International Geocaching Day & The 2025 Tumwater Artesian Brewfest

A couple months ago, Del brought up going to the Tumwater Artesian Brewfest and asked if anyone was interested in going. We all spoke up and agreed that we had a great time last year that we should do it again this year! I even reached out to Megan to see if she wanted to go. She said she didn't have her kids that weekend and was interested in going with us. She doesn't drink but she said she would have fun just hanging out and doing something with friends.

That morning there was a geocaching event, 2025 International Geocaching Day Gathering (GCBAJQR) and yes, I even got a text message from Bev asking if I was going to the event. I told her yes, I was getting up and putting on clothes and that I would see her and Bob there in a little bit. I grabbed a super quick breakfast and told Ben that I would see him later. I made it to the event a few minutes before it started and was able to find a parking spot since quite a few people showed up.

I hung out with everyone for about an hour. We talked about past geocaching trips, future trips, the geocaches we all have found recently...a couple people asked about the Europe trip I went on with Ben back in February. It was fun to see everyone. 

I was talked into going to Kettle View Park with Bob, Bev, Gabe and Wayne to go get a new cache that published that morning by Riley and Karen. I told them I would meet them at the park so we could find The Woods Have It...(GCBAJCR). We started walking over to the patch of woods and found a couple ways in. I got to the cache first and found what we were looking for. I got my name on it and put it back where I found it. I thought the group of people were right behind me, but they took a little bit more time to saunter through the woods down the dirt path. I was going to let them figure out where the cache was and would give them a hint if they need it. They found it within a couple minutes. They decided to go get a few more, but I didn't have time to go with them since I had prior engagements.

I hurried home because Megan was meeting up with Ben and I to carpool to the event in Tumwater. We were going to meet Nicole and Del there. We got to the brewery grounds, paid our parking fee and found a place to park. We grabbed what we would need and made our way to the giant line where we found Nicole and Del. For being a giant line, we did get through it quickly - scanned our phones, got our bracelets, tokens and souvenir glass which looked different than the past years. Megan was our designated driver, so her bracelet and swag was a little different than ours. 

We went inside and walked to the three tents. The weather, on the other hand, did not look favorable off to the west. We could get our butts wet. I looked at the map and the available breweries and drinks to try. I saw some of the same ones I enjoyed from past years and some interesting creative ones to try this year. As I was heading to my first taste, I heard my name being called from the crowd of people. Who is calling my name? I scan the crowd to see where it was coming from and saw Fitzy's sister, Kelsey and her friend enjoying the festivities. We talked about an array of things but mostly the NHL and the Kraken games. She nabbed some season tickets, and she's been enjoying the games. She was excited for the upcoming season. I told her it was nice running into her and to enjoy the rest of her day. She told me the same.

Then it started sprinkling so I found the closest tent and crammed my way into it. I really did not want to get soaked and soggy. It rained for about 10 minutes and then the nice weather resumed the rest of the time we were there. I got my first sample and then walked around the grounds looking at what kind of vendors there were with Megan. There were ton of food choices, sponsor booths, merchandise, live music, games, blow ups, a photo booth and various porta potties.

Somehow, I ended up with more tokens than what was handed to me. I can't remember where I got them from. These are the places I had a tester from:

• 3 Dog Cider Brewstillery - Olympia Blueberry
• Axis Meads - Lavender Moon
• Portland Cider Co - Huckleberry Lemonade
• Finn River Farm & Cidery - Lavender Black Currant
• Mt Olympus Brewing - Midsummer's Dream Peach/Cream
• Axis Meads - Burbon Barrel Jam Session
• Narrows Brewing - Orange Chicken IPA
• Talking Ceder Distillery - Freezer Jam
• Triceratops Brewing - Raspberry Golden Ale
• Talking Cedar Brewing - Raspberry Blonde Juicy IPA
• Mighty Pine Brewing - Loggerrythm Helles Lager

At this point in time, this is where I regretted not eating enough food before we came to Brewfest and I paid for it. It came on all of a sudden. I got super dizzy to where it made me nauseous and I basically just left our group and headed to one of the porta potties. With the state of things, I absolutely did not care if the porta potties were clean or not. I sat there with my head against the door hoping the world would stop spinning. I have no idea how long I was in there. It didn't feel like it was that long but according to Ben, he said I was gone a long time. He texted me and asked if I was okay. I told him I was fine just so people would stop bothering me. 

