Bachelorette Party Weekend: Vancouver, PDX, Astoria, Sunset Beach

I started thinking about this event about a month after Ben proposed because I knew my friends would want to know what was going to happen.  It seemed like it would be easy to plan but it wasn't.  Early fall of 2023 two situations complicated the bachelorette party, so I had to figure out when we could do it to eliminate more complications. 

I started talking to each of my friends to see if they were interested in going to a bachelorette party and what weekend we could do it, however two of the people I wanted to invite were pregnant and were both due in May.  I had to have the bachelorette party before May to avoid them wanting to bring their newborns with them.  It is disrespectful and inappropriate to even consider bringing babies or children to bachelorette parties.  But then it got even more complicated to which that person decided it would be easier just not to go.

That winter, my friends created a private Facebook event that I wasn't invited to because it was a surprise.  There, they threw around ideas and eventually planned the entire thing on there.  They asked me things here and there but didn't give anything away.  All I had to do was take the long weekend off, bring my belongings and pick up and drop off Fitzy at PDX.  I let them know that I was able to do that and to see everyone in Oregon.

Fitzy gave me her flight information and we agreed that I would be there to get her.  The night before, I did laundry, finished up the chores, packed up all of my stuff and made sure it got into the Escape.  I knew we were going to be at the beach, and it will most likely be cold, so I brought a lot of warm clothes.  I even threw in the air popper and a stick of butter just in case we had time for popcorn.  Little did I know that the stick of butter would come in super handy later on.

That morning, Ben got up and went to work, I got up shortly after. I fed the kitties, got ready and finished putting my stuff into the Escape.  I grabbed a bagel for the road.  I left around 7:50, noticed it was going to be a nice day and stopped to get gas at the Arco on Yelm Highway.   I followed some lame people all the way to I-5 on Tumwater Blvd.  I was glad to get away from them once I merged onto the freeway. I decided to chat with Erika on my way to Vancouver.  She had the day off and was getting her stuff done and packed before she also drove down that afternoon.  We talked about various things on the way down.  It made the trip go by quicker.  

I got down there earlier than I thought I would, so I drove over to WSU Vancouver to enjoy the rare, beautiful spring day.  I got into Vancouver before Fitzy got on her airplane in Spokane. We checked in and she said she was boarding her flight and to see me in about an hour.  I told her I will be at PDX to pick her up.  I found the correct road I needed to be on, went up the hill and found a parking lot that had a meter with time left on it.  It was for about 45 minutes, and I added a quarter to it to make it an even hour.  I sent an alarm on my phone, so I knew when it was getting close to expiring.  I walked around campus for about 20 minutes and took some photos of Mt. St. Helens because there were some great views of it looking northeast.  Mount Hood also peaked out in the distance to the east.  I also saw that the Vancouver campus added a Cougar Pride statue recently.  I couldn't walk out of there without a picture with it.  I found out later on they had a dedication ceremony scheduled for it on May 9th.  Since Covid, the campus was virtually empty.  I didn't see a lot of students walking around in between classes.

I had about ten more minutes before the Bookie opened so I just hung out until I saw the girl unlock the doors.  I went inside and she welcomed me in.  I browsed the little bookstore and finally found what I was looking for.  I wanted to get Trish a Coug mom T-shirt because she was going to be a Coug mom in July.  I thought it was an appropriate gift. I grabbed one and went to the counter to pay.  I chatted with the girl for a while about the upcoming football schedule and what it was like going to WSU Pullman about 20 years ago.  I even found out that my WSU email address to log on to the school's WiFi still worked. I haven't used that email in a long time. I thanked the girl and walked back to the Escape and hoped it was ticket free since I know I went beyond my allotted time. 

I didn't see a ticket.  I got in and left the campus.  I got onto I-5 and then I merged onto Hwy 14 and then 205.  I was still a little early, so I called Erika and talked to her while I spent some time at the Cascade Station.  She said she was going to try and leave around 1 to head down.  I was glad she decided to come being 8 months pregnant.  I wanted to find a geocache.  Cascade Station is an area east of the airport where you can shop and eat at a variety of restaurants.

I've been to this area a few times while I lived in Oregon.  I found a cache that was easy to access at the Best Buy parking lot.  I had to wait a few minutes for a guy to leave.  I got out and had a hard time locating LPC #2 (GC6WZBC), but I eventually found it!  That wasted about a half hour. 

