CITO, Packing Up Camp, Geocaching, Miner's and Heading Home

Ben and I got up before it started getting hot.  We both slept like poo because we stayed up talking to late, the rain and wind storm and having to get up a few times to pee in the middle of the night.  I'm glad we decided to grab out table and chairs because they would have blown away.  We saw Jen in the distance picking up the tents that she also took down in the middle of the night because they were blowing away.

We got dressed for the day and started organizing our stuff so we can tetris it back into the Escape.  We got all of our dishes packed up back in its tote, we got all of our clothes back in our bags, took the bedding out and folded it, sleeping pads, bags all rolled up, the tarp rolled up and put the tent and its pegs back into the bag.  We put my seats down and started packing it all in.  We put the cooler in last.  We would have to go get some more ice on our way out of town.

We walked over to the event, TC 2019 CITO (GC88D1A) and asked how we could help.  They had us move some signs, tables, covers and the cones and then we spent about a half hour walking around the park picking up garbage with our giant garbage bag.  Yoke's donated some doughnuts, fruit, coffee and juice for the cause and it was a tad bit late.

I ate a maple bar (because they are my favorite doughnuts ever!) and had some orange juice because I am not a coffee drinker.  Ben had some coffee and a couple of doughnuts.  We will have to take a break from doughnuts for a while since we had several of them this past weekend.  While we ate our food, we talked to a few cachers for a bit.  We waited for Bob and Bev to show up so we could say bye but they took too long.  We left the park at about 10 a.m.

We picked up two caches on the way to the gas station.  The first one was not that far away from the park.  That one was called Comstock Ave (GC523XY) that was found hidden among the shrubs.  Sometimes you find them right away and sometimes it takes a while to locate it.  Luckily, Ben found it right away.

We drove a little bit outside of the Richland to grab The Joke's on You (GCYEQP) because we wanted to find a regular sized cache rather than micros all the time.  This one was hidden near some sage brush.  When we approached it the cache looked like it had been thrashed.  All of its contents were strewn about but it all seemed to be there.  I picked up the contents, signed the logbook and put the lid back on it.  We figured it was suppose to be by the sage brush so we placed it there hoping that the cache owner would visit it soon.

We drove back through town to find the cheapest gas and found one right off the main drag.  Ben pumped the gas while I went inside to grab some cold drinks for the ride home.  We got back onto the main road and followed the signs back to Yakima via I-82.  I had Ben look at my phone for some upcoming caches between Prosser and Zillah.  The first grouping were going to be in Prosser, a place I haven't cached since the Yakima Valley Cache Machine back in September 2012.  Wow, that was such a long time ago.

We get off of the freeway and found out that Electric Pets (GC7AE24) was in a small rest area but we missed the turn and had to turn around.  We found the turn and pulled into the closest parking spot we could.  We got out and it was hot outside.  We walked over to ground zero and found it quickly because it was a fake face plate.  As we put it back, a carload of geocachers get out.  Of course they are here to find this cache.  They saw us and started talking to us.  They asked who we were and if we went to the TriCities Geocoin Challenge.  We told them that we sure did and we were now on our way back home to Olympia.  They said they were from TriCities and on their way to a week long geocache adventure around the Olympics and the Valley Cities GeoTour.  We told them to have fun because there is a lot to see and do over there.

We plugged the next one into Nuvi and she took us to Yellowstone Trail-OIE Prosser (GC7DQTA) which was in the parking lot of a car wash/vacuum facility.  We had to wait until the lady had her back to us before we went looking for it.  It was under a lamp skirt so we had to be quick without making a lot of noise.  We signed the log and put it back without the lady being too suspicious of us.  The next one, Detour in Wine Country (GC86PGZ) was also a lamp skirt but no one was around so we didn't have to be as sneaky when we found it.  We continued on the road that paralleled I-82 for a while.

We moved onto Hose"ington" (GC79J3A) gave it a good scour but we ultimately couldn't find it.  It must have been hidden very well...or missing.  We headed to the next one, Hermit on Guard (GC79J30) which was exactly what it said in its title, guard.  It was on a guard rail.  It was a pretty quick park and grab.

