A Trip to the Columbia Gorge - Oregon Side and Ended up in Astoria

Since God Damn Covid ruined my plans for the summer and I still had to take my personal leave day.  I usually use this day for the Tri Cities Geocoin Challenge but not this year.  I had to use it before the end of June so I just kept it for Friday, like I originally planned.  Mom also had Friday off so we planned on going on a trip but where to go?  I asked her where she wanted to go and suggested that we go see waterfalls on the Oregon side of the Columbia River.  I said sure.  I checked the website to see if there were any closures and it never said that it was closed so we planned for it.  Last time I came down here was with Lacey and her grandmother back in May 2015, which seems like forever ago.

I got stuff ready to go the night before.  I made sure I had a full tank of gas, I threw in my pop up table, camp chairs, extra clothes, hiking shoes, socks, a jacket, hiking pole and my lunch ready to go so I could sleep in as long as I could.  I also wrote down some of the geocaches I planned on getting while we were down there.  I told Mom I would be in Rainier to pick her up around 7:15 and she should be ready.  She said she would be.  I also added that we could drive the Escape this time.  We try to switch between her Expedition and my Escape every time we take a day trip.

I woke up around 6, got ready and left my house by 6:30.  Since there wasn't a lot of traffic this early on a Friday during God Damn Covid, I got into Rainier pretty quickly.  I got there around 7ish and used the restroom since we were going to be driving for a couple of hours and we had no idea if any public bathrooms would be available.  I guess at this point it would depend on the state, the county and what phase everyone was in.  Thurston County was in a modified phase 3.

I plugged our first set of coords into the Nuvi and then we drove into Rainier.  We turned onto Hwy 507 and drove west through Tenino towards  I-5.  We chatted about various stuff along the way, teleworking, the stuff that was happening at her work, stuff that's been happening at home, taking care of Grandpa, etc.  The traffic wasn't that bad until we got closer to Vancouver and Portland.  We merged onto I-205, then I-84 onto Hwy 30 east.  We got off at the exit just north of Sandy.  Not once, did we see a sign that stated the recreation area along Hwy 30 was closed except that Multnomah Falls was closed; but we figured that would be since it is a place where people gather.  

We followed the road and made our first stop at Sandy River Bridge (GC68K26).  We pulled off on the side of the road where there were a couple of wide spots.  I knew the cache was going to be on the bridge somewhere but I wanted to enjoy the views from the bridge with the river down below first.  I had to go back to the Escape to grab Mom's camera because she didn't grab it when she got out.  We enjoyed watching people tube the river, there were a few people fishing and some just enjoying it from the bank.  We took a few pictures and then looked for the cache.  The coords were off but there was only one spot it could have been and I was right.  It was a bison with a magnet on it stuck up away from view on the cross beams.  You could reach up and grab it from the walkway.  I signed our names and walked back to the Escape.

I plugged the next set of coordinates into the Nuvi.  We snaked around Hwy 30 along the edge of the river to Mile Marker 18 (GC1YPC1).  I accidently drove past it but was distracted by the person behind us so I had to turn around at a small grocery store and then headed back to the cache.  We pulled over in a driveway and I found the mile marker I was looking for.  It was a film cannister and the logbook was too wet to sign, so I scribbled my pen on it and took a picture just to prove we were there.

We continued down Hwy 30.  We got into the small town of Springdale, where we got behind two trucks painting the lines on the road.  Of course we would pick a day and time where they were painting the road and we would end up behind them.  Lame.  I had CCC1913 Travel Bug Haven (GCZN9G6) as the next cache on my list.  As we got closer to the cache site, the paint trucks pulled over on the side of the road.  We took the left and parked in the church parking lot.  The cache was next to the road locked to the tree.  I was hoping that there were travel bugs inside so I could take them and put them into my award winning travel bug hotel at home.  Sadly, there weren't but I signed our names and got a picture of it before jogging back to the Escape.

