Poker Run and Family BBQ

Brenda and Ray had talked about doing a poker run at some point this summer at the TriCities Geocoin Challenge.  I was really interested because the TriCities did one before the meet and greet on Friday night and I was curious on how they planned it.  I didn’t even know one was going on until they announced it over the microphone. 

A few weeks later Brenda mentioned that they set the date and to look for it near Centralia and I was stoked!  I got the notification for the WSGA SW Chapter Poker Run & BBQ (GC6MHVK) event and saw that it was going to be at Shafer Park outside of Centralia.  I haven’t been there for several years since picking up a few inside the park that are since archived.  I told Ben we were going to do a poker run at the end of July.  He said sure, sounds like fun.  I added my name to the will attend log on the cache page.

The day of we got up around 9 and had a quick breakfast.  We left around 11 and headed to Centralia via Rainier Road to Rich Road to Old Hwy 99 into Tenino and then followed 507 through Bucoda to the park.  I saw Bev’s car and Brenda and Ray’s red hamster car.  We parked next to theirs and walked out to the picnic area they had reserved.  We said our hi’s, how are yous, signed the logbook and received a raffle ticket.  We visited for a little bit longer until the caches published at noon. 

Brenda gathered everyone around the sandwich board and went over the rules and handed out our event sheets.  Then they set us loose.  Bev, Ben, Don, Wayne and I rode together is Wayne’s car.  We decided to get the ones outside of the park first. We all piled into the car and put the coords in for Oakview Grange (PR#4) (GC6NVMG) and headed out.  We parked at the grange and walked the 100 feet to the tree with the large cavity in it.  Bev pulled it out of its hiding spot.  We passed around the log book and picked out our designated colored card packets (I wondered how they would prevent cheating) and put the cache back where we found it.

Jitterz (PR#5) (GC6NVMY) was just down the street near the Nervous Ned’s coffee stand.  We pulled into the parking lot and wondered if the owner would come out and ask what we were doing.  She did and said, “oh you must be those geocacher people.”  We told her yes we were.  She told us it was by the sandwich board.  As soon as we walked over there, a green hamster car drove up really fast, pulled over and a girl got out waving her hands and trying to take her jacket off as quickly as she could.  She told us not to be alarmed but she said there was a bee in her jacket.  Bev saw a bee fly out of there.  The girl was a little embarrassed and we joked about strangers taking their clothes off.  She told us to have a good day and she left.  We put the cache back for the other cachers to find.

We drove back to the park for the other three caches.

We walked over to the west part of the park for Shaefer Park (PR#1) (GC6NVNB) and found the small geotrail.  There were nettles mixed in with the tall grass so we had to be careful what we brushed up against.  The cache was stashed up against some trees and Ben reached down and grabbed the ammo can.  We all shared the log book and we each blindly picked out our card to add to our collection.

We walked over the bridge and there were some kids swimming down below in the Skookumchuck River.  It wasn’t warm enough for swimming.  We followed the trail to the right and as we got closer we could see the tree that was hiding Shaefer Park (PR#2) (GC6NVNF).  It was tucked away in a lower tree cavity.  I thought it was a great hiding spot.  We grabbed our card packet, took turns signing the log book and put it back better than we found it.

The last one, Shaefer Park (PR#3) (GCNVHN) was clear in the back of the park at the edge of the property.  The trails zig zagged all over the place and we weren’t certain which one looped back around.  Wayne, Ben and I took a chance at some of the trail and found the main gravel one that took us to a smaller trail.  We knew we were going in the right direction because we saw a lady standing next to a tree with an ammo can.  We joked about muggles and rehiding the cache.  She knew we were cachers…even though there were some strange people walking the trails today.  We got our last envelope with our card in it.

We headed back to our picnic area and Ray was still annoyed at the people who took over the main covered area for a one-year-olds birthday party at a first come first served basis.   Not that it really mattered because it was a nice day; it was just the principle of the thing.  They showed up at 6 a.m. to set up, basically sat there all day and the party still hadn’t started when we left.  Why would you need to waste an entire day for a one-year-old’s birthday party when you could have it anywhere else?  Whatever I guess.