We continued down the road and finally made our way into Grandview.  We followed Nuvi and she took us up over I-82 and near the cemetery to get Guardians of the Cemetery (GC88QH5).  We didn't have to go into the cemetery because again, it was on a corner inside the guard rail.  It was another quick park and grab.  We turned around and headed back over the freeway into Grandview.  The Safe Way to Shine (GC86WJP) was located in the parking lot of the Safeway.  We had to be careful because of the people going in and out of the parking lot.  We managed to make the find without anyone noticing us.

We got onto the freeway and got off at one of the Zillah exits to grab one more, Yellowstone Trail - Hwy 410 -Teapot Dome 1922 (GC7DQTJ).  According to the cache page, this was the original location of the Teapot Dome.  As far as I knew, this dome had moved three times with it's final location in town as a rest area.  I have now been to the three locations as of today.  Just before we got out mom called to ask us where we were and if we were almost home.  I told her we were in Zillah grabbing a cache and then we were going to have lunch in Union Gap at Miner's.  She was like, woah you're still in Eastern Washington?  Yeah, we usually take our time when we come home after the challenge, grab a few along the way and eat at Miner's.  She said to have fun and drive safe.  We found the cache, wrote our names and put it back.

We got back onto the freeway and drove into Union Gap/Yakima.  I knew what exit to get off of since we've been to Miner's quite a few times over the years.  This place is ALWAYS busy.  Every time you go it's a gamble on how long you had to wait.  We were hoping we picked a good time.  When we arrived, around 1:30, the parking lot was packed with people, as it always is, we found a place to park and made our way inside the restaurant.  When we got inside the line wasn't as quite as long as I thought it would be.  We actually didn't have to wait that long to order.  We ordered the usual, 2 burgers, a fry to share and drinks...Ben usually gets a shake with his.  It cost us around $25 each time we go but it is totally worth it!

We found a place to sit and waited for them to call our number.  I got up, grabbed my drink, napkins and our condiments we used to dip our fries into.  I had to wait until the ketchup guy changed the dispenser to get ketchup and it took him forever!  I was losing my patience.  I wanted my ketchup!  He finally came by and filled it back up.  You could tell a lot of people were waiting for him to finally do it because a herd of people got up and got their ketchup including me.  Our food came out shortly after.  We were so excited to eat our burgers.  The food is so good here.  While we ate, we talked about the upcoming work week and the stuff we had to do.

We got done, got back onto the freeway and headed towards home over White Pass.  We had no problems and got home around 7ish.  We unloaded the Escape, started some laundry and got showers shortly after that.  We relaxed a bit before bedtime with some of our TV shows and some snacks.  We got ready for our upcoming work week and headed to bed.  It was a long, fun-filled weekend.  I can't wait for next year!

Next Adventure:  The Hike to Monte Cristo and GCBC

The 10th Anniversary of the TriCities Geocoin Challenge

Ben and I woke up around 7-7:30, mostly to start getting ready for the day but because the tent was starting to get warm.  The high today was suppose to be around 80 degrees and it was already starting to warm up. We spent the next half hour changing, getting ready for the challenge and making breakfast.  We try to bring the same stuff every year so we know how long it takes to prep, cook and clean up afterwards.  We made egg scramble and cut turkey sausages to mix in with it.  We pair it with tiny boxes of variety cereal.  It's delicious.

We made sure we had enough propane, cookware, milk and oil. When we cleaned up we had enough water, soap and towels. We did everything and still had enough time to chill for a few minutes before the event started.

Around 8:45 we walked over to where the announcements were being shared at the event, Tri-Cities 2019 Geocoin Challenge (GC7XZDH).  This is the 10th anniversary of this geocoin challenge and I have been to 8 of them.  We signed the logbook, played one of the guessing games, which we always lose and got our raffle ticket for tonight's raffle.

We found Brenda, Ray, Bob, Bev, Gabe and Ken and I asked Bev, even though I knew the answer, if they were going to do the challenge with us, they said they were riding with Gabe and Ken.  I also asked if we wanted to meet up for dinner like we have in the past and she said it depends on the guys and when we get done but don't count on it.  Bev was basically at the mercy of the guys.  I told her good luck with that.  We got a group photo with Signal before everyone dispersed.

