Windy Ridge: Mount St. Helens

I have been trying to go to the Windy Ridge side of Mount St. Helens for three summers now.  Last summer we took an emergency trip to Reno, Nevada to bring Erika back to Washington and the summer before that we were moving into our new house and didn't have a lot of time for daytrips around Washington.

I called mom and asked her if she wanted to go with me and she said yes.  Ben was still gone with the fires in southern Oregon.  July was the perfect time to go because the weather would be decent (I will not go to the mountains if the weather was going to be cloudy) and it worked out this year (even though this summer was a rough one for us).  We seriously have not been to this side of the mountain since the mid 1990's.  I am sure a lot has changed.  I got my stuff ready the night before and made sure to check and download all of the caches I wanted to get.  There was a virtual I really wanted to get and made sure I definitely had that one written down.

I got up at 9:00, packed up the stuff I would need, some snacks and drinks in the cooler and put it in the Escape since we were going to drive my vehicle down there.  I drove into Rainier, picked her up (thank goodness she was ready to go and I didn't have to wait for her) and took the backway to Hwy 12 via Hwy 702, into Eatonville, Hwy 7 and into Morton because we had to stop for gas in Yelm and Walmart for a few things since we got new phones (Galaxy 9+) last week.  We got onto Hwy 12 and we were pretty lucky...we didn't have to follow anyone for a while.  When we got to Randle, we turned onto the 131 and then onto NF25.  The last time mom and I were out here was November 2016 and we were trying to cross off some of the Rainier100 cache series while the weather was nice.  We went as far as the Iron Creek campground before we turned around.

NF25 is paved but it endures some pretty harsh weather throughout the year so there are spots where the road is pretty chunky in some areas so your really couldn't drive very fast.  The road wasn't super busy either which made it nice while driving even though it is a pretty windy road.  We were coming up on our turn, NF 99 to take us towards Windy Ridge.

In a few miles there was going to be a pullout for a first view at Mt. St. Helens and our first geocache of the day which happened to be an earthcache.  I'm On the Edge (GC7CV55) took us to the edge of the blast zone to where we had to answer a series of questions about destruction and rebuilding of an entire ecosystem.  We took our picture to verify we were there as well.

A little further up the road we made another pit stop at Meta Lake and Miner's Car.  I remember visiting these places in the mid 1990's.  I can't believe I haven't been up this way since.  We parked and got out.

Mom wanted to walk around the short interpretive loop and I said sure, let's go for it!  We read some of the signs as we walked past them.  I vaguely remember being here but once we got to the lake I definitely remember being here.  We came up on the small dock that gave you a great view of the lake.  The trees, plants and animals were still recovering almost 38 years later.  I walked along the cement sidewalk to an even better view.  Because this area is under snow most of the year; a lot of the water from the snowmelt had not evaporated yet.  There was still a lot of water on the walkways you had to avoid.

The water was so clean and clear.  You could see tiny fishes and frogs swimming around in it.  You also could feel the coolness and the warmness of the air because of the elevation we were at.  It is an unusual sensation and similar to when we were at Crater Lake last summer.  We spend a good half hour/45 minutes out here before we decided to go check out Miner's Car before heading to Windy Ridge.

Instead of driving, we decided to just walked there because it was a really short walk.

We had to wait our turn to read the informational sign because of the couple in front of us.  Once they left we had it all to ourselves.  It is really hard to imagine what this place looked like before the eruption since I didn't have the luxury of experiencing the area before it did (I wasn't born yet) but you could imagine though.  Lots of dense forests, creeks, forest roads, hiking trails, shade, animals running around...you probably couldn't see the mountain as easy as you can now.  We read the sign and it explained who's car this was.  They parked their car here and walked up to a mine that wasn't that far away from the car.  They thought they were safe from the mountain that morning.  They all died within seconds of the eruption.  As you can see the car endured a lot that day however, almost 40 years of weathering and people stealing parts off of it didn't help it either.

