Geocaching Event in Issaquah and Stops Along the Way

I wanted to go to a few geocaching events.  Over the past few years I have not gotten to go for some reason or another.  I saw they moved the holiday party to Issaquah.  That's not that far.  I wonder if Bev wanted to go with me since Ben had to work and mom was heading down to Oregon with dad.  Bev let me know on Friday that she wanted to go because Bob didn't want to because he was up in Weyerhaeuser getting wood.  I told her to be at my house around 10ish.

The night before I got my stuff ready (wrapped my white elephant gift) and looked at the map of caches we could get.  She mentioned stopping in Tacoma to grab a cache Bob found without her.  She wanted to see it in person.  I told her let's do it!

I got up around 9ish and got ready for the day.  She showed up around 10ish and we left in the Escape around 10:30.  We gave ourselves enough time to stop at the cache in Tacoma and to get us into Issaquah so we could find a decent parking spot.  We got onto I-5 and headed north to Tacoma.

We got off at the exit before Bate's Technical College (because there was an accident going northbound and we wanted to avoid it) and followed the GPS to some parking coords.  We got out and saw there was a trail around this retention pond/lake thing.  Your're the Next Contestant - Gadget Series (GC7Z9E7) was our goal when we got there.  We heard it was really cool.

After a short walk we made it to this large plastic box we had to unlock.

I checked the cache page to see what the lock combo was.  I read it off to Bev and she opened it.  The board unfolded revealing us a miniature The Price is Right Plinko game.  We read the instructions and we got it on the first try!  It played the music and everything!  We enjoyed this one.

I left this log on the cache page:

Bev and I decided this was one of our stops along the way to Issquah for the WSGA event and we were glad to stop for three reasons...

1. We heard this cache was pretty cool and had to see it for ourselves (Bev was not with Gabe and Bob when they FTF'd it)

2. I love the Price is Right

3. We avoided the accident traffic going northbound

When we got there we were not disappointed.  It was magnificent and everyone needs to stop and enjoy this as soon as possible!

Thank you for the time and effort you put into this work of art!  :)

We got onto I-5 further up to avoid the slow traffic and got off at Des Moines and headed down the hill into Kent.  We got onto Hwy 167 and then merged onto 405.  I decided to try a new road and got off at the Sunset Hwy/900 in Renton.  I wanted to take a back way to Issaquah to see some new sights.  We were making really good time so we decided to stop and grab a couple on the way in.

I had Bev check her GPS to see if there were any along our route and she said there was one coming up called Cache-izzle (GC769PN).  We get in the turn lane and make our way to the mini strip mall parking lot.  I tried to park as close to the cache as I could.  We get out and start searching.  We know it's near the sign next to the highway.  We start looking.  I find it not where it was suppose to be.  It was uncovered laying out in the open.  We sign our names and put it back where it was suppose to go.

We get back into the Escape and head to another one Bev had on her GPS.  Finn's Win (GC61QNA) was a small park in a neighborhood.  When we got out we noticed a few kids sitting at the picnic table playing on their phones.  They didn't notice us.  We read the hint and saw the tree it was suppose to be in.  It was suppose to be easy but we didn't find it.  Bummer.  We moved on.

We found another one close by on Bev's GPS, Daddy's Girl (GC7ZWGJ) was located inside of a undeveloped park called Sierra Heights.  We find the trail and make our way to the posted coordinates, which took us to a cedar tree.  We read the cache page and we needed to climb the tree to retrieve the cache.  I looked up and there it was.  It was a short climb but the cache was in an awkward spot so I threw the log down to Bev to sign.  She threw it back up to me when she was done.  I put everything back in the cache, took the coin out to move on and climbed back down.  We walked back to the Escape.

We got back on the highway and drove past the Squak Mountain area on our way to the event. I'm not sure I've been out this way or not.  We followed the GPS to the brewery location.  We were there early, which was on purpose, so we could find a parking spot and get organized once we went inside.  Neither of us like to feel rushed.  We went inside Rogue Brewery, where we were greeted by Nikki and Antoine for the WSGA Puget Sound:  Post Holidays After-Party (GC829QZ).  We visited for a bit while others arrived.  We signed the logbook and checked out the trackables.  Gabe showed up shortly after.  He told us he had a date later on that evening.

I visited with Chris and Deb for a bit and then the food came out.  We ate chicken tacos, Caesar salad and homemade root beer for free.  If you wanted other food you'd have to order it and pay for it yourself.

While we ate we did the white elephant gift raffle.  I got a tackle box filled with geocaching paper, bags, stickers, mini containers and TOTT's.  I don't think there has ever been a year where I received something terrible at these gatherings.  I've been pretty lucky.  I even won a raffle prize when we did the general raffle.  I grabbed a tag and ended up giving it to Ben because he couldn't come.

I also told Ben I would fill up his growler with some of the Outta Line IPA because Nikki and Antoine said it was pretty good.  I had to wait which seemed like forever because they kept ignoring me.  It shouldn't have taken that long to fill a growler and pay.  Meanwhile, Gabe and Bev were grabbing caches within walking distance while they waited for me.  They found Go Play Outside -- Issaquah Creek Hatchery (GC17B78) while I was in line.  They said it took a while to find because someone had said they found it but it was broken.  Gabe and Bev found an intact container that was fine so apparently there are two containers floating around?

I put the growler in the Escape and texted Bev to see where she and Gabe were.  They told me they walked down the street to Coffee Break (GC7WGBC) and for some reason my phone app didn't want to refresh the caches on the map so I had no idea where they were.  I had to call here to find out.  I saw them down the street and met up with them.  I missed the process on how to get to the cache but you needed the code to get into the box and then you had to use a RFID card (one was provided for you) to access the cache.  They signed it and put it back.