At 9:15 Jen had all the cachers shift to where the marina was in the background and we all squeezed together so the drone could get us all in the frame.  He took several photos and they would post the best ones on the TriCities Geocoin Facebook page.  Once the photo was taken we walked over to the volunteers to grab our passport.

This year's theme was (STEAM) Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math.  All the geocaches will have that theme either in the cache names or cache containers.  This should be a good time.

Ray ran over to load the caches at the GPX table while Ben, Brenda and I got the Escape ready to go.  We put the coolers in, our bags of food, water and other extra stuff just in case we needed it.  Now we just needed Ray.  I looked at our map and since we were in Richland this year we decided we would do Pasco first.  Ben was our driver, Ray was the navigator and Brenda and I sat in the back taking notes and letting them know which one to go to next according to the map.  We were very careful not to do a lot of backtracking if we could help it.

Ray joined us and we headed out towards Pasco.  We started our adventure around 10:30 after everything was said and done.  We grabbed the first three furthest away from Richland Pasco caches.  We saw no one until our sixth cache.  TC 2019 - P07 Got Your Ears On?  (GC87HWF) was pretty unique.  The cache container was modeled after a HAM radio.  It was an easy find but we had to make sure we brought our passport with us because it was a rub.  We took a pencil and rubbed the symbol from the cache onto our passport.  It made it harder for cachers to cheat.

We moved onto the next bunch of caches.  TC 2019 - P02 Fire Science (GC87HWA) was near a fire station and was a homemade fire hydrant, which were both appropriate for this cache.  We made it here the same time as Ben and Jayme.  While we were here we visited for a few minutes.  It was nice to see them again because it's been a while.

We grabbed the last few Pasco caches finishing with TC 2019 - P04 Pinball Anyone? (GC87HWC) which took us to the Sacajawea Heritage Trail along the Columbia River.  We parked, all got out to walk to the cache.  It was a piece of white PVC pipe attached to a pole.  You pulled the spring at the bottom and the cache came out of the opening.  We had way too much fun with this one.  We finished all the Pasco caches just before noon.  We wanted to finish Kennewick before we stopped for lunch.

We crossed over the bridge into Kennewick.  We found the first three without any problems, back tracking or traffic which was nice.  TC 2019 - K06 Fore! (GC82HPY) was near a mini golf park next to a golf sporting goods store.  It was a quick grab.

We weaved in and out of the roads through Kennewick grabbing the ones on our list.  The next memorable one was at TC 2019 - K03 Gravitational Wave (GC82F0J).  We parked and walked to the cache we saw it was a rain gage box.  We were definitely impressed with this year's cache containers.  A lot of them were very unique and well made.  Some of them were even interactive!  We grabbed the rest of the Kennewick caches which meant we had two cities down and two more to go.  We finished Kennewick right around 1:30 that afternoon.

Since we were still in Kennewick we decided to eat lunch along the shores of the Columbia Park Trail.   We looked for a spot that had an available picnic table in the shade and found one quickly.  We didn't think we would because it was such a nice day, it was a Saturday and there were a lot of people wandering around the park.  We parked the Escape, got the stuff out of the back and walked over to our picnic table.  Ben and I made sandwiches, like we do every year, because it is easy to travel with and some chips, fruit and cookies.  Brenda and Ray were more hardcore and made salads and some veggies.  They are both working really hard to lose weight and they are doing a fantastic job keeping to their goals.  We ate, visited and enjoyed our half hour in the park.

We cleaned our stuff up, packed it back in the Escape and made our way to Richland and West Richland.  We decided to combine the two cities because if we didn't we'd be doing a lot of back tracking.  Collectively, we thought if we made a large circle starting in south Richland, worked our way over to West Richland, up to north of Richland and made our way back towards Columbia Point Park we should do pretty well.

Ben was doing a great job of driving, Ray was an excellent navigator (inputting the caches into his Nuvi so we knew where we were going) and Brenda and I in the back deciding which one we go to next.  We were a well-oiled machine and we all had many years of experience figuring out what tactics worked on a challenge like this.  From the first time I did this challenge to today the efficiency has gotten a thousand times better.  It helps to do the challenge with people that you get along with and share the same sense of humor.