We walked back to the Escape and followed the road closer to Mt. St. Helens. Two winters ago I read two books called Path of Destruction:  Eyewitness Chronicles of Mt. St. Helens and Eruption:  The Untold Stories of Mt. St. Helens.  Both were really awesome books and I couldn't put them down.  They talked about a lot of the activities on the north and northeast part of the mountain...the part we were in.  They also discussed the stories of everyone who survived and who also thought they were safe where they were that morning.  A lot of them had to go beyond their capabilities to survive that day.  It just fascinates me to no end.  I love this stuff and part of me wishes I was alive to see the eruption.

We stopped at the Smith Creek Viewpoint to use the restrooms and to check out the informational maps inside.  There wasn't much to look at and I was disappointed.  I would have liked to take one of the signs home though.

We stopped briefly and pulled over to check out Spirit Lake.  When we stopped our phones blew up!  Usually when we were out in the mountains our phones didn't work so it was very surprising when I got text messages and mom was getting phone calls.  The phone call was from Doug and he was upset we didn't ask him to go to Mt. St. Helens with us.  We just didn't think they would have gotten up in time to meet us out there since they were coming from north of Seattle.  They would have had to come down the night before.  It didn't mater because he and Jenn were on their way to Vantage to see the horses because she wanted to see them.

We made it to the Windy Ridge Viewpoint, found a parking spot and knew we had to pay a $5 recreation fee since I didn't get one before we left.  I didn't bring any cash on me so I had to write out a check instead.  I shoved it in the envelope and dumped it in the slot.  We sat in the Escape, ate our lunches, put our shoes on and made our way up the 368 step sand ladder.  It was a half a mile and we gained 200 feet in elevation as we went up.  We had to stop a few times to catch our breath because that mountain elevation will get ya.

We spent a good hour up on the ridge overlooking Spirt Lake and a view of the crater.  While we were up there I took the time to reflect on everything that has happened since January.  This year was especially difficult and it was about to get painful because Grammie wasn't improving.  It was literally breaking my heart.  I also sat there looking at this amazing geology.  The sheer fact that this mountain did so much destruction in such a little amount of time; but no matter how devastating it was it still is recovering with time.

We walked back down the sand ladder and did the virtual cache, Mount Saint Helens - Windy Ridge (GC5097) by the edge of the parking lot.

We walked by a group of Canadians visiting the mountain and they asked us a few questions.  I answered them the best I could, they thanked me and went on their way to their next adventure in Washington.

We both decided it was probably time to head back towards Hwy 12.  We meandered our way down FS99 and onto FS25.  Mom saw a sign that said Iron Creek Falls so we stopped and hiked the 500 feet in. There were also a few sets of people, their dogs and kids also enjoying the falls and river on this hot summer day.  I took my shoes off and waded across the river to the other side.  That side gave a better view of the falls.

Mom asked me if I knew of any other places out this way that had falls.  All I could remember off Hwy 12 was Cowlitz Creek Falls.  We got back into the Escape and followed FS25 back to the main Hwy in Randle.  I had to stop one more time at the Iron Creek Campgrounds for Berner on the Loose (GC4GEXC).  I basically had to guess where it was because my phone reshuffled itself so I didn't have a clear view on this cache since I didn't have service here  I used my car GPS to get me as close as I could and then used the hint I wrote down to find it.  Victory was mine after checking a few places along the trail.

We got back to Hwy 12 and headed towards Cowlitz Creek Falls.  We followed the signs off of Kiona and made it to the campground.  Once we got to the parking lot and the boat launch we really didn't know where to go so we asked someone if they knew about any falls here.  No one seemed to know.  There was no falls here.  Why do they call it Cowlitz Creek Falls if there aren't any falls.  So misleading.

We got back into the Escape and headed back to the highway.  Mom saw a lavender farm, Cowlitz Falls Lavender Company that was founded in 2014, on the way and wanted to stop.  We really didn't have anywhere else to go that day so I said sure.  We followed  the signs to the back of the building and parked.  We got out and we were instantly welcomed to the farm.  We looked at their products that they make there on site.  That included hand lotions, soaps, essential oils, edible lavender and lavender starts for your own garden.  She explained the different kinds of lavender in the rows, handed us a basket and some shears and told us to have fun.

