Friday, June 3, 2011

Soos Creek Trail - Geocaching Adventure

These are our friends, Rick and Mindy, with their adorable children, Megan and Everest. Their kids are the same age as ours and they had a blast together over the long weekend. We've known Rick and Mindy for years. Rick was a study partner of mine in college and he quickly became friends with Michael (both are in the National Guard). Michael was the best man in his wedding. Rick has been on three deployments to the Middle East, starting with the Gulf War. They've moved around quite a bit, but we've always managed to stay in touch with them. They recently moved to Kent, WA and have bought a lovely home. They generously hosted our family over the weekend. We had never been to that area before and had a great time exploring with them.

The first thing we did on Saturday morning, after a delicious breakfast, was geocaching on some kid-friendly trails at Soos Creek. They introduced us to these family treasure hunts a couple of years ago and we've wanted to do it ever since. You really need a hand held GPS to get close to the cache because they are usually very small.  They blessed us with their old one! We are very excited to try this on our own as soon as we get some time (right now the planting our garden in consuming most of it).

We really lucked out with the weather. We had a little rain when we first started, but then it cleared up for the rest of the weekend. I guess it is almost always raining in this area during this time of year, so it was extra special.

Ahhh, I love this picture.

We really need to work on Josiah. When you find a geocache, you are supposed to wait until the "Muggles" (others who aren't geocaching) are out of sight before you open the cache. Josiah kept showing everyone walking by the cache because he was so excited. We're workin' on him, LOL.

Megan and Josiah, "Geocachin' Kids", as Josiah titled them.

It is always interesting to see the places people hide geocaches. They usually aren't too hard to find, especially if you've downloaded the hints.

People hide cheap little toys, pins, etc, in something water-proof. The kids have a great time picking something out and then we put something back in for the next person to find and sign the tiny piece of paper saying we found the cache. This cache fit in the egg.

Rick, pointing to where he found it. 

The best part about geocaching is that it gives the kids (and me) something to hike for, so you can get a lot more steps out of them on the trail if they have a purpose. If you haven't tried this fun sport yet, go to this link for a great website on how to do it. You can sign up for free! If you go on a trip, you can download coordinates into your GPS and make a few stops along the way, which will always make your kids happy :o)

Blessings,
Jackie

15 comments:

Unknown said...

My kids love geocaching, too! Looks like you had fun!

Camille said...

How fun is that?? Great photos of a great day! :)

Blessings,
Camille

His bondservant said...

What fun! Love the pictures. What a beautiful place. Love all the green! Glad you have a great day my friend.

Kimberly said...

You really did luck out, the weather was over the weekend hit and miss, some days were more miss! Did you go to IKEA?

Cheesemakin' Mamma said...

Nope, we didn't really do any shopping. Gotta have money to shop ;) But I did see the building. Do you live around there, Kimberly? It would have been so great to meet!

Jill said...

Our neighbors do this and I've been wanting to try it also. Have to make some time for it soon! Love the the pictures!

Blessings,
jill

Catherine said...

I've never heard of this; can you do it without a GPS? I think my grandkids would enjoy it.

Cheesemakin' Mamma said...

Catherine,
No, I think you have to have a GPS because you need to put coordinates in. You gotta know what area you are looking in because the caches are tiny and well hidden.

Stacie, A Firefighter's Wife said...

We have never done it. I really want to do that with you guys the next time we come up. I think it would be really fun!

Cheesemakin' Mamma said...

Yes, we'll have to do that, Stace! The kids would love it :)

Justine said...

I love your photos! Thanks for your post good luck with your tomatoes! We haven't quite put ours in yet because we accidentally killed them leaving the incubation top on them on a really hot day... oh well lesson learned lol

Anonymous said...

I read about this hobby on my scrapbook message board several years ago. I wanted to try it, but couldn't find anyone willing to do it with me! Looks like you all had fun.It's a great family hobby! I think you were right along the back side of the property Ron's folks used to live on in Kent and just a couple of miles from where we used to live on 256th!I know the trail was built right behind them!Glad you all enjoyed the hike and the trip! ~Bev~

Cheesemakin' Mamma said...

Oh, that is so cool, Bev! I didn't know you guys were from there. What a neat place to grow up :)

Anonymous said...

I grew up in Snoqualmie (there used to be a cache at Snoqualmie Falls, don't know if there is one, now) and Ron lived in the Kent area from Jr. Hi until we got married in 1966. We lived on 256th when Jeff was born and Tina finished 1st grade there, so we were there from Fall 1969 until we sold our place in summer of 1975then we moved to Dufur in Dec. 1975. Great area! ~Bev~

Cheesemakin' Mamma said...

How wonderful, Bev! Thanks for filling me in. Love making connections like that :)

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