As we leap frogged from city to city we crossed paths with other cachers along the way.  It was fun to see how far along everyone else was compared to us.  We came across one set of cachers who were only on their first city and here, we were technically on our "third" city.  Oh, I don't miss being a newbie, not at all.  There has not been one geocoin challenge here in the TriCities that we have not finished in a day.  There was that one year when it was 111 degrees where Bob and Bev's car overheated and I didn't think we would finish but we got lucky and finished anyway.  TC 2019 - W07 Bombing Range Sports Complex (GC86KMG) was outside of town at the sports complex.  We have been here a few times over the years.  This creative cache was turned into a temperature gage.

TC 2019 - W04 Community Gardens (GC86JMC) was one of our next stops.  It had a nice paved parking lot and we were able to park really close to the cache so we didn't have to walk too far.  It was a pretty large fenced off garden for the community to enjoy.  We found the gate and headed in.  We found the green lidded valve box and pulled the cache from it.  This cache was another rubbing for our passport.

We finished up all the caches in West Richland and then headed northeast to finish up the rest of the caches in Richland.  TC 2019 - R07 Ornithology (GC85GXV) was found along a short dirt pathway.  It was a bird house attached to a grouping of trees.  Ray, Brenda and Ben took the lead on this one.  We had about four more to grab at the end of the day.  It was almost 4:00 when we grabbed our last two caches.  TC 2019 - R04 Chicago Pile-1 (GC84T3B) was found near the place we had dinner the previous night.  The cache was a Geiger counter and the cache page talks about the Manhattan Project and the plutonium production.  I actually learned something from this cache.

The last cache of the day, TC 2019 - R03 Barometrically Challenged (GC84T3A) was a cache container that was transformed into a barometer hidden inside of a cement round.  We had to wait until a group of cachers were done with it before we grabbed it and put our names on it.  We asked the mom if she could take a group picture of us at the cache.  She said sure and took a few.  We thanked her and she and her brood trundled back to their car.  For years we've been doing a group picture at the last cache and this year was no exception.  We walked back to the Escape and headed back towards the park to receive this year's coin for completing the challenge.

We get back to the park around 4:30 and take our passports to the table where the volunteers where checking the answers.  We went to Julie's line and after a few moments of checking she handed us our very unique coins.  They hung from the base and each ring of the atom was one of the four cities we just found caches in.  Whomever designed this coin did a fantastic job.

We walked around for a bit talking to people we knew and we got a picture with this year's sign that someone had made.

We walked back to the tent area and Brenda and Ray started taking their stuff down and putting it in their hamster car.  Since they live in Spokane, which is only a few hours away, they decided to head home that evening.  After they were done the asked if we wanted to go have dinner before they left town.  We said sure, where at?  We decided on Applebee's which was right down the street from here.  They said they were going to leave directly from the restaurant and head home.

We got to Applebee's and it was somewhat busy but not too busy.  We were seated right away.  We got our drinks and our food shortly after.  I love their chicken strips and fries...especially their honey mustard dipping sauce.  While we ate our food we talked about some of the memorable places we've been to over the past year and where we were going to go in the future.  I told them about my recent Ecuador trip, stuff about our jobs and we asked them how they were settling into their new place since it's been about a year now.  We paid for our food and told Brenda and Ray safe travels and that we will try to figure out a good time go come over and visit.

We headed back towards the park but we picked up a few caches along the way.  We grabbed GeoHoHoHo-12/12/12 Blitzen (GC42MC0) which was a quick park and grab at a lamp skirt in a parking lot and Columbia Point Tower (GC6KCX7) which was a very clever cache.  Ben almost overlooked this one.  I've found several like this before.  It was a PVC pipe that was camouflaged to look just like the area it was hidden in.  It was a good find.

