Friday: Girl's Weekend - Leavenworth

Many years ago, our friend group was interested in doing some sort of weekend getaway or girl's weekend. Due to schedules, money and time we were not able to do it back then. The bachelorette party trip to the Oregon coast was the shove we needed. We had such a great time and all agreed that we needed to do it every year.

We started the conversations early on when and where we wanted to go this year. We threw around several locations and ultimately settled on Leavenworth because it was about halfway between Olympia and Spokane. We looked at Airbnb's and Vrbo's and found a place to rent for the weekend. Our girl's weekend was shaping up to be awesome!

We came up with activities, our menu for the weekend and made time for wandering around town geocaching and playing Pokémon Go. We were all set for a fun weekend in Leavenworth the weekend after Mother's Day. As we got closer to that weekend, Lindsay decided not to go with us. 

I put in my leave for that Friday and Erika didn't want to drive so I told her we were leaving at a certain time to head on over. She was okay with whatever I had planned as long as she didn't have to drive. There was a possibility (depended on rain) that the Hwy 18/I-90 interchange would be backed up during that weekend due to construction. They were making a diamond intersection out of it to relieve the daily congestion. I was hoping it wouldn't be that bad. There was another way around through Hobart into Issaquah if it did get bad.

I packed up most of my stuff the night before just so I didn't have to do hardly anything the next morning. Ben got up and went to work and told me to have fun with my girls. I got up around the same time I get up to go to work to finish packing up my stuff into the Escape. I texted Erika that I was on my way, and she said she was ready to go.

We left her house around 8 and stopped at Fred Meyers to get a few things including coffee from Starbucks and we needed ice for our cooler. On the way to the freeway, I stopped at the Arco on Martin Way to get gas and Erika had forgotten some snacks at the Fred Meyer, so she went inside to get a couple snacks at the gas station. We got onto I-5 and drove towards Highway 18 off of I05 because I wasn't paying attention and missed the 510 exit.

Traffic wasn't bad at all and was pretty smooth all the way up to Tiger Summit and then as we started to descend, that's when the traffic came to a halt. I was super annoyed and Erika played her game until her batteries died. We suffered through but finally made it to the on ramp of I-90 east after about a half hour delay. I haven't been through this part of Hwy 18 in months. They've gotten pretty far and I hope the next time we drive through it will almost be done.

I texted our group thread letting them know where we were. Nicole, Celeste and Megan were on I-5 deciding to drive through Seattle to get onto Hwy 2. I told them good luck with that. and Fitzy was going to work for a bit and then leave just before noon from Spokane to drive west on Hwy 2. Fitzy had a less of a trafficky drive. Erika and I made it to the top of the pass and was sad to see there was absolutely no snowpack on or near the summit. We were probably going to have a summer with a lot of fires. We also got to witness some stupid driving as well.

We got to Cle Elum, and I took Erika to get lunch at the Cottage Cafe and to get out of the Escape for a bit.  We checked in with everyone again. The girls were in Gold Bar and Fitzy was finishing up laundry and packing up. Erika and I sat in a booth and ordered a couple burgers and fries - they were delicious. Our waitress was nice, so we tipped her well. We paid, used the restroom and got on the road again. We took the US 97 spur and got stuck behind some slow people.

We made the turn onto US 97, and it didn't take us long to get up Blewett Pass and over to Hwy 2. We checked in with everyone again. The girls were going over Steven's Pass and had spotty service, and Fitzy hadn't left her house yet but was going to soon. Since we got onto Hwy 2 so early, I asked Erika if we wanted to go to the Walmart in Wenatchee because there will be more choices rather than shopping in Leavenworth, she said sure. It did not take us very long to get to Wenatchee.

We got to the Walmart and wandered inside for a little bit. We texted the girls to find out if they needed anything extra that they didn't pack. We got a couple of breakfast items, more drinks and for the life of us tried to find Starry for Celeste. Apparently stores in Central and Eastern Washington did not carry Starry. We paid for our stuff and then headed west towards Leavenworth. The girls had just arrived and were wondering around downtown doing Pokémon Go. Erika and I arrived in town and found the house we were going to stay in (but we were too early to check in) and parked on the street nearby...of course it cost money to park on the street. Lame. We grabbed what we needed and met up with the girls at the clock tower. We walked around with them while they caught critters they needed. I did an Adventure Lab with murals.

When we got to the other side of town, we made our way down to the Wenatchee River along the road, I told the group I needed to grab a geocache that was down there. The past two times I've been in Leavenworth I've had to DNF it because it was missing. This time, Blackbird Boulevard (GC76WM1) was there! I made my way down to the rock retaining wall and it was a fake rock. My friends that that was pretty cool. I got my name on it, took a photo and put it back. We continued on back up to the main road.

