Geocaching is a ton of fun, and I (bumanfam Dad) love to go cache-to-cache, logging as many finds as I can, as fast as I can. I've never really gotten to do that. You see, when we first got into this wacky sport/hobby/thingamabob, we made a rule: no one caches alone. We got into caching as a family activity. And here's what that means:

Des Moines. Business meeting. Whole family goes for the weekend. Done by about 1:30 on Sunday. Tons of time to cache before sundown and the five-hour drive home. The plan, according to bumanfam Dad: "pack the car, check out of the hotel, and grab a bite while I'm in my meeting and as soon as I'm done, we'll jump in the van and cache until dark." Eleven caches in the plan with some others for fun. Location ready. GPSr loaded. What could possibly slow us down?

For starters, Mom decided to stay in the room so Dad can change out of his tie and into some jeans (even though he could quickly do that at the van). Still have to check out. And finish packing the van. Finally on the way, we see the Iowa capitol building, which begs a stop for some photos - that's real gold on the dome, you know - 100 ounces to be exact. One hour gone.

Then, "We're hungry!" Wait a minute, weren't they supposed to eat during the meeting? Dad's thinking: wolf some drive-through burgers down on the way. Mom's thinking: sit down at a Chinese buffet. Mom wins. Kids are running wild. One won't eat. Youngest won't stop wailing for lack of a nap. Mom is always the last one done. A good hour-and-a-half gone.

Finally, it's off to the trails for some caching. Once there it's jump out and get 'em, right? Heck no. There's hats and gloves to don. There's bottles of water and snack bars to load up. There's diapers to change. There's shoes to switch. There's flashlights to ready. The baby backpack needs adjusting. Valuables must be hidden in the van so nobody breaks in. "Mom, I'm hot!" "Dad, wait for me!" "How come he gets the red flashlight and all I get is this stupid blue one?"

Ugh! Finally on the trail. Harry Potter themed series. Ten caches with clues that will help find the eleventh. Couple of mile hike. No problem. Nice trail. Brisk pace. Everyone is calm and in the zone. Yeah, that's it! "Dad, I have to pee!" Groan. We're off again. "Found it!" Mom's good at this. Swag trading. "But I want that doohickey!" "You got to choose first last time!" "I saw it first!" "Who has the bag? You have to trade even! Did you get a signature item in? Sign the log!" Man, this takes forever! Number two? Let's go!

Okay, back in the zone. Moving well. "Dad, brother fell in the mud!" "Whaaaaaa!" Uff-dah! "It's all better now, can we keep going? Good." "Found it!" Swag trading (just re-read the last half of the last paragraph, replacing "doohickey" with "gizmo"). Off to number three.

"Don't you think we should head back? It's pretty dark already." And that was Mom. bumanfam Dad: "But we have flashlights!!" Overruled. Twenty percent. TWENTY PERCENT!!! One more quickie on the way back to the van, not part of the series. "Dad I'm hungry!" "But you wouldn't eat at the restaurant! That's your own fault!" "Oh, stop and get him something, besides, I'm thirsty." "And I have to pee!"

Complete caching failure! No, wait -- we had a great time! bumanfam Kid #3 fell asleep in the backpack carrier whatchamacallit while giving bumanfam Dad a hug and whispering, "Dad, cache! Love you!" Kid #2 learned to "see" the trail in the dark by listening to footsteps in front of him. Kid #1 was nice enough to let others choose swag first. We met a nice fellow cacher on the trail and compared GPSrs. We can't wait to come back to finish the series. And on the drive home, we hit five, just bumanfam Mom and Dad, while the kids slept in the van under the watchful eye of their foreign exchange sister along for the trip.

With so many minor frustrations along the way and expectations set way too unreasonably high, the day so easily could have been seen as a flop, but I loved it! And the time with the kids is excruciatingly aggravating while incredibly satisfying and eternally memorable. Yep. Gotta love geocaching. Now, if we could just find a weekend to go sans-kids. . .

Posted by Bumanfam

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