We took our packets of cards to Brenda and she scored the cards we picked.  Bev, Ben, Wayne and Don basically had nothing and I had a pair of 8’s.  I was in the lead for a while until everyone else finished and brought their cards.  A guy won the whole thing with a pair of kings.  We ate hotdogs and chips, had a cookie and drinks while we visited with everyone.  It was a nice little event.  We did the raffle soon after.  I actually got picked!  It’s been a while since I won a prize from a raffle.  I picked a geotag.  Bev and Ben also won an item.

We helped Brenda and Ray pick up everthing and put it in their car.  We had to trade out the ammo cans for some lock n’ locks so they didn’t get stolen.  They were some nice ammo cans. Ben and I walked across the bridge to those two caches and replaced them.  We saw some weird people along the way but it didn’t surprise me…it’s Lewis County.  They were going to make this poker run a yearly thing but move it around to the different counties in southwest Washington.  We said our goodbyes and told them that we needed to come visit them soon.  They said they might come up here to do my asphalt adventure caches.

Ben and I headed to downtown Centralia to grab our fourth cache of the heritage series, WSHS 125 – Centralia Depot (GC6JBZ).  We turned down the road and there was a small SUV parked right next to the cache in the street.  We swerved and found a place to park about 100 feet away.  They decided to go somewhere else so they drove away.  Where they geocachers?  We walked out and sure enough they were parked right next to it.  I reached into the spot and they got out of their vehicle and asked me to sign it for them.  They were cachers!  They introduced themselves as hidenfind.  I’ve found a lot of their caches.  I told them who I was and they’ve found a bunch of mine as well.  We stood there for a while talking to them.  They were unaware of the event that we just came from but were very excited for some new caches to find.  They had an appointment so they had to go but they were glad they ran into us.  We put the cache back and on our way back to the Escape, we passed a 20-something year old black guy wearing red boxing gloves.  He mumbled something as we passed and Ben said excuse me?  Ben was ready to rumble.  Clearly the kid was out of his mind or high and just mumbling to himself.  He really wasn’t any threat to anyone.

We get back onto the main road and we were near the Olympic Club when we both saw a cop talking to a woman outside of a bar.  At first we didn’t see what was going on until we had passed and I looked out my side mirror and saw buttcheeks!  The woman was not wearing any pants!!  The cop was trying to get her to put her clothes back on and was probably waiting for some back up.  Lewis County had set a new low today.

I got a text message from my mom asking me to stop at the store for some miracle whip for our BBQ tonight.  She was making potato salad.  The closest store was Dave’s in Tenino and the stuff there was expensive.  We get into Tenino and I get the stuff really quick.  When we got to the house, I found out my grandparents were also coming to dinner.  We also came over to help mom with her Plinko board for the relay for life event this weekend.   Mom fixed dinner, Ben worked on the board and I helped dad do a few things in the yard.

Everyone came over about 6 and we had hamburgers, potato salad, chips and fruit.  It was delicious.

We visited for a bit and explained what we were going to use the Plinko board for.  Everyone went home including us.  We got home around 8:30, got cleaned up and ready for our work week.  It was a busy but fun day.

Next Adventure:  Relay For Life

#spottheape2016 and Floating Mayfield Lake

It was going to be hot this week and it would continue to through Friday so earlier that week I took our inner tubes and had them filled at grandma’s house with her air compressor, it would save us a lot of time and energy if we would have had to do them without it.  I wasn’t sure which lake to go float in but I assumed something local.  WSGA, since the end of June, have been putting out 100 ape tags for the upcoming Going Ape event in August.  Groups of about 2-6 were placed by various volunteers all over Washington State.  Once it began they stayed pretty much in the Spokane, TriCities, Yakima, Vancouver, Seattle and north of Seattle areas.  I checked every day to see if any of them came closer to the Olympia area.  Almost the end of July some of them started appearing in Lewis County near Chehalis and south near Hwy 12.  I saw they were “published” on the WSGA Facebook site late Monday and decided to go get them on Wednesday if no one had gone for them.  

