and I. Last Week we looked for 6 geocaches, and only found one. We were doing higher difficulty without clues, but yesterday, we were 3 for 3. Our biggest obstacle was getting around a herd of free range cattle. I was so scared that they were going to come after us. They wouldn't move off of the trail, and when Nick threw a stick at one of the males, he charged it. That bull was standing his ground, and protecting his heifers. It's kind of annoying that you have to pay a fee to go into the parks, and then have to deal with the cattle and their poop. Nick goes to geocaching.com to find the coordinates and plugs them into his GPS, then you drive as close as you can get, usually within half a mile or sometimes closer. The GPS tells you how far away and it points you in the right direction with a red arrow. You just follow the arrow until it counts down to zero feet to destination. It's kind of like a treasure hunt, you can take a prize and leave a prize in its place. Sophia's favorite treasure was a doll, Savannah got a car that she named Carl, and Isaac's favorite item was a cool pen. There's usually a notepad that you write your name and the date that you found it. We're going to hide a few geocaches and see if anyone finds them.