The first state park we set Nuvi to was Saint Edward, over by where Doug used to live when he lived in Shoreline. Technically, the park was in Kenmore, east of Shoreline. Traffic was a little slow coming down the hill into downtown. Along the way I saw this car in front of me that had alligators, lizards and snakes glued to the back of their car. It definitely set the tone for the day.
When we arrived, we got confused of where we had to go. There was a college nearby and we ended up there because we missed the turn. We made a U-turn and got onto park property. We found a parking spot, from there the cache was about a quarter of a mile away down a set of trails. Mom and Grandma opted to stay in the car while I went and got it quickly. I found the right trail and made my way down it. I got to the cache site and found the odd looking cedar tree and found it tucked away in a hole. I signed our names, stamped the passports and put it back. We used the restroom before we drove away. We found out the building the park was named for used to be a seminary school back in its earlier years.
We made our way back to I-5 and headed north towards Camano Island. I don't think I've even been to Camano Island...at least from what I can remember. We got to Snohomish County and followed Nuvi to Hwy 532 to Stanwood. We noticed a shop we wanted to stop at when we came back through. It had rooster statues. We went across the bridge into Island County and made our way to Cama Beach State Park. We didn't realize that you could access the cache from the road at a trailhead parking. I really need to read the cache page before we go after caches. This one wasted some time because I had to walk to it on truck access roads inside the park. I probably set myself back a few minutes. When I finally got to the cache site, I tried to call mom to meet me at the spot but spotty cell coverage prevented me from doing so. I was frustrated because I did not really want to walk back. I did my cache thing and tried to see if there was another trail that led me to the van, nope, I would have to walk along the road. I got to the parking lot and the van was gone. I had no idea where they went. I got worried. A few seconds later they drove up. They said while they were gone, they drove around the place. I got in and we drove to the next one but with two small pit stops.
One was at the small corner park entering Camano Island and the other was at a place called The Spare Room Flea Market. Mom wanted one of the roosters.
We made our way to Mount Vernon, near the site of where the bridge collapsed. We didn't have to go over it to or from Canada. There was always a different, more efficient, road than I-5. We got on the 536 west which linked us up with Hwy 20. We took a side road called Bayview-Edison Road.
Bay View State Park was the next place to visit on the list. We got back on I-5 via Pioneer Highway that took you right to the park. I've never been here before. We rolled up, found a place to park, as close as we could get to the cache, and one of the workers drove up next to us on the lawn mower, and asked us if we needed any help. Haha. I told him no, we were here geocaching. He said have fun. Mom and I went over to GZ and found it quickly up inside a metal post, it was magnetic. We signed our names, stamped our passports and put it back better than we found it. We used the restroom and then admired the small cabins nearby before leaving. On our way to Larrabee State Park on the curvy Hwy 11 aka the historic Chuckanut Drive.
Last time I was here was on a vacation back in Aug '11. We had just finished our first time at Friday Harbor in the San Juans and wanted go to Bellingham for the county and the DeLorme squares. We stopped by Larrabee just to see it. We went to the same parking lot off of Hwy 11 to decide what we needed to do because we were still far away from the cache. Reading the cache page, we noticed where we really needed to go. When we got to the road and it turned into gravel and uphill, we were like...uh is this the right way? It kept going and going and I was like really, it's up here? Grandma had trouble on the very narrow road with a drop off but she stuck through it. We got to the top, they admired the view as I ran down the trail for the cache. I found it right away and after reading some of the logs, it should have taken me a while. I signed our names, stamped our passports and put it back better than I found it. Grandma was very glad to get off of that road and back onto the highway towards civilization. So far that's been the most insane one we have done. I sure hope people read the cache page before they start.
We got back onto I-5 and made our way to Birch Bay State Park off of the side roads. It's too bad I haven't been to this state park either. This one was pretty cool! We drove up to the cache, found it quickly, admired the crane in the swamp nearby, signed our names, stamped our passports, put it back, and then walked across the street to enjoy the beach. We took a few pictures and loved the scenery. There were lots of people at the beach today and the sun was out!
We got on the 548 towards Blaine. I have never been this far north as far as I can remember. Mom said when I was an infant we came up here for a vacation one year.
