No Stone Unturned, No Tree Unclimbed

The girls were visiting from L-Town this weekend, so I took them out to work with me, grabbing some of those caches that are going away soon! We got to the park, found a spot near the first cache, and then went for a walk.

It all began with an old-school Letterbox Hybrid. There were two stages, the first being about ten feet up a tree. The older daughter, the cacher, was ready to go back to the car to get my hook and pole to pull it down. The younger daughter, the climber, would not hear of it. After a couple of attempts to hop up on her own, a quick boost put her up in the limbs, and then a quick reach dropped to the ground our further directions. We had to make this many paces in one direction, then that many paces in another. There were too many strides listed for us because we were all taller than the CO and possessed longer strides, but it required little adjustment to figure out where our final quarry lay. We signed our names, held the stamp, and declared victory. The first of many!

We bounced around the park, laughing at one another, bickering over minor slights, and enjoying a little bit of sun peeking out during a chilly time. Some caches were ones I had already found and my caching daughter had not. Some of them were not going to disappear soon, ones I would normally save for later. Some required more climbing from the climbing daughter. We even failed to find a couple of them, as does happen from time to time. But all that really mattered was the time together. 

After taking them on a more serious caching trip the first time, I wondered if it would happen again. Soon enough, I found myself taking them out of the state to find more counties. Now that they are older, I find it nice that they enjoy going out to do this with me. They’ve even found a few on their own in L-Town, so I know it’s not just them humoring their old man. It’s also nice to engage with them not just as their father but also as fellow mavens of the same hobby (though technically, I’m the maven, and they’re merely talented amateurs). More than anything, I’ve missed them since they’ve been gone from Austin, and when I spend time with them like this, I think of all the trips we could have taken together from here: Houston, San Antonio, Abilene, Fort Worth… Of course, we’ll be going to Wichita Falls for Texas Challenge this year and Norman for CacheFest Oklahoma (thanks to family confluences), but I’m starting to think how I might one day be taking one or both of them on real trips with me. They’re beginning to turn into lovely young adults, and I’d like them to see more of the world than they already have. And if I can make that happen and cache at the same time, well, even better, no?