Cas+Narrative

Hi, my name’s Cas and I am a beagle, but my parents like to call me a hound dog. One of my absolute favorite things to do in the whole world is take a drive with my mommy; don’t tell my dad. Today I had no idea where we were going, but I was just excited to get out of the house. I knew I didn’t have a doctor’s appointment, but mom seemed pretty nervous like she always does before a doctor’s appointment. We drove for a really long time, but I held my head out the window with my ears flowing in the wind and just enjoyed spending this rainy, cloudy day with my mommy. When we finally pulled into a parking lot, I recognized a sign that my parents refer to as “The Golden Arches,” but I don’t really know what “golden” means. When we stopped my mommy told me we would be meeting some of her school friends and to be on my best behavior. She also told me that we were going on some sort of “geocaching” hunt and that she needed my keen sense of smell to help them out. I’m a hound dog, and I’m really good at smelling. I was pumped and ready to go, but mommy still seemed pretty nervous so I’m not going to get too wild cause I don’t want to upset my mommy or she might not let me meet anymore of her friends. Once mom opened the car door I bolted out of the car while she fumbled with my leash, and then remembered that I was terrified of vehicles. A mean boy even revved up his truck right in front of me; I really didn’t like him. I got to meet my mommy’s school friends Ms. Ashly and Ms. Julie. I wanted to make a good impression so I decided that I would not nibble on their fingers no matter how delicious they looked. I even resisted the urge to jump on them.

Once mommy and her friends stopped talking we began walking toward something they referred to as “Cache #__1__ .” We walked past the golden arches and came to a huge road that had a lot of vehicles zooming past us. They were crazy if they thought that I was crossing that road. Next thing I knew, mommy swooped me up into her arms and we’re all running across the road. These women are trying to kill me. Luckily, we made it across. Then she placed me down where there were a lot of pumping stations. I’m not sure what they were pumping, but mommy always stops at these places when she says we’re low on something called “gas.” I have plenty of gas after I eat, she could just have some of mine. We walked past all the pumping stations until we came to a ledge; luckily there was path so we didn’t have to jump down. Mom was holding some device that was telling us where to go, so she led us through some really tall, wet grass. This grass was so tall, I could barely see over it. And Ms. Julie kept taking pictures of me; I think she thought I was pretty or something. When we finally reached a deep looking hole with a bunch of rocks, they said we had reached our destination. But I didn’t see anything. That’s when Ms. Julie said that what we were looking for was a “sandwich sized” box and that it would be hidden pretty well. So I put my nose to the ground and started sniffing. I looked everywhere, mom looked everywhere, Ms. Julie and Ms. Ashly looked everywhere, but we found nothing. I started to feel really sad because mom brought me so that I could sniff out these “caches,” but then Ms. Julie said that this one hadn’t been found since July of 2014 and that maybe it was stolen or washed away from all the rain. But even though we didn’t find this one, I still got a treat from Ms. Ashly.

Then we started heading back in the same direction we just came from that meant we had to cross the scary highway again. Eep! Once we made across safe and sound, we passed the golden arches and a giant sign with a bell on it (that smelled really good). When we got to a grassy area, I just couldn’t hold it in anymore and I had to relieve myself. I felt much better after that. I heard mommy and her friends saying that we were looking for a magnetic cache. I think something magnetic is like what mommy and daddy put on our refrigerator at home so I was looking and smelling for something like that. I like it when mommy puts pictures on the – APPLE! I smell an apple!! I look all around until I see it. A big, juicy red apple that someone had thrown to the ground. I don’t know why they threw it out but it was their loss. I took off following my nose; I just had to have that apple. Closer, closer, closer until I reached down and I had it in my mouth. For about __5__ seconds of bliss, I was eating the apple until, all of the sudden, Ms. Ashly was sticking her hand into my mouth. She took the apple out and threw it, telling mommy I was eating something bad. It didn’t taste bad to me. Anyways, back to the hunt! I had to find us this one so that I could prove I was a good hound dog. I saw the girls walking from light pole to light pole in the parking lot and I decided that must be where we’re looking. Mommy and I got to one and the scent picked up! I smelled all kinds of interesting smells and it swept over me so strong and I just knew we had found it!! Sure enough, mommy lifts up the metal on the light pole and we find our first cache! I was so excited I could hardly stand it. I had to jump really high to see what was in the baggy and I saw a bunch of little toys and things inside. Mommy signed our names on the piece of paper in there with the date. She even put my name, too! She put it all back in the hiding spot and, feeling like a champ, I led the way to the last place.

We had to cross another street on our way to the last hiding place. But, this time, we had to push a button and wait for a picture of a man walking. That took FOREVER but it did seem safer and it made me wonder why we didn’t do that for the first street. I was having so much fun doing this geocaching thing. So many exciting smells and sights and, after finding that last cache for the group, I was on cloud nine. Whichever cloud that is. After we waited for the picture of the man walking and crossed the street we walked towards this ginormous building that looked like one of those government buildings in Washington, D.C. (Sometimes mommy and daddy leave the TV on CSPAN). Next to the government building were three flags on big, giant poles. I heard Ms. Julie say that the clue we had was creepy. She said it was a picture of a skull with the American flag on it. We used the clue and the device that mommy was using to tell us where to go and it led us to the bottom of the American flag pole! It did smell pretty strong in that spot like a lot of people had been there before us. I was so excited when I watched mommy pull out a small metal tube from underneath the flagpole! Inside, there was a rolled up piece of paper with millions of people’s names written in all kinds of colors. I guess these were all the people who found the hiding spot, too! I bet we found it quicker. Once again, mommy wrote all of our names on the paper and we celebrated finding the last hiding spot!! Ms. Ashly took good care of me, holding my leash while I walked and Ms. Julie kept taking pictures. I mean, I did take a bath last month so maybe she thought I looked good.

We walked back across the street with the picture of the walking man, past the first cache we found, past the sign with the giant bell on it and finally ended at the golden arches. I was really thirsty!! Mommy poured me some water from a bottle into my travel bowl but, honestly, the water on the street tasted better! Thank you though, mommy! She’s always looking out for me. I hope she would say I did a good job today because I tried my hardest not to nibble and to help her and her friends find their secret treasures. I did get another treat when I got into the car. I just love riding in the car. Did I tell you it was my favorite thing to do in the whole world? But now maybe I like geocaching a whole lot, too. Home Caching through the Colonies lesson plan