I stumbled upon geocaching reading an article about it, and then forgot about it until I saw a workshop on getting started. Then it was a matter of buying the GPSr and getting out there. Unfortunately, no one in my current circle of friends is interested or has the time to join in the fun, but I am finding a whole new set of folks devoted to the sport online, and even discovering people I know who already cache. It gets me outside a little more, and I am not real outdoorsy. And I am learning more about technology, sometimes by necessity. I enjoy the search itself, and even solving puzzles. I spend more time on the computer than I would like, reading these forums and finding my next caching targets. And since I am not one to brave the elements, I do find myself missing it now that we are below zero. Usually my hobbies wax and wane, but geocaching is something I think about every day.

If it were not for geocaching, I’d be normal ………

i find it hard to believe marc could pass for normal…

if it weren’t for geocaching I wouldn’t really be passionate about any hobby. renewing my interest in hobbies in general has sparked much more activity in other hobbies as well.

if it weren’t for geocaching I would still be an inattentive driver who didn’t wear a seatbelt with a perfect driving record.

i would say it’s changed me for the better.

my mother in law “gave me geocaching” for a birthday present. she gave me a magellan and a newspaper article and printout from geocaching.com. My wife and her mom regret that present to this day 😛

Hmmm…for starters, if not for geocaching I would not be 110 pounds lighter (not that I lost all that weight through geocaching, but geocaching spurred my desire to be more healthy and someday be fit). Before I started geocaching I stayed home a lot. I had just purchased a Nintendo GameCube and would have become just a gamer, I’m sure. I honestly only used the cube a few times and now it sits, dusty, in the closet. I also think I’m more social from geocaching — I’m sort of introverted. I definitely have more friends through geocaching.

Bec

@-cheeto- wrote:

my mother in law “gave me geocaching” for a birthday present. she gave me a magellan and a newspaper article and printout from geocaching.com. My wife and her mom regret that present to this day 😛

What? They now know that they should have given ya a Garmin? 😛 😉 😆

Well…unlike most of you folks, my family and I are still in the “just getting started” stage. To date we’ve logged 23 finds. One goal I want to achieve before the end of 2009 is getting to #100. I/we don’t get to cache as often as many of you do, so when we do get to go, we like to make a day of it. Hopefully we’ll get out a little more often this year and that goal of #100 won’t be too difficult to achieve.

Anyway…getting back to how this has changed me – In the short time I’ve been caching, I’ve come to appreciate my surroundings even moreso than I did before. Just since last summer, I’ve toured so many parks and woods that I always knew were there, but never bothered to explore. I’m quickly developing a deeper appreciation for this wonderful creation that God made called “Earth”, and I’m hoping to pass that appreciation along to both of my kids.

Also, like Handstand, I hope that this is making me a better father. Not that I’ve ever been a “bad dad” by any means. We’re pretty much a “normal” family. Wife and I are married, and we have our own kids, not “hers” and “mine”. We raise our kids together with a pretty equal partnership.

However, I will admit to previously being a little more “hands off”. That is, I never spent a lot of time playing with my kids or doing things with them. My wife always seemed to be the one who ended up doing that stuff, both from the their desire (momma’s boys) as well as mine (just too many other things I’d rather do).

I had been desperately searching for something that my oldest son and I could do together. Knowing that he was at an age (9) where boys love to search for “treasure”, I began reading about geocaching. It was like someone above shook me and said “here’s what you’ve been looking for”. Instantly I knew that regardless of how much it cost to get started, this is what I had to do to get closer to my son.

I bought a Garmin 60Cx from Cabela’s, and loaded up on all sorts of hiking gear. I did all of this without telling him, thinking that even if he showed no interest, it might be something I could do on my own. Imagine the thrilling feeling I had in my heart when I told him about this new hobby I wanted to try, and how I thought he’d enjoy it as well. Well, all he needed to hear was the word “treasure”, and he was hooked!! While this is mainly a hobby that just he and I can enjoy, my wife and our other little son (who’s not yet 5) have tagged along with us on a few occasions. I’m hoping that at the very least I can continue this hobby with him if/when my oldest son’s interest begins to wane or is replaced by cars and girls.

So in the end, like Handstand, I think this hobby has helped me become a better father, and there is no better feeling than that.

I have waited as long as could to make this post. I was hoping a couple extra days and I could say geocaching helped me become a millionaire. 🙂

The following hasn’t really changed my life permantly, but it did make an impact in 08’…

Normally my wife and I get a long great, but last year I can think of 2 times geocaching put me in the dog house. The first time my wife thought I was kidnapped (alleged kidnappers shall remain nameless) I told her I who I was going with, but that didn’t matter. Hours later I finally returned. It wouldn’t have been a big deal but I abandoned her at a park far away from home (she did have the RV to relax in when needed).

The second time I took a relatively new to geocaching family on a long (it was suppose to be short) hike in Governor dodge park. I was taking them to the cave. I thought it was about a mile long hike (I just did it 2 months earlier at the WGA campout). Turns out it was more like 2 or 3 miles. We had 3 GPS’ in a group of 7 (4 adults 3 kids) for our adventure. By the time we got on the final trail to the cave my wife and 2 members of the other family were done. They wanted to go back. So I told them they could continue on the loop or turn around. I figured we would catch up to them before they got to the entry/exit point. (I guess I shouldn’t have gone after the second cache on top of the cliff). I also didn’t realize the loop had two entry points. Needless to say I sent them away without a gps. What happened next… they got lost (trail markings suck at this park), It was Hot (very hot) and they had no water or food. Thankfully we found them before we had to call in a rescue team. I don’t know for sure how many miles they hiked. All I know I was in the dog house once again.

You are probably thinking big deal. Now reread the story knowing my wife was pregnant. She was six months pregnant when the second oooops occured.

Thankfully this story has a happy ending… The baby arrived in Oct happy and healthy. I am going to assume the long hike without water on a very hot day in July didn’t do any damage. I just have to figure out how to ease my wife and child into caching this year. Hopefully too much damage has not been done.