My Dad and I went Geocaching today!

I've been threatening to Geocache for a long time. I'd read really good reviews for C:GEO so I tried it today. My parents are visiting from Arizona, and Dad is 80 years old. Someone talked him into getting a Garmin GPS just for getting around and not getting lost. He can barely use it, and I have been helping him get it working. Anyway, in Arizona he enjoys walking in the desert, and apparently a few months ago stumbled on someone who was geocaching (they weren't illegal Mexicans coming across the border that day), and Dad was really interested in it. Well, he doesn't have a computer, can barely use his cell phone to make calls, so we went on our very first geocache today. Geocaching.com listed it a 2.5 of 5 stars for being able to find it. We took the LONG way around but finally found it. And, then when we went to leave we realized we could have easily found it from a different angle. But, Dad is 80 years old and can outwalk and was ahead of me most of the time. C:GEO was excellent, Dad held the Droid most of the time and was extremely impressed with it and THANKFULLY, we found the cache. We put a fisherman salamander in the box and he took a little toy for his reward. I don't see my Dad much anymore because of them living in AZ and me in eastern PA. He had a mini-stroke in January and I didn't even know back then if I'd see him again. This was one of the happiest days and a memory that I'll take to my grave too. He was excited, and I was too. Below are a couple of Droid pictures I took:







The cache was well hidden, and was under the tree you can see in the picture. The person who placed the cache in 2007 put it there to honor the one year anniversary of her last chemo treatment for ovarian cancer. So the theme was for ovarian cancer, and that's what Dad was reading on the container about.

As for the C:Geo program. We used the compass, it led us there. I tried using the radar feature, but wasn't sure what the difference in the two really were. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

Anyway, this is a day I will not soon forget. Oh, and I ruined a new pair of sneakers on this excursion, and probably will be head to toe in poison ivy because of the very thick brush we were in today....but, yea it was worth it!

 

First of all, I'm sorry to hear about your kidney failure. It sounds like you occasionally get out which is good. If you lived nearby I'd be geocaching with you to make sure you get out a bit! And, yes I was able to see the radar display today but didn't realize the cache was inside the blip...now it all makes sense and I will use that the next time. Thanks for explaining that to me. I hope to get out and look for some much easier cache's before they leave on Monday morning.