We got back on the highway before the paint trucks moved.  We didn't have to follow them again.  Yay!  The next one along the road was Mile Marker 22 (GC1YPC9) and it was the exact same hide as the previous mile marker we stopped at.  The logbook was also mush but I was able to quickly initial and take a photo of it to prove we were there.

The Portland Women's Forum State Scenic Viewpoint was still open to the public.  Mom and I stopped there to take in the view of the Columbia River Gorge for a while.  It was such a nice day to be enjoying the views.  I had already gotten the cache here several years ago so there wasn't any more to grab while we were here.

We drove around the corner and found out the recreation area that lead to Multnomah Falls and beyond Hwy 30 were closed.  They actually had a park ranger and her truck placed there to keep people out.  There was really no warning until you actually got to the road to turn off of.  I really hate God Damn Covid!  It was hindering our lives and I was so tired of it.  We turned around near Corbett, drove down the hill and got back on the freeway.  I asked mom where she wanted to go since our plans were ruined.  She said, let's go see the shipwreck out by Astoria.  I said, okay, it's going to be a bit of a drive from here.

We stopped in Troutdale at the Love's so we could pee.  So.many.semi.trucks!  Mom gave me a couple bucks to get her some peanut butter cups so she could snack on them on the way to the coast.  We got stuck in a little bit of traffic through Portland but we eventually got on the other side of Hwy 30 through Scappoose.  We stopped in St. Helens for gas.  Again, I really don't like getting gas in Oregon because you have to stay in your vehicle while they do it for you.  It's still weird to me even though I lived in Oregon for almost a year.

We got to Rainier and then up the grade which took us into Clatskanie, where traffic slowed down.  I wanted to make sure I didn't get stuck behind the slow stinky truck again.  It didn't take us long to get into Astoria where there was some traffic but not a lot.  We followed Nuvi's directions that lead us to For Stevens through Warrenton and Hammond.  We turned into the state park and followed the signs to the specific area we wanted to be in, our first stop was the wreck of the Peter Iredale.  Last time I was here was with Ben, Trish and Amy back in June 2017. We followed the road to the beach and when we got there we were surprised on how many people were here!  Well, that's what you get when you shut people in their houses for so long, they are going to want to get out and do stuff.

We managed to find a parking spot, we grabbed the camp chairs, the pop up table, her camera and our lunches and walked to a vacant spot on the beach.  When we arrived the weather was nice.  As we ate, I brought a sandwich and mom brought hotdogs, the marine layer snuck up on us and covered up the blue skies and the sun.  

I actually got cold while we sat there.  When we were done eating, we broke down everything and took it back to the Escape.  We walked back and mom took pictures and enjoyed the ship wreck for a bit.

Since I already did the virtual here, Peter Iredale Virtual (GC7B6FQ), I asked mom the questions and she answered them outloud.  When I logged her caches, I tried to remember what she said so I could write the cache owner.  We walked around the beach for a bit and then used the restroom and then grabbed the other three caches in the area, Iredale Outpost (GC1AJBM), Electrified (GC28RZ7) and Burma Wreck (GC5ZDHW).  We saw an eagle perched on top of the pole at the first one, an electric box at the second one and the third one I had to figure out how to get to, which was me eventually walking through a bunch of trees but the container was pretty cool. 

We walked back to the Escape and Mom wanted to go see the Battery Russell so that's where we went next.  We followed the road and found the turn off.  We parked in the lot and noticed that there weren't that many people here, which was good for us.  We walked up the stairs and Mom did her exploring.  We were probably here for about an hour and for some of our pictures, we had to wait until people moved so they weren't in them.

It was almost time to head back to the Escape but first I wanted to grab the one just left of the parking lot.  Mom and I walked over and found Burma's Pinwheel (GC87EPN).  I logged our names and put it back where I found it.  As we walked back to the parking lot, we noticed some elk hanging out in the grassy area munching on grass. 

