New hobby - Geocaching!

This weekend my other half let my excitement carry us to a new hobby, geocaching. So as we were preparing for a day in the city, I searched for caches close to where we'd be. The first was a green space I'd not known of close to where he games sometimes on the weekends. Periodically I go in to Calgary with him and go to a few yarn stores, then sit at the game store and knit while they play. I wanted to check it out so I could possibly knit there instead of in the store. The second, I admit was a great point of interest for Mark: the military museum, hehehehe. I chose it so he wouldn't get bored or to spark his interest, little did I know he was hooked with the first find.

I was too quick to feel defeat, and did not realize zooming in with the GPS was what I needed to do. As soon as I zoomed in, I decided to keep at it. The clue was there, it HAD to be there. Could that dirty bag under the leaves really be it? I sat quietly with what could be garbage in my hand or what could be my first cache! With trepidation I opened the nescafe can and thankfully was rewarded with the site of a log book. Whew, what a relief that was! Other geocachers came up as we where looking though the find, I felt bad and immediately wondered if I'd broken a code or done something totally wrong. lol Who'd have thought in all the cache's someone would be coming to find the same one, in an unknown corner of the world.

The second was tricky and another huge learning curve. I had flipped a number in the coordinates, it was 772m, a had recorded 722m! Thank goodness I'd checked the clue before leaving home! It was in the parking lot, a big tank up on display. We dare not crawl on top, instead we look low, in the tracks, behind the tracks. Then I spotted a number that looked kinda like the clue number but a little off! Coming from a background of overhauling military equipment, I knew exactly what it meant. We found the right wheel and I dared to reach behind.. success!

What did I learn?

• Check coordinates carefully
• Some coordinates get you close, but not right on top of the cache
• Stop and think, clues are just that .. clues.. they aren't big neon flashing arrows
• I need better shoes

I learnt alot, we had fun, we succeded! (I'm pretty sure we'll do it again, we've already picked out a few for today near home). I didn't take pics yesterday, I will today.