I continued to the airport and decided to park for $4 and go into the arrivals.  I needed to use the restroom, and I wanted to get the virtual cache, PDX Carpet (GC9P4PQ).  It took a while to find a parking spot, but I eventually got lucky.  I memorized where the Escape was and walked the various hallways to where I needed to be.  Most of the inside of the PDX Airport was under construction.  I found a restroom and did the virtual cache and the Welcome to Portland Adventure Lab.  

As her arrival time approached, I made sure I was at the correct door.  She had no idea I was meeting her at the gate.  I did some people watching and saw this interesting "keep Portland weird" type of person.  It was a tall male, dressed in a neon green, almost a big bird feathery type of tube top dress, green platform shoes, green knee-high socks, a feather boa and he had some wild make up on his face.  I was like, whatever makes him happy.

I saw on the board that her flight arrived.  I waited for her text message.  Within about ten minutes, she called me to let me know she was on her way off the plane and that she would see me outside at the arrivals.  I told her that I was there but didn't say that I was at the gate.  She said that she would see me soon and hung up.  I only had to wait a few minutes before she came through that door.  The look on her face was priceless!  She did not expect me to be at the gate to welcome her to Portland, haha!

She asked why I was at the gate, and I told her because I had to pee and grab the geocache and the Adventure Lab.  She thought that was fair.  She used the restroom before we left to go back to the Escape.  I led the way back to the short-term parking.  We figured out where I was supposed to pay, and we left PDX.  I got onto the 205, missed the exit I needed, turned around and got onto I-5 south to Hwy 30.  We chatted about a lot of stuff, life, jobs, family and other topics, while we drove through Scappoose, St. Helens to Rainier, Oregon. 

Holy cow! I didn't realize how far away Portland was to Astoria.  It was about 95 miles away and roughly took 2 hours to get there. I've done this drive only one other time with family about ten years ago.  It was a long day.  Anyway, we continued catching up as we hit the home stretch into Astoria.  Mom called and checked in for about 10 minutes.  Fitzy had mentioned that she hadn't eaten in a while and was hungry.  I told her that I had a plan to stop at Fort George in downtown Astoria on the way through.  I wanted to try it.  She said it was a great choice because she and Chaise had been there before.

She steered me in the right direction, and we found some free parking on one of the side streets.  We grabbed what we needed and walked down the hill to the front of the building.  We walked inside and perused the drink and food menu.  We got our beers; she had a Tide Land Stout, and I had a Iredale Amber.  It was such a nice day we sat outside at the picnic tables while we chatted and waited for our food.

Our food came out and it looked good.  We inhaled it.  I didn't realize I was that hungry.  I checked in with everyone to see where they were on their travels.  Megan, Celeste and Nicole said they had just gotten to Astoria and Erika said she was a few miles outside of Astoria because she had to stop a few times to use the restroom.  It was understandable since she was eight months pregnant.  Fitzy and I finished our food and beers and offered to pay for mine.  

We got back into the Escape and followed the road to where it connected to Hwy 101 along the coast.  We drove through Warrenton and down to Sunset Beach, where our Vrbo awaited us for the weekend. 

I recognized the car ahead of me, so we followed Erika the rest of the way to the house.  It was a blue two-story house that sat next to Neacoxie Creek.  The creek was more of a lake in some areas.  Megan, Celeste and Nicole had arrived just minutes before we pulled in.  We all unloaded our vehicles, got the kitchen and rooms situated and relaxed for a few minutes.  Nicole, Megan and Celeste, because they didn't have any room in the car on the way down, drove to the nearest grocery store for the rest of the weekend supplies.  It was around 4 p.m. 

Fitzy, Erika and I hung out at the house and shared some stories.  They were gone for less than an hour and I helped them bring in the groceries when they came back.  We settled in again and Nicole announced we were going to play our first game, find the fake engagement rings.  But we didn't have to find them all at once.  We couldn't help it and scoured the house until we thought we found them all.  We played a game similar to the newlywed game.  Nicole had asked Ben some questions about him that I had to get right and vice versa.  We did pretty good and had a lot of laughs at our expense. Nicole worked on the finishing touches of our next game, GooseChase, which was interactive.  She had us all download the app to our phones beforehand. 

