Welcome to Renton, Home of the Seahawks and the WSGA Holiday Party

A few months ago I saw they were having another holiday party up in Renton.  I needed to go!  I talked to my boss about working half a day and then leaving after noon to head on up.  She said it was okay.  Now the preparation begins.

I found out which caches we didn't have, which were newer and which ones were near the Renton Seahawks sign.  I wasn't sure what time we would get there or how much time we had to find caches before the event.  I found two caches that had to do with the Seahawks and we were very excited to find them.

I didn't really run a query because I figured we wouldn't have time for much.  That night, I got everything ready.  My jersey, jeans, different shoes, my Seahawk beanie and my caching backpack.  I even made sure I had my WSGA name tag.

I got up for work the next day and made it to the hotel around 9.  Kathy made me do the offices and Building E and then a lot of stays.  I had time for the stays and one of my four checkouts.  Mom and Bev got there around noon, I grabbed my stuff, told Kathy thank you for letting me go and I went and signed out.  We got into my Escape and off to Renton we went via Hwy 7 to Hwy 167 to the 405.

I set my GPS to the first Seahawk cache.  We got off of 405, turned around the corner and there it was...the Seahawk sign.  They practice in the VMAC facility just down the road.  I was stoked!  We found a place to park.  I changed into my Seahawk clothes and up the road we walked.  I got my camera attached to the tripod so we all could be in the picture together.  As I was setting it up, a huge truck with a man and woman pulled up.  I swear they had at least 14 Seahawk/12th Man flags flapping around in the back.  They honked and we waved.

After our pictures, we found the cache placed down below the sign, 12th Man Whimsey (GC28T10).  The hint basically gave it away.  We walked right up to it.  I signed all of our names, put it back and headed back to the car.

We got in the Escape and drove the half mile to the next one, A Cacher's Salute to the Seahawks (GC4Y0JK).  It was at another entrance of May Creek, yes...the same May Creek Bob and I did about two years ago, except it was on the other side of I-5 up the hill a bit.  We parked the car in the pull out and ran across the street.  We walked along the manicured saw dust trail following Bev, who had the GPS.  We followed another small trail off to the side which led us to a tree and a small stump.  There it was in all of its Seahawk glory!

It was only 1:30 so we went to the next one, Lake Washington Beach (GCFAMW) down the road to a park settled near Lake Washington.  The parking was going to be tricky.  We found a wide spot in the road to park but we had to walk the quarter of a mile to the park.  No big deal.  When we got there, we looked inside the rock wall and then read the hint.  Oh, it's not in the rock wall.  We expanded our search area and spotted it.  Unfortunately, Bev and I were too short to reach it so we had mom grab it from its hiding spot.  Haha.  Putting it back was entertaining.

We walked back to the car and headed back to 405 and got off at Kennydale.  We went up the hill and found the hall on our left.  We were one of the first ones at the event (GC5G0ZJ).  We picked a table...the same one we've been sitting at for the past three years, the one by the kitchen, bathrooms and the heater.  We talked to a few people, signed in, dumped off trackables and grabbed the paperwork to renew our WSGA membership.  This year I had enough to purchase mine and Ben's.  He was a first-time member and this is my 3rd year as a member.

As it reached 3:30 it was food time!  I brought blue rice krispy treats, for Seahawks of course, Bev brought brownies and other people brought various chips, dips, chicken, casseroles, soups, sandwiches, fruit and veggies.  It was a delicious potluck of food.  We ate, listened to awards, stories, upcoming events for the year and our board was looking for some new members to join.  If I didn't work weekends I would take on a role.  However, not at this time unfortunately.

We did the gift exchange and I got a bunch of Tupperware containers.  At least it's different every year.  The first year I got an ammo can, second year a container of various sizes of logbook bags, last year three pairs of scissors and this year, containers.  Mom and Bev had just about all they could handle.  They wanted to go home.  We packed up our stuff and headed back home the way we came.  We dropped off Bev at her house and then went home.  Another WSGA event in the books!

Next Adventure:  Cache Maintenence at Millersylvania State Park, Farm Boy, Spire and Applebees