Monday, December 21, 2009

A Family Activity for the Holidays

Guest Blogger: Carrie Gibson, PE4life Event Manager

Ah, yes, Christmas time!  So looking forward to the days of lounging at my parents home with the never ending array of goodies, classic Christmas movies (The Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, you know the ones I’m talking about…) and quality time spent with family.  This year, however, I’m mixing it up!  Little do they know, they are going to experience an outdoor adventure!

Inspired by Deb Walter’s phenomenal adventure education program in Rogers, AR, I am coordinating a Geocache hunt for my family!  This is my first go-round with Geocaching, but I can tell you that we are having a great time setting this up.  For those of you who don’t know, Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunt played with GPS devices.

My husband and I are plotting the perfect locations in our small home-town of Marysville, Kansas (think: The historical Pony Express Statue, the City Park, the high school football field, the church where we were married, the golf course and other key landmarks around town).  Using longitude and latitude coordinates, we will guide the teams to these locations where they will find little prizes and clues for the next spot.

Each team equipped with a GPS device – which is even easier now since most cell phones have this capability, we are strategically splitting them up into teams. (Of course, keeping careful care to split up those “technically challenged” and those with the most local knowledge.)  I will enjoy seeing my 12 year old niece partner with her 60-something grandpa.  I’m also eager to see my sister-in-law who grew up in the big city make her way around small-town America on a mad dash for prizes! 

It should be a good time!  Just hope the weather cooperates and snow doesn’t bury our treasures!

For more information on Geocaching check out this website or this one.

If you want to check out Deb’s program, go here or contact PE4life to learn more!

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