Ben and I have been trying to get his Mom to come visit us for at least a year or so now. We finally talked her into coming for a weekend and we planned on for a weekend in August. It was written on the calendar and we planned out some adventures we could go on while they were here.
As the weekend got closer, I ran some ideas by Trish to see if she was interested in doing them. I knew we were definitely going to ride our bikes along the trail so I told them to bring their bikes. I told her about the waterfall Mom and I went to a few months back up in Brinnon and that I wanted to take them there and she loved the idea. The only other adventure I could think of to go along with the waterfall was to take them to Bordeaux, over in Littlerock. I wanted to take them to Lake Cushman and Staircase but it was closed because of being overused and vandalized by people. Covid has ruined a lot of things over the past four months.
She said that she was going to take Friday off and she and Ed were going to spend the day at Ocean Shores and then get to our house around 9ish. I told her anytime would be fine since Ben and I would be home doing whatever.
Now that we had that planned we needed to get another mattress for the guest room. Ben spent about two weeks doing research to find the perfect mattress. We were going to get the new one for us and put our two year old one in the guest room however, we needed to get a frame for it. Ben found the perfect mattress and frame for fairly inexpensive. He bought a 10 inch mattress and so I had to buy sheets that fit the darn thing. I cleaned up the guest room, shampooed the carpet, bought some shelves and a curtain for the closet. I put up some decorations on the walls and put some stuff on the shelves so it wasn't boring. We had the Mattress Firm people set up the frame and mattress for us. We let the new mattress rest a day or two and then Ben and I switched them and made the beds. Everything was ready to go including the grocery shopping for the meals for the weekend.
Ben and I did our Friday routines. I had Thursday and Friday off and I was suppose to go to Diablo Lake on Thursday with Mom and Bev and a hike to Mima Falls on Friday but neither happened because of the rain and other circumstances. So I filled them with chores instead. Once again, 2020 has disappointed me yet again.
As we waited for Trish and Ed to get here, Friday night Ben and I made homemade chicken teriyaki and watched part of End Game. We have been watching all the Marvel movies in order when we had time. We were almost done with this series of movies. We've already watched all the Star Wars about a month ago. We would have to watch the rest of End Game another day because that's when Trish and Ed walked through the door. We asked if they needed help bringing stuff in the house and they said they had it. I showed them the room they would be staying in and they got settled in.
We played marbles, Ticket to Ride and Joking Hazard before it was time for bed. We tried playing different games because we were wearing out dice, rummy, Uno and Phase 10.
The next morning we got up around 9:30 and I started making breakfast. It was my famous hash brown, scrambled eggs and sausage scramble. I made toast to pair with it. We had an assortment of coffee, milk and orange juice. After eating, we cleaned up and then got ready to go on our afternoon adventure to Brinnon to see the waterfall and then to Littlerock to see the ghost town.
I went outside to get the Escape ready when I saw some cachers pull up in the cul-de-sac. At first, I had no idea who they were until we started chatting. They said they were the pnwfamily6 from up north and wanted to finish some of the caches in the area that they weren't able to get last time they were here. As we chatted, I found out how we've met before. We met last summer when we drove up to Monte Cristo to go on the hike. She remembered I was there with my Mom and Dad as we were the only group of cachers to drive up from Olympia and that I was really good at finding caches without a GPS. We wrapped up our short visit and told them I was glad they came down to find some of my caches.
We finished getting everything in the Escape, piled in and we were on our way towards Brinnon on Hwy 101 north of Shelton. Traffic was pretty minimal until we got to the Hwy 101/8 junction. It was busier than I've ever seen it. There was a lot of traffic headed for the ocean beaches for the day or weekend and I was glad we weren't going that way. I really hoped that the waterfall wasn't going to be super busy today and that there were parking spots.
I should have put coordinates into the GPS before we left but we didn't and I drove past the location where we were suppose to turn. I was trying to do it all by memory and the joke was on me. We turned around and found the correct road, found a place to park, got out and walked the short distance to Rocky Brook Falls.
We spent a good 45 minutes to an hour here enjoying the falls. This time it was warmer so I was able to wear my water shoes so I could walk through the creek onto the other side to get better shots of the waterfall.
There were some people here and a handful of kids actually swimming underneath the falls in the pool area. We got a couple of good shots of the falls and some of us and our group. It was a nice day to get out and explore. I just wish the Lake Cushman area was open. Eh, maybe next summer granted that GD Covid goes away.
On our way back towards Olympia, I thought it might be a good idea to stop by Dosewallips State Park to use the facilities before we drove home. Besides, I had to avenge a DNF from last June called It's the Water (GC3F1K6). We parked in the lot, at the free 15 minutes stall (I still need to get my Discover Pass renewed) and everyone used the restroom.
Afterwards, I asked everyone if they wanted to go find a cache with me and they all said sure. We walked over to the large tree on the other side of the restrooms and looked for a micro cache. The cache could have been hiding anywhere. There were so many hidey holes around this tree. Within a few minutes I heard Ed call out, "found it!" Yay! Ed found his first geocache. We signed it, took a group picture and then put it back exactly where he found it.