We drove back to the park to relax a bit.  We waited for it to die down a bit before we grabbed some stuff and headed down to the edge of the Columbia River to "take a shower".  I hated that this place had no showers or at least no access to showers.  This is why I loved doing the event over in Sacajawea State Park, it had showers for campers who needed a shower after a long, dusty, sweaty day.  We waded in and was met instantly by the cold water.  It took a while for me to get used to it. We washed our hair, washed armpits and our nether regions and rinsed off quickly.  We changed into clean dry clothes on the shore which was quite the feat.  Yay for large towels!  I felt a lot better now that I was somewhat clean.

We took our stuff back to the tent and chilled for a bit.  We did the three bonus caches and participated in the Dinner and Prizes (GC88542) which included the GIFF movie.

We played some cards and decided we wanted some snacks so we drove to the nearby Winco for popcorn and drinks and drove back.  We played more cards, tuned into the geocaching GIFF movie and a little while later all the lights went off for a few minutes...some sort of malfunction.  After the movie was finished everyone cleaned up their chairs and garbage and headed to their hotel, trailer or tent.  They turned the lights off and Ben and I got snuggled into our tent and chatted for a bit.

After midnight I got up to pee in the closest porta potty and could feel that the weather had changed.  I could barely feel the faint raindrops almost like mist.  The wind picked up a lot as well.  I got back to the tent and told Ben we better put our chairs and table away or they will fly away.  We took them apart and put them into the Escape.  We went back into the tent and fell asleep.  Every once and a while you could hear the rain and the gusts of wind hitting the side of the tent.  I knew I would not get a full night's rest and be very tired the next day.

Next Adventure:  CITO, Packing Up Camp, Geocaching, Miner's and Heading Home

Leaving Selah, Heading to the TriCities, Event, Brewery, Camping

I got up around 8:30 so I went and peed.  I saw that Willmarth was up and told me he was heading into Yakima to go to the store.  I asked if I could come with and he said yeah.  I changed my clothes really quickly, washed my face, grabbed my wallet and my phone and we headed out.  Ben was still sleeping so I let him be.

We stopped by the bank first to get money out for their trip and to pay their friends for watching their house and then across the street to Fred Meyers for some stuff for Hoopfest.  We went to the ghetto Walmart which was on the other side of the freeway to pick up a few more things.  We wandered the store and he decided we needed to go to Krispy Kreme over in Union Gap.  We went through the drive through and bought two dozen doughnuts.

Shannon called asking us where we were, she had just got done cleaning the house and getting ready to go.  She was kind of upset.  We didn't realize we were gone for almost two hours.

We got back, Ben was like where did you go, we spent some time eating "breakfast" and then got packed up and ready to head to TriCities and them to Spokane.  I wasn't sure when Ben or Kevin actually got up.  We played one last game of PIG in the driveway.  I didn't win this time.  We packed the Escape, thanked them for letting us come visit, gave out hugs and told them good luck at Hoopfest.  We left around 1ish, got onto I-82 towards Richland and we got to almost Sunnyside when I realized we forgot the cookies he made on the counter.  Ughh!

It really didn't take us very long to get to the TriCities.  There wasn't really any traffic so it took us about an hour.  Along the way we texted Brenda and Ray that we were almost there and Bob and Bev and they told us they were still at Beacon Rock so they were going to be a while.  We got to Columbia Point Marina Park and was upset that we had to be here again.  This park was the one we stayed at when we came to the TriCities for the first time and it didn't have showers.  I was disappointed that we were having it at this park again this year...again, with no showers.  And that we may continue to have it at this park without showers.  This sucks for campers.

We found a place to back in the Escape, near the edge of the grass, where the tent campers were suppose to set up.  We started taking our stuff out when Brenda and Ray pulled up.  We welcomed them and they started to set up their camp as well.  We bought new sleeping bags and a new tent this past spring because the one we've been using (I've had it for over 15 years) the zipper broke and it could not be fixed.  The new tent took less time to set up but it was also I little smaller than the one we used to have.  We got all of our sleeping pads, sleeping bags, pillows and blankets all set up in the tent.  This year I forgot to bring the flamingo.

We spent the next hour or so hanging out at our campsites taking to a guy from St. George, Utah, who was in the camp site next to us.  We talked about our favorite caching trips, the ET Highway since he really doesn't like too far away from it, we learned that he drove up to this event from Utah by himself and he really likes getting the geoart caches.  We noticed the time and that it was getting closer to the meet and greet time.

