Sunday, June 27, 2010

Why We Will Never be on The Amazing Race

For weeks Alex has wanted to climb the hill.  The hill is a little dirt path that Keith and Alex found last year near the Ogden River Parkway path.

Alex has never forgotten the hill.

We decided that Saturday would be the perfect day for a little family outing...breakfast, a walk along the river, climb the hill and as a bonus...we'd try to find our first (and last) geocache!  We started with one that was located at the MTC Ogden Botanical Gardens and was rated easy.

We looked and checked the GPS and sat on a bench and looked.  We looked from the backside and we looked up and we looked down.  iKeith dismantled a stone bench and we still didn't find the cache so we gave up.

The next thing I wanted to look for was a letterbox.  It was called The Arboretum and our clue was
The park entrance is at1750 Monroe Blvd. Park in the lot and find the paved asphalt trail which parallels the Ogden River. Walk toward the east. Leave the trail at the definite bend to the left at the 1/4 mile sign (about 0.4 mile from the parking lot). Walk through the large cottonwood trees on the south side of the trail and find A.A. Bennett’s tree. Then find W.L. Bennett’s tree. Then find SSgt Williams’ three small pines (two bristlecones and one Ponderosa).

The Arboretum letterbox is hiding in the branches of the Ponderosa pine. There are benches in the vicinity to sit on while stamping in.

After having trouble finding the Geocache...iKeith wasn't in the best mood to find the Letterbox and made me trapse around every single cottonwood tree that we came across. I knew where I thought the bend in the trail was but he wouldn't listen to me.

He commented that we should just walk and enjoy the scenery but I explained to him that I'm a Type A person and I need a goal and things to do while I'm hiking so that I feel like I'm accomplishing something.  This is why I thought these treasure hunting activities would be great for me. He rolled his eyes.

The boys hiked the hill while Mallory did this.  She wanted to go home.


Finally...we were able to search for the letterbox.  Here is a vlog of our adventure.  This is also proof that Keith and I should never attempt to go on The Amazing Race together.  We can barely survive looking for treasure and I'm pretty sure he was ready to throttle me when we were done.

Drinking Game while watching my vlog:

Take a sip of your drink each time I say:
  • 3 pine trees
  • Ponderosa
  • Spider


Geocaching is a lot of fun and a good way to sharpen your GPS navigation skills. It's actually modern treasure hunting, except you don't get to keep what you find. With geocaching, you find the "treasure" and replace it with something else. Then you take what you find and place it in another cache. The item is usually some sort of collectible of minor actual value. Very helpful (or not) iPhone App.

Letterboxing is growing hobby that combines elements of hiking, treasure hunting and creative expression into an activity that the whole family can enjoy. Participants seek out hidden letterboxes by following clues that are posted on the Internet , and then record their discovery in their personal journal with the help of a rubber stamp that's part of the letterbox. In addition, letterboxers have their own personal stamps which they use to stamp into the letterbox's log book.

12 comments:

  1. i'd kill my husband if we did the amazing race together. he'd kill me for not being athletic enough, and i'd want to smack him if he did anything stupid, which is almost a guarantee. haha!

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  2. Oh no! I'm sorry it didn't go as planned. I've had fun geocaching, but have never heard of letterboxing, I'm going to check it out.

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  3. Mallory is such much like you it's not even funny.

    I remember you not liking hiking either when we were growing up. Maybe it's because dad just liked to walk and enjoy nature and never gave you a goal.

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  4. I do not know of anyone in the world i could do the amazing race with outside of....well, nobody

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  5. I've said it before, but I'll say it again... YOU HAVE GOT TO VLOG MORE. Your voice, timing and sense of humor is so entertaining [in my humble opinion].

    It's too early for me to drink alcohol while watching, but I sipped my coffee per your instructions and now I'm ready to run!

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  6. I think that that was amazing enough.

    And yeah, only silly, crazy people do that show.

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  7. I have been wanting to try geocaching with the kids so bad. It just sounds like so much fun. I'm sorry you guys didn't have as good of a time as you had hoped. Maybe when Mallory is a little older she'll like it more.

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  8. Comment before watching the Vlog (I have so much to say, you see):

    My parents got us hooked on Geo cacheing last year and my kids LOVE It!!!! They are really good at finding the cache, so don't give up- try other ones. Some have really bad clues and some just aren't there anymore.

    We tried letterboxing 2 years ago and had 6 to find one afternoon. Guess how many we found? NONE!!! I gave up on that one real quick!!!

    Now, I am going to watch the vlog.

    ~Becca

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  9. Love your family!!! And YAY!! You found the letterbox.

    now off to sing, "one of these things is not t=like the other......."

    thanks iKeith.

    ~Becca

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  10. Um, you exaggerated. You guys seemed to get along fine. No screaming, no arm and leg flailing tantrums, all still speaking to one another. Have you seen TAR? you'd do fine. I would too, if they could only guarantee me 9 hours of sleep a night.

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  11. Who doesn't love treasure hunting?! Sounds like fun. :o)

    Love the red, btw. :)

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  12. I learned lots of fun new words (and activities) from this post - letterboxing sounds fun for all - UNLESS your name is Keith. :)

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I love you. You are my best friend! Your hair looks fantastic today!