We walked back over to the Escape and had some crackers and chips as a snack and chilled for a bit. We got back in the Escape and drove back to the Hwy 101 junction to take us back into Olympia. As we merged we were almost hit by a car who honked at us like it was our fault for trying to merge onto the road, it was like where were we going to go? The road ended and he was in the way. We flipped him off because he deserved it. We merged onto I-5 and headed south towards Littlerock. I've been to Bordeaux a few times so I knew by memory on where to go and where to park.
When we arrived, I noticed the area grew up a lot since I was last here in September 2016 and February 2013. It looked significantly different. We got out and started meandering along the muddy paths towards the creek. I also noticed that the wooden foot bridge was gone so we would have to cross one of the many downed logs that fell over the creek. It's an adventure!
We all crossed the creek and continued walking along the trails until I saw some familiar structures and told everyone where to go. We spent a while exploring and taking pictures.
There was so much more graffiti on the structures compared to the previous times I was here. No wonder there were no trespassing signs next to the entrance. It was to keep the douchbags from ruining these cool areas. We were here to look not to touch or ruin the area.
We walked back across the creek and onto the muddy dirt trails back to where the Escape was parked. Trish and Ed really liked the area and were glad we brought them out here. This was also Ben's first time out here as well and thought it was pretty cool.
Since we were out this way, I decided that I needed to stop by Millersylvania State Park and check up on my cache. A few weeks ago I received a weird log from a cacher that the cache was missing pieces to it so I thought I would come check it out if I was out this way. Since I didn't have a valid Discover Pass, I asked everyone if they wanted to stay in the Escape while I went really quickly to check on it. Everyone wanted to stay. I got out and walked the few hundred feet to the cache. I made sure no one was around when I pulled it out from it's hiding spot. I am not sure what the log meant by the last person who found this but I saw nothing wrong with it. I added another logbook to the bag just for fun. I walked back to the Escape and off towards home we went.
When we got home, we unloaded the Escape and went inside to relax. Ben and I started getting all the stuff ready for rice yuck, a dish my Mom made that my Dad hates so he called it rice yuck. The name stuck throughout the years. Ben and I make this meal just about every two to three weeks because it's delicious. Trish and Ed played a round of 10,000 while Ben and I made dinner. The meal takes a while to prep but the cooking time is quick. Trish and Ed have never had this meal before so we were anxious to see if they liked it or not. Once it was done, we dished up and ate our food at the dining room table (which is rare for us unless we have people over) and ate our food while we chatted about the upcoming Seahawks schedule and if the fans were going to be allowed in the stadium this season or not.
Trish and Ed really liked rice yuck which was awesome to hear. We might make that again for them the next time they come over on a weekend to visit. We cleaned up, played a very competitive game of Phase 10 and ate berry pie...because Ed insisted it was like the best pie ever. I beat everyone at Phase 10 and it left Ed very salty because he hates losing and being skipped. Haha!
I got a quick shower in and we all went to bed. Tomorrow was going to be another busy day.
The next morning we got up at 9:30, got dressed and came out to make blueberry scones and bacon for breakfast. I had asked Erika and Zach if they wanted to go on a bike ride with us and she said she would really like to but she had a bunch of homework to get done. I told her, well...maybe next time? She said maybe, it would depend on how busy she was.
We ate breakfast, cleaned up and then got ready to go. We packed up the bikes into the Escape while Trish and Ed already had theirs secured on the back of Ed's SUV. We drove to Erika's apartment complex off of Sleater-Kinney which butted up against the Chehalis-Western Trail (CWT). We got our bikes out, made sure we had enough water and I brought my backpack so I could stick my keys, water and other misc things inside. I had planned on getting a few of the caches along the way as well.
Around 11:30, we got onto the CWT from there and decided to go all the way to Woodard Bay, which was roughly 5.5 miles from this trail head, round trip would make it about an 11 mile bike ride. It was a warm summer day and most of the ride would be covered in shade.
Along the way I stopped for 5 caches that I've had on my radar since they were published. At one point, I had all of these caches along this trail cleaned out. They were archived and more were put in their place. I knew if I stopped I would be able to catch up. The first one I stopped for was called Side Trail (GC4QEAX) and it was a quick stop and find. Dad had called me right in the middle of finding it so it made signing the log and putting it back difficult while I talked to him on the phone. I got caught up with my group of riders.
The next one I stopped for was part of the zodiac series I still have to finish. This one was called Zodiac Series: Capricorn (GC8GVX8) and I should have found it right away but the spot was compromised due to a homeless invasion. I mad sure to let Harvey's Pack know that the cache was probably taken and will have to come back again some other time. I got back on the trail and we continued to work our way north.
We continued along the trail for a bit and another cache was coming up on my app. Hit the Pavement (GC8H52K) was another one I could leave the trail and find quickly. It as also a good reason to stop and swig some water. It was a quick find.
We got about a mile or so in again before we stopped for another cache, Stumpy (GC85NBY) just after we crossed South Bay Road north of Lacey near the small unnamed lake. It took me down a dirt trail about 20 feet off the main paved trail. This one had me stumped for a few seconds but then I found what I was looking for because it was obvious. I flipped over the stump and underneath was the cache container bungeed onto the bottom. I signed our names, took a picture and met back up with Ben, Trish and Ed. They weren't too far ahead of me.
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