{"id":35455,"date":"2016-06-21T10:40:02","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T17:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.geocaching.com\/blog\/?p=35455"},"modified":"2017-11-10T13:19:11","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T21:19:11","slug":"geocaching-with-the-smithsonian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.geocaching.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/geocaching-with-the-smithsonian\/","title":{"rendered":"Geocaching with the Smithsonian"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mailman recently delivered a nice surprise to me: a beautiful trackable geocoin from the <\/span>Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) GeoTour<\/span><\/a>. I completed the GeoTour last year, and in the process earned a <\/span>digital badge<\/span><\/a> for my Geocaching.com profile. Little did I know that the NMNH was working on a geocoin that would eventually take a place of honor in my collection.<\/span><\/p>\n

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National Museum of Natural History Geocoin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The <\/span>National Museum of Natural History<\/span><\/a> is a truly spectacular place. Located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., it\u2019s the most visited natural history museum in the world. The <\/span>NMNH GeoTour<\/span><\/a> debuted in 2013 with several Mystery caches, a Traditional cache and three EarthCaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Inside the National Museum of Natural History<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All but one of the caches\u2019 posted coordinates are at the museum, with one outlier located about a two-hour drive north, in Pennsylvania\u2019s Michaux State Forest. (The NMNH also owns a <\/span>Letterbox Hybrid<\/span><\/a> with posted coords on the museum grounds. It is not an official part of the GeoTour.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Get up close with nature during the GeoTour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My wife and I started the GeoTour during a trip to D.C. in November 2013, when we were able to stamp our <\/span>passport<\/span><\/a> for all but two of the caches. I was back in that part of the country for the GeoWoodstock Mega-Event last year, and jumped at the opportunity to complete the tour and earn my digital badge. The NMNH GeoTour is a really fun way to enjoy the museum from a new perspective, and to continue exploring outside the Smithsonian walls. I had visited the NMNH a time or two in the past, but this GeoTour encouraged me to dig into subjects that had escaped my attention on previous trips. Plus, it led me to a few beautiful sites outside of D.C.<\/span><\/p>\n

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See colossal things while caching!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So how can you qualify for a digital badge and one of these super-cool geocoins? The requirements are listed on all of the <\/span>NMNH\u2019s GeoTour<\/span><\/a> cache pages. If you\u2019re looking for a way to enhance your next visit to the U.S. capital, I highly recommend making this GeoTour part of your trip!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The mailman recently delivered a nice surprise to me: a beautiful trackable geocoin from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) GeoTour. I completed the GeoTour last year, and in the process earned a digital badge for my Geocaching.com profile. Little did I know that the NMNH was working on a geocoin that would…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[93,137],"tags":[285,157],"series":[],"class_list":["post-35455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geotours","category-news","tag-geocaching","tag-geotours"],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/www.geocaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/www.geocaching.com\/blog\/feed\/podcast\/inside-geocaching-hq-podcast","embedCode":"

Geocaching with the Smithsonian<\/a><\/blockquote>