Treasure Hunting for Little Pirates

I hear we are going after treasure -- hear it from my own hands, mind you.  Now, treasure is a ticklish work; I don't like treasure voyages on any account, and I don't like them, above all, when they are secret and when (begging your pardon, Mr. Trelawney) the secret has been told to the parrot.

--Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

My parrots are finally at the age where I felt I could introduce them to a little phenomenon in the app world called geocaching.  For those of you who may not be familiar with this fun little secret world literally happening right in your neighborhood, it's a modern day treasure hunt using map-reading skills, compass skills in conjunction with a healthy dose of excitement and anticipation, even for the 10 & over crowd.  I don't know the details but some pretty entertaining folk have planted little geocache's in hidden spots around the world (yes, you can do this anywhere!).  The geocache's are actually boxes containing messages, log-in sheets and sometimes a trinket or two.   Your smartphone guides you using GPS, a map and a compass on your phone to the location site containing the hidden container, called a geocache.  As we discovered, the guidance is not 100% accurate I suppose in effort to provide the thrill of crouching down and peering under rocks, trees and shrubs to find the exact location of the geocache.  

Never knowing quite what to expect when introducing my children to something new, I opted to initially download a free geocaching app (Groundspeak's Geocaching Intro) to test the waters with my boys.  After a quick 10 second download on my iPhone, a few quick taps through the intro pages and then approving GPS' access to locate my phone in order to provide me with the closest geocache, we were on our way to finding our first treasure.  

The boys were thrilled with the prospect of being "pirates" for the day in search of a secret treasure (spoiler alert: if you think your kids are REALLY expecting a kid-oriented surprise, you would best be prepared stashing some Jolly Ranchers in your pocket to dump near the geocache site so they are rewarded with a real treasure).  

After parking the car the boys took the phone and using the map & compass tracked down the approximate location of the geocache.  My 6 year old was all sorts of serious using his treasure-hunting gear to find the hidden object and my 4 year old was only too happy to tag along in following the excitement of his older brother.  

Here's what our geocache looked like.  

And here were it's contents (an instruction sheet and a plastic-protected log-in sheet):

After writing down your name and date on the log-in sheet (it was fun to see who had been there and when - someone was actually there on that same day!) you click "Found" on your phone and it's ready to send you off on your next treasure-seeking adventure.  Upon returning home, my 14 year old stepson asked what we "got".  I replied,

Quite a few mosquito bites, possible exposure to poison ivy and an entertaining introduction to the secret world of geocaching.  

Happy treasure hunting, pirates!