We left the park and drove back into Hammond and then into Warrenton.  I stopped and found Under the Clock (GC6N61P) and ended up getting confused with two caches at this site.  I signed both just in case and made a note of it in my log. 

There was another one up the road and I remembered the last time we came through here, back in June 2018, there was a Goodwill near the shopping center.  I wanted to stop there but first, I wanted to get The Building Blocks of Civilization (GC48ZTY) which was near the Costco parking lot.  It was a large rock with a hole bored into it.  I signed the log and noticed someone had thrown a TB next to the rock.  The TB was too large for the small container.  I grabbed the TB so I could add it to my TB hotel at home.  

We drove to the Goodwill and browsed for a bit.  I found a 9/11 book to bring home.

On the way back to Astoria, we stopped at the Dairy Queen so Mom could get her strawberry milkshake.  She was happy.  We got back on the road and got in the correct lane to go over the Astoria-Megler Bridge into Washington on the another side.  We wanted to drive Hwy 4 towards Longview on the way back home and pick up caches of course.

We got onto Hwy 401 and turned left towards Naselle.  I stopped at the Dismal Niche rest stop so I could grab two here.  The first one was missing so I didn't even attempt it but the second one was there.

While Mom was on the phone with Dad I walked over and grabbed Graveyard of the Pacific CDSV Light House (GC8D16X).  It was a magnetic hide-a-key stuck in the guardrail.  A set of girls saw me do it and they asked me what I was doing.  I explained to them what it was and showed them what I found.  They thought it was pretty cool.  They were from Idaho and were road tripping along the Washington and Oregon coast.

We got back in the Escape and continued down Hwy 401 to the junction of Hwy 4 in Naselle.  I saw there was only one new one that has been published here since I was here last.  Chef Tony's Treasures (GC3H6FK) was at the large motel and restaurant sign.  It actually had me scratching my head for a bit because I thought it would be hidden behind the sign but it wasn't there.  There was a log next to it and it was hidden inside the hallowed out center of the log.  I derped and then signed the log.

We continued down the highway and I wanted to grab as many easy ones as I could.  I was really trying to get to 12,000 by the end of the year.  It's doable but I think I will come up short especially when the weather changes this fall.  I saw one on my app called the Seal River Cemetery (GC2YY60) and I almost missed the obscured driveway.  We followed the pothole riddled dirt road up a hill to a small somewhat manicured cemetery.  The coords bounced all over the place.  I could not pinpoint a location for the life of me.  I had to look at photos to see what bush it was hidden in because I swear I checked all of them.  I finally found it and had to dump some water out of it.  I signed the log and then we got out of there.

I wanted to get at least one more and Mom saw the sign for a covered bridge.  We set our course for Covered Bridge of Wahkiakum County (GCDE6A) just up the highway.  We followed the side road to the bridge and we were able to drive thru it.  Some of the bridges we've visited in the past we weren't able to drive on our thru it.  We ended up on the other side, parked and did some exploring.  Mom took pictures while I looked for the cache.  I knew it had to be underneath the bridge.  I crawled under and found the rusty old ammo box tucked up above my head.  I signed the log and took the TB to add to my TB hotel at home.

I asked Mom what we wanted for dinner and she didn't hesitate, Papa Pete's!  God Damn Covid has change the way we do things here, even with certain restaurants.  We could not go into Papa Pete's nor pick it up inside the restaurant.  I had Mom call it in and they told us it would be ready in about 30 minutes.  We sat in the parking lot and then when about 30 minutes was close we had to drive up to the drive thru.  It was super inconvenient and took forever. 

We eventually got our food and we had to eat it in the Escape while I drove.  I had mom hand me pieces as we approached I-5.  I had about four pieces.  Their pepperoni is delicious.  We got onto I-5 north and headed to Rainier.  I dropped Mom off and asked Dad if I could borrow the truck so I could go to the dump the next day.  He told me the keys were in the truck and to have fun at the dump.  I told him I would.  I got home, got cleaned up, logged caches and made notes about the day since I was still behind on my blog.  Ben asked how my day off was and told him it was pretty good except for the closed area of Hwy 30.  Oh well.  This crap will eventually pass...someday.