Mom and I picked a row and she asked how we were suppose to cut it.  I have some experience cutting lavender so I told her where to cut the bundle.  She cut quite a few pieces and shoved them in her basket and then asked me if that was enough.  I didn't know how much she wanted so I asked her if she thought it was enough.  She said sure.  We went back to the building to pay for stuff.  We saw the essential oils and decided to buy some for grandma.  We thanked the family and drove back to Hwy 12.

I wanted to stop at one more cache called Surprise! (GC5WG73) because it had several favorite points.  When we got closer I noticed that it could be a guard rail cache and I was disappointed.  However, when I got out to actually find the cache I was indeed surprised.  The container is what made it worthwhile sort of like a surprise snake that comes out of those joke plastic cylinder containers.

I put it back and got back in the Escape.  It was getting about that time and mom mentioned she was hungry and wanted Papa Pete's in Centralia.  We were about an hour out of Centralia.  I texted my friend Liz to see what she was doing and if she wanted to meet us at the pizza place in about and hour.  She was happy to see the invite but sadly she couldn't make it there due to her kids sports.  I said since I was in the area I thought I would invite her out if she could but I would see her anyway at work on Monday.

We usually got the same thing when we went to Papa Pete's, pepperoni and black olives, a side salad to share and some drinks.  We got the large size so we could bring home leftovers.  We ate and chatted about some of the upcoming events.  We had a trip to the southeast planned for the end of next month.

I dropped mom off in Rainier and then headed to my house for a quick second to change.  I had promised my HR people at work that I would come to Joe's off site karaoke retirement party at Emperor's Palace.  I basically went to support Joe because I do not sing in front of people.  I hung out with his sons, Nick and Chris, for a little while since I basically grew up with them.  It was fun to catch up with them for a while.  I stayed for about two hours visiting with the other HR people until I got tired.  I thanked them for inviting me out.

I went home, got cleaned up, chilled a bit watching Netflix, talked to Ben for awhile and then went to bed shortly after that.  Today was a long but fun day.

Next Adventure:  Mobilization:  The Dalles and Taylor Creek Wildfires in Oregon

Packing, Point No Point Lighthouse and Heading Back to Olympia

My room got up around 8 again and started getting ready for the day.  We had to pack up, get checked out, load the cars and head to the venue all before noon.  Most of my room was ready so we took care of our stuff right away.  We hadn't heard from Lindsay and Justin and it was reaching check out time.  Nicole and I wandered up stairs and knocked on the door.  Lindsay answered it half asleep.  We asked why they weren't out of bed yet and she asked what time it was.  It was past 10 and they needed to check out by 11.  They got their butts in gear pretty fast!  Haha!

We spent the next hour making sure we had everything before we headed over to the venue.  On our way back to the venue, I went through a checklist in my head of all the stuff I provided and hoped I got all of it back.  We parked in the grass and walked over.  We found one of the venue's crew members and asked if we could go inside and grab the rest of our stuff.  He said sure!  Nikki and Pauline showed up shortly after.  We went inside and condensed everything into piles of who's is who's and where is it going when it leaves here.  Justin and Lindsay showed up to dump off stuff into mine and Pauline's car and Steve and Vicky showed up to get the keg.  A lot of the stuff that was inside went into the Escape because I had the most room.  With the collection of everyone we actually got a lot of it done really fast.  We took a few moments to thank everyone, we made sure everything we came with we went home with and a few of us decided to get together in Poulsbo to have some lunch.  I told them I would meet them there.

I had a side agenda that I've had planned since I knew we were coming to Kingston.  I wanted to go see the Point No Point Lighthouse in Hansville, which was a few miles north from the hotel and venue.  I followed the Nuvi and the signs.  I found the parking lot and didn't realize I had to walk a bit to get to the lighthouse.  Here we go.  It was a hot walk and I wore the wrong sandals but managed.  When I got to the lighthouse, I did the necessary photos and looked around for signage just in case I had to answer any questions for this virtual, The Treaty of Point No Point (GC7B6T2).

