I got all of my stuff together and laid it out, made a query on the new GPS, brought some snacks and made sure I had cool clothes because it was suppose to be pretty hot on Sunday. I tried to go to bed as soon as I could because 6 a.m. was going to come very very fast.
My alarm went off and I grumbled out of bed. I got all my stuff together and put it in the Escape, I was suppose to meet Bob and Bev at their house. I got there just after 6:30, we piled in their car and off we went to the 13th Street Denny's in Chehalis. They ordered off the value menu and ended up not being able to finish their food so I got a pancake, some eggs and a piece of bacon. We got out of there with enough time to stop at the Toutle Lake bathroom stop and the cache at the Gee Creek rest area before meeting up with Brenda and Ray at their house.
I read on Facebook that there was a new cache inside the Gee Creek rest area and it was pretty awesome. It won the cache of the month for June. We just had to stop. Fits Like a Glove (GC5TP1D) and it did indeed fit like a glove. It reminded me of hazmat or developing x-rays. The cache was inside and you had to stick your hands inside the gloves to get the cache open, sign the logbook and close the cache back up. The hardest part was writing your name on the logbook with the gloves on. We gave it a favorite point just because it was creative and we've never seen anything like it before.
We put their address into the Nuvi and she directed us to the house. We got out and they greeted us and welcomed us into their new house. It was perfect for the two of them, their dog Zuri and when Matthew is living there. It had a back yard, air conditioning and everything fit into its place. They were so excited to finally be out of the apartment complex.
We got into two cars, I rode with Bob and Bev and we followed Ray, Brenda and Matthew. I guess we did them as the Nuvi took us to them. The Nuvi did a bad job, I would have done it differently but we still had fun, laughed, took pictures and enjoyed the summery day with friends.
There were 10 caches and the theme this year was colors and flowers. When we found the caches we were to write down the color of the flower or both. We had no problem with any of the caches and they were all there! That was a huge plus.
Strong Roots (GC5Z8DE) was out by the golf course where a cache used to be that Ben and I couldn't find last year, it's been archived since. We found it quickly by the building.
I think we've been to almost all the cemeteries in Washington State and some of them twice. To Sleep...(GC5Z8ZZ) was located inside a cemetery surprisingly we've never been to before. It was located behind the headstones within a thicket of trees. Some experts suggest that the practice of placing flowers on gravesites has been around for thousands of years. The tradition possibly started to mark the burial sites of noteworthy individuals and it was also used in Ancient Rome to create a comforting environment in which the deceased’s spirit could wander around the grave
We found ourselves at a gardening store shortly after. Planting a Seed (GC5Z8F2) was found really fast by Brenda and the weather was steadily getting hotter. We cracked jokes about butt shots, front shots and Team Boobs. Brenda signed our names and relayed us what the color of the flower was.
We drove into Lewisville Park, a very well kept park just north of Battleground. We've been here twice now to get caches. It was good timing for us too since a few of us had to go use the restroom. It took us a few minutes to pinpoint the cache because the coords were a little off. I found a tiny geotrail and found the bird house, Soar To Great Heights (GC5ZB9E). We were right next to the Lewis River with several people from the area enjoying the cool water.
We had a few more to go before we were done with the 10 caches. One took us to Daybreak Park, a place we've been to at least five different times over the years and to another cemetery that we've also been to before. The last cache of the challenge took us way away from Battleground up the 503, which we saw a fantastic view of the south side of Mount St. Helens and down a long winding road out by some wineries. Lucia Falls was our last stop for Brighter Days (GC5Z8FZ) a sunflower cache hidden inside of a downed stump. I was so excited to go down to the falls to see them. The water flow was low for this time of year but we've had extremely dry weather this summer.
We piled into our cars and out of the heat and drove back to Brenda and Ray's house for some food. We finished our passport and gave it to them to go pick up the coins when the chamber of commerce/city hall was open. It was the same front as the past years but the back was different.
We took off our shoes and relaxed while Ray prepared our burgers. Bev made a potato salad, we had chips and drinks. My burger was delicious. While we ate, we shared stories, talked about random things and enjoyed each others company. We met Matthew's mother. He and his mom stayed at the house and watched Zuri while Brenda and Ray were on vacation, saved more money by having them stay than to hire a house or dog sitter.
We left around 3ish with the intention on caching on the way home. However, it was hard because Bob and Bev have like all the caches along I-5. I found a cluster of a few we could go get off the back roads of Battleground. Before we left town, we finally found one called Stonewall Stax (GCMRK0) that we DNF'd in 2013. Yes finally!
From there, we drove out to the small cluster of caches which included Windmill Cache (GC43Y1J), Tribute to Mtribe (GC3VBD0) and Home on the Grange (GC5G0VD) which the cache was nothing to write home about but the location was cool. Lots of large yellow smiley faces.
Kansas City (GC21W6Z) was a power box intersection cache, I really don't like these ones, it hadn't been found for a while but Bev had the cache in hand after Bob and I overlooked it. Glad we found that one.
I don't know how we stumble upon the caches that we do but this next one, Yellow Submarine (GC4Y2W) was one of the cooler ones that day. It was off of a side road and the property was riddled in fun artifacts, one being the submarine on the road and right behind it was a small scale replica of the Golden Gate Bridge that went over a pond. It was an awesome set up they had.
We picked up one more at another cemetery on the way back towards home. Spirit Quest: St. Mary of Guadalupe Cemetery (GC5MYTY) was easy to find. Bev spotted it and I went in and grabbed it. I found it really odd that it was next to a wheat field. Reminded me of Pullman in the fall.
We weren't satisfied with only finding 20 caches so when we drove towards home Bob and Bev wanted to get the new ones that published at Rainbow Falls State Park. Before we headed off that way we stopped in Adna to get a newish one at Rose Park called Adna Rose (GC5WF9H). We've been there before many years ago. This one was near a trail work out shoved back inside of a tree cavity. It was a really nice walk through the trees.
We walked back to the car and drove out to Rainbow Falls. We parked along side the road and made our way around the loop gathering the four caches in the Rainbow Falls Trail Series (GC5TG96, GC5TG92, GC4B1ZM, GC5TG9D) and we had to walk up two very long steep hills. I walked with Bev because Bob leaves her behind. It was a nice sweaty walk through the woods. Afterwards I used the bathroom and took a few pictures of the falls before we left to go back towards I-5.
When we got back towards Adna we stopped at the convinience store and got gas. We weren't that hungry but wanted some ice cream we stopped in Chehalis at the Wendy's to get cheap Frostys. They were tasty. The freeway was backed up so we went the back way on Hwy 507. Our luck here ran out and we had to wait for a really slow train for about 15 minutes or so. We got back to their house where I put my stuff inside the Escape and went home. I got home about 8:20 that evening, got a shower and logged my caches. Overall we found 25, enjoyed the sun and the company we had today.
Next Adventure: Remembering Zenkitty
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