Next Adventure:  An Unconventional 4th of July

Father's Day and My Award Winning TB Hotel

I got up around 9:30, ate some cereal, put on my grubby clothes and met Dad, Doug, Erika and Mom over at Grandpa's house to give it a good clean and to get some yard work done.  I told Dad I was only able to be there until about 3ish because I had to get home and finish helping Ben with the food and setting up tables and chairs.  He said that was fine.

Instagram post:  Happy Father's Day to Dad and Grandpa!  We would not be the people we are today without you!  We appreciate, love and respect you.  Thank you for your support throughout the years.  #fathersday, #family, #dads

We headed over there around 11 and we started outside first.  It was a nice day so that meant we could get a lot done outside in a short amount of time.  Three of us mowed the lawn, Dad used the weed eater for a while, Erika spent a bunch of time cutting back stuff in the back yard.  She basically butchered all of the sticker bushes that were taken over the small bushy tree in the back yard.  We hauled a lot of the brush to the burn pile.  We actually got a lot done outside within the two hours we were there.  

I went inside for a while after helping mow the lawns.  I gathered the recycle and piled it outside in bags and then went back inside and wiped down the counters, cleaned the cat boxes, we walked Roscoe and finally vacuumed the house.  It always looks a lot better when we vacuum.  Grandpa thanked us for coming over and tidying up the house and yard.  We told him we were happy to do it for him on Father's Day.  Mom fed him lunch and we all headed out so we could get ready for our dinner here in a few hours.

I went home and Ben had cleaned up the house and started taking the tables and chairs out to the back yard.  About an hour before everyone was suppose to be here, we got the chicken going and then the ribs.  I had bought some rub for the ribs so we slathered that on it and let it rest for a while.  I had the baked potatoes in the oven and they were still doing pretty good.  I assigned Erika to bring salad.  Last night I spent some time cutting up the strawberries for the ice cream for dessert so I didn't have to worry about those.  Everything should be done before everyone gets here except the ribs.  The chicken was taking a little longer than I thought it would.  Oh well, they can wait.

Everyone came over and brought their dogs; so we had Charlie and Emmett running around the back yard.  Once all the food was done, we sat down and chowed down.  Of course all the dogs begged for some handouts.

After dinner, we did presents and mom dished out the strawberries (I am so glad we cut them all up last night, it saved a lot of time) and vanilla ice cream.  Everyone got a bowl of that delicious goodness.  Erika had gone to an estate sale the day before and found Dad some pretty cool old stuff from the 1950's.  It included an old cribbage board and some old soldier's booklets from past wars.  Erika thought he would like them.

We chatted for a while as we watched the dogs run around the back yard.  I'm glad it turned out to be a nice day for us to do our chores and our party afterwards.  June was always iffy when it came to nice weather.  Some years we had really nice Junes and other years not so nice Junes...in fact, they were so cold and rainy I wasn't sure if we were going to have a summer.

Everyone decided to head home so Ben and I brought in all the chairs, the tables, threw away the garbage and washed dishes.  We put away the leftovers and then got ready for the work week.  I worked too hard this weekend.

These family gatherings are getting harder and harder as we lose people and endure this God Damn Covid nonsense.  I want it to go away so badly it hurts!  I miss visiting people, having parties with friends and especially traveling.  I can't wait to go on our trip to Peru that was postponed in March.

I got on to my computer after everyone left and finished cleaning up.  I saw that my TB hotel, #cougarcach24 and irishsavior21's TB HOTEL Letterbox (GC8DJWH) was awarded the 5-Bug Badge of Honor by Travel Bug Hotels of America.  

I was super stoked!  They sent me an email on how to place the award on my page and then I had to write them an email letting them know I did it so they can honor me on their Facebook page.  It was awesome!

