A buddy of mine invited me to go "Geocaching" with him this weekend. The idea is that you can go online and download coordinates of various caches to a GPS. Then you can drive to some place that's public property (such as a park) and start searching for it. It's government sponsored, and is incredibly popular apparently.

Of the 8 he had loaded up for the day, we were able to find 5 (3 of which I spotted thank you very much!). When you find them, you open them up and look at the various trinkets people have put in them. Each one also has a log you can sign before putting it back for the next person. Looking at the logs, there were some caches that were as old as 3 years, which is amazing considering some of the places they've been hidden.

I'm slowly trying to get back into shape, so for me the idea of a 4 hour, 7-mile hike was rather daunting. Though my feet were burned out and are STILL sore today, it was a lot of mine. The weather's been beautiful the past few days, which made the hike enjoyable. Saw a few swans hanging out in a lake...but the coolest part was the bald eagle we spotted perched on a log. We were able to get a good look, and I think my friend got a picture. But the coolest part was when it spread its wings and flew over us so we could get a good look at it.

I dunno if it's something I could get into on my own, but as a way of just hanging out with people and checking out what nature has to offer...it's a great experience. And the coolest thing is, there are caches hidden all over. Over our 7-mile hike, we never got more than a few miles from a major road or house...yet were in the middle of the woods the hole time!

If you ever get a chance, give it a shot. You'll be surprised how interesting it can be just spending some time out in nature.