My sister just sent her youngest off to school today. It’s her kid’s first day of first grade… and my sister’s first day of not having any children running around the house.

You’d think she’d be happy, FINALLY some freedom.

The reality?

Acute depression.

She loves babies, and was very attached to her last child. She’s also a mother of three… and has known pretty much nothing but entertaining little ones for the last 12 years.

Today was her first day alone, with nothing to do.

Don’t get the wrong idea — hers is a temporary state of solemness. She’s looking for jobs and even has two already lined up. It’s a transition — her malaise shall pass.

But I knew on this day it would be a good thing to distract her, so I took her out for breakfast and schemed for some ideas of things we could do together.

After all, I was her “first” baby — she’s a full 12 years older than me and was my regular caretaker and playmate during my pre-school years.

Anyway, after eating we started looking around for things to do in the area. I was optimistic — fall’s a fun season, but unfortunately most events take place on the weekends. We had some options, but none compelling.

We were getting pretty close to settling when she benignly suggested, “well, we could do a geocache.”

I snapped-to. My intuition locked onto this, as it does only when an amazing idea has just been suggested. We had to do it. I knew she had mentioned doing them before with her kids, but I had never done one myself. This was going to be exciting.

For those of you who don’t know, geocaches are little “objects” placed in random locations. Your goal is to find them. The system is community run via an app (some people volunteer to create geocaches). You have a GPS and some hints — effectively your treasure map — but otherwise you’re on your own.

This might sound easy to some, but the truth is the difficult varies based on the cache. Many of these treasures are small — some are camouflaged and the size of a lip-balm container… and the GPS only works within ~20 feet. Finding them isn’t a picnic.

Our search took us into the local woods, climbing over logs, trying to avoid thorns and poison ivy. During the trek we even got covered in spider webs and even saw a deer. But ultimately we (well, she) found each of the geocaches we were looking for. And had a hell of a good time doing it.

Why does this matter to you?

Should be obvious. This is the perfect idea for a date.

As some of you know, I’m in favor of coffee / drinks for the first date, just to determine compatibility, so I’d say this one works best as a “second date.” But if you like to surprise from the outset it would even work for a first one.

In fact, it’s pretty much evergreen — I intend to do it with my wife when I’m back in the big city this weekend.

Why does it work so well?

It has all the elements of a good date you could possibly want.

Unconventional.

Adventurous.

Playful.

All while no-bullshit screening said girl to see if she possesses these traits herself.

It’s basically a guaranteed formula to see if a girl is down-to-earth or high-maintenance; to weed out red flags… all while fast-tracking attraction.

And it’s free.

More:

One of the great things about geocaches are that they are not (usually) in places other people are.

They might be in a concealed corner of a park or forest, or among some interesting old buildings no longer inhabited.

In other words, they are secluded.

Great place for in-the-moment make-outs (and even sex).

Some of you might find it weird, given that this is a system developed mostly for younger kids to have fun.

But that’s to misunderstand that women are just kids at heart.

They want to escape the burdens of the world, to play.And they want a “partner-in-crime”— a bold, mischievous co-conspirer (or competitor!) — to do “it” with.

Geocaching fits the bill.

Try it out and let me know your results. I know it won’t disappoint.

– Pat

PS If you’re struggling to set up the date, get my book Tackling Texting. It’ll explain to you the psychological dynamics at play when you’re texting a girl… and reprogram your brain so saying the right thing at the right time will never be a problem again.