After work I had this itch to go get those ape tags down in Lewis county since no one had claimed them yet.  Ben was on his day off and he knew we were going to go enjoy a lake somewhere.  I got home and told him we were going to the Mayfield Lake area to float and to get the two ape tags along the way.  He said okay.  I got our tubes and towels ready and whatever else we needed and headed out around 1ish. 

Our first stop was Matilda Jackson State Park off of the Jackson Hwy.  We got off at the Napavine/Onalaska exit and followed the road south towards Hwy 12.  Of course we got stuck behind a really slow construction truck.  Ugh!  A part of me was feeling the competitive part and the anxiety…what if someone picked it up today and we’re just going all this way for nothing?  We finally arrived and I looked at the picture one more time, we barely got internet where we were, and told Ben where to look.  We found the opening on the fence and a rock that was pretty obvious and he picked it up and I was stoked!  We logged that we found it on the WSGA Facebook page.

We plugged the next set of hint coordinates into the Nuvi and turned onto Hwy 12 and headed towards Mossyrock.  Our turn off came pretty quickly and we got onto Hwy 122 just outside Mossyrock.  I haven’t been this way in over a year, when Lacey and I came out this way for some exploring, and before that when my mom and I did the state park cache inside of Ike Kinswa summer of 2013.  When we got closer I was really hoping no one had picked this one up today either.  We followed the directions to a parking lot.  I got the Oregon out and we put the coords into that just to give us some reference because I forgot to write down the hint before we went out of cell range.  The coords were off but we checked the sign pretty good before we started searching elsewhere.  After about 10 minutes of searching I went back to the sign and looked at it again.  I saw the tiny chain just barely.  Ben!  It’s right here!  He reached up and grabbed it for me.  We took the necessary pictures and decided to go to the boat launch to do our floating.

Now we each have one!

I drove us a half a mile down the road to the boat launch.  We found a good spot down below, unloaded the tubes, towels and Ben and parked the car in the lot above.  I walked back down and we started getting ready to get in.  I’ve always remembered Mayfield Lake to be really cold since it is fed by the Cowlitz River which comes from tributaries off of the glaciers of Mount Rainier.  Really cold glacier water.  Brrr.  I planned on not getting in all the way.  I just wanted to mostly sit on my inner tube, float and do some relaxing.  Ben would probably get all the way in at some point.

We found a pretty good spot and made our way down the steep hill, trying not to trip and fall on our butts or into the water.  We both made it down safely and got ready to go into the water.  Ben had to be at a union meeting at 7 and wanted to be home by 5:30 to get cleaned up and have some dinner before he went.  It was 3:15ish and we set an alarm for 4:30.  We pushed off the shore and we went where the current and the boat waves took us.  It felt so nice just to do nothing and chill at the lake.  A boat went by and moored over by a rock face.  Then we heard people jumping off of the rock into the water below.  Ben wanted to do that.  I told him when we were done out here we could walk over to the cliff and he could jump off.  We continued floating and it was amazing.  We floated out pretty far and had to paddle our way back.  We were guessing we’ve been out there a while and needed to head ashore.  Once we got back we dried off, grabbed everything and headed back up the dirt hill.  We took everything back to the Escape and Ben got the nerve to walk over to the cliff.

It took him four times to get the courage to jump off.  I recorded all four sessions on the GoPro.  Eventually I gave him an ultimatum and he finally jumped off screaming the entire way down.  I asked him if he was okay as he swam towards the shoreline.  I started my walk back to the beach area with his towel.  It took him over five minutes to get to me so he can dry off and we can head back home.  I had to get him back before his union meeting that started at 7 in Olympia.  We left around 4:30.

Traffic wasn't horrible yet as we drove through Chehalis and Centralia.  We got off at 93rd and went the backway home to avoid all of the traffic going through Tumwater, Olympia and Lacey.  I got him back at 5:30, he showered, ate a quick dinner and left.  I fell asleep on the bed because these late nights and early mornings were killing me.  I sure hope the late nights ended soon with all of the morning and getting stuff done so late.