"Washington's Point No Point Light Station is the oldest on Puget Sound.  It is located on a low finger of land that the local Native American tribes had given the name Hahd-skus, meaning long nose.  The Point No Point Treaty was signed on the spit in 1855 by Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens and leaders of S-Klallam, Skokomish and Chimacum tribes.

The lighthouse has been in continuous operation, providing navigational aid to mariners since its completion in 1879 (with the Fresnel lens operable by early 1880). Currently, it is lit with an automated acrylic lens.

Point No Point Lighthouse is the only lighthouse accessible to the public in Kitsap County.  The light station property, managed by the Kitsap County Parks, is located in Hansville.  It is listed in the Washington State Heritage Register and the National Register of Historic Places".

I saw there was another cache nearby, Just Past Point No Point (GCN2Z8), and it was along a sandy trail underneath a burnt log.  I had to reach in to grab it and my arm was smeared in black carbon when I was done.  I signed my name, put it back and headed back towards the parking lot.  It was getting hot and sweaty.

I noticed there was another cache, Remembering Grandparents Day (GC6RWWB) near the parking lot and of course I was going to grab that one too.  I had to wait until some of the muggles cleared out so I could find this without being looked at weird.  Luckily it was really easy to find, sign and placed back.

I got into the Escape and texted Nicole to find out where they ended up finding food.  She texted me the address and I put it into the Nuvi.  She also added that downtown Poulsbo was crazy and finding a parking spot was even crazier.  Ugh.  I picked the shortest less busiest way possible and got there in about a half hour.  Nicole really wasn't kidding about the parking situation.  I found out where the Green Light Diner was and found a parking spot near the waterfront.  I was super lucky I didn't have to walk very far.

I walked in and found them.  They were on the tail end of their meal.  I wasn't too terribly hungry so I finished Lindsay's hash browns and ordered a Pepsi.  We sat and chatted for about a half hour.  Lindsay and Justin told us a little bit about the places they were going to visit in Canada once they left here.

Lindsay wanted to walk around Poulsbo for a bit so we went with her.  We checked out the water front, went into a few shops and chatted a while until it was time to leave.  Poulsbo has a huge Scandinavian background and you could see that in a lot of their murals around town.

Nicole and Del headed home, Lindsay and Justin headed north to Canada and I headed towards Olympia so I could drop off all of this stuff in the back of the Escape at Lindsay and Justin's house.  Before I left I told them to have a great time and take pictures because we expect to see them and head some of the stories.

I decided to just go home rather than stopping for caches (even though I would have liked to) just so I could drop off the stuff, get a shower, eat some food and get ready for the upcoming work week.  It didn't take me very long to get to Olympia.  I texted Nikki to let her know I was almost there.  She said they were home cleaning the house and should be there when I got there.

I rolled up and Nikki helped me unload so much stuff out of the back of the Escape.  She thanked me for helping out with everything which included the planning, the doing and the clean up.  She also said she appreciated getting to know me again since the last time I saw her was several years ago.  I told her the same.  I got into the Escape and headed home.

I got home, unloaded my stuff, got cleaned up, relaxed and got ready for the work week.  I talked to Ben for a bit and told him about the wedding and he told me a little bit about what they did that day.  He said he was really disappointed that he missed the wedding.

Wow what a weekend!

Next Adventure:  Windy Ridge:  Mount St. Helens

Lindsay and Justin's Wedding

My room woke up around 8ish.  We were told that Celeste was going to do our hair and Nicole told me she would do my make up and curl my hair a few weeks ago.  I hopped in the shower and made sure I didn't get my hair wet because my hair wouldn't stay in whatever Celeste had planned for it.  My hair has always struggled to keep curls or up dos.  Nicole said that I was first for make up.  I got some of my clothes on and wandered around in the robe while she did my make up.

I was surprised how long it took to look pretty.  I can't believe some women (and some men) spend this much time putting make up on every day.  I do it very rarely for special occasions.  When I apply it it's pretty minimal.  The cool part was she explained why she was using a certain product and what it was suppose to do.  I knew that my eyes go well with browns, greens and pinks because I have hazel eyes but the other stuff I have never heard of before.  I learned a lot of new things that morning about make up.

