WSGA SW Chapter Campout in Menlo, Wash.

Friday, July 25th

I really didn't have a lot of extra time this summer because we were working on the rental house, but I had to make time because I was also the SW Chapter Rep for the WSGA. This year the WSGA Campout was in my region, so I had to show up so I didn't look bad. 

In the past, the chapter reps were responsible for planning each aspect of the campout but there was a campout group who were now responsible for planning each piece. I was super lucky because I wouldn't have had the time to plan something that soon after being onboarded in March. I can only do what I could do at that point. 

I have never been to a WSGA Campout where I stayed the entire weekend. I've only been to two of them since 2010 - the one hosted at the Timberlake Lodge and the one hosted at the Enumclaw Fairgrounds. I just don't enjoy spending the night in a tent in Western Washington because it gets too cold at night regardless of how warm it was during the day. This year the campout is at the Pacific County Fairgrounds in Menlo, a town just outside of Raymond. Essentially, near the coast. It was not going to be super warm.

Ben and I bought cots with the cash back from our trip to Europe, so we didn't have to lay on the ground. Yes, we have the fancy sleeping pads, but we are getting older and things are just not as comfortable as they used to be. I borrowed Doug's tent since it was bigger than the one we had and I figured out a menu so Ben could be fed while we were there. We made sure we had the correct clothing for the weekend, and I let Antoine know that I was heading out to Willapa Valley after work.

I got done with work and packed up everything into the Escape. Ben was going to go home, pack up some more stuff that wouldn't fit into the Escape and meet me in Menlo. I was probably going to be an hour or so in front of him. I left the house just before 4:30 and headed into Rainier to the storage unit to grab our camping tote. It didn't take me long to find it, thank goodness. I stopped by the Dollar General to see if they had a half gallon of milk because I realized I didn't have milk for our morning oatmeal. They must have known I was coming; they had none. Absolutely, none. 

I got back onto 507 and headed towards I-5. I had to stop at the Walmart in Chehalis really fast for that milk that the Dollar General didn't have. I got into Chehalis and made my quick detour. I also snagged some ice for the cooler. I took the side road to Hwy 8 to Adna and PeEll. I haven't been out this way in quite some time. I saw that they cut all the trees down at the Poplar Tree Farm, which made the area look weird.

I got into Adna and noticed a lot hasn't changed since the last time I drove through...same with PeEll when I got there. I had forgotten how long of a drive it was to Willapa Valley. I listened to my murder porn as I drove. I remembered the many trips we took on the school bus driving through and to these small towns within the SW Washington 1A we were classified into while in high school. My phone went in and out of service many times. Ben and I checked in with each other every once and a while. 

I got into the small town of Menlo, and it looked the same as it did over 25 years ago when we came to Willapa Valley to run track. They were the school who had the "square-like" track instead of the traditional oval shaped one. I missed the small gravel hidden driveway that led into the fairgrounds. It was literally right in the middle of town and adjacent to the high school. I turned around and went down the correct driveway. I really wasn't sure where I was supposed to go so I saw some cars I knew and parked next to them. 

I saw that Vickie and Brian were chillin' near their tent and I asked them if there was room near their tent and car to set up ours. They said that there was plenty of room. On the other side, was Antoine and Nikki's set up for the weekend. I spent the next 45 minutes setting up the tent and attempting to put together the cots. I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to get those to lock in. I was getting so frustrated. I gave up and decided that when Ben got there, he would finish them.

I mingled with a few of the people who were nearby before I heard that bingo was just about to start. I took a few pictures of everyone getting ready to start so I could post it to the SW Chapter Instagram page. WSGA Campout 25: Welcome to Campout 25! (GCB3ZWK) has begun! I got my bingo cards, found a place on the bleachers and away we went! They had a bunch of prizes, so a lot of people won. Ben arrived in the middle of one of the bingo games. I told him his job was to finish the cots, lol. I told him dinner was the cold chicken from dinner from the night before. I grabbed a leg or two and finished bingo. I actually won one of the blackout games!

