So, we decided to get some mom-and-dad time alone without the kids (basically for the first time in 7.6684932 years). And since we have one common interest (haha... no not that ): geocaching, it was an easy decision to plan a geocaching trip to Calella and the Mega Event there (7/10-9/10)

The first part of the trip - actually being able to get away from home (is that a cough, a touch of fever, the first sign of stomach illness?) - was successful (yihaaa!) and the trip to the airport (Skavsta) was comfortable with just two short geocaching stops on the way. And then it hit me: I don't like flying, but with the help of a book and a hand to hold at take off and landing that part of the trip was also survivable

And then - we were there, in Spain, in the relative warmth, with the sandy soil, the hills and mountains. Lovely!!

We went straight to the hotel, and in the hotel lobby it was even more obvious we were no longer in Sweden. Flamenco and football (soccer) at the same time (the men were turned one way, and the women the other)! 

 We couldn't complain about our room that had all the necessities (including a spa bath), and really... it's not often we can watch the Mediterranean from our private terrace

On friday night we took a short walk to the first of all of the events that would take place during the weekend. Surprisingly enough our gps led us to an "October Fest"-tent, where we signed the log book and tried to find some fellow geocachers, but gave up rather quickly since we were tired, the music was very loud, and none of us has ever learned to like beer

Saturday and Sunday we spent mostly at the event site registering, looking, going to an event or an event or another event. But we also took long-long walks up a hill and down a hill, and up and down (a bit whiny ehh?)

We met a lot of people, even some Swedes (so yes, we got to practice speaking swedish ). Most memorable was our climbing-up-and-down-the-mountain-efforts together with bubbelfia & godatider - where we shared a lot of laughs (thank you!! )

All in all we had a great time! Markus getting to be geo-social with other gps carrying nerds (well, yeah me too ) and me looking at the soil, the trees, the sand, the water (the wonders of nature!). We were thinking we might go back next year, but until then we have the memories and the pictures to keep us company

 We're definitely going back to Spain some day anyway. Perhaps then we'll even bring the kids

To go geocaching all you need is a gps or a smartphone, so it's really a low equipment sport/game and anyone can join in. We have even seen examples of people finding geocaches just by the help of free online map services (for instance google maps). It can all be done quite inexpensively!

But after a while something happens, doesn't it? You want to be able to find (and hide) geocaches in all possible weathers and terrains, don't you? Why let a bit of water (=a large lake), a height (=a rock wall), a tree (=the highest pine or spruce in the country) or a dark tunnel (=a cave, drainpipe, abandoned building or any old creapy place)

After almost two years of geocaching we have been able to stock up on the bare essentials!  Let's just go back to where it all started!

0. Clothes
You have to be able to go out in all types of weather, don't you? Rainwear, winter clothes (we love our balaclavas by the way, there's nothing better when it's -30), sun hats (no, not yet...) and so on. And all types of terrain should be conquered, shouldn't it? Then really good outdoor clothes is needed (shoes, pants, jackets... the works!), clothes in green (everyday hunter-style), beige (desert hunter style?) or gray (pavement hunter?) is most common (I found one pair of screaming red outdoor pants once, but one wouldn't want to stick out to much, would one?). When there is a geocaching event in town, you can really tell who's a geocacher just by the clothes!! (Sorry, it's true!)

Sometimes you go geocaching spontaneously and try to walk through woodlands in all sort of clothes. This summer I found a cache wearing my party shoes. Not recommended, but the cache was found anyway!

1. Flashlights (Darkness)
Yes, we have ridiculously many flashlights, but you've got to, don't you? And they have to shine very brightly and very far, and not cost you an arm, a leg and a car. We've bought most of our flashlights at dealextreme.com, and they're all still working (even the one that's been out swimming with Markus one late-late night)!

