TREASURE HUNTING

I am a huge treasure seeker. My brother once shared a story of us out camping when we were kids. I had went skipping off and he asked me where I was going and I replied over and over, "I'm going to see what I can see". I have always been that kid. That kid that will fill her pockets with rocks, sticks, ie: treasures! One summer my parents drove us to Yellowstone. We were standing there at Old Faithful when I spotted something very cool. I picked it up and thought wow! What a perfect round rock! I keep it in my hand. We get back into the truck and when we were pulling out of there I noticed my rock was getting soft and losing its round shape. We ended up figuring out it was some persons chewed gum! I guess they had rolled it up into a ball before spitting it out!

Even as an adult I'm always looking for stuff. We'll be skiiing and I will see something up ahead on the ground in the snow and I will slow down for a wide eyed gander. Most the time it's a wrapper of some sort. Plain ole garbage. Every now and then it pays off and it's sunglasses, a hat, etc. A couple years ago at the lake we were driving along the shoreline because the level had just dropped. I ended up spying an anchor! One time out there my nephew was walking along the shore and found a mans wallet that had washed up. The only thing that had survived the submersion was the wallet and a $20 bill. I'm like, "see!"

A few years ago I learned of a pretty cool hobby that surprisingly a lot of people are into. It's called GEOCACHING. Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called Geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment. There are over 700 thousand active Geocaches around the world. I was mostly surprised at how many are right around you at any given moment and you'd never know it.
I went out a couple times with a girl from work. It's a little frustrating until you get the hang of it. My husband and I tried it at the beach one time when we took his kids camping. But we ended up not being able to locate the item. Since then I've not done any searching. My husband is not into it, at all. I'm hoping someday that Mackenzie might follow in her Moms footsteps of wanting to seek out treasures and it's something her and I could do together. It's not about finding something that will make you rich. It's about the adventure and intrigue and using your senses to find something that someone else hid. Some of them have small trinkets for the taking and a log book to write your name in.

So this brings me to my next topic. Today I was at a school yard with my daughter and there were a couple retired guys out there with their metal detectors. We've all seen people doing this. Do they really find things? That are worth their while? Is that going to be me someday? I kind of have a feeling it will be. When I got back to the car I noticed an an older lady sitting in the passenger seat of a car working on a crossword puzzle. Sitting there on a Saturday, Valentines Day of all days, supporting her husbands hobby. I wonder if they ever find anything cool?