I went to go help Ben finish setting up the tent and getting the bedding on the cots and then we went and visited with everyone who came to the Campout. Antoine spent most of the evening trying to convince me and Rhonda to split the SW region and turn it into a north and a south and we both run each of them. he thought it was a great idea but honestly, that was a lot of work, and I really didn't have a ton of extra free time. The idea had a lot of potential, but it was going to take a while if the idea was seriously considered by the board. We got together to take a group picture.

Then we found out Antoine lost the car keys and we spent a little bit of time helping them out. They were eventually found inside the tent. One of my suggestions.

Everyone started to settle down around 10 p.m. and began to get ready for bed. I went to the bathrooms to wash my face and brush my teeth. It did start to cool off significantly so I had to layer so I would be warm enough for bed. Ben sleeps warm and he even had to layer up. I also had to pop in my ear plugs, so I didn't have to listen to a lot of extra noise. I struggle to sleep when I have to listen to snoring. I think we actually went to bed just before midnight. I took me a while to get comfortable and warm.

I did have to get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. It was unfortunate because I got cold and it took me a while to get warm again.

Saturday, July 26th

I sent an alarm for 7:30 but ended up getting up earlier because we heard people outside our tent making noise and talking. This was our first time (since Dosewallips back in July 2023) since we slept in a tent, but this time with new beds. We emerged from our mummy cocoons and got dressed. I walked over to the restrooms to wash my face.

Ben started to get our small camping stove out to make some oatmeal for us. We decided to make it simple instead of going with what we usually did when we went camping. Mostly due to time and the clean-up. Anyway, we got our oatmeal fixed up and finished with our liking. I enjoy it when it congeals a little bit so you can sprinkle brown sugar and raisins on top and then finished with a pour of milk. Next door, Niki made a crap ton of eggs and bacon and even offered to share it with everyone nearby. We ate well that morning.

We cleaned up our bowls and silverware and spent some time finishing up getting ready for the poker run. At around 9 a.m. the caches and the Adventure Lab went live at the WSGA 2025 Summer Campout @ Pacific Co. Fairgrounds (GCB1PYC). We grabbed our passports in the sea of people and jumped into the Edge since the Escape was full of camping stuff. While we were out, we had to multitask between the poker run caches, waypoints to the Adventure Lab, and the waypoints to one of the most famous multicaches in the area, Half Moon Cache (GC1221). It's a cache that's been on my list for several years. I was excited to finally go and find it.

We started off the day with grabbing caches that were east of the campsite since there were only two of them, WSGA 2025 Campout #1 (GCBA163) and WSGA 2025 Campout #2 (GCBA168). They were both hidden amongst the guardrails but luckily, there were places to pull off of the road. Muggles seem to stare at us when we are on the side of the road looking for something. It amuses me.

We turned around and drove west to grab the bulk of the caches plus the waypoints for the Adventure Lab. We stopped along Hwy 6 from Menlo to Raymond and grabbed WSGA 2025 Campout Poker Run #5 - Fork Road (GCBA15J), WSGA 2025 Campout Poker Run #4 - Along the Rail (GCBA156), WSGA Campout Poker Run #3 - Crossing Street (GCBA151) and WSGA 2025 Campout Poker Run #2 - Garden Street (GCBA14R). They were all park and grabs which was nice.

We went into Raymond to pick up a few around town. We drove over to Raymond Public Library (GC9NPT3) and walked to the back of the building. The only place a magnetic cache could be was on the electrical boxes. We found the painted hide-a-key. We got our names on it and put it back exactly where we found it.

From there, we went to the posted coords for Half Moon Cache so we could start collecting the waypoints to the final. We saw there was a cache over at the park near the Willapa River we had to grab, Behind Bars - W.E. Brown [CDS3] (GC77F2J). We got to the dock and the tide was out. There were a lot of bicycles that were thrown off the dock into the river over the years.