We probably will keep our tags and not trade them in for the Ape coins.  At this point we are not planning on going to the event since I've been going for four years now.  There was so much to finish at our new place. 

Next Adventure:  Poker Run and Family BBQ

Eatonville: Little Mashel River Falls and Lower Falls Hike

My mom saw some posts on Instagram of some waterfalls near Eatonville and wanted to go hike out to them.  She gave me the job of finding out where they were and do some research on them.  One day while I was at grandma’s house using her WiFi, we still don’t have internet at our house yet, I checked a few hiking websites and the Visit Rainier site to see where to park and how long we would be walking to get to these places mom wanted to go.  There were two ways of getting there, the short way via Alder Cut Off (quarter of a mile if that) or the long way through the Pack Forest on Hwy 7 (5-ish miles roundtrip.)

The weather finally was decent, we’ve had some very poor July weather, and the temperature was in the upper 70’s to low 80’s.  We all dressed for the occasion.  Ben couldn’t come with us because he already committed to helping one of his friends with some wrestling stuff in Tenino. 

We got up around 9:30 and got ready for our day.  I tried to have most of my hiking stuff ready the night before so I didn’t have to scramble in the morning.  We had some cereal and bananas for breakfast.  Ben left around 10:30 as did I after I got everything I needed into the Escape.  I told him to have fun.  I headed out to Rainier and hoped that mom and dad were semi ready to go.

As I thought, they were still getting ready.  Oh well, it gave me some time to use the bathroom and sit for a bit.  Dad was playing around with the back deck by flipping over the worn out ones to the backsides, which weren’t that bad looking, so we wouldn’t die each time we tried to put the animals to bed or make dinner on the bbq.  At this point everyone was waiting for everyone.  We took the Escape because I didn’t want to take everything out of it to put it into another car.  Plus I needed gas.  We piled everyone inside with their stuff and some lunch and drove into Yelm for some gas at the Arco.

We were on our way to Eatonville.  In the last five years I’ve been to Eatonville a lot…between the fastpitch games when I coached, geocaching, driving through to Yakima and hanging out with Shauna, it’s gotta be close to 30 times or so.  When we got up the hill into Eatonville traffic got horrible.  We had to wait at the main intersection in town for a while.  I got to thinking to myself, I hope where we’re going is the right place.  Fingers crossed.

We started up the hill out of town and remembered that there was a cache at the Bud Blancher Trail I gotta go get for the Mount Rainier series.  This one was part of the third series that published July 1^st.  I will save that for the way back.  When we left Rainier, I had put the parking coordinates into the Nuvi so we wouldn’t miss the pullout it spoke about online.   The pullout was in sight and I’ve always seen vehicles here in the past and have always wondered why they were parked there.  Now I know after all these years.

We found a place to park.  I put my socks and hiking shoes on.  I told everyone to hide their valuables just in case.  They ate some of their food before we were ready to go.  We really weren’t sure where we were supposed to go so we followed a group of people to the middle trail.  Sure enough, the short trail led us to a hill that you had to use a rope to get down.  This reminded mom and I of the last hill we did together several years ago in Dupont when we were going after the pirate barge cache which is now archived. 

We all got down the rope to the trestle in one piece.  We laughed at mom as she came down just because we could and she made a fuss about it.  We took a few pictures and then meandered our way next to the river to the first waterfall, the Little Mashel River Falls, a 92 foot veiling horsetail falls. 

When we arrived, there were two ways to get down to the falls, down the rocks next to the falls or around down a small trail that took you to the river on the other side.  I took the rocks and mom and dad walked the trail down.  I took a few pictures with my phone of the falls until they arrived.  We spent at least 20 minutes here and finalized it with a selfie.

After that we walked along the river back towards the trestle.  We really didn’t have anything else planned while we were here.  All the other hikes from this area were day hikes ranging from 4.5-5 miles round trip.  We saw TomTom Falls was quite a hike from where we were.  If we were to do that we would have to research and to plan to do it.  We wandered around for a while and took a gravel road just to see where it went. 

