A Geocaching Adventure

This past Sabbath we did indeed to geocaching. Hubby and me, Keith and Nancy, and my brother Aaron got all bundled up after church (and after lunch. Never geocache on an empty stomach.) and headed out. It was chilly, but still enjoyable.

My brother is a photo bomber. Go figure!

Our first stop was off of a back road in Apison. It was called "Don't Miss That Turn" or something like that.

We didn't miss the turn, but we almost missed the cache. I don't want to give too much away, so I won't tell you exactly where the cache was. However...

...that is how big this cache was, in it's entirety. And yes, I found it.

See? That's me, signing the miniscule log inside the cache! Sorry, but I was pretty excited to have found this one. It was my first super-micro cache, AND the first for the day, AND it was just really cool.

We went on to find two caches at the end of our road. We've meant to stop and find them, but just hadn't had time to stop. Until Sabbath.

The first cache was right by the road. Again, so as to not give too much away, I tried to not show specific landmarks.

Aaron was the one who found this one. He was pretty excited.

The same people to placed this cache also placed one further back on their property. We just happened to meet the owners wife as we were casually strolling down their driveway. Our obstacle was a massive German Shepherd, who was on a run that crossed our path to the cache. If it weren't for the Lady of the House, we'd be dog food.

Ok, he might look vicious (which is what we originally thought he was) but he's really not. She had just let him off his run, and he was just excited to be free. I would be too.

So, major obstacle averted, we pushed on to find the next cache. Jordan got to it first.

Keith just wasn't quick enough this time... :-)

We moved on now to some caches in Ooltewah. So far we'd had a good finding streak, and we wanted to see how far we could go without settling for a "did not find."

This next cache was on the side of a busy road that shall remain nameless. If you're from the area, you might recognize it... but then again, maybe not.

Another find for me! Keith had been snooping around this one for a while, but just couldn't find it. It's actually a 2-liter bottle, before stretching. Very cool for a cache.

It's us! Not bad for holding the camera out at arms length, huh?

On to the next cache!

Ok, any locals will know where this one is. You kinda can't miss a plane that nose-dived into Ooltewah. Especially when it's bright yellow.

This one was harder to find, simply because of all the rain recently.

See that orange tube? Yeah, that's the cache.

But the log was dry! But then came the challenge of putting the cache back.

Jordan was chosen to stick his hand in the yucky water to re-place the cache. Ew.

We were now 5 for 5! We were on a roll!

The next cache was supposedly in the middle of this field. We never found it. Boo.

We searched for another cache at a nearby car wash, but didn't find that one either. However, we were not willing to give up. So we trudged on.

Nancy was the one who found this one! It was stuck in a hole at the base of a tree. We'd now found 6 caches, and we weren't slowing down!

The next cache we found was a rock! Not a real rock, of course, but a man-made rock with a cache inside. Keith was pretty excited to find this one.

I found this one in a tree!

And Aaron found this one in a tree!

Over the whole day we found 17 caches! It was a great day, even though it got cold towards the end. We're planning to go out again in a couple of weeks. Maybe I'll post some pics from that adventure too.

Must run for now, movie time!

Geocaching

Today it is raining, but tomorrow, rain or shine, Hubs and I are planning to go geocaching. It's been a while, and we have some travel bigs (TBs) that we need to relocate. I think our friends Keith and Nancy (at least Keith) are planning to come with us. Possibly my brother too. We'll see who decides to brave the weather.

If you haven't heard of geocaching, go here. That is the official geocaching website. You can find pretty much anything you want to know about the hobby (some would say, lifestyle.) And if you decide to sign up and try it, find us and let us know! Our geocaching name is Wagners612.

We mostly geocache in the Chattanooga, TN area, and the small outlying towns. We did to some caching in Rochester, NY over Christmas break. And our friends have cached in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

We are planning on setting up a cache of our own soon. We've got the location all picked out. Hubs wants to just go for it, but I think we should get permission from the property owners before we place it. We'll see which one of us will win out. ;-)

I'll post some pics from our Sabbath afternoon geocaching adventure later.

Working Out

This morning Hubs and I started a new work out. A 30-day challenge offered to us by the EA Sports Active Wii fitness video game. We already had the Wii Fit game and balance board, but the game left us feeling quite unsatisfied. Wii Fit has some fun games, but it didn't leave us feeling very "worked out." So last month we splurged and bought the EA Sports Active game. It comes with a leg strap for the nunchuk and a resistance band.

And this morning, we tried it. We didn't really know what to expect. We had seen it used on the TV show The Doctors, and we liked that we could work out together if we wanted to. (To work out with a friend, you need to buy a second leg strap and resistance band.) But just for today, we took turns.

We started out on the "easy" work out setting, and it was just right. The first work out of the 30-day challenge goes over the basics: all the major muscle groups and cardio. There was a variety of running in place, boxing, bicep curls, etc. We both had a lot of fun!

When the initial work out was done, and after I had cooled down a bit, I went back and created my own 10-minute workout, just boxing. I chose 10 different boxing sets, from targets to heavy bag, and just had at it. I'm still feeling that in my shoulders... But it was fun!

We've both going to try very hard to keep up with this 30-day challenge. It's something we both need to do, and if we can do it together and have fun, then that's great!

I know this sounds like just a commercial, and I apologize, but this is something new and exciting for us, so I had to share. Maybe someone else can benefit from this post. If you do, let me know! Leave a comment!