I had mom drive over to my house so we could get on the freeway right away rather than driving all the way to Rainier and then back into town. I told her to bring her day pack and her camera. When she got here, she used the restroom, I finished packing some snacks, my back pack and headed out the door to the Escape.
We got on the freeway and headed towards Lakewood. I wasn't sure how many people would already be at the park and if there were enough parking spots. I made a wrong turn when we got near the park and had to turn around. I found a parking spot and had to avoid all the people trying to get in and out of the parking lot.
I got out my back pack and we stuck everything we would need into it including water, some snacks, keys, wallet and mom's camera stuff. We locked the car and headed to the first cache that I DNF'd, Farming Legacy (GC5RKF2). I knew where it was and couldn't get to it last time because someone had screwed the bolt on too tight and I had no tools with me. This time I had my multi tool and that took care of it. I signed our names and put it back.
We wandered around the area for a while and mom took some pictures of the barns and the trees.
I told her we had a few more caches in the area I had to redeem. The place was crawling with people and dogs. Since the next one was at a dog park we had to blend in. I knew of the general area the cache was in but missed it last time I was here. PET ME-PET ME! (A Two Finger Cache) (GC6KV25) was across the dirt road from the fenced off dog park. There were so many people around tending to their dogs they wouldn't even notice what we were doing. I took a different approach this time and found the cache right away. It was camouflaged perfectly.
The virtual, Grave Concerns (GC7B6TB) was a short walk away from the dog park near the grave yard. All it required us to do was take a picture in front of it. Easy peasy.
The final cache in the park I wanted to redeem was at the edge of the park on the other side of where the RC planes flew. As we walked there were a few people flying their planes. Hidden Clues and Secrets (GC5PN6Z) fooled me the first time but now that I found one similar to it, it made it easier to find and I found it instantly. I felt dumb that I didn't find it the first time.
We walked back to the parking lot and asked mom if she has been to the park at Chambers Bay and she said no. I was very surprised since she spent a lot of time as a kid in Tacoma. I told her we were going to hang out in Chambers Bay for a bit. I put the coordinates into the Nuvi and headed that way. We knew there were going to be a lot of people and hoped that we would be able to find a parking spot.
When we got there, we saw that cars were every where! This was going to be a challenge to find a spot to park. We circled the entire parking lot twice before we got lucky. I nabbed that parking spot so hard. We put together some of the stuff we would need in our pack, locked the Escape and headed over to the bridge of locks. Two winters ago Ben and I came to visit with our locks (https://cougval.blogspot.com/2017/02/bens-birthday-and-chambers-bay-love.html) and mom and I walked over there to see if I could find them. Since they were up there for over a year I knew the Sharpie pen we used to write on it would be weathered away. I had to consult pictures so I could remember where we locked it. Found it!
But couldn't find the other one at the end of the bridge. Might have to check later.
We enjoyed the area and then attempted to find Bridge of Locks (GC4KX0W) because the hint was so bad! We checked exactly where the hint told us to look and did not find anything. Then I remembered that it was probably a lock instead of something magnetic. I have no idea why I thought that probably based on the hint that was given to us. I looked at some past logs and had a good idea what I was looking for now. After a few minutes I found it, signed the log and made it look like we weren't doing anything with the sea of people around us.
I asked mom if she wanted to go down to the trail and walk towards the ruins and she said "let's go!" We made it down to the trail and I saw there was one more cache nearby, Valinor (GC4PV01) and as I got closer I wondered where in the world someone could have hidden this one. Then I had an idea. I searched with that idea in mind and found it pretty fast.
Those tall pillars that we walked past still and always will remind me of the AT-AT's from Star Wars.
We walked past the ruins and then on our way back to the Escape, we tried looking for the other cache, Firefly (GC736H9) but really didn't get to look all that hard because of all the muggles around. I would have to save this one for another time.
Since we ate our snacks and wanted something with a little more so on the way back to the freeway we stopped at Fred Meyer in Lakewood. Mom picked up a few things for home and I needed something to eat. I chose a sandwich and chips mostly because you can't go wrong with it and it's easy to eat.
As we got closer to the freeway, we passed the Clover Park area and saw Mountain View Cemetery. My great grandparents, great-great grandparents and my grandpa are all buried here. I haven't been here in years. Mom tried to remember exactly where they were and took a few minutes of walking around checking. It was nice to reflect where I came from even though I only got to meet Grandma Bea and Grandpa Clyde. I can't believe they've been gone for over 15 years now.
Next Adventure: A Geocaching Presentation
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