The flashlights have been described earlier in this blog, I won't bother you with more info (or should I ask Markus to... no, not today )

2. Ladders (Height)
Some people put geocaches reeeaaally high up. You can try to jump, but that gets tiring after a while. What you really need is a ladder, isn't it? A ladder that can be carried sometimes a really long way. Telescopic ladders is the geocachers choice (at least in our neck of the woods), and it should be as long as possible (what else...?)

3. Fishing equipment (Some water)
No, we don't like fishing, but we have some fishing equipment, you've got to... don't you? If there's just some water you'll need rubber boots. If there's a bit more water you need wading boots. Wading boots are not very sexy, are they? But good.... I think? Unless you get water in them... then they're really rubbish

Fishing rods are also useful, to reach high... not necessarily in water

4. Canoes and boats (More water...)
We borrowed my brothers canoe last autumn - and he hasn't gotten it back yet. He will soon... eventually...  One thing should be told about canoes: they can tip over (especially if you try to land in them after having rapelled down a wall) - so make sure everything in the canoe is securely fastened as to prevent things from "getting lost" (in the middle of the night, in a bottomless hole filled with water...). Just last week we bought another canoe (green) to get our hands on a cart for the canoe we've borrowed (one of the things that got lost). Cart aquired, canoe sold... so now we only have one canoe available again ("one is all you need really...")

As we like buying things that are on sale (who doesn't? ) we are now the owners of a new inflatable boat with an electrical motor (Did we need it? Of cooouuurse we did...? )

5. Rapelling & climbing (Much higher)
If you really want to buy stuff (what we, no!?), what you need to do is go higher... higher... and higher, and then (if you're afraid of heights) try to not look down. Climbing and rapelling is the mother-of-all equipment swallowers. You need, ehm... let's see, ropes, ropes, metal thingies, ropes  (be afraid, be very very afraid). A picture might tell it all, don't you think?

6. Other things (for fun?)
Of course there are several tools (pliers, multi tools, grip/claw things) that has been bought and used (at least once?). One thing we haven't used (for geocaching) yet is this (sorry, don't know the name for it in swedish or english )

Is it enough now, how much do you really need? I don't know, if there's a sale in town you never know what can be purchased to use for geocaching. We just can't help it. Actually, perhaps there should be a warning sign somewhere: "if you like buying things just for fun, this game can be hazardous to the state of your finances"

Anyway - now you have been warned

G'night!!

... geocacher?

Our kids have never heard the original song "Walk like an Egyptian", so for them the text really goes "Walk like a geocacher"... including the New Zealand way of pronouncing geocacher. It really brings a smile to our faces... again and again!

Sometimes when your out hunting for a cache with the "use stealth" attribute, you tend to walk around looking like a complete geocaching moron... not unlike the characters in the "Walk like a geocacher" YouTube clip. After a while you tend to start singing or whistling the "Walk like..."-song as well. I'm not really sure it helps you blend in though..

A special "have fun!"-wish to all you FAD2010-participants! Sorry we couldn't come  
We're hoping next year will bring more "just mom an dad"-time, and that we will then be able to come!!

And for the rest of you: hope you'll have a wonderful weekend, whatever you're doing!

Our usual Sundays are filled with boring "must get ready before Monday"-stuff. This Sunday was different - we got to spend some time with fellow geocachers

Our 10-10-10-event was very well visited - thank you all for coming!

Hope we'll see you all again - soon (in the city, the woods or any other geocaching friendly environment nearby)!

Welcome to another TEN-event in Kolbäck! At 10.10 today lots and lots of geocachers will join in the celebration of the number 10
Carbon Creek: 10

There will be coffee, tea and lemonade along with some coffee bread (courtesy of MyrHammar). A simple "meet your fellow geocacher"-event

(What's with the logo? Well... I just couldn't help myself - it's just too much fun playing with the computer sometimes )

There will be a number of rEDdOG-caches published (guess what number?)

Hope we'll see you there!

It's been a relly fun day! Spending a day with geocachers, learning new things (for real... )

Some pictures (just a few of the ones taken) from the "rapelling class for geocachers" I and some fellow geocachers took today:

Thank you all for today!

