A quick outing...

After our last hunt, I remembered that my dad had given David a little backpack last year. Turns out it's the perfect size to be geocaching pack. I put a pencil, our notepad, and the 'treasures' in it. It even has a little pocket that's great for the GPS unit.

I needed to go to the post office this evening, so I thought it'd be a great opportunity to knock out a couple of caches in the vicinity of it.

I realized once we were underway that I had forgotten the camera and my cell phone. I also didn't look up the caches' info before we left. Guess I was a little too quick to go this time around...

After getting done at the P.O., I parked by campus. I really should have read before we left. I could have parked really close to this one, but it was a good opportunity for David and I to get some walking and bonding in.

The first one was really easy. In fact, I can't tell you how many times I'd actually walked by this one while I was going to school. As soon as Iwe got close, I knew exactly where it was. I told David to look and he pulled it out. We sat down and filled out the log. Since we brought prizes along, we put a couple of dice into it. David really enjoyed it.

The next one was a bit tougher... sort of.

There's a statue of LBJ on campus. And I knew that this was the cache, due to the name of it, and the location on the map. But again, I didn't read the page first. So David and I spent quite a bit of time looking around the area for an actual cache. We gave up, bought a Sprike (what my kids call Sprite), and headed home.

It was warm this evening, but it was really nice. David had a great time. He had just as much fun getting there as looking when we got there. I'm really enjoying this time with him.

The next day

Both David and Zada liked caching yesterday, but Zada said she didn't want to go again. But David was raring to go.

I loaded up several caches last night and printed out a few this morning. David and I soon hit the road in search of a few caches.


The first cache was off of a trail near the river. We looked and looked, but we really couldn't find it. I didn't report this one as a DNF (did not find) because I was assuming we were off (it was cloudy) and the area was very thick with brush and trees. We'll try this one again later when the sun is out.


Close by this cache was a benchmark - which is something that is used to gauge distances on the planet (I think, I haven't read up on them.) We didn't find this one either. We got close, according to the GPS, but it was either in the river, or near the edge. Either way, we weren't going to see it without getting wet. Maybe if we go tubing at some point.


Next up, one just off of Guadalupe, near the AutoZone. This was very easy to find (mostly because I've done this before) and we located it very quickly. The only issue was that after we wer walking back to the car, David said, "Hey, we could have parked right here!" Yeah, I parked about 90 feet too far away!

Then we headed to another one just off the square. Another easy one. We parked 10 feet from it, so David was glad. If they were all this easy, we'd be done in no time.

Then the batteries died. I put some rechargable batteries in yesterday when I got it, and I guess they don't hold a charge too long. Off to HEB (which was only 2 blocks away) to pick up some more. And sodas!


Off to the last one - a VIRTUAL cache on the square. David liked finding it, but seemed less interested in the history behind it.


Then we packed up, hit the post office, and came home.

Not bad for the second day. I think Zada would have liked this one, but she missed out. Maybe next time!

The first trip out

Last week, I ordered a GPS unit. It came in this afternoon. Apparently our postman doesn't ring the doorbell. Or knock. UPS guy does.

Little background...
Back in 2005, some friends of mine introduced me to Geocaching. We'd get together on a Saturday morning and follow the GPS unit to various destinations. We'd sign the logs and then post them online. It was really fun - especially when we couldn't pinpoint the exact location - some of those caches are extremely small!

Not too long after they introduced me to the 'sport,' we moved to San Marcos. And I just never did get a unit for myself. And technically, you could print out some Google maps with the latitude and longitude and go look for the caches, but for some caches, you really have to have a unit.

So after I played around with my GPS unit, figuring it out and programming some caches into it, I took David and Zada out on some treasure hunting. I was certain that David would like it, but I wasn't sure about Zada.

The first cache we did was really easy. A bit of a Park and Grab (PNG). We got out of the car, and David had the GPS. I showed him what we were looking for and we went right to it. They thought it was great.

Next up was a bit of a disappointment. We found the location, but didn't find the cache. It's possible that it got 'muggled' - some non-geocacher may have taken it. Hopefully not, but we looked hard for it.

So we packed up and headed out to knock out a couple more.

Fortunately they were relatively close together. The first was fairly easy to find, but the second was a multi-part. A multi-part cache is one where you're given some coordinates, and at those coordinates, you get more. I think Zada was really ready to quit on our way to the first leg of the multi-part, but she kept on and really was a trooper.

When we got to the first stop on the multi-part, I wasn't sure what to look for. Fortunately, there were some people that knew what I was looking for and helped me out. What was funny is that they didn't know what the numbers were for. Off to the second leg..

Zada had to pee. And peeing in the woods for guys is fine. Girls, not so much.

We ducked into a secluded area, and I did my best to help her no-go. I think she really doesn't like peeing anywhere that isn't a toilet. I don't blame her, but I sure didn't want her going in the car, and I knew she would...

We found the second part, and headed to the third part. Again, she needed to pee. Again, she couldn't.

The third part was easy to find, so we were off to the final part.

Unfortunately, it was across the water, so the kids had to stay on the bank. I waded across (I wore sandals, they wore shoes) and found it pretty easily. We headed back to the car, and Zada was good to go. Back to the house.

We made it back to the house without incident. The kids were tired. David had a great time. Zada had a good time, but she wasn't digging all the walking.

I had another cache in the GPS, but opted not to find it. It had mentioned hiking, and I know Zada wasn't into that. Plus, hiking in sandals wasn't the best idea for me either.

All in all, I'd say it was a success. I learned to use the GPS rapidly. The kids got to see things they wouldn't normally see. And we got to spend time outside together. And it really didn't feel too hot, either.

I did have one regret, though - for the multi-part cache, I wish I had taken a camera. Next time, I plan on taking it with us.