Geocaching 001

Two days ago (the 25th) I went geocaching with my wife and brother. It was the first time any if us had ever went. 

The first one we went searching for was a couple blocks from the local library and near a school. If you live in central Illinois I'm sure you've heard of the Pekin Marigold Festival and  the Medalion Hunt (clues are given to the location of a Medalion). Well this cache was where one of the medallions was back in the 80's. We couldn't find it and didn't want to go too far onto the schools property. So we went to the park and searched for some there. 

The next one we found after a bit of searching. We excitedly signed the log, and placed a 20 sides dice in the box!

The next one in the park was located in the "Kiddie Koral". Probably the WORST place to place one. (But I guess that is where the 1979 Medalion was hidden.) We searched near the edge of the play area but felt awkward so we journied in to other caches. 

There was another on the far side if the park and after a little walk we started hunting. My wife actually found it but didn't realize. As it wasn't a little water proof box like the first one. It was actually a little crumpled water bottle that was shoved into the hole of a tree. Inside the bottle was a scrap of paper for a log sheet. We signed and went back toward the at area. 

Still busy with muggles. After reading some of the logs in the app. It seems (from our conclusions) that people who don't geocache are called muggles. Just like non-magical folk in the Harry Potter books! Which is something we loved. 

We decided to try for that one when there weren't so many muggles around and went off after another. 

This one was near the video store. The GPS showed it near this big bush and the logs said it was in the most obvious spot. So we searched and searched the bush with no luck. And as the daylight was failing we decided to call it a day and went to dinner!

I can't wait for more geocaching adventures!

I did have a few questions for anyone reading this who also geocaches  

1. While geocaching are we supposed to be inconspicuous? Some if the logs made it seem so. I understand we don't want random people getting curious about what we are doing and removing the cache. 

2. Are you supposed to leave a little momento behind every time? Or us that only for certain ones?

3. How do we make our own cache to add to the fun?

Thanks in advance for any answers!!