We all decided we needed a drink at Icicle Brewing while we waited for Fitzy to arrive to town and for 4 o'clock to arrive so we could go check in to our dwelling for the weekend. I had the Amber ale and Nicole, and I sat on the ski swing. Megan ordered a fancy charcuterie platter for us to share because she needed a snack. We finished our drinks and food and then walked the couple blocks to the house. It was now 4 and we could start bringing stuff into the house and get settled in. On one of my trips out to the car, I saw Fitzy drive by in her red car. She turned around and found a spot to park in the driveway. She said she wasn't sure if we were meeting at the house or somewhere else in town. I suppose we probably should have checked in with her when we were walking to the house.

Everyone finished up unloading our stuff and setting up the kitchen. We spent some time putting stuff in the fridge and Celeste made some deviled eggs while we hung out and chatted. The last time we were all together was at Megan's house last fall, so we had a lot to catch up on. We ate some of the eggs and Nicole said, it's Goosechase time!" We all squealed with joy!

We had a great time the last time we played. Nicole had made 100 questions, and we were split up into two teams. Since it was an odd amount, with Nicole being at the computer running the game, Erika and I were on a team and Megan, Fitzy and Celeste were on the other - just like at the bachelorette party. Our team names were the Butt Hoagies and the Bratwurst Bitches, I know, we're pretty classy.

For the next 45 minutes or so, we were all in and out the house, using random items as props for our tasks, taking funny pictures and goofy videos. There was a lot of laughing and Nicole was giggling at the table monitoring our hilarious antics. Erika and I got a 2-minute head start since we were down a person. We ended up winning it again in the end! Muhahaha! So far, Erika and I are 2-0 with Goosechase.

We settled down and Nicole started getting the burrito bowls ready to go. We all helped out in the kitchen, getting the burrito innards made, rice reheated or the veggies cut up. We made quick work of dinner and ate together in the dining room. These are the times I wished some of our other friends lived closer, so we could hang out with them as well. Nicole's burrito bowls are amazing! I ended up having seconds after everything was said and done. We all pitched in to help clean up.

Then we started games. We played Besserwizzer, Poetry for Neanderthals and Just One. We laughed a lot and made so many fun game memories. It started getting late and a few of us went to bed before we started Just One. We finished up games just before midnight and then we all got ready for bed.

I shared a room and a bed with Erika. I don't think the house had AC - at least I don't remember learning it did, our room didn't have a fan, and we forgot to open the window - if it did have an opening window, for some cool air to circulate through. The bed was queen sized and both Erika and I got super-hot and sweaty. We both did not sleep very well because it was so warm. That, I am used to a king-sized bed with more room.

Next Adventure: Saturday: Girl's Weekend - Leavenworth

A Squaxin Park Geocaching Event and Adventure

I was nominated early February to be the WSGA Southwest Washington Chapter Rep and was actually voted in at the beginning of March. My candidacy would last a year starting on April 1st. I was going to do my best to host as many events as I possibly can and be present at other cacher's events. Between my new job, working at the rental and our daily lives, I probably shouldn't have accepted the nomination. There was just too much going on, but I did it anyway.

There was a Blue Switch event at Squaxin Park (formerly Priest Point), and I wanted to go because I heard there was a group of people assembling to go grab Payback 10: It's All About the Journey (GCQYBW). I have put this one off for years. I was excited to find it with a bunch of people. I made sure to bring some clothes I didn't care if they got ruined with me.

This was my third caching event in four days. After work, I hustled over to Squaxin Park in Olympia, hitting every red light possible. I actually got there just before 5, with some time to spare and got a great parking spot! I grabbed what I needed and made my way over to the covered area and saw some familiar faces. 

While we hung out in the covered area, we chatted, caught up, shared stories, discovered trackables and even won a raffle item! Some people brought some cookies and chips to share and snack on. I had an M&M cookie and a bag of chips to tie me over until I went home for dinner. Ohjoy got our attention and talked about some of the caches in the area, specifically the one a handful of us came for. The Dips also had some advice since they the trek down and up recently. We all appreciated whatever tips they could give us. I knew we were going to get muddy.

Around 6:30, nine of us drove to the parking coords just north from where the event was. The coords took us two one of the two pullouts...just enough room for six cars if you did it right. I had already changed my crappy sweatshirt and pants; I just needed to change out my shoes. I grabbed some gloves because I heard we might need them because of the Devil's Club that lurks along the creek bed. You do not want to grab these. I grabbed my hiking pole and met up with the rest of the group near the "starting coords" and began our way down into the abyss.

