Geocaching

Geocaching. Ever heard of it? I hadn't either until my sister Kim told me today that a friend of hers is into it.

Check the link for a good description but here is a excerpt from wikipedia:

Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure", usually toys or trinkets of little monetary value.

I think this is the coolest thing cause Angela and I like to explore new places around Summerland and the Okanagan but are at a loss for where to go and what to see. What better way than look for hidden treasure. . .

What these geocachers do is log into various websites, one of which is www.geocaching.com, find a treasure in their area they want to look for or a place they want to explore, get the co-ordinates and then use their GPS's to find it!

And that's what I did, only I used Google Earth to check these places out because I don't have a GPS unit. There are piles of these little treasures around Summerland!

We found one in particular that Angela and I decided we would hunt for on my day off this coming Monday. It's on Mine Hill in Kelowna. The details are here. The coordinates are: N 49° 52.873 W 119° 21.653 if you want to search for it in Google Earth. What we hope to find there is a little cache of hotwheels cars and trucks - a great find for Mackenzie! Once you find these caches, you then exchange an item in the treasure with something of similar value. We'll take one of Mackenzie's cars along in case we find it. This is where we are going:
So check back Monday or Tuesday to hear about our treasure hunt.

And these treasures are all over the world. You could go to Florida and find hidden treasures. You can even hide them yourselves. Angela and I are talking about hiding something on the farm when we go to Saskatchewan in October. Even if nobody ever goes looking for it, we can visit it from time to time and add stuff. It can be a time capsule for our family that our boys can check out whenever they visit Grandpa, Grandma and Uncle Richard.

So this may be a new hobby for us, we'll see. We might have to get our hands on a GPS unit - that would be sweet!

Right now, I am off to check out ebay . . . ARR ARR ARR . . .