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Spring Break at Great Wolf Lodge
Most people go someplace warm for spring break. Not us! This year, our family chose Minneapolis, Minnesota, where there was still about a foot of snow on the ground in some places! We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge in Bloomington, MN, which is just a few blocks from the Mall of America. It may have been cold out, but there was plenty to do inside. And let me tell you, it was the perfect spring break destination with three boys 13 and under. The Room We arrived at the Great Wolf midday on Saturday. Even though we were there before the official check in time, our room was…
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Stories of Foolish Geocaching
A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of sitting in on Episode 325 of the geocaching tech podcast, GeoGearHeads. This weekly show has been around in its current form since 2011 and is hosted by DarrylW4 and ChrisOfTheNorthwest with a revolving third and sometimes 4th guest host. Scott and I have appeared a few times to talk about various subject matters. This week’s topic was “Foolish Cachers III.” I don’t think it was a coincidence that we were asked to join them for this particular topic, since we have a few stories about doing what some may consider foolish things while caching. We did tell a couple of…
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Earn Extra Cash While Finding a Cache
We all walk, especially when geocaching, so why not use those steps to earn some extra cash while finding a cache? Here are three apps that I use to earn a little extra money each month. Achievement Achievement is a really simple way to earn some extra cash based on your steps. Link apps such as Fitbit or Apple Health to the Achievement app to earn points that can be redeemed for cash. The more steps you take, the more points you earn. Link more apps and earn more points. Logged workouts through MyFitnessPal earns points as well. Plus, there are occasionally special offers to earn you bonus points,…
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How to Host a Geocaching Event – Who, What, When, Where, & Why
One of the things I love about geocaching is its community. And there is no better way to bring that community together than to host a local geocaching event. A geocaching event is simply a gathering of geocachers. It’s a great way to meet new cachers and catch up with old caching friends. A geocaching event could be a simple meet and greet. It could be a regularly scheduled get together, such as a Friday Lunch Club. Maybe you’ll be on vacation and would like to meet some local geocachers while you’re there. It could be a themed event. I have hosted events called For the Love of Caching in…
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Geocaching Promotion – Planetary Pursuit
Geocaching Souvenirs From time to time, geocaching.com runs promotions that give geocachers an opportunity to earn souvenirs. Souvenirs are nothing new to the game – they are a digital pin that gets added to your profile for specific feats. You earn one for your first find in a new state and/or country, as well as for attending Mega Events. Throughout the years, there have been other opportunities to earn souvenirs on special days such as International Earthcache Day, Get Outdoors Day, Geocaching in Space, and Australia Day, as well as longer promotions that have been introduced in the past couple of years, such as the 31 Days of Geocaching or…
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Hiding Your First Geocache: 5 Things You Should Know
You’ve discovered this thing called geocaching, and you’re hooked, right? You think you’re ready to try your hand at placing your own first hide? That’s great! There is truly no such thing as too many geocaches hidden out there somewhere. I get excited every time I get a new publication notification, because that means there’s one more hide out there for me to find. But before you hide your first geocache, there are a few important things to keep in mind to make sure it’s a good quality hide that’s in it for the duration. Please be sure that this is an activity that you plan on continuing for a…
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Geocaching day trip to Valpo
I hit the jackpot in the kid department. I mean, I know I’m a bit biased, but my kid is awesome. He’s funny and kind. He’s sweet and caring and even sometimes a little bit bossy. But what I love most about him is that he shares the same sense of adventure that I have. And he loves geocaching adventures. So when it’s a holiday here in the US, and he has no school and I’m fortunate enough to have a government job that closes on most bank holidays, bigmac06 (kiddo’s geocaching name) and I love to head out on an adventure. A few weeks ago, I asked him what…
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7 Must Haves for Winter Geocaching
If you live in the northern climate like I do, you know that geocaching in the winter months can be a bit challenging to say the least. Between the cold and the snow (and the wind here near the Windy City), getting out to find a few caches is either difficult or impossible. I’ve compiled a list of a few suggestions to help you get your name on that log! 1. Rubber Mallet Every hide style has it’s time and place, and winter time seems to be a great time for those hated LPC (lamp post cache) hides. But when it’s cold and snowy and you’re trying to keep a…
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The story of us
Who knew this little “hobby” of mine could change my life so much? Not only has it taken me to some incredible places and created countless memories, but it also introduced me to my sweetie. If you’ve been geocaching for a while and pay attention to social media, you may recognize him. That’s Scott Berks. Yep, that scottberks. Former co-host of (the NSFW) Chicago Geocacher Podcast and current co-host of The Geocaching Podcast. I met him at a cache. I had no idea who he was. See, I was relatively new at the time. I had been caching about a year and a half but only had about 50 or…
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So what the heck is geocaching anyway?
Whenever I mention the word “geocaching” to a non-geocacher (muggle) the response is either ‘oh, that’s really cool!’ or ‘why would you waste your time doing that?’ You either get it or you don’t. I for one, get it. I love geocaching. Geocaching has become a huge part of my life. It’s taken me on some incredible adventures to see some amazing parts of this beautiful country. It’s introduced me to some of my best friends. It even introduced me to my Sweetie. But what is it exactly? Well, simply put, geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunt in which a user (geocacher) uses coordinates (latitude & longitude) and a…