After I was done I went upstairs to the room Celeste was doing hair in.  I had to wait a short amount of time because she was finishing up someone else's hair.  I was next.  I just told her to do whatever looked good.  I was pretty easy to please.  I had so many bobby pins in my hair by the time she was done.

It was getting pretty close to lunch time so I wandered down stairs to the grill and ordered some food because I didn't know what the food situation was like.  Del had just gotten back from there.  I ordered a chicken Caesar wrap and some chips.  I was pretty hungry at this point.  Because there was only one person working the grill I had to wait a while.  Luckily, sports were on the television as I waited.

I took the food up to the room and Del had just finished showering and was now ironing his suit.  Nicole must have been upstairs getting her hair done.  We chatted about random things as I ate and he ironed.  The TV was on in the background.  That wrap was delicious and totally hit the spot.

We were going to have to leave here pretty soon to be at the venue around one for pictures.  I gathered up everything that I thought I would need and shoved it in my bag.  Del said he would drive so we all didn't have to drive separate cars.  I really didn't need my vehicle for any reason.

We get there and we finish getting ready.  Lindsay wanted specific pictures of us getting the rest of our bridesmaid stuff on, her dress and some of the pics of the groomsmen.

The three hours were going to go pretty fast.  I even made a joke several months ago that Lindsay and Justin were going to be late to their own wedding. They both have a very long history of being late to things.

We took a million pictures in various poses with various groups of people.  This was like Prom and Homecoming but way longer.  I could not wait to get out of my shoes for a while before the ceremony began.  I was ready to go an hour before and did a lot of waiting around watching Nikki's son beat up the ring pillow.

The wedding was suppose to promptly start at 4:00 but we still had people showing up and being escorted to the garden area.  I looked at my phone one more time before leaving it in the room with my other belongings and it said 4:10.  I should have made that bet.  Haha.  We started a few minutes after I checked the time.  We all got next to the person we were suppose to walk down with.  When it was my turn I found DJ and we walked down.  It was weird seeing so many people that I knew.  I'm sure it was weird for those people to see me all dressed up with make up on.  Lindsay followed with her dad Brian.

We went through the ceremony and a few times the pastor made some obvious mistakes we just laughed off and Nathan, Lindsay's brother, yelled shut up at one of Amber and Keven's kids in the middle of the wedding which made me laugh.  Lindsay and Justin said their I dos and vows and they did their candle lighting portion.  Shortly we heard "I now pronounce you husband and wife" and they sealed it with a kiss.

Overall, it was a nice, easy going ceremony.  We walked out and lined up so we could see all the guests.  There were people there I haven't seen in decades.  It was nice to catch up with them.

Then we had another series of photos before we settled down at our tables and ate food.

We headed back to the table after we changed our shoes and got our phones.  We let the bride and groom eat first, then the wedding party and then the rest of the guests.  We had salmon, chicken, potatoes, salad, rolls, beer, wine and water.  We ate and there was a lot of visiting afterwards.

We got together as a Rainier group before everyone decided to leave and took a picture.  It actually turned out really good.

We went back to the tables and there we did the cupcakes, the first dances, the bouquet and the garter throws, followed by dancing and more visiting.  We took pictures at the prop station.  Lindsay had this idea to make a prop station with her gear and it would be incorporated into the guest book and I helped her with some of my camping and  hiking equipment.  It turned out pretty good.

Around 9:00 is when everyone started winding down and leaving.  At that point, we started moving some of the stuff into the building and packing up some of it into cars.  I headed back to the hotel with Nicole and Del because I was so ready to get out of this dress.  We changed and wondered if there was a cache nearby.  I checked the geocaching app and there was one just outside the parking lot near the road.  I asked anyone if they wanted to go get it with me and Del, Nicole and Celeste came out to look for Nux Sklai Yem - The Strong People (GC167HD) with me.  Celeste also wanted to do some Pokémon while we were outside. We got to ground zero and took a few minutes to locate it in the dark.  We saw one of the casino workers on a quad heading our way.  He asked what we were doing and we told him geocaching and doing Pokémon.  He knew what both of them were and told us to carry on.  We had a small side conversation while we were out there.

