We had a really fun morning outside despite it being cold and wet. There is a "sport" called geocaching. It starts by someone hiding something someplace. It is usually something like a Tupperware container with some small trinkets inside. They record the coordinates with their GPS and then go to a site like www.geocaching.com and post where the cache is.

When someone goes and finds it they can take a little trinket and leave a trinket of their own. There is often time a little paper log where you can leave your name, date, notes, etc. Sometimes they are easy to find and sometimes they are tricky. There are lots of different variations on what kinds of caches are left and how they are described and found.

Anyway, I have known about geocaching for years but never tried it. Early this morning after I let Mitch outside and I was just checking the Internet before I went back to bed something made me register at geocaching.com and pick out a nearby one.

I went back to bed and asked the now-awake Sheri if she wanted to go on an adventure, and she did!

We bundled up and got on our rubber boots and set out to find our first geocache.

It was at a nearby forest preserve.



Sheri was holding the GPS and led the way. I think she liked it because I was having a tough time keeping up with her as she dodged in and out of the thick brush and thickets. It was not on a trail. We were going right through the underbrush.

Sheri found it after just a few minutes of being in the general area. My current handheld GPS does not have WAAS and will therefore only get us within about 30 feet of the point I entered. Here she is retrieving the cache from its hiding place. Take note of her new boots she got yesterday.



Ta dah!



This is what was inside.



This is what we took.



And this is what we left.



We also left four Wetnaps. A lot of families do this with their kids so I thought they might be handy if a kid gets into something messy he shouldn't have.

We saw a buck and three does during our adventure too!







Afterwards we went to McDonalds for breakfast and to read the Sunday paper. I would say we spent over an hour outside hiking through the forest. It felt good to get up and get going like that. We think we are definitely going to do it again. It is a fun way to get some exercise in. We both had a nice tired feeling afterwards and our cheeks were flushed from the cold wind blowing on us.

After breakfast we went to Walgreen's to get a few things that were advertised in the Sunday paper and then to PetSmart to get a couple algae eaters for the aquarium.

Now Sheri is at a neighborhood food party that is kind of like a Tupperware party. All of the food is either ready-to-eat or only needs one or two ingredients to prepare. We aren't really too excited about the food, but it is a good way to meet more people in the neighborhood.

After I wrap this up I am going to go downstairs and watch the rest of the Bears football game and probably end up taking a nap and wait for Sheri to get back home. I don't have to work tomorrow because of the MLK Day holiday so we will stay up late and watch a movie, burn some wood and wait for the snow to start falling. The last I saw we are only supposed to get between 3 and 5 inches. Earlier in the week they were saying Chicago might get over 10 inches.