When I think of technology in my lifetime, its inventions pertaining to daily life are increasing exponentially. My grandmother used a horse and buggy. My mother: used the streetcar and then subway to get to work. When we look at our leisure hours, I think we are learning the importance of it! My children take my granddaughter camping. They cut down their Xmas tree. They run their car on cooking oil. But I digress!
As I sit by the lake, typing on my laptop, using my wirless Internet, watching kids go by screaming on tubes, and young studs showing off their manlihood by come clever waterski stunts, I think of the changes in my life.
Through my blog I met Yogi! No, not the bear, the guy! The 'crusty' one, apparently, although I haven't met that side of him! He was blogging about geocaching. What a great idea!
I listened to a podcast, while having a date with Mr. Insomnia, and it was all about this great past time. HowStuffWorks.com is a great podcast. You can search, and I did, all about geocaching. The history of it is interesting. The military used GPS, and now anyone with a personal navigational disorder can benefit, as well as play along. There is great stuff you can order, and a great network of fans.
At its most basic level, geocaching is a game where players use GPS receivers to track down a container, or cache. Caches may contain any number of small items, or they may only contain a logbook for players to sign to mark their find.
This is a great idea. You go on-line to find the coordinates, and take a great trip! Some have a logbook where you record your visit. Others involve 'stuff'. You find the cache, you take what you find and leave another treasure for those who come after you. The howstuffworks.com dude thought Santana CDs, but I wonder!
In other situations involving going to another place, this axiom applies:
Take only photos, leave only foot prints.
But in this case they encourage you to claim a prize. The prize may be the sheer thrill of navigating as in days of old, just getting there was the prize!Check out the Ontario Geocaching Org.
Adventures in Geocaching
This is a partial list of the Geocaching blogs and blog related sites that were submitted to me through email or the Groundspeak.com forum topic,...
Geocaching Blog Directory
Extensive links to the world of geocaching. Beginners and avid fans of the sport will find useful and entertaining information on this blog. ...
Hey Jenn, sorry it took me a while to comment on this.
ReplyDeleteMy son and I have been gecaching for about 5 years and have found about 850 so far. The geocaching is fun but there a bunch of side benefits.
-Our home town, Tulsa and surrounding suburbs have dozens of parks, - we have been to them all. The Parks departments encourage geocaching because it puts families out in the more remote area of the parsk.
- We have been to almost all the State Parks in Oklahoma and hiked down trails that hardly ever get used.
-Its quite a social activity. Tulsa has a club("Tulsa Area Geocachers") that meets once a month. They sponsor park cleanups and an annual geocaching campout. Oklahoma City also has a club that has a campout that we go to also.
It has been a lot of fun!