Caching in Lacey on Veteran's Day

I had the itch for caching.  It's been almost a month since I've been out for a caching adventure.  I had Veteran's Day off, my first paid holiday by the way, and I wanted to spend it outside.  The weather was suppose to be nice so I got onto the website and scouted which caches I needed in the Lacey area.  I didn't really want to go too far from home this time mostly because it gets dark around 4:45-5:00 now.  I called grandma to see if she wanted to go with me.  She said sure.

That night I got the query all loaded and laid out some clothes to wear.  The next morning I got a phone call from mom saying she forgot her debt card and that I needed to come to Yelm to bring it to her before they left to head down to Vancouver for the day.  She was taking a day trip with some of her co-workers down to a large craft warehouse.  That wasted part of my morning.  Grandma called around 10:30, I got dressed as fast as I could, ate some cereal and grabbed, hopefully, everything I needed. 

I picked her up and then plugged in some coords to the first cache.  I had solved this one the night before but thought I had months ago, I guess not.  NFL Legends (GC558BT) was located off of the Chehalis-Western Trail off of 89th on the way to Tumwater.  I drove down the little "dead end" road and parked at one of the trail parking areas.  Grandma opted to stay in the Escape while I got out and got it.  My GPS hadn't caught up with the satellites yet so I made a guess.  I knew it wasn't far from where we parked.  I guessed based on the hint I was given and found it basically without the GPS.  I signed the log and hid it back better than I found it.  I got back in and we put the coords into the next one.

Go Outside and Play (GC624VD) was among some of the newer caches that popped up in Lacey during the past few months.  I haven't had any time to get them until now.  This one was behind the QFC on the side road off of Rainier Road.  We parked across the street from it and I saw it instantly.  How can anyone miss a large fake rock?

The next cache, Kooky Kellen's Crazy Cache (GC62MP5), was placed by the same cacher just down the road from where we were.  It was hidden on a small land bridge inside of a neighborhood.  Finding a place to park was a joke so we just parked right along side the road and grandma kept the Escape warm while I grabbed it.  It was the same as the one we just found, a fake rock with a large cache underneath.  This one also had a ton of swag inside.

Cache Me if You Can (GC61DPB) was a quick park and grab near the Hop Jack's and the Starbucks.  It was hidden pretty well on top of a sign.  I was glad I was tall enough to grab it without any assistance.  It kept a lot of attention off of me.  I signed our names and put it back where I found it.

The next couple were along the Chehalis-Western Trail near Chambers Lake.  No Name Cache (GC5JTTV) literally had nothing about it except its name and the GC.  I was hoping I found it right away because it was off the trail by 300 feet with no hint.  I left grandma on the trail so she could watch the geese on the lake while I traipsed through the woods looking for a container.  I tried to hurry but it really depended on how bad the GPS bounced in the woods.  Luckily I found it within five minutes, took a picture of a really neat growth coming out of the ground and then met up with grandma to go to the next one.

We walked the short distance to the next one since we walked down here but came up with a DNF but a great view of the lake.  I think the cache was missing because I looked everywhere and did not come up with it after I checked the three places it could be.  Oh well.  I will have to come back.

From there we tried looking for a couple more but it got cold and started raining.  We gave up before we really had a chance to look.  I didn't want grandma to get cold.  Next, I took her to the Hobby Lobby, where the old K Mart used to be.  I needed to get a few things so I can work on some crafts while it rains all fall and winter long, at least I will have something to create.  I needed some food so we went over to the Fred Meyer and grabbed a sandwich and a few things grandma needed.  We loaded everything up in the Escape and headed towards home.  I wanted to try that Not Your Father's Root Beer, but was having a hard time finding it in bottles.  I stopped at the Safeway and found it.  The checker got really excited and told me about how good it was with whipped cream vodka at one of her girl nights she had.

Since we were nearby, I wanted to go inside the Goodwill to check on some cheap books.  Sometimes they have good ones and sometimes they don't.  We were in there a few minutes and then we headed back to Rainier.  I dropped off grandma and her goodies and thanked her for going with me and enduring my caching and errands I had to do.  I couldn't pass up a dry day without geocaching.

Next:  My 32nd Birthday!