Tracking

 A HUNTING WE WILL GO:  As proof positive you're never too old to go treasure hunting is the geocaching hobby. :) 

Per the promotional video, geocaching is "an any day any time adventure." 


Yesterday afternoon, in the midst of enjoying national S'mores Day, we got in some treasure hunting in Fremont. Geocaching involves following GPS coordinates, using common sense and using your 'spidey senses.' And pretty much, Fremont is the geocaching HQ of the world as geocaching.com's offices are located in the neighborhood!

This weekend, a worldwide expo of geocachers will descend upon Fremont for a big ol' treasure hunting party. As we made the rounds on Monday, we ran into international hunters aplenty, including a contingent from Norway. :)

We encountered them at the 'chairy tree'.

It had a bunch of chairs in it. Get it? Chairy tree?!

But you had to find the geocache box and log amidst the artful chaos. It was SUPER clever. Our favorite geocache to date, but I won't say any more.

From there, we went to check out the cache at the Fremont library. We met another international visitor there, skulking about the back side of the library. :)

SHOWER: We have a new moon to thank for the fact this week’s Perseid meteor shower is expected to be one of the best in years. The kid will be up on the deck, watching when they're not sleeping. :)

If you don't have a roofdeck to sleep on, perhaps you'll want to check out NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will broadcast a live program about this year’s Perseid meteor shower from 10 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 12 to 2 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 13. The event will highlight the science behind the Perseids, as well as NASA research related to meteors and comets. The program will air on NASA TV and NASA’s UStream channel.

Per NASA, the best chance to see the Perseid meteor shower is during the dark, pre-dawn hours of Aug. 13. "The Perseids streak across the sky from many directions, with theoretical rates as high as 100 per hour. The last time the Perseids peak coincided with a new moon was in 2007, making this one of the best potential viewings in years." 

OK, count us in, weather permitting!

If you're up for it, special guests on the live NASA TV broadcast include meteor experts Bill Cooke, Danielle Moser and Rhiannon Blaauw, all of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, located at Marshall." 

The program will be on NASA TV http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html and NASA's UStream channel: http://www.ustream.tv/NASAHDTV