On the Hunt---Geo-caching

I've talked about geo-caching before. But I'm bringing it up again because of all the fun and new things we've learned. There's just so much out there that most of us are unaware of.

Butch is a die-hard geo-cacher. He's found 2,135. He accepts all kinds of challenges like finding a cache every day of the year and one hidden on every day of the year. When I say he's "in" to it, I mean, he's "IN" to it! Me---not so much. I'm more of a "fair weather" cacher---meaning, if it's not too hot, or too cold, or too windy, rainy, snow-y, or I don't have to go too far in the woods with spider webs and stickery things. Still, geo-caching has been the single thing to make our Butch and Barb days so much fun. It gives us a reason to explore little towns right around us. There's just so much out there.

So, to show you what I'm talking about, here are a few pictures of a B&B day just to Mt. Juliet, TN---about 10 minutes past the airport---really close!

Now you might think these baby shoes are a creepy place to hide a cache. But really, how unusual to come across these hanging on a tree in the woods? They weren't in that far---basically, I only had to step about 10 feet off the concrete walkway in a little park to see them. There was no particular story to this one, just an unusual way to hide the cache.

This one was so obvious, how many people saw this hummingbird feeder in an office park and thought "hmm, I wonder who put that there?" Little did they know that the cache log was inside. Many caches are hiding in plain sight.

A birdhouse. This might have been a puzzle cache where you have to answer questions to get the coordinates to lead you to the cache. I can't remember.

There was a cache hidden on this old bridge. We never even knew it was there. The main---very busy--- road runs right along side it. The actual road part of the bridge is now all grass covered---it's no longer used at all. Most likely, it's unsafe. Still, it is so cool!

 Near the bridge we saw this truck and decided to check out the store.

Down a dirt road, we discovered this cute store in a little Amish community. I was all excited to "buy" something for "What I Buy Wednesday," (actually, we were there on a Wednesday!) like preserves or homemade bread. Unfortunately for us, the store was closed. We never did figure out the hours---it was about 11 a.m. when we were there. Still, it was fun to happen upon it---and enjoy those fall decorations.

So this cache was on the side of a telephone pole. It's not unusual to see reflectors on telephone poles, but unless you are caching, you would have no idea something was hidden there.

Now if you were walking in the woods and saw this, you would definitely do a "double-take." You'd say to yourself, "OMGosh! A petrified turtle!" Would you touch it or poke it with a stick? Then the shell would fall off and you'd see the log inside in a ziplock bag.

This one was called "the shack" which of course it is. We don't know any history, but thought it was interesting since it's on the edge of an office building parking lot. Butch said the cache itself was a piece of junk---a Tupperware container on the floor. Oh well, some are good, some are not. But still, it's an interesting old cabin!

You just never know where geo-caching is going to take you. We just got back from the beach. We went on a puzzle cache at this old mansion called the "Eden Park" puzzle cache. It was only a couple miles from our condo and we never knew it was there.

 We didn't take time to tour the house this time but will some other time.

 So while Butch is hunting and solving puzzles, I'm doing this.

 I'm "in" to trees and flowers. I love all the new things I notice when we're out.

These were in the camellia gardens at Eden. I can't wait to see it in the spring when the gardens are in bloom.

That's the thing we like about geo-caching. Even though I'm not really "in" to the hunt, I appreciate all the unusual things and places we discover, not to mention the foliage and views. And not just here. All over the country and world!!! Butch and Bruce found caches in Portugal. Stephanie wanted to make sure she got an England cache. She almost didn't because we were so busy. She ended up having to forego breakfast and go out early to find one. I left her to it.

Butch has a goal of finding a cache in every state.

The green ones are all the states he's already done. At the bottom, it shows how many he's found in each one. The farthest is Alaska where he found 6 while on our cruise.

If you look real close, you can see all the foreign countries that he's found caches. Or you could just look at the list below. Countries
United States: 2055	Greece: 2	Canada: 1
United Kingdom: 26	Croatia: 1	Montenegro: 1
Portugal: 12	Belize: 1	Israel: 1
Italy: 9	Costa Rica: 1	Turkey: 1
Ireland: 8	Vatican City State: 1
Spain: 5	Dominican Republic: 1

We look forward to where geo-caching is going to take us next. It's a fun journey of exciting discoveries. That's for sure! If you want to give it a try, all you need is your phone and a downloaded free app. It's pretty simple. You will be surprised at what's all around you.