 
We walked over to the next one, It Takes THREE (GC7WE07) which was behind a renovated Shell gas station.

We walked around and read the cache page and it said you can not do this cache without three or more people.  It's a good thing we came with three people.  It also said to access the cache you would need to position each person at three different locations to press buttons at the same time.  We positioned ourselves accordingly and in three, two, one, press!  We all pressed our buttons at the same time and we heard a pop.  The door opened revealing the cache for us to sign.  That was definitely a new caching experience.

We wanted a few more but had to take the Escape to go get them.  We piled in and headed to Chocoholic - Travel Bug Hotel (GC69FGZ) which took us to a chocolate shop right off of I-90.  We didn't really have time to go in so we just found the cache, traded some trackables and tags, signed the log and headed out.  This was a really full container and I am glad there were trackables inside which is not usually the case.

We drove to Issaquah's Visitor's Cache (GCK5KM) which was placed on 8/2004 making it a cache that has seen quite a few visitors over the years.  We had to wait until a homeless looking guy left the area before we started looking.  In the meantime, we enjoyed the landscape and the train tracks before we looked.  The cache was a quick find.

We had time for one more before we had to drop Gabe off at his car for his date.  We had to make a few U-turns to get to KFC Park Redux (GC7R3K7).  We found a parking spot and made the short walk to the cache location.  It was a magnetic nano and we were molesting every metal part of that area and couldn't find it.  I finally found it on the ground because the magnetic wasn't strong enough to keep it stuck to the surface it was suppose to be on.  We signed our names and drove Gabe back to where he parked.

We thanked him for going with us and told him to enjoy his date.  Bev and I headed out and went home the same way we got here.  We had no troubles getting home which was nice.  We got to my house and before I let her leave I gave her some of the Canadian candy I got back in October to share.  She thanked me for the invite and for driving.  She headed home.  I got in a shower, ate leftover pizza, watched Chopped, logged caches, TB's and worked on my blog.  It was a nice evening to relax and do whatever.

Next Adventure:  Logging at my Parent's House

Doug's 33rd Birthday

This was the first time in a very long time that we were able to celebrate Doug's birthday on his birthday as a family.  I got it all set up about a week ago and asked him where he wanted to go for his party.  He said Red Robin in Lacey.  That's where we all went.

After work I went shopping for his birthday presents.  I stopped at the Dollar Store first and grabbed some birthday hats, candles and something to put his gifts into .  I went to the Goodwill just because I could.  I always find stuff I can use but didn't find anything good for Doug so I headed to Walmart to get a cupcake for his candles, I found an underarmor work out shirt (because he was suppose to start working out and needed some clothes to do so) a mini pack of Coke and a bag of Cheeto's.

Since I was in town I had everyone from my house meet me there because I was already in Hawks Prairie and I didn't want to go home and turn back around.

Everyone showed up and a table was available so we didn't have to wait that long.  We all got drinks and then ordered our food.  We chatted about random things and our food arrived.  It was fun celebrating his birthday.  He actually seemed happy for once.

After food, I got the cupcake out and put the candles in it mostly for the symbolism of it.  We weren't really going to light the candles in the restaurant.  We sang happy birthday with the Red Robin staff and they left him a sundae.

We all shared the sundae before it melted.  We handed out birthday cards and presents.  It seemed like he enjoyed them.  He laughed at the Cheeto's.

Happy 33rd Birthday Doug!

Next Adventure:  Geocaching Event in Issaquah and Stops Along the Way

Weekend of Cutting Trees

Throughout my life we've had some pretty hardcore wind storms here in the Pacific Northwest.  My family has always lived near a lot of trees that surrounded our house.  As a little kid, I've slept with ear muffs, slept in the innermost part of the house away from windows and even stayed up all night long worrying about a tree hitting the house.  I lost sleep over a silly thing that absolutely terrorized me.  To this day I am still afraid of trees when the wind blows.  I always promised myself when that day came to buy a house there would be no large trees near the house.

In 2012, we had a winter storm that brought 13 inches of snow and the next day it all froze.  It took the tops off of trees, it bent trees in half, we heard cracks, pops and bangs.  A lot of trees and brush came down.  I was surprised none hit the cars or the ducks and chickens in their pens.  One of the tops of a tree actually snapped and hit the side of the house and I was beside myself.  That was the first time in my life I heard what a tree hitting the house sounded like. Luckily it only ripped off the gutter and put a small hole in the roof we didn't know about until it started leaking.  It always could have been worse.

Since then, nothing has hit the house; but you just never know which tree near the house would finally give up and fall.  Dad had always expressed interest in thinning out some of the "dangerous" trees has he would call them.  Unfortunately other things came up and his time was spent working on those.

While I was still living at home, we had a few significant wind storms that brought some of the large trees down and they were loud enough to wake me up.  Those nights I didn't sleep very much.  They are still to this day, sitting up on top of the hill next to the house rotting away.  Dad might get to them eventually.

This weekend he got me, Ben and Doug to come out and help cut down a few smaller trees that were leaning towards the house.

We used cables, chainsaws and the truck to pull them down.  Dad cut them up and we piled up the logs in one pile and the debris and limbs in another to be set on fire.

By the end of the day we got the problem tree as well as some of the ones that had fallen over the years cut up and rolled down the hill to be stacked.  They will be split at a later time and then taken over to Grandma's wood shed.

Dad also had mentioned that he had a contact that would come over and cut down trees in a 100 foot radius around the house.  He wasn't sure when they were going to come and do it.  He thought maybe sometime this early spring.

Next Adventure:  Doug's 33rd Birthday