Next Adventure:  A Trip to the Columbia Gorge - Oregon Side and Ended up in Astoria

A Short Trip to Bonney Lake

We ran out of time last weekend to patch up his mom's driveway (he had promised her he would do it for Mother's Day) so we planned on heading over there again this weekend for a day.  Sunday I had promised my day to Dad and Grandpa for Father's Day so we would have to go home Saturday night.  We talked to Trish throughout the week to find out what we needed to do, what kind of materials and tools we needed and whatever else we needed.  I mean, we weren't doing anything else because most stuff was still closed due to God Damn Covid, so why not get some stuff done we've been putting off?

Throughout the spring and summer since the outbreak, I've had a lot of time to go through things that I've personally been putting off.  I've been more focused on traveling, hiking, camping and taking care of Grandpa the last two years.  That's one of the reasons why I wanted a good paying job so bad so I could finally travel to the places I've been wanting to go to.  So far I've been able to go through a lot of the storage bins in the garage, a lot of my college binders, some of Ben's stuff, etc.  Some of the stuff I haven't seen in over 10 years.  I rearranged most of the stuff so we had more room in the garage.  I swept, cleaned, organized and wiped down a bunch of the stuff.  It was easier since most of Erika's stuff was gone.  I had other stuff I wanted to do but that would have to wait.  One thing at a time so it doesn't get overwhelming.  My next project, at some point, was to go through all the floppy disks and my college file folders full of notes, tests, quizzes and papers I've written.

The work day was frustrating because our reviews didn't come until 10 a.m.  That wasted three hours of my day and I had to adjust my breaks and work through my lunch so I could get everything done before four.  Later on that afternoon, we found out that we would have to do a series of eight furlough days starting in July and going until mid November.  They were leave without pay so that meant we had to file for unemployment.  I was furious!  I hate being on unemployment!  Ugh, this year just keeps getting worse and worse and it's only June!  

After work, I packed a back pack with some pajamas, our toiletries and some clothes for Saturday.  I did a couple of chores, got in a shower and asked Erika to come over tomorrow morning to feed Calvin.  She said she would and give him some pets.  Ben got home shortly after and he got ready to go.  I brought the rest of the potato salad and some chips with us since we were having burgers on the BBQ.  We took the Escape again.  He threw his tool bag in the back just in case he needed some of the stuff.  He wasn't really sure what kinds of tools his mom still had in his dad's tool box in the garage.

We headed up and the traffic wasn't bad.  I've enjoyed how light the traffic has been since early March even though God Damn Covid sucks!  We arrived just after 6:15 and unloaded the Escape.  Trish had just gotten off of work and hadn't been home for too long.  Ed was also coming over and would be there soon.

I put drinks and the potato salad into the fridge and the chips into the pantry.  Trish powered up the grill and threw the burgers on.  She asked us how many we wanted, I just wanted one and Ben wanted two patties.  We sat down and ate dinner and visited about the past week.  We cleaned up and then played a round of Phase 10 Twist (which I came from behind and won) and then lost at Uno Attack.  We ate popcorn a little while later just because it sounded good.  

Ben fell asleep on the couch for a bit watching television.  I told him that he should go to bed if he was tired.

We went to bed about an hour or so later.  The bed was still uncomfortable and it was hot downstairs.  It was going to be a long night even with the fan blowing on us.

The next day we got up, got ready for the day and ate breakfast.  We also noticed it was raining.  We wouldn't be able to do the driveway while it was raining.  Our plans for today were foiled!  Instead, we hung out at the house and worked on the kitchen sink again.

Ben decided he would try to modify the kitchen sink that he worked on last month.  Trish had bought the wrong part that didn't fit even though the person on the other end of the phone insisted that it was the right part when she ordered it.  Ben made it work until we could get back over when she got the right part.  We played one more round of dice before we got our stuff together and headed out. 

We thanked Trish for letting us hang out with her even though we were just here last weekend and this trip was a short one.  I needed to get home so I could spend some time with my Dad and Grandpa the next day.  She understood.  We gave out some hugs and told them we would see them next time which would be at our house hopefully soon.

