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
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