We walked back to the Edge and headed back towards Menlo, still grabbing Adventure Lab waypoints and the waypoints for Half Moon Cache. 

We stopped just outside of town for WSGA 2025 Campout Poker Run #1 - Bloomhardt Road (GCBA14N) at a large pull out. There were some other geocachers there putting it away when we arrived. We put our name on it and put it back where we found it. 

Just up the road was a place called Case Pond. It was a little busy since a cop had pulled over someone in the small parking lot. We were only going to be there for a few minutes while we grab Going Fishing w/ Gramps (GCB0P98). I had Ben find it while I got a picture of the pond. 

We got back in the car and made our way to the heritage site of Willie Keil's gravesite, east of Raymond. We needed a waypoint to the Adventure Lab, a waypoint to Half Moon Cache and Ben picked up a traditional cache that I found years ago.

Along Hwy 6 driving east, we stopped at a couple more places to fill in our missing coordinates for Half Moon Cache. We stopped in Globe to get another waypoint which took us a little further east at a gravel driveway that passed over the Willapa Hills Trail. There was a sign we had to take numbers off of before the final set of coordinates. I quickly plugged them in. The final was showing in front of us about 2 miles down the gravel road. We saw the No Trespassing sign.

Our first thought, why would they make a final at a place where you can't trespass? Second thought, if we drive through, will we get shot by the property owners? Third thought, let's phone a friend to find out more information...just in case. We texted and then called Antoine since we saw that he found this cache already this weekend. He told us to ignore the No Trespassing sign and that we were allowed to drive through up to the cache. I thanked him and Ben, and I followed the road to the parking coordinates.

We approached the parking coords and noticed two vehicles parked there. Ben and I pulled up just as Carter, Sherry and another geocacher came out of the woods back to their car. They said that the walk was nice, the cache location was pretty cool and there was a group of muggles heading out to the location as they were walking back. They said we would probably cross paths with them. Sherry told us if we waited a few minutes, we could take their parking spot. We thanked them as they drove off. We took their parking spot, grabbed what we needed and made our way down the trail.

We crossed a small wooden bridge and into the forest. The path was flat, medium trekked next to a Penny Creek. The walk was pretty and we heard many types of birds singing. We did pass that group of muggles Carter and Sherry had talked about. They said we were almost there. We turned the last slight corner and there it was, our surprise at the end. We were told not to disclose anything in our geocaching log to keep it a surprise for others, even though you can find the information on the internet. We found the geocache, took some photos and put it back where we found it. 

It was about a 1.60-mile hike there and back. Not too difficult at all. Once we got back to Ben's car, we finished up a few waypoints to the Adventure Lab before going back to the campgrounds. 

We chilled, visited and chatted with others. I met some new people while visiting with others I haven't seen in a while. We ate dinner, turned in our poker run passports (I did not win with a pair of 10's), had our July board meeting and then a raffle. I won the last prize, lol.

Seth played Pop Darts with Ben for a little bit and then Vickie came up to me and asked if we wanted to go find the puzzle cache, WSGA 2025 Campout Puzzle (GCBA172) with them since they had solved it. We told them yeah, let's do it. We followed them to the coordinates and found the cache together. They went into Raymond for a bit while we went back to the campgrounds. Ben and I played frisbee for a little bit.

I really wanted a shower and had to take a really fast luke warm shower. The plumbing there sucked! After that, I just could not get warm since it was a chilly evening. I dried my hair the best I could and layered up with just about all the clothes I brought for that weekend. I am so glad I brought my hat! We did hang out with the group of campers for a while by the fire. They talked about the geocaching discord and the upcoming Ape event in August.

We eventually walked over to our tents and tried to get warm and comfy. I did eventually fall asleep at some point but again, had to get up and use the restroom in the middle of the night. 