Nicole divided us into two teams, it was me and Erika against everyone else, we all logged into the game, and we all went wild.  The game was a mixture of answering questions, doing tasks and collecting things.  We had to document our progress with pictures or by answering questions.  Erika and I breezed through it.  We got stuck on one of the questions because neither of us knew anything about wine. Nicole finally told us the answer and we awaited the final results.  The score was very close.  It all depended on which team found the biggest rock outside.  Erika and I knew we found the biggest one, so we already knew we won.  Nicole announced the winners, and we celebrated!  It was so much fun that I suggested we do it with everyone at some point. Everyone agreed.

Celeste and Megan asked everyone if they were ready for pizza - something I had suggested we have during the bachelorette party weekend - and everyone said they could eat.  We got busy in the kitchen making pizzas.  I went with my boring cheese, olives and pepperoni pizza, lol.  We waited for them to cook, and they were delicious.  We spent some time eating, chatting and hanging out.  We talked about the bridal party stuff, the rehearsal dinner and if anyone had any questions I could answer. 

We cleaned up the kitchen and Fitzy wanted to go take a walk to the beach, so Megan and I joined her.  It wasn't that far from the house.  The funny part was that all of us were prepared with headlamps either in our backpacks or in our cars.  I always have a headlamp in my car for just such occasions.  We got ready to go and headed out.  It was a great walk, and the night was surprisingly warm for a spring night at the ocean.  We took a few photos and then headed back. It was fun spending time with my friends outside in a different setting.

We got back and Nicole got out her board and card games.  We chose one called Best Friends, and it did not disappoint.  I learned new things about my friends I've known for decades.  It was wild and fun.  We stayed up late and then all got ready for bed.  I stayed up for a little while and journaled in my notebook for a while.  I got my earplugs in (because Nicole snores and Fitzy breathes loudly) and laid down around midnight.  It was a long but fun day with friends and my sister!

Bachelorette Party Weekend:  Bachelorette Party Weekend:  Seaside, Geocaching, Dinner, Bonfire and Games

Lewiston Cache Machine Weekend: Lewiston to Lacey

The alarm went off around 8, but we continued laying there until about 8:30, when we decided to actually get up.  We had a long day of driving a head of us. We got dressed, packed up our belongings, ate our breakfast - yogurt, bananas, etc., and started taking our stuff out to the Escape.  We both went back into the room to take one final sweep of the room to make sure we had everything.  

We checked out and left the hotel just before 10.  We drove over to the Sinclair gas station to fill up before leaving Idaho, since gas prices were insanely high in Washington.  We ended up paying $3.60 compared to the $4.00+ in our state.

Before we left town, I wanted to try our hand at Community Incognito (GC6J7T6).  It was the most talked about cache of the weekend.  Apparently, it was hard, and people had tried giving hints at both events without actually telling everyone where it was.  We didn't have time to look for it the day before, so we were going to give it the ol' college try before we left. 

We drove over to the gravel parking area and got out.  We had no idea how long we were going to be there or if any other cachers were going to join as we searched.  This was similar to the Community Events #2 (GC207ZT) on how creative and cleverly hidden it was.  However, it was a harder find.  We looked in all the same places of the sign as we did at the other from the day before.  We were not finding it.  Where could this possibly be?  Why are people having a hard time finding it?  Then, I had an idea.  We haven't checked the lava rocks yet.

I drug my hands in the lava rocks and did this several times until I found it.  I could not believe the cache owner was this sneaky. You had to be delicate with the cache container because it was fragile. We unscrewed the container, wrote our names on the logbook and screwed it back together, gently. I got a few photos and told Ben that I was glad we waited to find this one before we left town instead of the day before.  He agreed.  

We got back in the Escape and left Lewiston and Clarkston.  It was nice visiting the valley again as well as experiencing Pullman and WSU with Ben.

We got onto Hwy 12 and headed west towards Pomeroy.  We stopped in Pataha, a small community just outside of Pomeroy.  I wanted to get the virtual cache, Combine Art (GCGQDD), so we pulled over at the really cool dinosaur to take pictures. We had way too much fun at this cache, and I wondered how many people stop by and take pictures with the dino, cachers or not.  We got what we needed, got back into the Escape and drove to the next one, Welcome to Pomeroy (GC1ZWAW).  We searched all over the place but couldn't find it.