We walked over to the main area where the Southeast Washington Geocachers had set up TC2 2019 Meet & Greet (GC87HPX), signed the log, got photos and talked to people we knew.  We kinda played the bingo game.  We weren't there very long.  Just long enough to find out some of the rules, which hadn't changed, and hang out with other geocachers.  We did manage to come across Bob, Bev, Gabe and his friend Ken for a bit.

We didn't stick around for the raffle because we never win.  We walked back to our camp area with Brenda and Ray and they asked if we had any plans for dinner and we said yeah.  I told them that Ben and I looked up this brewery that we wanted to try.  They asked where and what it was called.  I told them it was called the Bombing Range Brewery and it was a couple of miles outside of downtown Richland.  They said yeah, sounds like fun...let's go!

We followed the directions and found out we've all been near here before for other geocaches over the years.  Plus, the one park we used to have the event at, Horn Rapids, was just down the road from here.  We parked and headed inside.  It was kinda busy but we didn't have to wait long.  We all ordered drinks, I got my Pepsi, and we munched on some popcorn as we waited for our waitress to come back to take our orders.  When they came back I ordered a chicken Caesar wrap and it came with chips.  It hit the spot.

We paid, thanked the waitress for the good food and we headed out.  I looked at my phone to see if there was a cache nearby and there was.  It was less than 300 feet away near the entrance of the building we just came out of.  I said let's go get it!  Everyone was game.  We walked the short distance to the cache,  Geo HoHoHo 2016 Holiday Songs 1 (GC6XHEQ) signed our names, got a goofy photo and put it back.

We headed back to the park, hung out for a bit...this time I made sure not to get bit by the chiggers that were hiding in the grass like they were last year.

We got comfortable and Brenda and Ray asked us if we wanted to go look for the night cache, Wise Owl II:  The Rodents Strike Back (night cache) (GC87RDK) .  We said we sure do!  We got our flashlights and made our way through the park looking for the reflective tags.  It didn't take us very long to find it but we did have a hard time with one of the locations because our coords were off for some reason.  We figured it out and ended up at our prize at the end.  We all knew we had to get up somewhat early the next day so we said our good nights and got ready for bed.  Ben and I walked over to the bathroom to brush our teeth and wash our faces.  This was going to be a rough weekend without showers.  We will have to figure something out.

We snuggled into our tent and fell asleep.

Next Adventure:  The 10th Anniversary of the TriCities Geocoin Challenge

Heading to Selah, Geocaching and Visiting

I was so excited.  The first part of the summer has finally arrived!  I always save my personal leave day for the TriCities GeoCoin Challenge every year.  I take half of Thursday off to travel to Selah to visit friends and all of Friday for the rest of the weekend's festivities.  I spent Wednesday and Thursday getting all of the stuff ready.

I went to work, got all of my stuff done including date extensions and I saved the phone calls for Debbie because I wasn't going to be at work in the afternoon when I usually do them.  I grabbed all of my stuff and left at 11:30.  Everyone told me to have a good time and I told them oh, I will!  I was so excited to be gone for a few days in the nice weather of Eastern Washington.  I went and visited Grammie and told her about our exciting weekend ahead.  She told me to have a wonderful time.

I got home around 12:15 and started getting the rest of my stuff done, hair brush, pillow etc.  I told Ben last night that he will get up at a decent time, shower and pack up his stuff because we were leaving as soon as I got home since he had the whole day off.  We made sure everything was in the Escape, I grabbed a lunchable and we headed out.  It was raining so that meant we probably won't get any caches on this side of the mountains that I planned on getting.  It will have to be another outing.

I ate my lunchable as we headed to Yelm.  We stopped at the Arco, got gas and grabbed some ice for our cooler.  I finished my food as we hit McKenna.  Traffic was okay for the most part.  We drove to Eatonville and Ben said he was hungry so we stopped at the Subway.  He got out and got his food and nommed it as we got onto Hwy 7 towards Morton.  The rain continued but we didn't get stuck behind any large trucks,  motor homes or horse trailers.

