I got up around 4:30 a.m. because I had to pee so bad. I got out of the tent as quietly as I could and snuck over Ben without stepping on him, unzipped the tent and tip toed to the restroom. I saw a magnificent sight just beyond the river at the horizon. It was beautiful I decided to go back to the tent and grab my phone so I could get a picture of it. The early morning was peaceful and warm.
I went back to the tent and slept for a few more hours.
It started to get warm so we got up, got ready and headed over to the CITO and History (GC7JQZC) event. The usual doughnuts, coffee, OJ and fruit were available to those who were going to grab a plastic garbage bag and pick up some trash for the morning event.
We ate the assortment of pastries and fruit and then walked around the southside of the park. We actually found a lot of trash (that wasn't from our event) hidden in the brush along the river. We did this for about 45 or so minutes.
We ate the assortment of pastries and fruit and then walked around the southside of the park. We actually found a lot of trash (that wasn't from our event) hidden in the brush along the river. We did this for about 45 or so minutes.
We threw our garbage bags into the giant dumpster and went back to our camp site and started taken our pillows, blankets, sleeping bags and blow up mattresses out. We folded and rolled all of those up and then took down the tent. I made sure all of our food, kitchen and miscellaneous stuff got put back into their places before loading them into the Escape and Ben's car. Brenda and Ray did the same thing.
Yesterday we heard that there was going to be a special event cache for a cacher, Mrs. Guy, from the area and a part of this chapter of the WSGA, passed away last year. Well, we missed those instructions and decided to grab it on our way out of town today.
We made sure we had everything before we headed out. We left Sacajawea State Park and followed Nuvi's directions to Richland and to a familiar park we've been to several times, Leslie Groves.
The park was filled with people so we found the closest parking spot and walked the rest of the way to the cache, Mrs. Guy Tribute Cache (GC7R4K2). We thought we knew what we were looking for and turns out we were right. A homemade giant Oreo cookie container hidden away from the public. We signed our names, took a picture and made sure it was hidden back in its spot for the next cacher.
On the way back to our vehicles we stopped at a cache neither of us had yet but came up short because it was hidden that well. We even tried calling the cache owner but they didn't answer. Maybe next time. We said our goodbyes to Brenda and Ray because we weren't sure when we would see them again because they moved to Spokane and we weren't sure when we would get that way again.
On the way back to our vehicles we stopped at a cache neither of us had yet but came up short because it was hidden that well. We even tried calling the cache owner but they didn't answer. Maybe next time. We said our goodbyes to Brenda and Ray because we weren't sure when we would see them again because they moved to Spokane and we weren't sure when we would get that way again.
It was getting hot. Ben and I backtracked to Kennewick because he wanted to play disc golf at the 9-hole course in Findley at Two Rivers Park. This park was literally right across the river from Sacajawea. We followed the directions on how to get there. We drove past it accidently but figured out what we did wrong. We found parking spots and I decided I wanted to pee before we started. Those bathrooms have seen better days and that's all I'm going to say about that.
We got warmed up and it was nice being able to play at a course that's more wide open that what we were used to at home in Western Washington...all the trees to hit! I haven't played in a while so I didn't play very well but it was still fun anyway. Ben got frustrated because his throws and putts were not going how he wanted them too. I'm glad the place had some shade because it was getting hot.
We hit most of our Pars and some of the holes were above and some of them were below. I looked around to see if there were any nearby caches but most of them were away from the parking lot so we got ready to go.
I found a way we could just go through the town of Findley and up the hill to I-82. As we were driving I saw so many caches I just wanted to stop for but we didn't have time today. I would have to make a separate trip over here just to power trail cache. Between the TriCities and Walla Walla there were thousands.
For a while we followed the freeway west towards Yakima. I wanted to stop for a few caches in Granger and Zillah just to eat up some time while we waited for Willmarth to get back to us. On Friday, before I left their house, I mentioned that he could meet us at Miner's on Sunday and he thought that was a great idea. Now it was hard to get a hold of him.
We moved onto Granger. I miscalculated the exit and Ben had to cut off someone to get to the exit. I told him I was sorry. We had gotten all the caches a year ago and saw there was a new one. We pulled over at the informational sign and grabbed Yellowstone Trail - Baily Ave (GC7DQRE) which was a key hider. I signed our names and hid it back in its spot for the next person.
The caches in Zillah were a bust but I wanted to stop at the teapot just for fun. While we were there I noticed the additions to the area. They now had a firefighters memorial and Ben took a look at that while I used the much needed restroom. From there we headed into Union Gap.
Every time we come to Miner's it is super busy. We found the first available parking spots and walked into the restaurant. I told Ben to figure out what he wanted so we didn't have to wait a long time for food plus the line wasn't super long. We ordered basically what we usually get except we only got one fry basket because it could feed an army and we didn't need that many French fries. I wrote down some notes about the weekend while we waited for our food.
Our food came and it was delicious. It hit the spot after not having any food since 9 a.m. this morning and it was now 3:30.
I tried texting Willmarth again and no response. Ben asked if he could try so I gave him his phone number. He called him when we were getting on the freeway and he actually answered Ben. Moments later Ben called me saying that he got a hold of him and that they were home if we wanted to stop in. I followed the Nuvi's directions from Selah (I hadn't been this way to his house yet) and got there within 15 minutes of Ben talking to him. We parked the cars out of the way and got out. Kevin was so excited to see Ben.
