I was in need of a day off really bad and I wanted to take the 16th off so I asked Mom which Friday she was going to take off in April and she said the office is closed on the 9th and just to take it then. She talked me into it so I changed it to the 9th and put in leave for it. I really didn't care as long as I had a three day weekend soon. I kept asking her where she wanted to go and she didn't know. The weather was going to be a huge factor here as well. That would determine where we were going to go.
The night before she said she wanted to go to Victor Falls in Bonney Lake, which is right down the road from Ben's mom's house. I told her that wasn't going to take very long and asked her what else she'd like to do in the area. She had no idea so I suggested we bring our bikes and ride one of the trails in Orting. She said she liked that idea. She told me to be ready by 10 and she didn't come until 11. Lame. I was ready by 10 too. She wasted an hour of our adventure time.
Before we left Lacey, Mom decided she wanted a breakfast sandwich from McDonald's so we drove to the one off of Sleater-Kinney. Once we got to the drive thru I decided since we're here might as well get something as well but I wasn't in the mood for breakfast. She got a sausage muffin and a chocolate milk and I got the two cheeseburgers meal. We ate it in the Hobby Lobby parking lot just down the hill.
We got onto I-5 when we were done eating and traffic was terrible through JBLM and we had no idea why. It shouldn't have been but it was. We got onto 512 and then onto 410. It was like driving to Trish's house but we weren't going there. We went through Sky Island as I explained to Mom some of the stuff I've learned about Bonney Lake since I've been driving up here over the past eight years. We were on the back road that takes you from the Orting Valley up to the backside of Bonney Lake.
We approached the falls and pulled into the gravel parking lot. We were the only ones there. She was like, oh, we're here? I said, yep...this is it. Right off the road like I mentioned. It's not far from the road and it's a short walk from the parking lot. Mom grabbed her camera, we locked the Expedition and we made the short walk to the view.
I have been here two times prior and now a third time as of today. The first time I came here was with Ben and we found a cache here and then enjoyed the falls and the creek that dumped into it. It's on the other side of the road. The second time I came here with Ben and his Mom and sister. Trish said she's lived here for more than 30 years and has never come down here to see these falls. I was in disbelief. This was literally down the road from her house. We also picked up another cache since the previous one was archived. Today, we were here just so Mom could see the falls.
We spent probably a good 40 minutes here looking at the different vantage points. I told her about the previous times I was here and some of Ben's stories about people getting too close, falling and dying. We went beyond the fence at our own risk so Mom could see the top of the falls.
We didn't stay for a super long time. We walked back up to the small parking lot and we drove up the road so I could show her the new development Tehaleh. I told her on a clear day, there is a great view of Mount Rainier from that community. She had seen a post recently on one of the groups she follows on Facebook and saw that view and I told her that picture she saw was from this place. I showed her exactly where it was because it was a cloudy day and we couldn't see Mount Rainier. She was astounded how many houses were back there. I told her it's grown exponentially since I first came out here back in 2014 when Ben showed me.
We drove towards Bonney Lake High School and through to where all the businesses were. I told her that the 7Eleven on the corner literally sprung up over night. We made the turn onto Hwy 410 and on to the Walmart so Mom could pick up a few things. She had never been to this one before so she said that we should since we were here. We parked and Mom picked up the stuff she needed.
We got back onto Hwy 410 and drove down the hill to the Valley Highway towards Orting. There were several places to park to get on the trail along the Puyallup River. I chose the one near Orting Middle School. Bob and I parked there last when we were here a few years ago. We unloaded the bikes, made sure we had everything, locked the Expedition and road the bikes to the dirt trail. I brought Ben's bike today because his is easier to transport than mine is.
I set the first cache, PRS "Old Dike" Redux (GC6P0GN) which was on the river side of the trail. We couldn't get it from the trail we were on. I figured out there was another trail on the other side of the dike. We made it over to where that trail started and left my bike with Mom and walked over to where the cache was hidden. I wasn't sure where to start looking because the coords bounced all over the place and there were a lot of potential hiding spots. I saw the large tree with a crook in it and decided that's probably where it was. Found it! I had to pull it out with a stick because I was too short. I signed our names and put it back with the same stick.
