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Community Corner

The Great Escape: Geocaching

"Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it." - Greg Anderson

Thanks for checking in on the Great Escape this week.  Hopefully some of you were able to enjoy an artsy night out with the girls last Friday evening. Since we focused last week’s “Great Escape” on you and your girlfriends, I thought this week we would find a way to escape with the family.  When was the last time you and your family left the house and went out into the great outdoors with no distractions?  If you choose to take this escape, I will promise you lots of fun, laughing, excitement and precious time with those you love the most. 

Ever been Geocaching?  This is a great family escape. Geocaching is a lot like treasure hunting for the whole family.  A cache is a hidden box or container that people search for using Latitude and Longitude coordinates.  Some caches are “leave something and take something” (the kids love these) and some are hidden just for the joy of trying to find them.

Here’s how it works.  You will need to visit the geocaching website www.geocaching.com and create a membership.  This is free and quick to do.  Once you are logged in enter a zip code in the “Search for Geocaches” box.  You will get a list of caches, click on one and you can read all about it, what the search will be like to find it, what is inside, and when it was last found.  You can also click on “Search with Google Maps” and select caches you want to find via a Google map of the area.  Once you select a cache to find you will see coordinates in a blue shaded box.  You will need to plug these numbers into any handheld GPS device. (We used a GPS app on our iPhone).  Now drive to the general location of your cache and start following the guide on your GPS unit. 

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My family’s first cache search was “Stacked Stones” which is hidden somewhere within .  It took us approximately 1.5 hours to complete this search.  We followed the paved paths until we got within about 400 ft. and then we had to do a little off road hiking.  In the end, our eight-year-old spotted the hidden ammo container and much to his delight this was a “leave something, take something” cache so the kids left a few silly bands and hot wheels in the box and came home with a special souvenir of their own. I got to take some precious pictures of my family outside together with no computers, no video games, no housework looming over my head -- this was the perfect cheap family escape.

If you decide to try Geocaching with your family, when you are out there searching for treasure remember to stop, take a deep breath and appreciate this time with just your family.  We were successful in our treasure hunt; however, even if we had not found the cache, just getting away and spending some uninterrupted time with my family provided me with a “Great Escape.”

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