Apparently we interrupted a huge Nerf gun war and Kevin wanted us to play. He told us who was on whos team (Kevin and Ben against Shannon and I) and Willmarth kept the dogs in the room so they wouldn't too rambunctious with all of the nerf bullets flying around. Kevin kept trying to cheat so I found a way to make a shield so I could get close to them and shoot them. This went on for at least an hour and a half. Then sadly we had to get going because we had a three hour drive ahead of us.
We got warmed up and it was nice being able to play at a course that's more wide open that what we were used to at home in Western Washington...all the trees to hit! I haven't played in a while so I didn't play very well but it was still fun anyway. Ben got frustrated because his throws and putts were not going how he wanted them too. I'm glad the place had some shade because it was getting hot.
We hit most of our Pars and some of the holes were above and some of them were below. I looked around to see if there were any nearby caches but most of them were away from the parking lot so we got ready to go.
I found a way we could just go through the town of Findley and up the hill to I-82. As we were driving I saw so many caches I just wanted to stop for but we didn't have time today. I would have to make a separate trip over here just to power trail cache. Between the TriCities and Walla Walla there were thousands.
For a while we followed the freeway west towards Yakima. I wanted to stop for a few caches in Granger and Zillah just to eat up some time while we waited for Willmarth to get back to us. On Friday, before I left their house, I mentioned that he could meet us at Miner's on Sunday and he thought that was a great idea. Now it was hard to get a hold of him.
We moved onto Granger. I miscalculated the exit and Ben had to cut off someone to get to the exit. I told him I was sorry. We had gotten all the caches a year ago and saw there was a new one. We pulled over at the informational sign and grabbed Yellowstone Trail - Baily Ave (GC7DQRE) which was a key hider. I signed our names and hid it back in its spot for the next person.
The caches in Zillah were a bust but I wanted to stop at the teapot just for fun. While we were there I noticed the additions to the area. They now had a firefighters memorial and Ben took a look at that while I used the much needed restroom. From there we headed into Union Gap.
Every time we come to Miner's it is super busy. We found the first available parking spots and walked into the restaurant. I told Ben to figure out what he wanted so we didn't have to wait a long time for food plus the line wasn't super long. We ordered basically what we usually get except we only got one fry basket because it could feed an army and we didn't need that many French fries. I wrote down some notes about the weekend while we waited for our food.
Our food came and it was delicious. It hit the spot after not having any food since 9 a.m. this morning and it was now 3:30.
I tried texting Willmarth again and no response. Ben asked if he could try so I gave him his phone number. He called him when we were getting on the freeway and he actually answered Ben. Moments later Ben called me saying that he got a hold of him and that they were home if we wanted to stop in. I followed the Nuvi's directions from Selah (I hadn't been this way to his house yet) and got there within 15 minutes of Ben talking to him. We parked the cars out of the way and got out. Kevin was so excited to see Ben.
Apparently we interrupted a huge Nerf gun war and Kevin wanted us to play. He told us who was on whos team (Kevin and Ben against Shannon and I) and Willmarth kept the dogs in the room so they wouldn't too rambunctious with all of the nerf bullets flying around. Kevin kept trying to cheat so I found a way to make a shield so I could get close to them and shoot them. This went on for at least an hour and a half. Then sadly we had to get going because we had a three hour drive ahead of us.
They thanked us for coming over and hanging out one last time, some hugs were given and we told them we would try and come over again this fall if we could make it work. We got into the vehicles and drove down to the Hwy 12 junction and headed into Naches. I wanted to get home at a decent time so we didn't stop and grab caches on the way home.
This time we didn't have any surprises on the way home unlike last year's CPR incident. We ended up getting home just after 9 p.m. We unpacked the vehicles while we got a little lightening show off in the distace, got a little organized, I got myself a shower and headed to bed. This was my last week at DOT and I had to have some energy so I could teach my replacement everything I had learned so far.
This summer has been really challenging both good and bad. I really wanted the bad to go away but unfortunately it's a part of life that I am struggling with at the moment and can't seem to shake it. I've never really been depressed in my life but I was really feeling it the past few weeks.
Next year's Geocoin Challenge will be the last weekend in June and will be at where it all started 10 years ago, in Richland at the park in the Columbia Point Marina. The theme will be "STEAM" - Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math.
Next Adventure: The Dirty Dash
This time we didn't have any surprises on the way home unlike last year's CPR incident. We ended up getting home just after 9 p.m. We unpacked the vehicles while we got a little lightening show off in the distace, got a little organized, I got myself a shower and headed to bed. This was my last week at DOT and I had to have some energy so I could teach my replacement everything I had learned so far.
This summer has been really challenging both good and bad. I really wanted the bad to go away but unfortunately it's a part of life that I am struggling with at the moment and can't seem to shake it. I've never really been depressed in my life but I was really feeling it the past few weeks.
Next year's Geocoin Challenge will be the last weekend in June and will be at where it all started 10 years ago, in Richland at the park in the Columbia Point Marina. The theme will be "STEAM" - Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math.
Next Adventure: The Dirty Dash
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