Opinion: Geocaching presents new way to explore the Queen City

RELATED

Art museum gifted $5M, its largest single donation

There’s nothing quite like exploration.

Living in Springfield for coming on 20 years, it sometimes feels like I’ve explored all the nooks and crannies to my heart’s content. I’ve taken all the side roads – Fremont Avenue arguably is the city’s best-kept secret – and driven as far as I can in each direction on all the major roads. That’s not to say I know the city like the palm of my hand, but I’ve got a pretty good idea of the highlights.

So, when I recently found a new (to me) way to explore our city, it hit home with me. The thrill of exploration is back on in a big way.

I’m talking about geocaching.

The concept is elegantly simple in its design. Using the GPS function in smartphones and a free app designed to find these caches – aptly named Geocaching – the app user can discover trinkets in literal nooks and crannies. On a recent outing, my wife and I found a bracelet and a few other odds and ends inside holes in trees, stuck behind fences in a cemetery and hanging from a branch in the park.

The idea is that you take the prize you find – in our experience, from a duct-taped pill bottle – and leave something in return. We left stickers for the next geocachers. Also of note, there’s a tiny ledger in each hiding spot so that you can see how many people have found that particular cache. The app provides clues and allows you to let other users know that caches recently have been discovered. Additionally, you can set up your own caches, making it a seemingly endless activity.

It’s community building and exploration all in one, and it can make a weekend afternoon a treat.

Eyes on art
The Springfield Art Museum’s recent announcement of a $5 million donation – the largest in its history – has me optimistic for the future of the city.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that Springfieldians and its visitors deserve the future promised in the art museum’s 30-year master plan. The master plan, in part, is designed to expand and improve the 1111 E. Brookside Drive museum, and we’re already seeing proof of that with a new amphitheater coming up and improvements to nearby Fassnight Creek.

With a campaign goal of $25 million, the art museum has big plans in the works. It’s part of a bit of a renaissance in the Springfield art world heralded by murals, music, theater and more that we’ve seen in recent years.

An art museum backed by that kind of cash is a boon to our city. It will draw more visitors, and, importantly, make Springfield a better place to call home.

Major props to the Sunderland Foundation for the donation.

Springfield Business Journal Digital Editor Geoff Pickle can be reached at gpickle@sbj.net.