I had a wave where I thought I felt fine, so I got up and finished up. Then all of a sudden, I puked all over the inside of the porta potty. I felt super bad. It brought me back to the last experience I had similar to this when I was a college student in Pullman and made a mess in someone's bathroom from drinking too much and not eating enough throughout the day. I spent a little bit of time wiping up as much as possible. I am not sure how good of a job I did. I felt a little better after that but still kind of wonky.

I met back up with everyone, and they asked me if I was okay. I told them, "I am now!" We spent a little bit more time wandering around before deciding we were done. Ben went with Del back to the house while I went with Megan and Nicole to Fred Meyer to get nacho making stuff. I stayed in Megan's car with my eyes closed because the dizziness struck me again. I wasn't sure how long they were gone but Megan was super impressed with how efficient drunk Nicole was in the store while gathering up the ingredients.

They returned and we got onto Littlerock Road where it meets up with Trosper. I felt ill and while at the stop light, I opened the door and puked right in the middle of the street, trying not to get any in Megan's car. I felt great afterwards. We got back to the house and Nicole immediately started making nachos. I got made fun of because I was the one who puked. I reminded them that next year I definitely need to eat more throughout the day before I go. Everyone agreed. 

We devoured the nachos and spent the rest of the evening playing Rock Band until it was time to go home and go to bed. We thanked Nicole and Del for the invite, the nachos and the entertainment and hopped into Megan's car and she took us home. We got home just after 11 p.m. Megan let us know when she got home. I got in a shower and went to bed. Puking makes you tired.

Next Adventure: Labor Day Weekend in Long Beach with Trish

Going APE 2025: Block Party

I slept okay but then the alarm went off around 6:30 but we didn't get out of bed until 6:45. We both go ready and started packing up our stuff. Ben ate his muffin and I had some yogurt I packed up with me. We took stuff down to the Escape; Ben made one last sweep and checked us out. Ben wanted some coffee so we went to the nearest Top Pot and got a coffee and, me, a maple bar - I couldn't help myself.

We got onto I-90 and headed east. I was so glad we decided to stay the night in Issaquah instead of getting up at 4:30 a.m. to drive up to the Pass from Lacey. It would have been a long, tiresome day. It was slow around North Bend for some reason but soon thinned out. We were able to make up some time as we climbed in elevation. We arrived in Hyak a little bit after 8 a.m. I wasn't sure where they wanted the volunteers to park but we figured that out quickly. We grabbed what we would need, checked in, got organized and helped out where we were needed.

We were given green volunteer Ape shirts, a lanyard and walkie talkies. Antoine and a few others connected with me to let me know what I was responsible for as the assistant director, logistics. Ben met up with Margaret to find out his duties in the medical tent for that day. I spent most of my time running around checking on the parking volunteers, the gate and the two portals. I also made sure they had everything they needed so their stations were running smoothly.

I had several conversations throughout the day with fellow geocachers, other WSGA volunteers, my directors and leads. I know not everything is perfect when you have a large event. We had a parking lot snafu. Apparently, the person who was supposed to ask permission for the overflow lot actually didn't and assumed we had permission to use it based on past events. That parking lot we did not have permission for. We found out that it was privately sold years ago and is owned by another group of people. We had to let people know since that's where the parking lot crew was telling people to go. The people who had already parked there...well, we would just hope for the best and that no one received a parking ticket or was towed. If they did, we determined that, the WSGA would pay for it.

I spent the rest of the afternoon running back and forth from my stations and checking up on my volunteers. There were a few times we had to have Gene in the 4x4 come pick up cachers who wanted to go get the Ape cache, but their mobility was hindered. I did a lot of running around. The wind did pick up that early afternoon and thrashed the first aid sign in Ben and Margaret's station. They had joked that the sign being repaired with tape was the most action they got that entire day. Which was good to hear because that meant that none of our attendees were injured or needed first aid during the event. I did have time to pick up a few of the Adventure Labs in the area I didn't have yet, but we were not able to do the tunnel this year.