I've always wanted to come up here. I wish I would have had my passport or enhanced driver's license. Maybe next time. When we arrived there really wasn't that many people walking around so we started exploring the place. We took lots of pictures and talked about many of the strange pieces of artwork around the park. We could not believe we could straddle the country line that easily. I was in Canada and the US at the same time. I was so excited about it for some reason. We really liked the Welcome to the United States of America sign. After looking and wandering around we decided it was time to go find the cache so we could do the rest of the ones we had planned today. We logged our find, stamped our passports and put the cache back better than we found it.
It was dinner time so we found a place in Blaine. We ate dinner at the Pizza Factory. We were there for maybe an hour. Their pizza was good. We couldn't eat it all so we brought some of it home.
This next section wasn't really in my plans for the day but mom said since we are up here we might as well do Whidbey Island. We looked at the ferry times for Mukilteo-Clinton in the information center next door. We took home several brochures and booklets.
We got onto I-5 south and made our way to the Burlington exit for Hwy 20 west towards Anacortes and Deception Pass. Since the stamp was missing from the state park in Deception Pass, we just went over the bridge for the views. We continued towards Oak Harbor and the Nuvi turned us down the road just before we got into town. We got to Joseph Whidbey State Park.
A few years ago we went to Deception Pass, Anacortes and Friday Harbor and sadly ran out of time to explore this part of the island. We approached the parking area and found out there weren't that many people here. We got out and it was chilly and very windy. We all put on jackets and made our way down the hill and to the beach trail. It was a nice walk. I found ground zero and made the find quickly while my other two caching companions caught up to me. We signed the log, stamped our passports and put the cache back in its hidey spot. We enjoyed the walk back to the car, we walked along the beach this time around. Took a few pictures. We got to the van and headed down the road and I found out I had a citation underneath my windshield wiper. I stopped, grabbed it and read it before heading to the the next state park. I had forgotten to put my license plate number on my Discovery Pass, hahaha! Luckily, it was a warning because I had a pass. Another story to add to the collection.
We continued going south along the west side of the island to Fort Ebby State Park. We were running out of time and needed this one and one more before the sun went down and the parks closed. I really didn't know what I was in for when I left the van. I ran down the hill the entire way until I reached GZ. I stamped the passports, logged our names and put it back better than I found it. On the way back up I admired the view of the Sound from the one view point and made my way back up the hill to meet up with mom and Grandma who opted to stay in the van. The gas light just came on as we left, we needed to get gas in Coupeville before going to our last park.
We found a gas station in Coupeville and they wanted almost 4 dollars a gallon! Mom just said to put ten bucks in and that should last us until we get to the main part of Washington. We got onto Engle Road and finally the last stop of the night and our 50th park, Camp Casey.
I was on a quest to get my 50th state park cache and this is where it was. It was a great park to end on for the evening. The sun was going down...we timed today perfectly. I've never been here before so it was pretty cool to see the light house my mom was so excited to see. We took some pictures before we found the cache. I wanted to make sure my 50th state park cache was documented. We found ground zero and the cache was pretty easy to find. My mom had to look in the worm bin just for fun. We rummaged through the cache and traded some items. We logged our find, stamped our passports and put it back better than we found it, but not before taking the milestone picture first. We drove to the other parking lot to see the bunkers and guns. It was almost sunset so we decided to leave before we got locked in.
We decided to pass up South Whidbey State Park since we filled our quota for the day plus it would have been dark. Maybe another day.
We got back onto Hwy 20 and it turned into the 525 and followed the couture of the island until we got to the ferry in Clinton. We paid our $9.75 and got in line. We didn't have to wait long. A lot of cars got off. When we got onto the ferry we were one of maybe 12 cars on the load to go across the three mile gap to Mukilteo. It would be a half hour ferry ride. We used the restroom and enjoyed the view from the front of the boat. It was windy. It was a quick ride. We got back in the car, it docked and we headed towards I-5.
We stopped at a gas station to fill up and get some snacks. It was getting pretty late. The Nuvi said we would get home after midnight.
We got home and Grandma dropped us off. We ended up driving approximately 446.4 miles. It was worth the time, the fun experiences and the silver coins we were going to get in the mail in a few days. Until the next adventure!
Next adventure: Battle Ground Geocoin Challenge
No comments:
Post a Comment