Ben and I left around 4ish.  I asked Ben, since the rain finally stopped, if we could find some caches on the way home.  He said sure.  We drove the back way, down the hill, into the Orting Valley.  We stopped and grabbed I'm Stumped For a Name (GC2NF48) and I really wasn't sure where to park so we parked off the side of the road near a gated entry way.  I asked Ben if he thought there was a trail behind these houses and how to access it.  We just walked across the empty retention ponds to a not so manicured "trail".  I was wearing the wrong shoes when we walked out here but I was determined.  We found it behind an old stump surrounded by newly grown sticker bushes.  I did get scratched by one of them but not too bad.  We signed our names and put it back.

The next one, Rock Walls Really Bug Me!!! (GC2430V) was near the Sky Island community.  We followed the phone's directions to a small development off the main road.  We parked the Escape near the cache and knew we'd be looking in a rock wall.  I hope it was easy to find as we got out to search.  Luckily, it was easy to find.  Ben found it, we signed our names and I traded pathtags.

We followed the road down to the valley.  I had Ben navigate me to Calling All Cachers (GC7XXNM) which I couldn't tell where to park or how to get to it since it was near the Puyallup River.  Was there a road? Was it a trail?  I accidently drove past it and we had to turn around.  Ben was upset that I didn't listen to him.  I told him it was fixable and I can turn around.  I just didn't see where we would enter.  It was a trail and there was a obscured opening in the fence.  I parked along the side of the road, locked the Escape and walked in.  It was hidden amongst the tall grass near the tree line.  I had Ben take a picture of me talking on the phone.

There was one more down this river trail called In Instructions?  (GC6XCCD).  It was about a quarter of a mile down a gravel road next to the river from the phone cache. 

It didn't take us long to find it.  It was hanging in one of the smaller trees on the trail opposite side of the river.  

We quickly signed our names and walked back to the Escape.  We got back in and stopped at one on the other side of the river but it was missing.

The next two caches were part of the South Hill's Historic Corridor #'s 8 (GC7T8NN) and 7 (GC7T8Q2) and both were along Military Road, the road that connects the Orting Highway to the top of the South Hill.  Both caches were magnetic nanos that looked like bolts attached to the historic corridor signs.

We eventually got onto 512 and onto I-5 South.  We got home around 6ish and did a few chores and headed to the store really quick to get the rest of the supplies for the Father's Day gathering the next day.

Next Adventure:  Father's Day and My Award Winning TB Hotel

Bonney Lake for the Weekend

Friday, June 12 

We all decided to celebrate Amy and Jean's birthday at the same time this year so we set aside a weekend to hang out.  We kept asking Amy what she wanted for her birthday and she could never give us an answer.  Sometimes she is pretty lame.  We asked Trish how the weekend was going to be broken down and she said that we will hang out on Friday and Saturday and then Sunday we would meet up with Jean at the cemetery in Federal Way and then have a birthday party in the back yard.  I told her that sounded great and asked what we needed to bring with us.  She said some snacks, drinks and some beans and chips for when we have the BBQ.  I told her will do and we will see her over the weekend.

I asked Erika to make sure Calvin got fed.  She said she would do it for me and I thanked her.

At lunch time, I decided to take the recycle into Rainier since we weren't going to have time this weekend.  It didn't take very long.  I was home by 12:15ish.  I got the rest of my work done since there wasn't a whole lot to do today.  I did have to wait until Ben came home so we could head up to Bonney Lake and have dinner with Trish and Amy.  Ben rolled in around 5ish and we packed up our stuff into the Escape.  We got gas in Hawks Prairie before we left.  

We drove up and I wanted to find a couple of caches on the way there while we waited for Trish to get off of work.  We ended up only finding one because we ran out of time.  That one took us down one of the side roads off of 214th in Bonney Lake.  I had Ben navigate us to CD Stash (GC8NEXG) which was hidden on the backside of a tree next to the road.  He got out and found the bison tube hiding in the tree.  He brought it back to the Escape where we signed it and then he put it back.

