In my last post I discussed Geocaching in my own backyard. While ‘caching not only gets you out exploring your own backyard, it also incentivizes caching in new states and countries. For each new state of the US or country you Geocache in, your Geocaching account receives a digital souvenir, a further incentive to try ‘caching whenever I travel.
When visiting other places I’m always open to visiting locations suggested by locals, and I’ve found Geocaching a great way to find cool spots that I otherwise might have missed.
For example… had I not been Geocaching, I totally would have missed the Giant under-the-bridge troll in Seattle- there wasn’t a cache here, but our trail took us by the troll. I probably would not even have left the touristy downtown of Seattle if I hadn’t gone in search of the Geocaching Headquarters…
After depositing my Gnome Travel Bug at the Headquarters and checking out the display of the Travel Bug that had gone to the International Space Station and back (cool right??) the friendly Headquarters ‘cachers suggested we attempt a nearby Geocache. The rest of my companions that day had been somewhat skeptical of my insistence that we visit the Geocaching Headquarters but, had indulged me. Surprisingly it didn’t take that long to convince them to set out on a search for the nearby cache. As we reached “ground zero”, the approximate location of the cache, the four of us spread out and searched the area. We looked in the shrubbery, we looked at everything metal that could hold a hidden magnet, We looked at anything that could be a fake screw. We also happened to be a somewhat busy street corner so we tried not to look too sketchy as we poked, prodded, and searched up and down. Soon a mother and young daughter showed up, and despite their best efforts to be subtle, we could tell they had been sent here by the Headquarters as well. So now there were 6 of us searching. Just as my party was about to throw in the towel and move on with our day we noticed the young girl was standing by a small sign and smiling. She had noticed what the rest of us had overlooked. The sign had been replicated on a magnet and placed directly over the original! She pulled the magnet off and the cache log was taped to the back. There are no words to describe how we felt about that one…
In Boston, Geocaching took us near the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum. I can’t resist a good historical location.
After caching we visited the Museum tea room where we all bought mugs and sipped as much tea as we wanted while watching children below in the ships throw bales of tea overboard.
And because a book lover is always able to find a literary related location whenever traveling… ‘caching in Maryland took us to the grave of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald’s grave had a vase full of pens on top, probably left by adoring fans. Ironically, I had forgotten to bring my own pen to write in the Geocache log. Much to my boyfriend’s horror, I decided to borrow one of the pens from the vase to quickly scribble in the cache log. Fitzgerald would have wanted us to write…right?
I’ve even Geocached in England. [There is no photo for this, however, because it definitely would have given away the cache hiding spot.] It took us to a pub..so you see there are certain upsides to some ‘caches.
Geocaching.com even offers travel route suggestions (Geo Tours) from cache to cache for various countries put together by locals from each place.
Someday I shall road trip in the United States by Geocache. It’s on the bucket list.
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