We found our first Geocache almost a year ago and we took a small pendant from the cache as a memento of our first find. We said in the post we made regarding this find that we planned on mounting it on piece of wood so that we could hang it on a wall to always remind us of that day. Well, we finally got it mounted!

Because the pendant reminded us of an angel (though we never really seen one) we named it ‘The Angel of the Cache. Here is what it looks like:

It was a simple job, taking a piece of scrap birch, rounding it and finishing it with a bit of beeswax. The added bonus was the opportunity to combine Geocaching with woodworking, another of our passions.

It is now displayed on the wall of our den, reminding us of that day.

We just got back home from having a great time at the 3rd Annual Nova Scotia Spring Kickoff for Geocaching! The afternoon was a mix of great conversation, great food, a travel bug exchange and prize draws.

As in years past it was held at Curly Portables, a local grub pub:

Curly Portables is known for its ‘lumberjack’ size burgers and infamous ‘Curly’ fries. It’s a place steeped in history - “Curly was born around 1895, somewhere in the Rawdom Hills of Nova Scotia. At the early ago of five (he was a BIG BOY) he began working in the woods cutting firewood for his mother. She sold it to the nearby villages and their moose Chocolate and Mickey hauled it in. (They couldn’t afford horses.) Curly had accidentally killed his father Perfect Peter a couple of years earlier when he felled a large hemlock which landed on Perfect Peter’s head. His mother Pretty Peggy…” Well, you get the idea…

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We recently had a family gathering at our place and at one point we were talking about Geocaching and our upcoming trip (surprise, surprise). The brother-in-law posed a question that sort of threw us for a loop. He asked, “Why do you do it?” Of course, our quick reply was, “Because it’s fun!”.

However, this didn’t explain why we believe it is so fun so we thought a bit more and here, in no particular order, is our Top 10 Reasons To Go Geocaching:

Great Exercise
Walking is one of the greatest exercises and one of our great pleasures. Geocaching offers us a walk with a purpose. It entices us to walk further, and most time unknowingly. Time and distance just seems to fade away. We look forward to ‘going Geocaching’ a whole lot more than ‘another walk around the block’! And, of course, there’s that mad dash when we spot the cache that really gets the blood flowing!

Quality Family Time
Geocaching offers a chance for us to participate in something together. Today’s schedules can get quite hectic and we find Geocaching is a great grounding point. We have also had the chance to share this with other family members and have had a great time. We have several friends with young families that Geocache and it’s a real treat to see the children’s eyes light up when you mention ‘treasure hunting’!

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When we started Geocaching almost a year ago we thought that we were joining a fraternity of peaceful, friendly people. However, we just became aware that this is not so!

We recently visited a fellow Geocacher’s blog, who shall remain nameless, and read that he is attempting to rally other Geocachers against us and fellow Geocacher Hick@Heart, in support of his apparent paranoid conspiracy theories. Already, he has enlisted the aid of PJ and Scott who are right now screaming cries of “Cache War” and “Revenge”.

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We just received the recent newsletter from the GeoWoodstock VI staff outlining the planned activities for the event. Here is the excerpt:

“The GeoWoodstock staff has been busy planning an exciting weekend of activities for the thousands of attendees at the world’s largest geocaching-related event. To start things off, there is a Friday afternoon Meet & Greet (cache page to be published soon) followed by an organized night-caching run. At the Meet & Greet you’ll be able to check in and pick up your registration packet, including geocoins and apparel. Hamburgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers will be available fresh off the grill for purchase at a nominal cost.

On Saturday the festivities run from 9am to 7pm and will include Geocoin Poker, Geocoin Bunco, gold panning demonstrations, live music, raffles, a live auction, a geocache container packing contest, GPS and navigational classes, a reviewer discussion, Hamburger Farm Tours, a petting zoo, giant slides, a magician, marble panning, an ammo can painting contest, a train, a Name That Geocacher game, and a Geocacher Bingo game. And if that list isn’t long enough, we’re working on more activities that are yet to be finalized. There will be more than a dozen vendors selling everything geocaching and then some. Lunch and snacks will be available for purchase throughout the day. To top it all off, we’ll be serving a fabulous free dinner starting at 4pm to those people who have preregistered.

On Sunday we have planned several organized geocache runs. These include a bicycle run along the American River Bike Trail, and a kayak run on Lake Natomas. We’re also putting together several bookmark lists of geocaches to target different geocache styles.”

It sounds like it’s going to be a great, though very busy, weekend!

We finally finalized our flight (dis sum great alliteration, huh? :)) and hotel plans this morning for GeoWoodstock VI and the countdown is now on!

We’ll be arriving in Sacramento mid-afternoon on the 22nd and leaving early on the 27th. This gives us 4 days to enjoy the geo-gathering and the surrounding areas. In addition to Sacramento we’re hoping to get to Yuba City too.

We’ll be staying at the Heritage Inn Express in Roseville which is about halfway between Sacramento and Wheatland where the event is to be held. We got the room for $54. a night with our CAA card. As long as it’s clean it will be a good deal. There are a few other cachers staying there and at this price it won’t take long to fill up.

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