geocaching

aaron's birthday is saturday and i was having a difficult time deciding what to get him. my standby has always been cardinal tickets, you can't go wrong with them as far as he's concerned. but with us moving so far away from any national league team, tickets aren't really an option. this year i decided to go another route.

the week before christmas aaron's gonna fly out to seattle and meet up with tom and a crew of his friends for five day hike/camping expedition. he's so excited to go, he's been preparing for months. tom told aaron not to worry about camping gear, he would provide most, if not all. only thing aaron needs is warm, waterproof clothing. tom sent aaron an actual checklist, one he must use everytime he goes camping. tom's very type-a in matters of organization so i wasn't surprised. the list has been sitting on our kitchen counter for weeks now and last week i decided something off of it would make a great birthday gift. he has a majority of the items, thermals, windbreaker, boots. i did notice a lot of items with gortex. (it's one of the best items to use to keep you warm and dry.) i looked everything up and apparently gortex also means you're gonna spend a pretty penny to stay warm and dry. anything with gortex is about 3x more than what you'd normally pay. i settled on a pair of socks. yes, i paid $50 for a pair of socks. he plans on going every year...so i justify the purchase as a long-term investment. plus i don't want him coming back with foot rot.

i did also purchase a hand-held gps device for him. since we've been hiking a lot, i thought it'd be something we both can use. plus, i wanted to try geocaching. what is geocaching? defined:

geocaching is an entertaining adventure game for gps users. participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and capability of a gps unit. the basic idea is to have individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. gps users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of rewards. all the visitor is asked to do is if they get something they should try to leave something for the cache.

it's like a modern day scavenger hunt. one of my blog buddies has one and used it while hiking in colorado. it just adds a twist to exploration. i'm so excited to try it out.

side note: mark, aaron's dad, is coming out here saturday to help celebrate both his and aaron's birthday. we've got a fun-filled week planned. we'll be doing a lot of boating, hiking and biking. hopefully i'll have pictures to post next week of all the fun.