I HEART Geocaching! TaGeez's Experience

I really, really love this LAB experiment!  I don't know what was more fun - completing mine or watching TaGeez find his?!! One of the biggest complaints I hear is that LAB caches are "one and done" - and that's OK because you can create such a fun, personal adventure without restrictions!

On Sunday, I sent TaGeez his "Game of Love" LAB cache URL in a pre-Valentine's email.  His mission:

As you keep telling everyone, Geocaching.com is the best dating site! So it's fitting that to find your Valentine's Day gift I'm going to make you hunt for it.  This is part scavenger hunt, part Multi, and a puzzle about us. And it's all fun and filled with love!

At the posted coordinates, find the Geocaching Treasure Chest (you may have to lift the cat).  Inside, you will find an object with your name on it.  Follow instructions on the cover.  This will lead you to a puzzle and then your prize on Valentine's Day.

Have fun and know that, as in life, I'm with you all the way!

So, while I was at work,  TaGeez found Stage 1:

On Thursday night (which was supposed to be family sauna night - but, instead, he surprised me with MY LAB cache - see my prior post), TaGeez opened his Valentine's Day card.  Inside, he found his personal search-a-word puzzle.  53-words describing us! I've been working on it since the LAB announcements were made.

TaGeez's Game of Love LAB Puzzle

That was a lot of fun to make.  It was so hard restricting it down to 53 words!

Ginger helping TaGeez with the solve

When all words were found, the remaining message read "East LPC at your car wash".  His VD gift was right outside work!  I believe I had just as much fun hiding it as he did finding it.

I had contacted his son, Sean, ahead of time asking his assistance in hiding this cache/present nearby.  When I pulled in, Sean asked me how I was going to do it - the LPC was now buried in a HUGE snowbank and completely circled by a snow hill!  When I approached it from the parking lot, the snowbank was chest high and many feet deep.  No problem! I coudn't be deterred (smirk).   

It took some time, but I found a way around the snow "hill" (having to walk all the way back to the street).  I told Sean I'd be right back and started trekking around the piles of snow and then flanking the site by crossing a field, back towards the LPC.  Oh my!  An untenanted field!  No snow removal! I had only taken a few steps (in my work clothes) when I sunk knee-deep.  Now, I'm not very tall so having to create a geo-trail in such deep snow as exhausting! Oh my!  At several points the snow had rolled back into the freshly-made hole and my legs were trapped, with me balancing precariously above it. Sean, on the other side of the mounds, was laughing with great amusement.

This image is very misleading - I had to unbury the skirt
and the right side is a HUGE snow bank!
Look how deep my footprints are!

Sean asked if he should get out a shovel to create a direct path to the LPC for his Dad.  I told him not to bother.  I've seen TaGeez cache in this weather!  I had no doubt he would just go over the snow mound. Which he did the next day!  

After hiding the cache and heading home, with pant legs frozen and shoes soaked, I walked into the kitchen to find TaGeez making dinner.  He didn't ask about the state of my dress clothes - he just raised an eyebrow. If he only knew, right?

Inside the skirt TaGeez found a gaily-wrapped present, a Fisher Space pen, and the final clue to his Find Code. The question asked: What word, describing us, is missing from the crossword? You use it all the time.

And he does.  Whenever we find a small log during our daily cache run, TaGeez will sign the log TACAT (TaGeez + scrapcat).  I had the pleasure, hours later after I tossed him a PBN, of watching his face as inspiration hit and the Find Code finally hit him!  He spent the rest of the night chuckling and kicking himself!

This was a great adventure!  Happy Valentine's Day, Sweetie!