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TODAY we took off to Chattanooga to geocache!! Catherine has been staying with us and wanted to experience caching. With the Queens, it is always an EXPERIENCE!!! No blood was shed and I managed to stay upright, so I consider that a good day.
Our first cache was a multi-cache that involved answering questions about the Civil War. We first had to answer questions about a particular battle, then go to a second location on Missionary Ridge and answer more questions. The final stop required a short (in some people's mind) hike, more questions, and finally the cache!
I completely cheated Hayden out of finding this cache because my 'mom mode' kicked in. He saw a trail going down a hill and I said "you aren't going down there". Well, the cache was straight down that trail sitting in a log. UGH. I promised that I would let him traverse dangerous terrain in the future. William found it after walking parallel towards it.
The second cache took us to the river front and a small cache. Uneventful except for Catherine jumping a fence.
The third cache was at the entrance to a confederate cemetery. I love these places; you can just feel the history and the stories. In the second picture you see Sarah, Hayden and Sarah practicing CITO!! (cache in, trash out) They found these two bottles and a hub cap in the cemetery and picked them up!
Our fourth cache was meant to be a webcam shot, but Hannah (back at home) couldn't get the convention ctr. camera to work, so we had to take our own picture. We also had the hotel bell hop running out thinking we were checking in!! We missed the cam the first time and had to drive around again. By then the girls were dying laughing waiting for the poor guy to run out again.
The fifth cache was neat. It was a 'official geocache monitoring station'. It was a locked box!!! Note Catherine smiling by said box. We dropped our new travel bug, Abner the Gnome, there and took a travel bug. And fed some birds! I do not know what they were thinking in the last picture!
Our sixth cache took us behind some businesses and between the buildings. Exciting. It took them awhile to find this cache between having to 'act' casual when muggles walked by and the fact that it was in a tricky location. William finally found it in a loose brick, sneaky...
The seventh and final cache was in VERY high muggle location. I love the the area, but it is not the best for a cache. Everyone looked and looked, but could not find it. Imagine all of them trying to look inconspicuous while looking at things people normally give NO thought to in a parking lot! ie, light poles, underside of steps, fence, plants, etc. I get tickled every time I think about what must go through people's minds.
We went into store (an organic grocery that I love) to shop and when we came back out a guy was roaming around looking suspiciously like a geocacher. William decided to talk to him and he was caching.
William told him that he couldn't find the cache and suspected that it had been taken. This guy pulled the cache up on his computer, found the last person to find it and called them. They told him where it had been and the cache was replaced right then! SAVED!!!
Well, another fun filled family day of Geocaching!!! No causalities, all children accounted for, and a few more caches under our belts. Chattanooga is still there also!!