Sunday, July 27th

I was cold the entire night, so I slept like garbage. Once everyone around us started making noise, I just got up and started getting dressed. I walked over to the bathrooms and washed my face. I came back and suggested to Ben that he get up so we can eat breakfast and start taking our stuff down to pack into the cars.

Ben slowly got ready and then made us some oatmeal on our little cooker. It hit the spot. We cleaned everything up and put it away. Brian and Vickie wanted to go get some coffee from town and had asked us if we wanted any. I don't drink coffee, but Ben asked if they could get him one. They brought him back one and Ben gave them some money.

We took down our cots, rolled up all of our sleeping bags and blankets. We crammed them into the cars and together took down the tent and let it sit because it had some residual dew on it. WSGA Campout '25: Giving Back to Menlo (CITO) (GCB3ZWH) had just started and we grabbed our black plastic sacks and started to pick up trash around our tent area and then walked the entire area of the campgrounds. 

Our tent bottom dried out a bit, so we folded it up and packed that away. Both Ben and I had a bunch of our stuff in each car. We told everyone thank you, we would see them up at Hyak in a couple weeks and we were going to head home. Ben and I got onto Hwy 6 and headed east back towards I-5. We talked to each other on the phone (when we had service) just to keep ourselves company. There was no traffic all the way home. I stopped at the Walmart really quick once we were near home to pick up a few things. Josh and Heather had invited us over for dinner.

Ben drove us over to Tenino and we ate some food Josh grilled. It was nice to just chill and eat food. We hung out outside while we listened to Heather's stories. We thanked Josh for dinner, and we went home so we could get ready for the work week since we were gone all weekend. We got in a shower and did a load of laundry. I was so excited to get an actual hot shower and sleep in my own bed without getting cold!

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

First Anniversary Weekend: The Dalles to Lacey

The alarm went off at 9ish, but we didn't get out of bed until about 9:30. We got dressed and packed up our stuff, making sure to check around the bed and the bathroom to ensure we didn't forget anything. We crammed it into the Edge and went back one more time to double check we didn't leave anything behind. This hotel didn't serve breakfast so, Ben went and checked us out at the front office.

We drove the short distance to the Walmart for some yogurt, bagels and fruit but this Walmart was so old and is in the middle of remodeling, they didn't have any fresh fruit for their customers. I was disappointed because now we had to stop at the Safeway in the opposite direction. Oh well. We stopped at the Safeway and grabbed some apples, bananas and a couple spoons for our yogurt. We ate as we drove east towards The Dalles.

We got onto I-84 and drove the quick 20 miles. We followed Ben's GPS to the 18-hole disc golf course at Sorosis Park, which was up the hill (it had great reviews), so that is the one the Ben picked for this area to try. It shared an area with Columbia Gorge Community College.

We got to the parking area just before 11. It was already starting to get hot. Ben and I both put-on sunscreen before we began. We spent some time warming up our arms - stretching our arms and throwing some putts. There were a few people in the parking lot getting ready for singles but, they weren't going to start until noon...by that time, we would be almost done.

Both Ben and I had some great throws but also, we had some struggles at a couple of the holes. We both hit par several times, Ben hit under par and we both hit over par a few times. There was a hole were Mount Hood was a perfect back drop. We had some shade but most of the course was out in the open. By noon, the temperature was 97 degrees - hot and sweaty weather. We finished the course just before 1 p.m. Ben was +5 and I was +8, which isn't too bad considering we really don't keep score when we play.

We used the restroom at the park before we left. I took some time to enjoy the flowers and the views of the city, Mount Adams and the Columbia River down below. 

I walked back towards the car and met back up with Ben. We put our stuff in the back, I changed my shoes and we went back down the hill to grab one of the famous geocaches in the area, Sgt. Bill's Travel Bug Hotel (GCM8MP). It had a ton of favorite points.