Then we saw a large rock with FALLS and an arrow pointing to a well used trail.  I wonder where this goes.  How far?  What falls?  We took it and followed it.  We went down a very long hill to a fork in the road.  Which one do we take?  We took the one that went further down the hill.  We stopped at the bottom and a lady with two horses passed us.  I swore those horses would slip on those rocks and tumble down the hill but they didn’t.  I was in awe.

Dad worried we’d be gone all day or we would be walking really far without some direction.  So we had to convince him to keep walking.

We followed the trail to another junction but this time there were people resting on a downed log and I asked them how far the falls were (at this point you could hear them) and they said not far, just down this section of trail, it takes you right to it.  We thanked them and headed down.

We saw a sign that said Lower Falls.  I do not remember reading up on any falls in the area called that.  I found out later that this was officially the Lower Little Mashel Falls, which is a 39 foot segmented horsetail falls.  There were quite a few people hanging out down there.  I ate a snack and took a few pictures.  We were probably there for about a half hour or so enjoying the scenery.  We got a selfie before we headed back up the trail and dad made fun of me.

The walk back up was not as bad as I thought it would be.  We had to stop and take a few breaks here and there.  We got back to the trail head, walked the gravel road to the railroad tracks and back over the trestle.  The second part to our hike only took us an hour which wasn’t that bad.  We pulled ourselves up the hill and back to the Escape.  Mom got out our food.  She made sandwiches and I inhaled mine.  I am not a huge fan of sourdough but I ate it anyway.

We rode back down the hill into Eatonville and I stopped at the Bud Blancher Trail to show them the area and the bridge over the river but mostly to stop and get Rainier100 3:  This Bud’s For You (GC6KW0C).  We walked down to the river first and then grabbed the cache on the way back up.  It was getting hot and I was tired.  We did a lot of walking today.

We stopped in Yelm to get blizzards from Dairy Queen because mom insisted.  I got an Oreo cookie, mom got a Butterfinger and dad got an M&M one.  They tried to get me to take them to the store but I wanted to go home and get some stuff done before the work day tomorrow.  I dropped them off at their house and I went home.  Ben had finished the dishes and was washing laundry when I got home.  It was nice to get a shower and be clean.  The rest of the evening I got ready for work the next day.

Next Adventure:  #spottheape2016 and Floating Mayfield Lake

Moving Day!

Well, it took a lot of time, grief and jobs we hated but we finally found a place to live.  It took a few months of searching, not liking a lot of them, more searching, more research on what area we wanted to live and landing a place that we liked and would do for the time being.  It was within reason to work, it wasn’t too far from my parent’s and grandparent’s house and it wasn’t too far from I-5 to go see Ben’s mom in Bonney Lake.  We plan on staying here at least two years or so.

We started the process of this place we found in Lacey over by the Amtrac Train Station off of Yelm Highway via Zillow.  Ben got a hold of a girl named Shelby, which later I found out was the same girl who worked at the casino and had a crush on Ben, who helped us get this place.  She basically put it on hold for us.  Ben walked through it a few weeks ago and then reported his opinions on it while I was in Yakima visiting some friends on my days off.  I’ve only seen the outside of the place so far.

We both filled out their online application and added the $35 fee.  We better get this place or we’re both out $35 bucks and wasted time.  We were approved a few days later and our final walk through was scheduled for Wednesday, July 6^th at 3:30. 

I went to work and Ben had the day off.  We met at noonish at Buffalo Wild Wings for some lunch.  We both had never been here for lunch before so our meals were cheaper…which was great!  Afterwards, we stopped by the Remax in Tumwater to pay our rent, deposit, pet fee and to turn in our renter’s insurance.  We hung out at Tumwater Falls and walked the loop, stopped by Lowe’s to see which washer and dryer we would like to purchase, all to waste some time before we went to the house.  We got there early and waited on the stoop. 

A guy named Lee showed up about 45 min late, but he did inform us he would be late, introduced himself and then we started our final walk through.  The house definitely smelled like rental house (I know this because my family has had a rental house for 20 years, wow it’s already been 20 years?!) the living room was huge, the kitchen had a ton of room, we looked at the three bedrooms, the two bathrooms, the garage and the small but functional back yard with a shed.  We can make this work, look and smell good.

