Geocaching

Today Janette and I went geocaching with some friends from our old apartment complex. For those of you who've never heard of geocaching, here's a brief explanation:
All over the world, there are people using GPS receivers to hide and search for treasure. First, someone hides a small container (a geocache) with some little items in it. Then they post the gps coordinates on this website. There are literally hundreds of geocaches within walking distance or short driving distance from our house. After they're hidden, other people who have GPS units can look up the coordinates and try to find the hidden items.

Most people I've told about geocaching immediately ask, "What kinds of things are in the box?" The disappointing answer is that its usually just little pieces of junk, like little toys or stickers. But the real point isn't the stuff in the box! The fun of geocaching is in the search and discovery of the geocache.

Ok, now that everyone knows what geocaching is, that is what we did today. We went to downtown Provo and looked for 6 or 7 geocaches within a few blocks of each other. Although it was a little cold outside, Janette seemed to enjoy the experience until it started raining. One of them was hidden right outside the entrance of the Provo police station. As we poked around in their bushes, we were sure someone was going to come out and tell us to leave. It may have been our nervousness, but unfortunately we never found that one. In the end we only found about half of the ones we looked for.

Even with the rain, I rather enjoyed myself. I'm pretty sure Janette enjoyed most of the experience (minus the cold and rain), although I don't know how she would've rated the overall activity if we hadn't stopped by Five Guys burgers on the way home.