As we got back onto Hwy 12, a familiar yellow truck drove by, we recognized who it was because she had gotten pulled over during the cache machine.  They pulled over and parked along the street when they got into town.  We pulled over as well because I wanted to get Pocket Park (GC76QHF) since it had over 20 favorite points.  

We waved to Lori and Lana as they drove past us in their yellow truck.  I had no idea they were going to turn around and come help us find it. They got out of the truck and went into the small pocket park with us.  They said that they found that one years ago and thought it was over where the coords took us. It wasn't.  I found some trash and a pencil.  I moved to the corner of the pocket park because that is the only other place that has enough room for a regular sized cache. 

And there it was!  Someone had moved it but didn't change the coordinates on the cache page.  Cachers are logging it as found on some instances and not found on others, so it confuses everyone on whether or not it's there or not. I logged our names and chatted with Lori and Lana as we walked back to our vehicles on the street.  They were headed to Palouse Falls and we were on our way back to Olympia.  We wished each other safe travels and left Pomeroy.

We continued driving west on Hwy 12.  The scenery was so nice.  I was glad to be away from home even if it was just for a long weekend. After about 40 miles we drove through downtown Dayton.  I wanted to stop for a cache outside of town called iCache (GC6XFK6) because it had over 100 favorite points, so it must have been a good one.  We pulled over at a driveway and there it was, one of those old iMac's from the early 2000's.  It took me a few minutes to figure out how to open it without breaking it. Once I figured it out, I got our names on it, got a photo and put it back for the next cacher.

We were getting hungry, and I knew Lewis and Clark Trail State Park was coming up.  Highway 12 divided it up into two halves.  I've been to the southern part of the park but not the northern part, which had the camping areas.  We pull into the park and follow the loop to the restrooms.  I took out my Discover Pass only to discover it was expired.  I told Ben we needed to keep this visit quick just in case the ranger comes around to look at passes.  We both used the restroom and then we made some PBJ sandwiches.  Of course, the ranger did come around, but she was only there to change out the trash bags.  She didn't even come over to where the Escape was.  I did get nervous there for a minute though.  We ate our sandwiches and chips and continued west.  

We drove through Waitsburg and Prescott, I reminisced to Ben about our trip last October in Walla Walla doing the power trails, we sure had a great time, but a pair of his underwear didn't, haha and made that long stretch of road into Burbank and then into Richland. We breezed through the TriCities and again, Ben and I talked about the TriCities Geocoin Challenge and wishing it hadn't gone away.  We will miss it so much!

I listened to some of my podcasts while Ben dozed off a few times on and off.  We drove through Sunnyside, and I asked Ben if he wanted to stop at Miner's since we were driving though Union Gap and Yakima.  He said, of course!  I added, did we want to stop at the fruit stand too?  He said no, we really didn't need anything. I said alright and we made our way to Miner's.  We pulled into the parking lot, and it wasn't busy!  I love it when Miner's isn't busy.  

We jumped in line and ordered our usual.  We shared the giant pile of fries, and each ordered a milkshake.  Our food came really quick and enjoyed every last morsel because we knew we might not be coming over here for a while.  

We threw our trash away, hopped back into the Escape and got gas at the Arco before getting back on the freeway.  We merged at the junction and drove west to Naches.  I was sad we were never going to be able to visit Willmarth in Yakima again.  We've had a ton of memories over the past 20+ years coming over to this area.

The pass and the rest of the way home was uneventful.  Ben was in and out of napping and I listened to my podcasts to keep me company.  I love it when the pass isn't busy because I can actually make good time to the other side.  We got into Lacey around 7 and stopped by Safeway to pick up a few things since we were gone all weekend.  We rolled into the driveway, unpacked the Escape, took showers, washed clothes and got ready for the work week.  This would be the last long weekend/vacation together for a while.

Next Adventure:  Bachelorette Party Weekend:  Vancouver, PDX, Astoria, Sunset Beach

Lewiston Cache Machine Weekend: LCM, Mexican Food and Groundworks Brewing

Traditionally, cache machines start early in the mornings around 5:30-6:00 a.m. and I knew Ben wasn't going to get up that early, so I made him get up around 8 and ready and out the door by 9.  We got dressed, grabbed our breakfast and packed up our stuff we would need for the day.  Due to our hotel room situation, adding the extra night may have affected our stay there, so we called and asked if we had to move rooms or not.  They didn't answer, so we left hoping for the best.