We met up with some people at the bar inside the casino for drinks.  I couldn't make up my mind on what drink I wanted (plus I really didn't want to spend anymore money) so I didn't.  I really didn't want to be in the smoke either.  I got a text message from Nikki to ask if I could help them bring some of the stuff into the hotel.  I told her I would be right out.  We had to move some stuff from Lindsay and Justin's truck into Pauline's car and my Escape.  They said the rest of the stuff was left at the venue and we had to go get it tomorrow at noon.

It took a little while to move everything.  Afterwards I just hung out in Lindsay's room until I found what everyone else was doing.  Eventually there were a lot more people in the room and several of them were drunk.  I got a hold of Nicole and Celeste and they were in our room eating food.  I was getting tired so I went down stairs and hung out with them for a while.  I took out all of my bobby pins while we snacked and hung out.

We got ready for bed and headed to bed around 1ish.  I knew tomorrow would be pretty busy as well plus we had to go to the venue and pack up the rest of the stuff and head home.  Lindsay and Justin would be heading directly to Canada the next day for their honeymoon.

Next Adventure:  Packing, Point No Point Lighthouse and Heading Back to Olympia

Traveling to Kingston and the Wedding Rehearsal

Planning for a wedding takes a lot of time, money, effort, trust in your family, friends and yourself.  We started this journey last fall when Lindsay asked me and some of our close friends to be in her wedding as bridesmaids.  The last time I was officially asked to be a bridesmaid was for Lauren's wedding back in 2007.  Since then a few more of my friends got married but I either couldn't go or was not invited (due to family members only.)  We started the process by checking out some dresses online.  A lot of the sizes weren't American sizes so hardly anyone could fit into them comfortably.  I think I tried on at least ten navy blue dresses when everything was said and done.  We ended up finding ones that fit us at David's Bridal in Tacoma.  I wish we could rent bridesmaid dresses because now I have a dress I probably won't wear again.

Lindsay had her location and venue all picked out.  We were going to head up to Heronswood Gardens in Kingston.  The last time I was up this way was with mom about two years ago.  We drove up here to go geocaching and to grab a virtual called Frog Rock.

To save money, Nicole, Del, Ben and I were going to share a room at the Point Casino and Hotel (just south of the venue) during the wedding weekend and they agreed because the hotel rooms weren't all that cheap, however, when we split two days worth between all of us it was cheap.  Del would make the reservations and we would pay him after the weekend.

Now to find shoes....

I hate wearing nice shoes because they are so uncomfortable but hey at least they are pretty!  Ugh, grumble grumble grumble.  I literally found my shoes two days before the wedding when I went to Olympia after work to search for them.  I found some at the JC Penny's along with a bra that was the same color as our dress as recommended by Nicole.  Okay, I was all set except to pack up my stuff an cram it into the Escape.

That evening as we were getting our stuff ready Ben got the call we were hoping he would have gotten a few weeks ago so he didn't have to miss the wedding.  He and the Tenino Fire Department got their stuff together to MOB down to northern and southern Oregon.  The Dalles and Medford were severely on fire and even made national news.  Ben was so upset that he had to miss the wedding but we all knew that it could happen at anytime.  This time it was just poor timing.  Ben grabbed all of his stuff and headed to Tenino.  They got to the site a few hours later.  I called Lindsay and Nicole and told them that Ben would not be coming to the wedding.  Everyone was sad but they understood.

I took Friday off so I could help Lindsay with last minute things and to travel up there without having to worry about work and running out of time to get up there.  I got up early and headed to Lindsay's house.  There were cars and people everywhere!  I can't believe all of those people fit in her house!  Anyway, I asked what I could help her with and she said probably transporting stuff.

For the next hour we crammed many bottles of wine, decorations and "randoms" in the back of the Escape.  It was a good thing I had the room.  She thanked me and told me she would see me up at the place.  I left a little bit after 11.  I had plans to stop and pick up a few caches on the way up.