Further up the trail and a bike ride under the road, was Snake's Eyes (GC5TRR6). I thought it was going to be in the void of the trail but it was actually on the other side hidden amongst the rocks. We had to move a couple rocks but we found it. We got our names on it and put it back.
Orange Ya Glad (GC7B368) was a quick and easy find because it was the only thing in the area that was orange. They had hung a bison on a metal wire and hung it from the white PVC pipe and small orange and black sign. We signed our initials and put it back how it was.
We road on down the dirt trail. We passed a few people who were enjoying the day with a walk and some walking their dogs. We passed two people who were out near the river bank using their droid to film something they were working on.
The next cache on the list was, Puyallup River #178 (GC2N193) was hidden behind a stump a few feet off of the trail. I overlooked it the first time but found it on the second sweep. They had it hidden under some blended moss. We also saw a lizard missing a tail on the other side of the stump. We got a picture of it before he got spooked. Mom got onto her bike and I was looking at the next one when my phone fell face down on the ground. I gasped because it doesn't have a screen protector on it. I know, I know, why don't you have a screen protector, you ask. Well, I've had two on it and they don't stay on very well and they both came off within days of me putting them on. Anyway, I turned it over and it left a small blemish in the left hand corner of the screen. I was really hoping it didn't get any bigger. That kinda ruined my day because cell phone's aren't cheap and I just paid this off not too long ago.
Lightening Road by the River (GC39CXK) was pretty straight forward. It was the dead tree that looked like it got struck by lightening. We saw the last person who was here didn't find it so we were still hoping it was here. There were a bunch of holes in this tree and we totally overlooked it the first time we scanned the tree. Mom saw something poking out of one of the holes and there it was. We signed our initials and moved onto the next one.
We passed a few more groups of people walking the trail on our way to Hide 'n Cedar (GC1BP35). That one was off the left side of the trail next to a large Cedar tree. I had to walk down a small hill, stepped in the wrong spot, my foot sank in the ground and I fell backwards. Mom laughed at me. We found an ammo box behind the tree tucked away. I looked at its contents, signed the log and put it back without falling this time.
We got back on our bikes and went to our last cache, Big, Big Leaf Maple (GC7B37B). That one was also on the left side of the trail, behind a maple tree and was an ammo can. We signed our names and put it back.
I asked Mom, you ready to ride back? She was ready. Of course it took us less time returning than going because we weren't stopping to grab caches. We made our way underneath the road again and almost biffed it because the rocks were super deep and the tires lost traction. We got back to the Expedition, put the bikes back into the back and got situated. We road about five miles and found seven caches. I asked Mom where to next?
She was hungry and wanted to go to Herfy's in the middle of town. I wasn't hungry but I told her I would have some of her French fries. I sat in the Expedition while she went in and ordered her food. She came back and told me they would bring it out to her when it was done. We hung out for a few minutes chatting about random things. Her food finally came out after about 10 minutes or so and we left. I decided to go home the back way because I knew that the freeways and highways would be packed with people since it was Friday after 4 p.m.
We went through Graham and into McKenna. Once we got to McKenna we were backed up from the light almost to Harts Lake Road. We were going to be here a while. We went the back way through Yelm to avoid traffic lights and went through Nisqually Rez so we could get gas. We got onto the Yelm Highway and to my house so Mom could drop me off. We unloaded Ben's bike and then Mom went home.
Ben and I hung out for a bit before we decided on pizza for dinner. Ben drove us to the Walmart where we picked up the pizza, ice cream, chicken and a couple other things to get us by since I didn't go grocery shopping this week yet. I was trying not to drive my Escape anymore since the noise is getting louder and louder. I really didn't want to be stranded just in case something went wrong. We ate food, watched movies and got ready for our day tomorrow in Puyallup.
Next Adventure: My First Experience Purchasing a Vehicle: 2017 Ford Escape
No comments:
Post a Comment