A Hunting We Will Go

X MARKS THE SPOT:  This weekend, we finally got around to exploring a hobby we've been curious about for awhile now: Geocaching. 

We like being out and about, and a challenge, and geocaching is a real world 'treasure hunt.' You go to a Web site (https://www.geocaching.com/), or use a smart phone app (Geocaching Android app: http://bit.ly/GeocachingAndroid; or Geocaching iPhone app: http://bit.ly/GeocachingiPhoneApp) to find caches that are hidden in the area where you want to go hunting. We're lucky, in the greater Seattle area, there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of targets for us to track down.

The site or app contains information on each cache, including its GPS coordinates, the size of the container you're looking for (they can be anything from around a shoe box size to a micro capsule) and maybe a couple of clues from who stashed it. There are also activity reports (who found it when), often some hints from others who have found it, and oftentimes photos from previous geocachers. 

There aren't true treasures like gold doubloons to be had. It's the thrill of the hunt that propels geocachers.  

Our very first target on Saturday was out in the Kirkland area, in a parking lot.  From clues, we knew we had to look high rather than low, and we eventually found a bullet-sized capsule tucked in a hole in a utility pole. That was tricky!

We recorded our initials on it, proud of our first find!

On Sunday, we hit a park in Mukilteo. The title of the cache let us know we'd probably find the stash in some driftwood. We were stumped for awhile (ha ha), but eventually Annabelle dug it out.

This one was bigger, a Tupperware-type container with a few calling cards and trinkets in it. Interesting!

We tried finding one in the park right near our house, but were skunked. There aren't any other very recent reports of it having being found, so we're thinking perhaps it's one that someone stumbled upon and took, not knowing they were screwing up someone's game. 

If you want to learn a little more about geocaching, check out this video:

https://youtu.be/1YTqitVK-Ts

MODEL BROTHER: This photo makes it look like CJ's about ready to attack Annabelle. 

Instead, he's actually helping her out, as an artist's model.  Bee was trying to draw a feline-like superhero about ready to pounce. She has a little wooden person sculpture that moves into different shapes, but it couldn't quite get where she needed it to be.

In fact, when I looked at our heroine in progress, I thought she looked like she was getting ready to sit on the toilet. CJ thought her legs looked like "raw strips of bacon in a wind tunnel," hahahaha.

So, CJ graciously (and literally) offered to stand in as a human form.

Things got much better from there, and in no time, our cartoon hero looked like she envisioned.

MEANWHILE, ON THE ISS:  NASA released a couple of new photos of the Seattle area as seen from Low Earth orbit. 

We can see our neighborhood in the one below!

 And here's the Evergreen State, and much of Oregon.  It's looking a little brown, I must say. We could use some rain.