We received the keys, he went over the paperwork with us and he overheard Ben and I having a small side bar conversation about washers and dryers.  He asked us if we were going to purchase one.  We told him yeah, we were thinking of doing it during the weekend.  He said if we do it now, we could use his military discount.  He had to go pick up the new stove anyway…might as well get those and haul them at the same time.  We said sure and off we went.  The washer and dryer only cost us $800 with the $100 discount.  It was sweet.  He even installed them for us.  We thanked him and I headed home to gather and bring over more of my stuff.  When I got back and unloaded, we jumped into Ben’s car and headed down to Rochester to pick up some of his stuff.  We got back late; I immediately got into bed because I had to get up at 5 to go to work. 

The next day I was miserable.  I was so tired I could barely see straight but I stayed awake.  I had an informational interview of the Department of Health to see if I even wanted to work there or not (I had an interview on Friday for a permanent/full time position.  She basically told me to quit my job with the state, go back to school and become a teacher and a coach…easier said than done.  I needed to keep bringing money in because we just moved out into our own place.  I told myself, one thing at a time.  If I stay at L&I for a year (my year anniversary is in September) and become permanent they will pay for my education.  I headed back towards Rainier to get more stuff and shove it in the Escape.  I got back late again and put some stuff away.  Ben got home from his meeting that lasted until about 8 and then we got cleaned up and went to bed as soon as possible, tomorrow was going to be another long day.

I got up around 5 again, got ready for work and did my thing down in the mail room.  At 10:30 I had my one on one with my supervisor and basically I am doing everything right for only being three months in.  She asked me a series of questions on how she could help me be better, if I was challenged enough, my time off, my upcoming training, the status with Kathy and other various topics.  We walked back to the mail room and I basically got ready to leave.  I bypassed the gym and went home to get ready for my interview with the Department of Health.  I ate some food, took a short nap and then put my interview clothes on, did my hair and put a small amount of makeup on.  It was set for 2:30.  I thought it went well but you never know what they are actually looking for.

I headed home and packed up more of my stuff into the Escape.  I still had a lot to do.

Saturday morning we rented a truck from Budget to pick up the couch from Federal Way, get the big heavy stuff from Bonney Lake and finish up getting some of the heavy stuff from my house and grandma’s house…well at least that was the plan.

We picked up the couch first and it took up most of the truck like we thought it would.  We drove out to Bonney Lake, Trish was on her girls’ weekend and Amy was chillin at home.  None of Ben’s stuff was packed so we spent a lot of time there.  We made lunch of tomato soup and grilled cheese and got back to work soon after.  We took Ben’s bed apart, grabbed the speakers, the TV, the leaning dresser of Pisa and other various things we could get packed up quickly and stuffed in the truck. 

We headed out to Rainier to grab my giant things including my dresser, my king sized bed, some boxes of stuff and anything else we thought we could put in there so I didn’t have to put it in the Escape later.  It was getting late so we attempted to go to grandma’s house to get the mini fridge and the BBQ and for some reason my key would not fit into the gate lock.  We were frustrated and tired so we headed back to the house to unload.  Mom and dad met us there to help us unload.

It took us a while to unload everything.  In the meantime I mopped the floor so we could put the couch in the living room right away.  It was starting to look like an actual house on the inside.  I helped Ben bring in the really heavy stuff so we didn’t have to make mom and dad do that stuff.  We unloaded my king sized mattress into the master bedroom, his mattress into the guest bedroom and the couch pieces into the living room.  I was so exhausted and hungry.  We thanked them for helping us. 

On Sunday since we got everything sorta put away for now, it was time to bring Calvin home and I knew he was going to be weird for at least a week with the new change.  He was.  He hid under the blankets in the bed, did not eat for at least five days, he hid in the bathtub and just became isolated to everyone.  By the end of the week he was getting back to normal.