I was sad when we drove past the caches I wanted to grab but the rain continued until the top of the pass.  Once we got onto the other side magically the rain and angry clouds went away.  I love the rain shadow.  This is one of the reasons why I went to college in Pullman, hardly any rain.  Ben fell asleep a few times while I listened to music.  When he was awake we talked about a bunch of random things.

Our first stop was A Pit Stop on Highway 12 (GCJYFN).  We found a good place to pullover and we walked up the small hill and knew where it would be because of the old random stump.  I had Ben grab it.  We signed our name, got a photo, put it back and walked back down to the Escape.

We drove a few more miles and enjoyed the scenery.

A River Runs Through It (Almost) (GC32PZN) was one we tried two year's but for some reason we couldn't figure out where to go plus there were a bunch of people hanging out by the river so we decided to skip it so they didn't ask what we were doing.  It was actually pretty easy to find and I wasn't sure why we couldn't find it last time.  It was an ammo can hidden amongst the rocks near the bridge that goes over the Tieton River.

In another mile or so we pulled over at Windy Point Campground (GC53VKQ) where again, we almost stopped a couple years ago but decided not to because the gate was closed. This year it was open and Ben said to stop anyway because there was a bathroom.  While he used the bathroom I went and found the cache.  It was sandwiched between the two sign boards near the highway.  Ben got done just as I put it back and walked back.  I decided I should pee while we were here.

There was one more to grab along this stretch of road before the Hwy 410 junction, Another Roadside Cache (GC17AVN).  We parked at the pull out and ran across the road to search.  I really wasn't sure what I was searching for but once I figured it out I let Ben try to find it.  I have found a few of these before.  After a few minutes of him searching, I gave him a hint.  It was the first one of these kinds of hides for him.

We got in to Naches and I let everyone know we got here safely since this is where my cell phone service started working again.  I plugged in the next one on our list, NRV Old Naches Hwy Canal (GC2P9MA) was well off of Hwy 12.  We followed Nuvi's directions to the old canal.  There was a pull off next to a pile of rocks and we knew where it was going to be when we parked and got out.  Whoop, there it is!  We got our photo, signed it and put it back.  On the way back to the highway we "borrowed" some cherries from a nearby orchard.  They needed a few more weeks to mature...they were very bitter.

We stopped to grab one more, Geocaching Rocks! (GC7ZZPV) in the parking lot of the Ace Hardware store.  We parked nearby and walked to the edge of the parking lot to find the cache hidden next to a large rock.  We got our names on it and put it back.  Now onto Selah to go hang out and stay with Willmarth, Shannon and Kevin.

We arrived around 5:30 and it was just Shannon and the dogs so we visited for a while.  Willmarth texted me saying that he and Kevin were on their way home from basketball practice with LaSalle.  They arrived shortly after and the dogs went wild again.  Once they calmed down we visited a little bit more and then I gave them their presents I brought back from Ecuador and Kevin's birthday present since his birthday was in early July.

We played a round of Clue and Kevin won...probably from cheating.  Willmarth made us tacos for dinner and then we played Apples to Apples.  Willmarth also made some cookies while we were playing the game.  They were tasty.  A little while later some friends game over so they could see how to do some of the chores while they were gone for the weekend at Hoopfest in Spokane.  They were here for a little bit.  We went to the side yard and played some HORSE and I won!  Hahaha!  It was hard to see though since it was getting dark and the lights weren't that great so some of my shots were off because of the depth perception but I still prevailed!

We went inside and Kevin and Ben played video games until bedtime.  Willmarth and I spent some time talking about random things.  We talked about opportunities for Ben if he wanted a career change in subbing, he talked about the Shaw drama in Yakima County and he verified what we knew all along while we were seniors in high school...especially during basketball season.

It was about 1 a.m. and we needed to get ready for bed.  Today was a long day with some traveling in there.  Shannon got our bed ready in Kevin's room while Kevin slept with them in their room.  They had to get up at a somewhat decent time to start getting ready for the trip over to Spokane.  I fell asleep instantly.  I was nice to finally close my eyes and get some rest.

Next Adventure:  Leaving Selah, Heading to the TriCities, Event, Brewery, Camping