It was in a neighborhood and fastened on the outside of a person's fence inside the mailbox. We were hoping the person didn't come outside and talk to us. I just wanted to grab and go. We parked right in front of the gate and saw the cache immediately. Ben and I got out and got it unlocked, grabbed the logbook and found some travel bugs to discover and trade out. I got a few pictures and locked it back up for the next geocacher(s).

I asked Ben if we should eat before we leave town and he said yes. We drove around but didn't find anything worthwhile, plus we had to find something that had some gluten free options as well. Sometimes that is hard to find when you are traveling. We settled on a place called Cousin's and wondered if it was related to the places in Centralia and Pasco. 

We found a place to park and wow, when you got out of the car, it was like being in an oven. It was well over 100 degrees at this point. The asphalt made it worse. 

We went inside and had to wait less than 10 minutes to be seated. We looked at the menus, and both decided that the huckleberry lemonades looked awesome. We both ordered the sandwich, of course Ben's was gluten free, I got a salad and he got the fries. While we waited, we talked about how awesome the year before was and reminisced about it. We also posted about our first anniversary to our friends and family.

I wrote: 

"Here we are, one whole year, from of the greatest days I've ever had. I was thankful to be surrounded by our family and closest friends, while Ben and I started a new chapter of our lives together.

Life is not the same as it was a year ago - if it was, there would be no growth. We are further along in our quest into being property owners, I was promoted at work, Ben is now a Lead in his job, our health is getting back to normal, and we are slowly getting back into having more time for our hobbies and adventures. We were able to visit Europe for the first time - a destination I've had on my bucket list for decades. Now that we have, we want to go explore new countries and have new experiences.

Ben, you have been my best friend since I met you back in late October 2013. I loved that we share the same hobbies and pretty much have the same outlook on a lot of topics. It's been a huge adventure all these years getting to where we were, to where we are now. I am excited to see where it goes. There will be ups and there will be downs but we will figure it out, together. Love you, always."

He wrote: 

"Happy one year anniversary to my amazing wife, Val! Our journey to now has been an adventure and I would haven it another way. Here is a toast to many more adventures and memories made along the way. I love you with all my heard and thank you for saying, "I do"."

We ate our food. I was a lot hungrier than I thought I was. It hit the spot for the drive back home. Our waiter came back around and asked if we wanted refills. I told him the drink was so good that I wanted a refill, but we were going to leave soon. He told us that there wasn't any problem and went and got us our refills in to go cups. We thought that was very kind of him to do that. He got a great tip from us.

We walked back to the car, and I checked my GasBuddy app, and the cheapest gas was at the Fred Meyer nearby for $3.79. We filled up, drove across the Columbia River and onto Hwy 14. The drive home was uneventful for the most part. I told Ben stories along the way of my past adventures on Hwy 14 over the years. Most of them being geocaching ones. We merged onto Hwy 205 through Vancouver and eventually onto I-5 north. We saw that the new In-N-Out was super busy. I'd like to go but it is so new I thought I would wait a little bit longer before eating there.

We have been in the car for a while up to this point, we thought it would be smart to stop at the Gee Creek Rest Area to use the restroom and to stretch, plus there were two geocaches we didn't have. We grabbed NB Gee Creek Rest Area - South (GCAMMY2) and NB Gee Creek Rest Area - North (GCAMMYF), both were easy finds. 

We got back onto I-5 north and made it home around 6:45. We unloaded Ben's car and then I hopped into the Escape to grab a couple things from the store since we were gone most of the weekend.

We got in a shower, ran a load of laundry, relaxed and ate the slice of our wedding cake that has been sitting in the freezer for a year. I was surprised it lasted a year in the freezer. It actually tasted like cake! We also took a shot of our special occasion whiskey and then got ready for the busy work week.

Happy 1st Anniversary Ben!

Next Adventure: WSGA SW Chapter Campout in Menlo, Wash.