We left the hotel around 9:10 and I had Ben drive while I navigated us around town.  I was so happy the weather held up and it wasn't raining.  We filled up at the Sinclair because it was closest to our hotel and gas is cheaper in Idaho than it is in Washington.  I kinda miss living near a state border where gas is cheaper on the other side. Oh well. We took advantage of it while we were there that weekend. 

Based off of where we were, I quickly figured out a route so I could get Ben around town without a lot of backtracking.  I have mentioned before that I have been to Lewiston but not in this capacity.  I was going to learn a lot more about Lewiston and visit places I've never been to on this trip. This is one of the reasons why I love geocaching...visiting and learning about new places. 

Our first cache of the day was called Rod Stewart (GC8YZXB).  It was located on the edge of a very large parking lot overlooking the town down below.  We thought that are was probably a shopping center at some point but now it's a little run down and features a dilapidated K-Mart.  Ben and I made quick work of it.  I knew we were probably looking for a rod of some sort.  I saw a suspicious piece of rebar sticking out of an old parking block.  It helped having found others like this in the past.  We got our names on it and moved on to the next.

The Internet (GCA5FXJ) was an interesting one. Ben and I got to the parking lot and had to walk down a small geo trail over some broken rocks to the ammo can.  We had to figure out a code to open the lock.  Once we got inside, we signed our names and locked it back up.  We walked back to the Escape.  I looked at the app to see which cache was next.  

The next one was up by the county airport.  Community Events #2 (GC207ZT) was at a large sign that gets changed out depending on what time of year it is and what they are advertising.  There was plenty of room to park and search.  We honestly had no idea what we were looking for.  We checked every nook, cranny, crease and even counted everything to make sure each side of the sign was even.  About 15 or so minutes into the search, I started reading logs of past finders to see if I could get a hint.  I really couldn't get one.  I took a step back and really looked at the sign and its surroundings.  Then I saw something.  Ben!  You're tall, grab this bar and see if it moves.  It did. I had Ben get it down so we could get the cache out of it.  We got our names on it, took a few pictures and struggled putting it back how we found it.  It was a tight fit. 

From there, we grabbed, ??? (GCAECEX), Shave and a Haircut... (GCA2127), Power of Love II (GC94P5H) and Don't Take Offense (GC8VYK5).  All of those caches were quick park and grabs.

We went to our first and only letterbox, MCRD Lewiston (The TB Recruit Training Center) (GCA8C02).  It was a true letterbox.  We had to go to a waypoint to get coordinates to a final.  You kinda already knew where the final was because it was big, yellow and obvious. I followed the instructions, opened the lock and saw all the commotion that was happening inside the cache.  You could tell this was designed by a person who loved the military or was once in the military.  I didn't take nor leave anything, but I signed the logbook and took a few pictures. 

Power of Love (GC94P5H) was at the fairgrounds. We pulled up in the Escape and I got out to grab the cache. It was a clever one made out of PVC pipes.  I took it into the Escape with me so we could look at it and sign the logbook.  I got out to put it back and a couple in a truck that had gotten out to be out in the field, about 50 yards away, were watching us like we stole something.  They both looked at us, the woman immediately got on her cell phone like she was calling the cops on us and lurched ran at us.  We thought it was odd.  We flipped them off as we left the fairgrounds.

We finished the caches in that area and got back onto Thain Road.  Ben said that we should find somewhere to use the restroom soon.  I saw a Burger King and pulled into the parking lot.  Ben went inside while I stayed out by the Escape and made us each a PBJ for lunch...since it was about that time. Once he was done, we grabbed our sandwiches, chips and drinks and figured out what part of Lewiston to hit up next.  

We drove back down to where our hotel was to get Waterfall of Memories (GC1RTB4), it had about 75 favorite points.  We parked and followed the path to where the coords took us.  The area was dedicated to the people who passed away while fighting for our country.  They had a waterfall, paths and small bridges.  It was a nice memorial.  I found the bison tube hiding on the small metal bridge.  I got our names on it, took a picture and hid it back in its hidey hole.  We got back to the Escape and drove over to the train on the other side of the intersection.

There was a place to park, which was nice, we got out and inspected the train for the answer we needed for the virtual cache, All Aboard (GCAJFVE).  We finally found what we were looking for, took a couple pictures and got back into the Escape.  This cache was not part of the cache machine, but because it was a virtual cache, I wanted to get it anyway.

