Ben heard back from Josh, who is being stationed to the Boston area and will have to leave in the next few weeks, to see if we wanted to hang out before he and Sam left. Sam was already in Idaho hanging out with her friends and family so we weren't going to be able to see her before she left to go with him. Ben mentioned that we needed to go to Chelan this weekend to hang out with him and his dad. I said okay, let's do it!
I took half of Thursday off and all of Friday off to give us some days to spend together. We were going to leave on Thursday but plans fell through. Ben had a quarterly meeting with his fire department and he was also on shift that night. So instead after work on Thursday I met up with Ben in Puyallup to get our oils changed in our cars. We ate a late lunch with Trish at the Mongolian Grill just down the street from Korum.
It was delicious.
We tried to go get ice cream on the way home but we ran out of time due to traffic. Ben headed to his meeting and I stopped by Ms. Hamel and Peg's house to visit. It's been a while since I saw them. I stayed for a few hours catching up on stories, family and my adventures. It was fun to see what they were up to as well.
I went home and packed so we could leave right after Ben got off of shift. I told him I would be there around 8:30 and to be ready to go.
The next morning I put my stuff in the Escape and headed to Rochester. Ben wasn't even ready and hadn't taken a shower yet. OMG!! I started putting his stuff in the Escape to move things along faster while he showered. We left around 9:30 via I-5.
We got onto Hwy 18 and headed up towards Tiger Summit. When it merged into one lane at the top a van was in front of us and kicked up a large rock. It hit my windshield with some force and put a big dent and a crack in it. I was so mad! I know I will have to get it fixed before winter shows up again. Every time during the course of our trip I would look at it and get mad again. At least Ben flipped off the driver of the van when we passed him.
Neither of us had any breakfast so we decided to stop in Cle Elum once we got onto I-90 and put some miles behind us. We stopped at the Safeway to get toilet paper and some more wipies (since my container was almost out) we always seem to need them.
We always stop at our place the Country Cottage. We've been doing this tradition since last year and we hope to keep it up when we drive past here on future trips. We both ordered breakfast and enjoyed it immensely.
We picked up two caches in the Cle Elum area, Milkshake Stop (GC6EXQZ) and Teanaway River - Mt. Stuart Photo View (GC36KK9). The first one was at the Dairy Queen and we really had to be sneaky because it was pretty warm and everyone wanted ice cream. The lap post skirt was mangled but we found it, signed it and put it back as quick as we could.
The second one was off of SR 10 east of Cle Elum but what drew me to it was the view of Mount Stuart. I had to grab the cache out of the guard rail because Ben is allergic to bees and didn't want to get stung. We admired the view from the bridge and the river.
We got back in the Escape and headed towards Blewett Pass. I wanted to stop in Liberty and Ben had one job as navigator; make sure we didn't miss the turn off. We almost did because he was staring at his phone. How dare he! We followed the road into Washington's oldest mining town as of September 1873.
It was an adorable little town full of old buildings and mining equipment and plenty of history to go along with it. We took a few pictures and did the near by earthcache, Liberty Gold (GC1VXNK). We went into the fire station to look at the old fire engine and the photos that were on display throughout the building. I love stuff like this.
We decided to get a few more while we were here. We still had to wait for Josh and his dad to leave Bonney Lake before we could meet up with them in Chelan so these little detours filled in the time perfectly. We grabbed Liberty History (GC35CPT) which took us to an abandoned excavator. We found it with ease.
We stopped at Peshastin Pinnacles State Park, just outside of Cashmere, to see if Ben wanted to climb. He just wasn't feeling it that afternoon. I used the restroom and we moved on. Josh texted us and let us know that he and his dad had just left Cle Elum. They weren't that far behind.
I wanted to grab a cache in Wenatchee, mostly because it was a letterbox and we didn't have time to grab it last summer when we were here, but we did today. Ben worked on his interview questions while I got out and searched for Super Job (GCY7HM). IT was hard retrieving it from the trees without getting scratched up. I got a stick and used it to pry and poke the cache out so I could just pick it up and stamp the logbook. It was easier putting it back.