In any crazy geocaching adventure through the woods there are always 59 hard ways in and one good way out. Of course, we took one of the 59 hard ways in (it actually wasn't that bad) and had to do some bush whacking. There were muddy spots and I definitely slipped a time or two, but we did all make it down to the creek. We were among the Devil' Club, errant branches, broken logs, nettles, soggy ground skunk cabbage and mosquitos. 

We spotted the natural bridge at the creek and took our time crossing it. We helped the people with balance issues make it safely across. We all made our way over to the other side of the creek and had a view of a huge maple tree with large holes. The tree was amazing. We found the cache without any difficulty, took turns signing our names, got a group picture, put it back exactly where we found it and walked back over to the log. 

Again, we helped those who weren't as steady cross the log safely and guess what? We found the correct way back up the side of the hill! 

We saw where the previous cachers from earlier that week came down and up. We followed it. There were a couple of muddy spots and broken trees, but we all eventually made it back up the hill and onto the road. 

We saw where we made our mistake and should have departed from the other pullout near where most of us parked. We thanked each other for the company, the fun adventure and everyone went home. It is always fun geocaching with other people.

You gotta be a little bit crazy to be a geocacher, however, this cache was not the hardest cache I have ever found or hiked to. I was challenged a bit, but it wasn't hard. Until the next one!

Next Adventure: Friday: Girl's Weekend - Leavenworth 

A New Job Opportunity

This wasn't the first time I started a new job on a Friday and if you were to sit me down a year ago and tell me, 

"Val, you will be in a different position, in a different program area, making 46% more money a year..."

I would have called you crazy and seriously laughed in your face. The reasons?  To start off, nothing like this happens to me, especially with work. I have been working from home for almost six years, had little to no contact with anyone at headquarters, therefore, not networking or putting myself out there. I was doing the same mundane thing with no advancement; my supervisor was taking things away making my day and my position less challenging than it used to be when I first started in that unit and I was just going through the motions at that point. I desperately needed a change. But, how? How do I blindly go into another job and hope that it's a good fit?

The decision to send one text to check-in about two years before started this whole chain of events. I had little to no expectation when I sent it because I wasn't sure if they even wanted to talk to me, let alone want me back into their life. I just wanted to rekindle a friendship that I missed due to a miscommunication and some unfortunate events.

Anyway, I believe it took a lot of courage on both sides to even start communicating again and once we did, it got easier and easier every day, but I know it will never be the same. Those days are long gone. We are older, been through different life changing things and here we are now, a chance to move forward.

The DJA was a good change of pace for me. I was able to be in the office once a week, meet new people, network and learn a new program area the best I possibly could. Of course, I hoped that it turned into a job opportunity but at that point, I was happy just to get a chance to do something different and fill my afternoons with actual work.

But a job opening did show up at the beginning of January and I got excited. I knew I would have to earn it. Nothing is guaranteed. I tried to learn as much as my DJA allowed. I asked questions and I tried to understand why we did the things we did in that unit. I started working on my resume, cover letter and going over possible interview questions. I wanted to be prepared for when the job posted.

I was given just enough information to keep it ethical. I also was taking a two-week vacation to Europe with Ben during this time. I was hoping that when the job posted, it didn't close while I was gone. I did worry about that. Luckily, it did post while I was gone but it didn't close until a few days after we returned. I was able to come home and put the finishing touches on it and send it off. I hoped for the best.

After a nerve-wracking interview and waiting until the end of March. I was told I got the job and I could feel all the nervous energy disappear. Except, it came with another problem that was out of my control. I will not go into specifics, but we did have to report someone to HR for their behavior.

My first day was interesting. Since it was a Friday, we were at home and for the next several weeks I would be in training with my new supervisor learning the other things I didn't do during the DJA. That included more of the challenging emails in the shared inbox, settlements, more wage releases, RTR's, refund requests, special projects and eventually citations and determinations. This unit did a lot for being so small and understaffed.

I know this sounds weird but after several years of not being challenged, bored out of my mind, being isolated and micromanaged, this new job was a literal breath of fresh air. I do believe that there is the right place at the right time for everyone. The stars had to align just right for this opportunity to present itself. This was the first time in my state career I felt like I was in a position that mattered and being treated how we should be treated as people. The best part is my supervisor lets us do our job!

We have several goals we'd like to get accomplished as the year goes on but the main one is to get some of the things we do in our unit caught up to at least monthly or weekly. I am sure we will hit several hiccups along the way, but we were determined. We might even get another team member within the year or so and possibly a 5th person bilingual position to fill eventually.

Here's to the new job opportunity and a chance to make positive changes to the unit!

New Adventure: A Squaxin Park Geocaching Event and Adventure