I headed onto Hwy 101 and got off on Hwy 3 to drive through Shelton.  My first cache, The Power of Love (GC6JXGK) was an easy park and grab right off the highway.  Unfortunately someone had dumped off some deer or elk parts that reeked to high heaven.  I hurried so I didn't have to smell it for too long.  Gross.

I got back into the Escape and checked the map for the next one.  We Didn't Start the Fire (GC6JAG0) was up the road in the small town of Allyn.  It was at the fire station and one of the guys on shift was cleaning the front of the sidewalks for the upcoming pancake breakfast the next day.  I found the cache quickly and he walked over to me and said, you found it!  I thanked him and he continued on his way.  I put it back and waited a long time to turn left onto the highway.  Allyn was hopping today!

A few miles up the road I entered Belfair and it was pretty busy.  I had to figure out where to park to get Birds of Belfair (GC6GFGP) without my Escape being in the way.  The first approach I saw that it was going to be a bird house so it should be quick once I found a place to park.  The second approach I just found a wide spot in the road and parked really quickly.  That intersection was insane and I was hoping no one really paid attention to what I was doing.  I made the find, signed my name, got a picture and got back in the Escape and headed to the next one.

Steel Identity (GC7PAW5) was heading out of town on someone's property.  I really hate those ones because if the person is home and bored they will come out and talk to you.  I don't have a whole lot of time to just chat today.  I debated whether or not to get it and finally just decided to stop and find it quickly.  I pulled in, found a spot to park and got out.  The statue really didn't have a lot of places to check (and I knew it was magnetic) so I focused my search underneath it and bam, found the cache!  I signed my name, put it back and was ready to hit the road in less than three minutes.

It took a while to turn left back onto Hwy 3.  I got a couple miles behind me before I pulled off of  the road again.  This time for Call of the Wild? (GC63DVM) which was a pill bottle near a power pole.  I made quick work of that.

I got into Bremerton and the congestion increased like I knew it would.  So I on purpose skipped Bremerton and headed into Silverdale.  I've never really been in Silverdale except to drive through it on Hwy 3.  I had put in coordinates for an earthcache called A Rock Eh? (GC18BJ4) and there were some parking coordinates provided.  They also mentioned a trail head and a trail from the parking coordinates.  I got to the spot and cachers before me had failed to mention that the trail head and trail was blocked by construction.  I had to figure out another way in.  I walked along the sidewalk and found the hard way in.  I tried really hard not to get scratches on my legs but I failed and I was suppose to wear a dress tomorrow that shows part of my lower legs.  I finally did get to the cache (the hard way) and answered the questions along with the picture of myself at the rock.  I headed back and found out there was indeed an easier way but I would still have gotten scratched a little bit.

I decided I should probably get gas before I left Silverdale (mostly because I didn't know what the gas situation would have been closer to the reservation) and found a Arco at a decent price.  I gassed up and saw there was another cache nearby I could grab before getting back on the highway.  #75 Graveler (GC72R87) was in a rock wall between a fast food joint and a bank.  I found its hidey hole, learned that it was a part of a Pokémon series, signed my name and went back to the Escape for the next one in Poulsbo.

I tried finding caches in every town or city I drove through...especially in ones I didn't have yet.  I already had some in Port Orchard and Bremerton so I didn't worry there.  I have been up to Poulsbo in the last couple years or so and found a few but I didn't have one here yet.  I looked for a quick easy one and that one was Puget Sound Energy:  Velkommen Til Poulsbo (GC7BZKB) which was hidden in a small park that overlooked the Sound.  When I got there it was hard to find a parking spot so I had to drive around the block a few times.  I walked over, found the tiny nano, signed my initials and put it back quickly.  I had some muggles walking by with their dog.

The next two I stopped at because I was gathering trackables for my own travel bug hotel (which I was almost done with) along my way towards Kingston.