We started our way up the rest of Hwy 97 towards Chelan but I wanted to make one more stop. Again, last time we didn't have time to stop here but I've seen it the last few times we've been up this way. We pulled off the highway in Entiat so we could see the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretation Center, find the cache and learn something new. Plus I just figured that Ben would enjoy this because he is a firefighter after all.
I handed him the GPS and he led the way up the hill, over the rocks and on top of the hill behind the center. The view from up here was fantastic. We found Trail of Fire (GCGKNM) tucked inside some of the crops of rock near the lookout. You could see a great view of the Columbia River from here.
We heard that Josh and his dad made it to Wenatchee so we hopped back into the Escape and finished our trip to Chelan. As we came down the hill the view of the lake was awesome. However, during this time of year it was lower than the last time we were here. I did notice a few burn marks of where last summer's fire reached. It didn't look bad but you could still see some areas that were affected. We told Josh we were in town and were going to head to Safeway to pick up a few things and if they needed anything. There was some talk about going to the casino for dinner but both Ben and I wasn't too excited about that idea. One, it was Ben's day off from the casino, why would we want to go to a casino and two, none of us really wanted to inhale smoke or smell like it.
As we were getting ready to go Josh and his dad arrived at Safeway. We talked to them and decided that Bob was going to go to the casino to hang out with his old guys and Ben, Josh and I were going to make dinner and chill at the house for the evening. We followed them through town around to the Manson side of Lake Chelan. I couldn't remember how to get to the cabin but we followed them until we couldn't see them anymore. Ben led us astray but soon figured out we were going the wrong way and turned around. Josh and his dad made fun of us when we arrived.
We made steaks, potatoes and had some veggies. Josh made us all mixed drinks that varied with Jamieson and Southern Comfort as we listened to metal music...not my favorite. The food was delicious. We played two games of messed up Scrabble and then turned it into a drinking game similar to quarters but we used the letter tiles to bounce off the table into a glass. We had to drink the amount on the tile if that person made it into the glass. It sucked when you made one with 3 or more on the tile.
We got a little tipsy, Bob made it back in one piece and we were all tired and went to bed. Laying in bed felt so good after a really busy day.
We heard that Josh and his dad made it to Wenatchee so we hopped back into the Escape and finished our trip to Chelan. As we came down the hill the view of the lake was awesome. However, during this time of year it was lower than the last time we were here. I did notice a few burn marks of where last summer's fire reached. It didn't look bad but you could still see some areas that were affected. We told Josh we were in town and were going to head to Safeway to pick up a few things and if they needed anything. There was some talk about going to the casino for dinner but both Ben and I wasn't too excited about that idea. One, it was Ben's day off from the casino, why would we want to go to a casino and two, none of us really wanted to inhale smoke or smell like it.
As we were getting ready to go Josh and his dad arrived at Safeway. We talked to them and decided that Bob was going to go to the casino to hang out with his old guys and Ben, Josh and I were going to make dinner and chill at the house for the evening. We followed them through town around to the Manson side of Lake Chelan. I couldn't remember how to get to the cabin but we followed them until we couldn't see them anymore. Ben led us astray but soon figured out we were going the wrong way and turned around. Josh and his dad made fun of us when we arrived.
We made steaks, potatoes and had some veggies. Josh made us all mixed drinks that varied with Jamieson and Southern Comfort as we listened to metal music...not my favorite. The food was delicious. We played two games of messed up Scrabble and then turned it into a drinking game similar to quarters but we used the letter tiles to bounce off the table into a glass. We had to drink the amount on the tile if that person made it into the glass. It sucked when you made one with 3 or more on the tile.
We got a little tipsy, Bob made it back in one piece and we were all tired and went to bed. Laying in bed felt so good after a really busy day.
Next Adventure: Hanging with Josh, State Parks and Heading Home
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