Now time for bed *Zzzzzzzzzzzz*

You're all used to us telling you about our road trips. And yes, we like travelling by car (or our VW bus usually)...

But this Saturday we thought we'd try out the (yellow, sort of banana-like) canoe we had borrowed from my brother. We decided to take a ride with the two older kids to see if they liked it, and they sure did! We went to Västerås (Björnö) and jumped into the canoe (allright... it's not very easy to get a heavy canoe off the roof of a VW Multivan, not when you're "a bit on the short side", but with some effort... and a whole lot of bouncing around/fixing/doing stuff from Markus, the canoe was safely put in the water)

And of course we were aiming to go geocaching (a family of four in a canoe, what else is there?). We were mainly aiming to find the "Hästholmarna runt"-caches on the islands outside of Västerås. After going to three of the islands we decided to come back another day (yes... we ran out of time, motherly strength and child patience)

Anyway... it was a really nice trip, where we got to have some quality time with the two older kids without Mr Screamy (previously known as Mr Happy/Mr Angry)

One funny thing though... guess if someone got invited to go on a real boat (with an engine) just a few days after working out some in the canoe
Isn't life funny sometimes?

Nighty-night, sleep tight, don't let the travel bugs bite!

Today we went on a geocaching trip with one purpose only: to conquer some rocks. The plan was to meet up with fellow geocachers Campanulas, Bäckby and lhasa_runner close to Fira #6 Rookie for some joint rapelling efforts

We had a nice (but a bit too rainy) day. It's always fun to meet up with more geo-crazy people!

Markus did all the hard "climbing up and rapelling down"-work. I was more or less stuck with the kids (poor kids with outdoor-crazy parents, no rain coats, no food, no TV, no nothing )

Anyway, all dare devils in our teams managed to stay alive and mostly unharmed. I think the most harmful thing today was the wasps that attacked lhasa_runner-L and Campanulas-L

Thank you all for a really eventful day!

Lots of things happening right now, and sometimes you wonder where all the time went. Wanting to go geocaching, but having to do other things - you know "normal family life" and stuff. People around us wondering if there's not a chance that maybe some new rEDdOG caches will be published soon??

Well of course there will be caches published, but when? Time will only tell! We have a couple of hundred ideas or so. But we find ourselves trapped in the notion that everything has to be better, bigger, bolder - why is that?  Could it be all of the new rapelling caches, all the swimming, the thrill of FTF-hunting or all of the mysteries that are still not solved (by us...)?

Perhaps it's time to slow down some? And wonder why we started this? To get together as a family, to have fun, to take walks, get closer to nature? Or should we just realize that we are thrill seeking maniacs. One could think managing a family with three small kids should be challenging enough - but it seems it really isn't

Ah well - one new rEDdOG cache published today. Not the brilliant "super duper difficult" mystery we thought it was (late last night ) but a little tid bit anyway for future caches to come

Have a nice evening now!
Over and out...

The last part of our trip was a bit shorter than the first two: from Umeå to Skellefteå and then just a bit further to a small village called Renholmen. I don't have to tell you that we had a few "I need to stretch my legs" stops on the way. We found ourselves a rusty car, the smallest fire station in Sweden, some old buildings and some other less remembered places, most with rather quickly found caches (... but some with no caches to be found... at least not by us = DNF)

Rosty old car (car type unknown...)

The smallest fire station in Sweden

The DNF Story 1 - or: getting chased by wasps

The DNF Story 2 - but at least we got to a really nice place

A really cool, large stone found on our way (dnf:ing...)

And now we are here in Renholmen, the place where I spent my summers as a kid. And it's still calm and relaxing (when our kids are asleep at least ;-)). And the best part? Well: there are caches placed not far from where we live - so we can still go out hunting when the geocaching itch gets to bad (once a day or so?)

Happy Holidays to all of you out there! And Happy Caching!