As the Block Party - Return of the Ape (GCAWAYJ) came to a close, we helped out the stations who needed help breaking down their pop ups, tables, chairs, cones, etc. We made sure we found the place better than we found it...or at least we tried, since there were other people there besides the people who came for our event. We had several conversations with people on how it went and thanked everyone for a fun time in the mountains. Ben and I said our goodbyes and left the state park around 3ish. 

Luckily, the traffic wasn't bad, and we got home around 5. We unloaded the Escape, put stuff away, got cleaned up, ate dinner, washed a load of laundry, went to Lowe's for some paint supplies for our rental visit the next day, logged caches and wrote notes for my blog.

I wrote this in my geocaching log:

"It really does take a village to run an event especially a Block Party in the mountains. 

What makes this event so successful are the volunteers. The time, dedication and the ability to bring everyone together to get excited about the community we are serving. In this case, we are a geocaching community who serves the people of our extended geocaching communities. Obviously, nothing is perfect, but we at least try to be perfect.

Individually, we have a unique set of skills, such as - a collaborative mindset to get people rallied to reach the successful outcome, those who are technologically savvy, people who are knowledgeable about a particular part of the event, the right education, experience and those who are able to share what worked and what didn't work. With that being said, I was put in the role of an assistant director, specifically logistics.

I was not sure what that was going to look like, but I had an open mind about it and was excited to see what was going to happen. I've been to several Ape events over the years and have had different roles as a volunteer. Being an assistant director, to be honest, did intimidate me a first. With several conversations over the course of a few months and asking the right questions, I was excited for the opportunity to help out where I was needed. Thank you, for trusting me to get my job done.

I heard attendees throughout the day say that they had fun, it was organized and many of their questions were answered by the WSGA running around in green shirt with walkie talkies.

A huge thank you to everyone who volunteered at the Ape event this afternoon up at Snoqualmie Pass. Serious, without you we would not have an event. To everyone I had a conversation with, it was nice to catch up with you again and it was great to meet those people I met for the first time today. Because I was running around most of the day, I wasn't able to connect with some of you, but maybe we can somewhere else down the road."

Next Adventure: International Geocaching Day & The 2025 Tumwater Artesian Brewfest

Around Issaquah: Jakob Two Trees, Adventure Labs and a WSGA Summer Picnic

We both took a three-day weekend so we could enjoy it. I didn't want to have to hurry since Issaquah and Hyak wasn't that close to home. In the early stages of planning for the weekend, Antoine and Nikki were going to have us stay with them, then it turned into almost staying with some of their friends to finally just staying in a cheap hotel in Issaquah. We found that the Motel 6 was cheap and available, so we booked it for a night.

We spent some time the night before packing up everything so we could maximize our morning. I set the alarm for 8:30, we got ready for the day and finished packing up the rest of our stuff we would need and packed it into the Escape. Ben ate a quick scramble, and I had some yogurt, grapes and a bagel with blueberry cream cheese. He did the dishes because it was his turn and we didn't want to leave a sink full of dishes while we were gone. I did the cat box, finished packing the Escape and ran to the store really quick to grab some ice and a squirty mayo. I drove back, checked one more time for things we may have forgotten, said goodbye to the kitties and left around 10:15.

Ben wanted to stop for a coffee, so we stopped at McDonald's for a coffee and a hashbrown. We got onto I-5 at Sleater-Kinney. We had no trouble driving up I-5. We got onto 512 and then merged onto 167. There were some slow spots near Auburn when we merged onto Hwy 18. Hwy 18 had some really bad spots but thinned out as soon as we got away from Auburn. I asked Ben if he was excited to see his first Dambo Troll and he said yes.

We got off at the Issaquah-Hobart exit and followed the highway to the back side of Issaquah. I haven't been that way in years...probably before Covid. As we got closer to town, I asked Ben to direct me to the parking lot of the community center. I was hoping we were there early enough in the day, so it wasn't super crowded.

The parking lot was a little busy but not everyone was walking down the trail to see Jakob Two Trees. I changed my shoes, grabbed a pen and we walked down the Rainier Trail to see my second troll. It was a short walk from the parking lot. When we got there, it wasn't as busy as we thought it would be. We stood in the small line to wait for our turn with the troll. When it was finally our turn, a lady and her friend asked if we wanted a photo together. You'd think, with everyone having cell phones now and taking thousands of pictures every year, that they would know how to frame people with the item, landscape or whatever you're posing with, right? I should have looked at the photos they took before they left. That was my bad. I looked and they cut most of the troll's head off! What the hell?! You can see what you're taking a picture of in the screen! We ended up just taking a picture of each other with the troll because we know how to take pictures of stuff. We made sure to do the virtual, Northwest Trolls: Jakob Two Trees (GCAJFEH). 

