Pokemon Go

When people reflect back on the 2010s (is that what this decade will be called?), I suspect there will be at least one thing mentioned:  PokemonGo.  While I don't know if it will claim the fame Beanie Babies have from the 2000s, or parachute pants have from the 80s, I'm sure it will make the list...along with Donald Trump.

I'm going to leave it to Wikipedia to describe the game itself:

Pokémon Go (stylized as Pokémon GO) is a free-to-play, location-based augmented reality game developed by Niantic for iOS and Android devices. It was initially released in selected countries in July 2016. In the game, players use a mobile device's GPS capability to locate, capture, battle, and train virtual creatures, called Pokémon, who appear on the screen as if they were in the same real-world location as the player.

I was at Interlochen when I got a text from Hannie asking if I'd tried it yet.  In all honesty, I didn't even know what she was talking about.  However, after three days of unsuccessful attempts, I finally downloaded the app, and I was off.

In the beginning, I had no idea what I was doing, or why I was doing it.  But you better believe that every time I stepped out of JIG infirmary, I opened the app and started hunting.  Or at least got credit for the seven miles a day I would walk at Interlochen.

It only took me a couple of days to realize how fun the game is.  In fact, Glo had the following Monday off of classes, and I knew we were both chomping at the bit to get off campus (where there are only Pidgies and Weedles) and head into town.  We figured between the lake, and the downtown area, we would find something new.

Little did I know what a truly fun game it would be!  We must have been downtown three or four hours, before I realized that it had actually been three or four hours.  And lucky us, a local news reporter was out and about, finding people to interview about the game itself.  As she told us herself, we were the best interview of the day :-)

Here's the interview (recorded on my cell phone from the TV):  Pokemon Go News Interview

I seriously had to step into the lake for a couple of minutes, because my feet were so dang tired from all the walking!

Well, as it turns out, Pokemon Go has taken over our lives...and I'm proud of that.  There's been a lot of negativity about the game, but from my viewpoint, it's been only good.  Right from the beginning, I was happy to see the kids on Interlochen campus walking.  Yep, walking.  So many of the art-driven kids spend hours sitting.  Practicing.  Drawing.  Writing.  But all sitting.  And when they're done with class, they sit and read.  Or sit and listen to performances.  They sit.

I have never seen so many kids moving around campus until bedtime.  And everyone was talking to each other, and working together.

I love this next picture.  Allison was out in the kayak on her lake, and took this picture of a Pidgey.  I ended up printing the picture and hanging it in the infirmary.  The kids loved it, and in fact would ask me about the game (since the little kids don't have access to cell phones).  I loved moving out into the waiting room, pulling out my phone, and showing them how it worked :-)

In fact, when I saw this mountain goat meme, I couldn't help but think of our own mountain goat friend :-)

When Glo and I left Interlochen, we split the trip into two days.  We ended up attending the ward in Chelsea, Michigan, and as we left church, we noticed that there were a heck of a lot of Pokestops across the street...in the cemetery.  As it turns out, cemeteries are GREAT places to find "them Pokemons" :-)  And, it just so happens that we enjoyed the beautiful stroll around a very historic cemetery.  I caught this beautiful picture of Glo whom I believed enjoyed looking at the monuments more than the Pokemon.  YAY!

The game became more fun when we headed off to Europe.  Turns out, there are lots of good Pokemon to catch in the European parks.  So, every free chance we had in Europe, we were walking the parks as a family.  What would we have been doing otherwise?  Sitting.  Sitting and eating.  Sitting and talking.  Just sitting.

This is our first trip into Lasienki Park.  You'll notice that John has no phone in his hand.  That's because AT&T wouldn't let him unlock his phone (which meant he couldn't get a Polish SIM card).  He was a little bit frustrated to say the least...

Riga showed off her Pokemon skills also.  We loved to finish off our day by walking through the parks and around the famous moments (the ones that we wouldn't have visited otherwise).  Riga happens to have the most random short-lived rainstorms, and here are Mark and Glo, waiting one out under the cover of trees...and still playing!

So this past week, it's just been John and I at home.  And where we would usually sit and watch TV at night for several hours, or just hang around the house after John gets home from work, we have spent countless hours outside, walking around, talking, and having a grand old time.

John was post call one day, and we headed into State College itself to see what we can find.  Turns out, there are about a million Pokestops...and a million Ratattas :-(

On the days where John is working, I head out in the morning for a couple of hours (hello FOUR MILES!).  Of course, this has been the summer of unbearable heat, and the other day I had so much sweat dripping off my face that I looked like I was crying.  Yep, guess I couldn't catch that wily Squirtle....

Needless to say, my feet have taken a beating.  On average, I've been walking seven miles a day.  That's an AVERAGE, mind you.  So, last week, after dropping off Glo in Pittsburgh, I stopped by my favorite shoe store which just so happened to be having a tent sale.  And what did I find?  Possibly the most comfortable pair of running shoes I've ever owned:  Hoka One One Bondi 4.  John had been trying to convince me to buy them for over a year, but I was holding fast to my New Balance friends.  However, they were marked down significantly (which is a good thing when one is pricing Hoka One Ones).  Holy smokes, I put them on, straight out of the box, and went out and did four miles that night with John.  And not one foot pain, blister, or hurt fascia.  YES!

So, the other day, John convinced me to come to Altoona to hunt with him.  I had a meeting in Altoona at 7 o'clock, and he thought we could cover some ground in the hours beforehand.  I slipped on my Hokas, and made the forty minute drive.  Double holy smokes!  The cemetery behind the hospital (no, the irony of that fact is not lost on me) is loaded with Pokestops, and there are more people in that cemetery in one day now than I guess were ever there in a year before Pokemon Go.  And they are always dropping lures.

I thought there would be a lot of walking, but with triple lures, John and I just got comfortable and waited.

I had some trouble, sitting on the tombstones at first.  However, there are several broken ones, and I'm okay sitting on the base of the broken tombstones.  Plus, family history minded me thinks that the dead people might be happy to have some visitors for once.

It was actually a delightful afternoon, sitting there with John.  He was able to kill several birds with one stone, staying close to the hospital while on call, spending time with me, and, as he so aptly put it, "doing family history, John style!" :-)

Too, we're having a lot of fun with the stigma of it all.  After all, if you're going to be in your late 40s, and playing Pokemon Go, you just have to own it.  As John obviously has:

I about peed my pants, laughing at him, when he came down dressed like this (ready to go hunt Pokemon, of course).   The backpack cinched the picture, I think.

And I'm not afraid to admit what I'm doing.  I was texting Mark the other day, and he decided to share one of my texts with the FB world:

Too, I'm happy to take pictures of the funny moments when we're out hunting:

Yes!  We finally can feel like we BELONG in Pennsylvania!

All this hunting makes for a BIG appetite!  John and I decided to eat downtown (where there are millions of Pokestops...and no students at the moment!)

Does he have any Growlithes??
This is seriously a statue outside the LIBRARY.  Yes, the statue has headphones and an iPad.  Outside the LIBRARY.  Okay....

It's been really, REALLY fun, and it will be another thing I'll bring up when people ask how John and I keep the fun in our life.  And how I maintain such a fun and strong relationship with my kids.  And how I manage to walk seven miles a day.  Plus, it doesn't hurt that I just love playing :-)

Go POKEMON!!