The first one, Owl Be There For You, Travel Bug Nest (GC607V3) was off the highway near someone's vet business.  There was plenty of parking which made it really easy to spot the hotel.  It had a lock on it as well.  Upon opening it I saw the logbook right away but sadly no trackables.  This was the third time this summer I stopped for a TB hotel and there weren't any inside.  So disappointed.  Silver lining:  it was still a cool cache.

The second one, Cedar Glen Travel Bug Hotel (GC3Y9FE) was hidden on the property of a mobile home park.  I parked in one of the available parking spots and walked over to where my phone was taking me.  It took me a few minutes because my phone was bouncing all over the place and it really couldn't be very many places because we weren't suppose to disturb the landscaping.  Then I had a duh moment and found it right away.  Sadly this one also didn't have any trackables inside.  I struck out again today.

A few years back, the Washington State Historical Society got together with geocaching to create a series of caches all over the state for their geotour called the WSHS 125.  It was another passport and stamp adventure.  I got a few of them but never had the time to go out and finish it.  If I was nearby or going to be nearby one I always made sure I had my passport.  If you finished you would get a pathtag.  I saw that WSHS 125: Suquamish Museum (GC6J0F5) was really close to Kingston so I went and nabbed it on my way to the hotel.  It was a quick find and not a lot of muggles were around.

Chief Seattle Gravesite (GC7B86D) was my last cache that I had written down for the day.  I always tried to grab virtuals (now that HQ gave out a bunch of them last summer so there were more to do) because I really liked them and enjoyed visiting those places.  This one required me to finish one of the quotes on the memorial.  I jotted them down, took the necessary photo and headed up towards Kingston.

I tried an earthcache right outside of Kingston but upon further review of it, I didn't finish all of the requirements so I have to finish it up the next time I am up this way.  It was at a small peaceful park with a great view of the Sound.  I sat there for a little while just thinking about everything that has happened over the past few months and how life changing they were.

I got a text message from Nicole and Del saying they were within minutes from the hotel and asked where I was.  I told them I was a few miles out and that I would meet them at the hotel as soon as I parked.  I needed to bring in a lot of stuff.  I met them in the lobby, they handed me my key and told me where our room was.  We borrowed the cart, took it outside and piled our stuff on it.  Rolled it back inside, rode the elevator up and onto our floor.  I was a little bit weirded out with the choice of carpet in the hallway.  It definitely looked like someone dragged a dead body down the hallway.

Luckily we got there when we did because we had to get ready to go to the venue for the rehearsal and to get some of the flowers and decorations ready for tomorrow.  I drove myself and Del and Nicole followed me.  We were hoping that some of the other people were there as well.  When we got there, we saw their stumpery (whatever that was) but we got a huge kick out of it and continued following the road.  We really weren't sure where to go.  We kept going until we came to an open field.  We parked and got out.  One of the workers told us we were in the right place so we waited to hear our instructions. Of course most of the people arrived after 6 p.m. but that didn't surprise us.  Lindsay was notorious for showing up late to most everything.

Once everyone got there we went over who everyone was paired with, when we would walk down the aisle, where we would stand, briefly went over what the pastor was going to say and then how everyone was going to exit the garden.  We unloaded all the decorations and wine out of the Escape and then spent about an hour working on the flowers and some of the table decorations.

Afterwards we all went back to the hotel and had the "rehearsal dinner" out in the courtyard.  Steve bought pizzas and left his tab open for all the drinks (no liquor) we could drink.  I grabbed a couple slices of pizza and a Pepsi from the bar and sat at a table with Nicole, Del, Sido and Barlow.  We talked about a bunch of stuff and laughed most of the time.

At one point, Lindsay just couldn't put on that calm cool and collected face anymore.  She broke down and I sent Nicole up to find out what was happening.  Basically she was stressed out and heard some people criticizing some of the decisions she made.  They were gone for a while and I thought they would be back so after about an hour I went up to see what was happening.  They were working on bouquets.  We hung out there for a while until it was time to head down to our room.  We had a long day ahead of us tomorrow and we wanted to make sure we had plenty of sleep.  I wore earplugs because Nicole and Del snore.

Next Adventure:  Lindsay and Justin's Wedding