Sunday, November 12, 2006

Feeling the need to expand my Geekulosity . . .

I spent a lot of time yesterday reading about geocaching. I really want to try it. But before I shell out for a GPS unit, I think I will hunt down a few of the caches in my area just based on what is listed on the site.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just one weekend day's worth of research on geocaching.com oughta be enough to get you caught up. There are already so many other geocachers around here.

Of course, I have to get past my husband's instant reaction that these people must be weirdos with no lives. It may not help that he was somewhat anonymously mentioned ("a soccer coach was setting up for some afternoon drills practice" or something like that) in a log about a cache at a park where he frequently works near here. He said to me, "I think I saw those two women that day. I thought they looked odd."

Well, I would love to get my family involved. It could get us outdoors more, doing things as a family. Almaden Quicksilver Park, where my husband and step-daughter go hiking from time to time, has LOTS of caches just waiting for me.

And I want to see if I can get my students (and parent volunteers) involved in this too. Wouldn't it make a nice change for them to spend a few minutes online, then a few hours outdoors, hunting down the stuff they learned about online? And learning longitude and latitude in a practical sense, using GPS, would be a side benefit. All those years of teaching it in fifth grade only to have them lose their grasp of it within a few weeks . . . . . .

So I am off, in a few minutes, with my toddler in tow, to hunt down a cache hidden right here in our own neighborhood. Wish me luck!

Anyone reading this already into geocaching? Would love to talk to you!

2 comments:

A. Hsieh said...

THAT sounds cool. I'll have to try it sometime~!

Diane E. Main, GCT NorCal 2006 said...

It IS. I am up to 69 finds, and I am hoping to head out today for some more.