We looked at the app to see which one was next on our list.  We followed the road along the Clearwater River to the northwestern part of Lewiston near the border of Washington and the confluence of the Snake River for two caches.  The first one was called Rock On (GC6J870), and it had a lot of favorite points.  We also saw that it had a difficulty of 4.  We could be here a while looking.  We found a place to park and started looking.  It was a cement/rock building next to the water and of course, there were people fishing nearby.  We would have to find the one rock that comes out of the wall, but it was camouflaged so well!  We searched every square inch of that building and just could not find it.  I scoured the found it logs on the app, studied the photos other cachers had posted...we just could not find it for the life of us.  Then I thought of another way to hunt for it, and it paid off.  I found the darn thing.  Once you saw it, you knew it looked different from the others. We got our names on it, took a few photos and put it back.  That was a well-done cache. 

We moved onto the Lewis and Clark Information Center to grab the other two, Nano at the Confluence (GC90CJE) and a virtual cache, Tsceminicum (GC9F28), an oldie from October 2002.  We ran into a cacher named PIR359.  We chatted for a bit while Ben and I got our picture in front of the statue to suffice the virtual cache. Then we walked back to the Escape since there was a weird homeless man hanging out in the structure next to the river. 

We drive across the bridge and back into Washington.  We spent the rest of our day in Clarkston grabbing caches along the route.  We picked up No Parking at Anytime (GC7TKGW), Eagle Project (GC4MT57), Squirrely (GCA93TE) and Ode to Team MD (GC2BBKJ).  I decided that since we were already on this side of the river and I needed Asotin for the Towns and Cities Challenge, that we might as well grab it than wait until the next day.  Ben agreed.  

We made our way to the small town of Asotin, home of the Panthers.  I know I have never been there before but learned about it in my Washington State History class when I was in 9th grade.  It is a small town south of Clarkston, located on the south bank of the Snake River along State Highway 129.  Asotin is the last town along the Snake River route to Hell's Canyon, which is the deepest gorge on the American continent.  About 1,200 residents live and work in Asotin. 

I navigated Ben to Something's Fishy #2 (GC23RXF).  There was a large gravel parking lot filled with cars.  Across the street, a fastpitch game was being played by the local high school.  We found a place to park in the lot and walked along a trail next to the Snake River to one of my Towns and Cities geocaches I needed to finish the challenge.  There were old cement structures, boulders, logs and brush to walk around.  I found the log that it was hidden inside of, pulled it out and signed our names.  I was happy to finally cross another one of the Towns and Cities caches off my list!  We got a few pictures before rehiding it and walking back to the Escape. 

We left Asotin and drove north back towards Clarkston.  We stopped and got Red Brick (GC3RACA) Muley (GC3V942) and Yuma Micro (GC3RACZ) and took two trackables out of that one so they could move along on their journey.  These caches were quick park and grabs. 

We made our way west past Clarkston Heights. There, we found Petrified Wood? (GC4H7QD) and West Evans Pond (GC8JAQY).  The first one didn't take us that long to find since it was super obvious.  The second one we had to be stealthy because there were muggles everywhere fishing from the pond.  I tried to be quick and invisible when I got out to grab that one.  It seemed like no one was paying attention to me.  Let's hope this cache stays around a while.

From there, we got onto Hwy 12 and drove west to pick up 11th Anniversary (GC2VJ1V) along the highway.  We had to park as far over as we possibly could on the road while I got out and hustled across the street avoiding oncoming traffic.  I was able to find the container quickly, got our names on it, placed it back in its hiding spot and safely ran back across the road and into the Escape. 

I directed Ben to the next few, Not All Nests Have Birds (GCA49G3), Great Place Fore a Tee (GCA4BVD) and Where the Deer and Pheasant Roam (GC237C6).  All were located within the Chief Timothy Habitat Management Unit being operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers. It is a 72-acre swath of day-use land where you can hunt, fish, and hike.  We had the place to ourselves.  Each cache, we had to walk at least a quarter of a mile to from the parking areas.  We were here for about an hour while we grabbed these three caches.  I also brought a bag with me so we could pick up intact pinecones for wedding decorations.  We managed to fill up an entire bag. 