We continued on down the road to his mom's house.  We pulled in and took our bags into the house.  Both Amy and Trish were there.  His mom had picked up a few pizza's from Papa Murphy's and they were cooking in the oven.  We got settled in and the pizza's were done by the time we had gotten comfortable.  We ate pizza and place some dice for a bit.  Once I lost, we cleaned up the dining room table and then got comfortable on the couch while we watched Iron Man 2.  Ben and I decided to watch all of the Marvel movies in order once we were done with the Star Wars movies in order.  It gave us something to do since we were on lock down for a while because of God Damn Covid.

Once the movie was over, we all got ready for bed, took a quick shower and passed out.  Today was a long day.

Saturday, June 13 

We all slept in until about 11:30, woah that's super late!  I blame it on how uncomfortable the downstairs bed is and the fact that it was super hot down there.  I walked up stairs and no one was up yet.  I spent sometime working on my blog and then a few minutes later I heard Trish get up.  She came out and said good morning and then proceeded to make herself some coffee.  I asked her if there was anything I could help her with and she said I could go down to the freezer and get the breakfast quiches.  

I went down and grabbed them.  She put them in the oven and then started the turkey sausages.  While our food was cooking we talked about various things as I continued getting caught up on my blog.  Ben and Amy finally emerged from their beds and joined the rest of the world.   The television played in the background as we ate our breakfast.  

Ed showed up around one to spend the day with us.  We ended up playing Phase 10 Twist, which was a spin off of the normal card game Phase 10.  I destroyed everyone and rubbed it in a bit.  Ed was pretty fired up.  He claims that I was "after" him when I played my skip card.  I only play my skip card randomly because I don't want to end up with it or I will play it on someone who is gloating or have already laid their cards down.  He gets super intense during games and I love to egg him on.  Especially, when he is losing or lost.  We played a round of Uno Attack right after.

Ben and I needed to go to the store to get a few things so we drove to the Fred Meyer to grab the stuff.  We called Trish to ask her what Amy wanted for her birthday because we don't like buying gift cards for people since it's impersonal.  She said something about black Adidas or Nike socks.  So we looked for those in her size and got her a card.  We bought Jean a sign to hang up in her house.  Ben also bought some chocolate liquor to try with his peanut butter whiskey he brought for the weekend.  

We headed home in the hopes that the weather would hold up so we could have BBQ burgers that we had planned for dinner.  I was actually really excited for the burgers but when we got home Trish had already started chili instead.  She said that she didn't think the weather would hold up so she went with plan b for dinner.  I was so disappointed because I was super stoked for burgers.  Oh well.  We will eat the beans and chips with lunch tomorrow.

We ate, cleaned up the table and then played another round of Phase 10 Twist, a round of contract rummy and dice.  We all won a lot and Ed didn't.  It was awesome.  He went home around 11 and then we got ready for bed.  Tomorrow was going to be a bit more busier than today.

Sunday, June 14

I woke up around 9:30 because I couldn't lay in the bed anymore and took a quick shower.  Ben was still asleep but had an alarm set for 9:45ish.  I got dressed and went upstairs.  I offered to make breakfast so I started looking for the makings for pancakes in the pantry.  I mixed up everything, grabbed the pans and started cooking the pancakes and bacon.  I had bought grapes from Costco not too long ago so I brought those with us as well.  Meanwhile, Trish got up about halfway through my pancake adventure and started in with the cupcakes for the party later today.  I told her to relax and drink her coffee while she was waiting for the cupcakes to get done. 

Breakfast was done, Ben was up and moving around and we had to yell at Amy to get out of her room to come to eat breakfast.  Everyone dug in and it was delicious.  