We made a few meals together including Scooby Doo waffles, chicken and rice dishes, spaghetti, chicken tacos, a couple breakfasts including eggs, sausage, cereal and bananas, sandwiches and homemade chicken teriyaki.  As you can tell we like our chicken huh?

Ben ordered a king sized bed frame off of Woot for $350 and it arrived in three pieces on a Sunday and Monday.  Monday night we started putting it together and it took us over 4 hours with some stuff we had to redo.  We didn't get to bed until after midnight and I have to get up at 5....

Tuesday we did the drawers and it took us about 2 hours and we still went to bed later than I wanted to.

On Thursday I started sanding our dining room table.

Our family and friends have donated various items and we even received a few house warming gifts.  We plan on having an actual open house type house warming party eventually and going to host game night in September.

We still have a lot left to do and go through until this feels like a normal home.

Next Adventure:  Eatonville:  Little Mashel River Falls and Lower Falls Hike

4th of July on the 3rd

This is the 4th year we've been going to the lake.  Mom and dad went to visit Erika and have been gone in Nevada for just about a week.  They got back on Saturday late and I wondered if they wanted to go with us.  Both mom and dad ended up going but dad stayed a short amount of time and left soon after. 

We really didn't have that much time to get anything ready so we brought a family sized bag of chips and whatever was in the "4th of July" tub at grandmas house where I've been keeping my stuff in storage.  Mom had all of her stuff with her, Ben made it over to our house before the afternoon and we went and got grandma and the stuff she brought with her.  We drove the 40 minutes or so out to Clear Lake between Eatonville and Graham off of Hwy 161.

I was really hoping for hot weather like we had last year so we could go swimming. It wasn't and we were disappointed.  We got there around 4ish, found a parking spot we could get in and out of later, grabbed our stuff out of the back of the Escape and wandered our way down to the lake house.  We set up our chairs roughly in the same spot we've been putting them for the past few years.  We got all settled in.  We visited with several people to pass the time (or else we would be in the water floating but we weren't), watched the little kids be weird, PJ took loads of people out on the boat for rides or to be pulled on a raft from behind the boat, we played a little HORSE basketball and horse shoes and by then it was time for some food!

There were grilled burgers, hotdogs and someone grilled up some ribs.  I took a burger and a few ribs along with some of the excellent salads, fruit, veggies and chips that were offered.  I would have to come back for dessert.  I was really sad Bev didn't make her lemonade pie this time.  It was always a hit.

It was getting cooler so I made a few trips back up to the Escape and changed into some sweatpants, socks and shoes and brought down my fireworks I've kept in a bin for several years.  I figured it was time to light them up.  I shared with Ben and Sammy and gave some of the less dangerous ones to the random kids to blow up.  We did it on the dock so we knew we wouldn't light anything on fire.  I did have a safety bucket to put the burnt up firework skeletons in and of course the wrappers and plastic bits.

It was getting darker so everyone brought out their dock fireworks.  We had to wait until at least 10 for the barge firework show from the middle of the lake.  I was also disappointed that the weather was so overcast we didn't get to see Mount Rainier in the distance.  Most of the day it was covered up by clouds.  Maybe next year.

Paul or PJ lit our flare indicating that we were ready for the show to begin and also each house on the lake contributes a portion for this firework show to happen.  I am not 100% absolute but I heard the person who puts on the show owns Blackcat Fireworks and lives on the lake.  That's just what I've been told.

At 10 the show began.  I always found it fascinating that we saw the boom but didn't hear it until seconds later just because of the echo.  I am a fan of fireworks and could watch them for hours everyday.  It's amazing on how the colors (let alone the chemistry behind it) and designs could be packed into a tube to precisely go off at a certain time when it's lit.  It was nice to relax and enjoy the show and not have to worry about going to work the next day since we are having it a day early.

When the show was done we cheered and yelled encore!  We didn't get an encore unfortunately.  We got our stuff together, told everyone bye and thanks for having us and we headed towards home. We dropped off grandma first and then we were finally home.  I told Ben good night because he did have to work the next day and he went back to Rochester.  I went to bed shortly after. 

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Next Adventure:  Moving Day!