We finished our walk and saw how much time we had left until it got dark and the Cache Machine event, which started at 7:30.  Ben and I thought we could get about 3-5 more caches depending on how long they took to get. 

We got back onto Hwy 12 and continued west.  We stopped to get Silly's Travel Bug Trading Post (GC361FV).  We got off the highway and found a small dirt driveway to park in.  Ben stayed in the Escape while I hopped out to go get it.  I saw several pheasants running around the tall grass trying to get away from me.  It took me to a tree with an old, deformed metal piece in it.  The large cache container was underneath the metal piece.  At least it kept it dry during the wet times of the year.  I signed our names, grabbed the TB to move on and put it back.  I walked back to the Escape.

I wanted to get one more cache out that way, we were about 9 miles west of Clarkston, so we drove into Chief Timothy Park/Silcott Island, in the middle of the Snake River.  We did not have the permit we needed, so Ben stayed in the Escape while I hustled out to get the virtual cache, Listening Circle by Maya Lin (GC7B7G9).  It was about a half a mile out and back.  I got the necessary pictures I needed and met Ben back at the Escape.  He said since we were here, he needed to use the restroom.  We drove down to the restroom and we both utilized it.  I saw there were also good pinecones there, I got out and picked up a bunch of them and stuffed them into our other plastic bag.  Yay wedding planning!

We got back onto Highway 12 and went east back into town.  We got into Clarkston and went over the bridge back into Lewiston.  We wanted to grab a couple more.  We found a place to park in downtown and walked to the center of town for Lewiston's Muggledbury Square (GC9V64X).  This one took us a few minutes to find because the coords were taking us all over the place.  I finally just started looking in the obvious places and finally found it.  It was an electric faceplate hidden in plain view but if you didn't know it wasn't supposed to be there, you wouldn't have noticed it.  I got our caching names on it and then we went weird with the statues. 

We decided to walk to the next one.  We should have looked into it more before we scaled the side of a hill to get to it.  Of course, there is an easy way and a hard way.  We chose the hard way in and the easy way out.  I thought Why Not Sit a Spell (GC9NE12) was along the hillside trail based on the map.  Haha, it wasn't. We scaled the steep hillside trail anyway.  When we got to the top, we found out it was a park, and you could drive and park in the parking lot.  Ben was like, lame.  We found the cache fast, got a picture of Ben being a goof and walked back down to the Escape along the street.

It was about 5:30 and we were getting hungry.  We really didn't want to eat at the cache machine venue because it takes too long to get food. So, we decided to go to Cee Cee's, a Mexican joint Brad told us about the night before. He said he eats there often during the work week.  We arrived at the restaurant, parked and went inside.  We were seated right away in the back.  I ordered a water, and Ben got a beer as we looked at the menu.  Ben ordered a wet burrito, and I thought the tamales looked good.  Our food came out quickly and we both devoured our food.  It was delicious just as Brad described.  We paid and headed over to the event.

Lewiston ID Cache Machine Dinner (GCAMWGK) was at KC's Burgers and Brew off of Thain. The place was so popular there hardly were any parking spots left.  I told Ben we made a great choice to eat dinner elsewhere.  We found some places to sit, talked to some people we knew and didn't know.  One of the cachers from Idaho gave out some Idaho potato pins...I thought that was cool. We signed the logbook and listened to some information about the next couple cache machines, ones we would probably not be able to go to because we would be busy.  We stayed for about 45 minutes.

I wanted to stop by Rosauer's to see if they had any good beer that I couldn't find at home.  I did find a six pack of huckleberry ale, so I bought it and walked back out to the Escape where Ben was waiting for me.

We headed over to the western side of Lewiston to Groundworks Brewing.  Ben and I try to visit at least one brewery when we travel around.  This was a smaller brewery with a view of the Snake River.  We found a place to park, and we went inside.  There were a few people there enjoying their beers.  We both ordered the Down Under Blonde and played rummy as we drank our beers.  We stayed for about an hour. 

We got back to the hotel around 9:15 and had to talk to the Grand Hotel desk to make sure our room situation was fine, they said it was.  It was a relief. We brought our stuff into our room, got situated, got in some showers, watched TV and relaxed a bit before bedtime. 

Notes on the Day:

We found 40 caches.

We crossed off Asotin and now I have 8 more towns and cities left to go.

Next Adventure:  Lewiston to Lacey