After breakfast, we all got ready to go and meet Jean and Ed at the cemetery in Federal Way.  We piled into the Tuscan after I called shotgun.  We stopped by the Safeway to grab some flowers and then headed to Gethsemane Cemetery just south of Federal Way off of Pacific Highway.  I checked to see if there was a cache nearby and there was but it was missing according to the logs.  Dang it.

We pulled in and followed the road to where Jean and Ed were parked (yeah, they beat us there) near Ben's grandparents head stone.  Trish explained that she and Amy try to come at least once a year to visit them and to leave flowers at their site and the guy next to them.  They felt bad that no one comes to visit the guy next to their grave so each time they leave a flower or two for him.

Jean kept her distance because she had been sick and still recovering from her surgery last winter (since God Damn Covid was still on the rampage) she didn't want to take any chances.  We didn't blame her.  We stood there for a few minutes and then I decided, since I visit my grandmother every week or so, to have Ben, Amy, Jean and Trish to share a story or a memory of their mother, father or grandparents to everyone.  Both Ed and I have never met them but have seen pictures and have heard stories about them every now and them.

For the next 45 minutes to an hour we spent listening to stories and favorite memories they shared of their loved ones.  They were nice to hear and it sucks that we lose people way before their time.  I thanked them for sharing their stories.  I just didn't want us to stand there and not have their life shared with us.

We all planned on driving back to Bonney Lake so we all piled in the cars and drove back to the house.  We played a round of dice and taught Jean how to play because she had never played this particular dice game before. We started getting the food together for the chicken BBQ.  Trish had made potato salad the night before. Ben set up the pop up tent with the screen sides so we could sit out there and eat our food. I cooked the beans and Ben got the BBQ going so he could cook the chicken.  He wore Trish's new Seahawk apron and hat that Amy bought her for Mother's Day.  He looked so fancy as he cooked the chicken.

As we reached the final cook on the chicken, Trish and I brought out the plates, silverware, napkins and the potato salad, beans and chips.  We placed our gifts on the small table along with the fancy cupcakes.  Ben said the food was done so we dished up and ate.  We visited some more as we ate.

We had a mini birthday party after we were done eating.  We sang happy birthday to Amy and Jean and then they opened their gifts.  Jean really liked her sign.  She said she knew exactly where to hang it in her house.  We ate the cupcakes Trish made and they were pretty tasty.  We cleaned up, put everything away and I suggested that we take a group photo.  Everyone agreed and we found a place over by the lilac tree in the back yard.  We take a few.

We went inside and played some Uno Attack and then it was almost time to head home.  Jean thought the same thing.  She had to drive back to Seattle.  We gathered up all of our stuff, thanked everyone for coming, gave out hugs and got in the Escape and headed out.  

I asked Ben if we could find two caches up on Myer Road.  He said sure.  I had him navigate me to the first one, Church of Nazarene Historic Marker (GC833DW).  We parked near where the coords took us and we got out.  No one was in the parking lot, which was nice, so we had free range without anyone questioning us why we were there.  I read the hint and I was not finding anything that matched that description.  We tried the other tree in the parking lot.  Nothing.  We read some of the logs and the cacher before us said it wasn't at the hint location and gave us and said that the cache owner should change the hit or update the location.  We walked over to the church historic marker and immediately found it behind the marker.  Hmm.  We both made sure to make a note of that in our log.  We signed our names and put it back exactly where we found it.  We knew other cachers were going to have trouble looking for it.

Our second one Myer Road #2 (GC69FFB) was a little further up the road.  When we got the spot I pulled over and saw the cache before we even walked across the road to grab it.  It was a reflector on the guardrail.  Basically, a park and grab.  

We drove back down Myer Road and back onto Hwy 410 where we got onto 167, then 512 and then finally onto I-5.  There wasn't any traffic or road construction so going home was a breeze.  We got home around nine, got cleaned up and started getting ready for our work week.  Calvin was pretty happy to see us and I was happy to see him.  We snuggled most of the night.

Next Adventure:  A Short Trip to Bonney Lake