We walked across the trail to the other side; a traditional cache, Safe from Jakob (GCADVWW) was slightly up the hill hidden around some rocks. I had Ben search for it. It was a quick find. We got our names on it, took a quick picture and put it back before we were seen by anyone who was on the trail down below. We got back onto the trail and decided to find geocaches and do two Adventure Labs throughout downtown.

It was difficult doing two Adventure Labs simultaneously while flipping back and forth between apps, but we managed. We were able to see some cool things, meet two geocachers who were in town for the Ape event the next day and grabbed a final to a multicache, Issaquah Alps Trails Club: IssaQuest (GCB1C6G). We walked back to the Escape to have a quick snack. We left the parking lot so we could grab the outlier Adventure Lab waypoints and then made a quick stop at the Historic Shell Station.

I had told Ben about this really cool traditional cache, but you have to have at least three people to do it. I did it several years ago with Bev and Gabe when I was here for a Holiday Party before Covid. We didn't have three people, but Ben wanted to do it. Because the Historic Shell Station was along the trail, there were two people walking by. Ben asked the gentleman if he could help us. Ben explained what geocaching was and we told him what we had to do to find this geocache, It Takes Three (GC7WE07). The guy agreed and helped us push the buttons at the same time and the cache popped out of the box it was being held in. Ben thanked the couple for entertaining us and they went about their day. Ben put his name on the log, and we did the virtual cache that was also here, Historic Shell Station (GC9P4RK).

We drove to Confluence Park. We used the restroom and then grabbed three geocaches in the park. The first one was Confluence Park: IssaQuest (GCB1C74), And It's Just Another Bomb Cyclone #2 (GCB48X6) and Ponte Nuovo. The first one was by the sign, and it didn't take us that long to find it, which was nice. The second one was over by where the park was mangled by the bomb cyclone that crashed through Issaquah in November 2024, but it was under the bridge and the third one took us in a roundabout way out of the park and on the side of the road hidden in a tree. Of course, there was a person parked right in the way, but we looked and found it anyway. We walked back to the Escape.

It was almost time to drive to Lake Sammamish for the Puget Sound Chapter's BBQ. We wanted to go a little bit early to walk around and do the two Adventure Lab's in the state park. The last time I was at this state park was back in 2016 during the Washington State Parks GeoTour. I had taken Nick and Nickey geocaching because I had missed Nickey's bachelorette party. Anyway, we found a place to park, and we started our walk on the southside of the state park. Once we completed the one Adventure Lab we moved onto the east side of the park. It was too far to walk so we drove. That part of the park was busier, and we were not able to finish that Adventure Lab, even with two other cachers. One of the waypoints was missing or super not clear. We even took the buoy apart and couldn't find the answer. We tried everything!

We got back into the Escape and drove back over to where the picnic was going to be held. We found a place to park and walked over to the covered area. We were somewhat early, so it was just Jim, Jim and Chris. We helped them set up for the 2025 CCE & WSGA Puget Sound Summer Picnic (GCAYMPH) a little bit while we chatted and caught up. As it got busier, we were able to visit with a lot of people we haven't seen in forever. Somehow, we got talked into the ticket table and putting bracelets on people who were WSGA members. Ben and I sat at the table doing that for a while.

Then we stood in the giant burger line which took forever but we did eventually get food and ice cream. We did not win any of the raffle items. I did come close a few times. We helped clean up and Nikki and Antoine invited us to go get a beer at Formula Brewing along with Alex. We drove on over and stayed for about an hour and a half drinking huckleberry cider. It was a fun visit with Nikki, Antoine and Alex.

We found our hotel, Ben checked us in, got settled and took a shower. We watched the end of Iron Man 3 while I wrote some notes in my journal. Ben worked a little bit on his project. We relaxed and went to bed just before midnight. I was glad we were within a half hour of Snoqualmie Pass instead of a two-hour drive from Lacey.

Next Adventure: Going APE 2025: Block Party