Around Maryland

The objective is simple -- using a handheld GPS unit (or even an app for a smartphone), you navigate to the exact latitude and longitude of where the cache is supposed to be hidden. Once there, it's a game of hide-and-seek to find it. Simple, cheap fun.

Finding it can be a reward in and of itself, but the old adage of "getting there being half the fun" is really true: Unless it's next to a semi-truck plaza (been there), you're engrossed in a city, a park, a nature trail, trying hard not to have your hide-and-seek antics noticed by "muggles" (non-geocachers) passing by.

I keep in mind the enjoyment of the search because there have been caches that I've not been able to locate. Such sites have, for the most part, two things in common: poison ivy and ticks.

I remember once last summer on a geocache hunt with my family in Carroll County, we walked for a half-mile along a bike trail behind a subdivision. When arriving, near the coordinates, it became very clear that cache would be hidden off path, about 50 feet away at the base of a tree. Between us and the tree was waist-high weed growth with -- joy -- poison ivy.

We bravely marched into a morass of weeds in which every step was significantly more complicated than the last. On top of that, we started feeling things crawling on us. Without any concern for scrapping the mission, we scrapped the mission. When it comes to poison ivy and ticks, screw the mission.

We pulled several ticks off each other that day, much the same way brethren cave dwellers did a millennia ago.

Anyway, I remember this because just yesterday I took my daughter and her friend on a geocache adventure. While I am happy to report there were no ticks, the locale of the hidden cache was engulfed by a dense growth of poison ivy. So, the cache was a no-go.

But, again getting there was a blast: the weather was gorgeous, the site historic, and the fun absolute.

I'm providing the picture above as a clue, to see if you can determine where we were and what significant historical structure the cache was/is located near. Can you guess the spot? Post your comments below. I'll reveal the answer if nobody correctly guesses the answer or confirm the correct answer when I see it.

Afterward, I took the girls to Crawfords Restaurant Guns & Ammo, for lunch and to perhaps learn a little more about the Second Amendment. According to Sophia and her friend, "the fries were awesome," which was pretty much the extent of anything learned.

The fries were awesome, by the way.

And so was the rest of the day.

To geocache, you don't need to find the cache to have a good time. All you need are good walking shoes and a sense of adventure.