Ben and I set our alarms for 9 a.m. Of course we laid there until about 9:30 because we are not morning people. We did eventually get up, did our bathroom things, put on our clothes for the day, ate our cereal, bananas and chocolate doughnuts. I put my bag on the bed and started packing up my stuff a little better than just cramming or piling clothes inside the bag. I folded everything neatly so everything would fit. The dirty clothes bag was just going to be put inside the Escape how it was. Ben got his stuff all packed up including the bathroom stuff and the items we kept on the hotel table. We made sure everything was unplugged and stored away.
We took everything back out to the Escape and tetris'd it in the back as best as we could...making sure the cooler with our drinks was accessible. Ben took the key cards through the hotel to check out at the front desk and I drove around front to meet him. We got gas at the Chevron once again before we left. I like having a full tank before we go anywhere. While I pumped gas, Ben walked around the building and found the cache, Pit Stop (GC42Q59). He said it was pretty easy but was very nervous because there were bees nearby.
Before we got onto I-90, we stopped at the trucker gas station/rest stop to get the one here. Many years ago, there used to be another cache here that has since been archived. I was not able to find that cache before heading to Yakima down Canyon Road. I was hoping today we would find the newish one that was here. Broadway's Flyby Cache Cache N' Go (GC95MTE) was on the south side of the gas station/grocery store combo between the building and the first row of parked cars. There was a picnic table, a green electric box and the random wires and electronics on the side of the building. We have to be careful about muggles going in and out of their cars. I stood there for a minute to decide where someone would hide a regular sized cache. Ben was carefully looking and I had him come stand beside me. I ask him, okay, where would a regular sized cache be? What was out of place in this general area? We noticed a black lid, one that would screw onto a PVC pipe, that was very out of place. We open it up and there it was! We sign our names quickly, get a photo and we put it back, hoping that we weren't seen.
We got onto I-90 and got off at the I-82 junction to head up the hill to Yakima. I wanted to stop at the Manastash viewpoint on top of the hill to do the three caches up there. We get up there and find a parking spot. We choose to to do Kittitas View SB (GC7PR1Z) first. We followed the coordinates to GZ and look for a few minutes. We found out we were not in the correct rock pile so we walked to the one about fifteen feet from us and bam, there it was. We signed our name and put it back where we found it. We walked through the parking lot and noticed the great view of the valley and Mount Stewart in the distance. We took a few pictures.
Inside one of the guard rails, was the second cache, View From the Top (GC46194) and of course guard rail caches are dumb but we also had to be somewhat sneaky with people coming in and out of this viewpoint area. We did manage to grab it, sign it and put it back before anyone saw us. We walked the short distance to the earthcache, Manastash Ridge Formation (GC98H75). It had us analyze and estimate the different layers while answering the series of questions from the cache owner. We wrote down a couple answers and some of them I could look up online. We got a photo of the hillside so I could refer back to it later. We walked back to the Escape and continued south on I-82.
About halfway there, I told Ben to text Willmarth to let him know we were on our way. I decided since we stopped at the northbound Selah rest area on Friday night that we should stop at the southbound Selah rest area to use the restroom and get the cache that was here. As we got closer to the rest area, I really needed to pee. Ben said he was good. I added, well while I am using the restroom you can go look for the cache, you know kill two birds with one stone. He said, sure. He went off and found Selah Creek Leg Stretcher (GC7FNAV). He said some bees were also trying to make a nest at this location as well.
After finding the cache and using the restroom, we got back on the freeway and made our way down to Selah. We heard back from Willmarth, he and Kevin were at basketball practice and had about an hour left. He said he would be home a little after noon. I told Ben we could find a few in town while we waited. We looked at the map and found a few we could find. We had to kill about an hour so we started at House in the Tree (GC4ZT4N) off of Pomona Road. I was glad to see a place I could pull off the road. We both got out and walked to this large tree. I thought this was going to be an easy grab. Haha, it wasn't because we both overlooked it. We literally walked past it. I could have hit us in the face! We walked back to the Escape and off to the next cache!
We looked at the time and we had maybe enough time for a couple more. I looked at the map and saw a couple caches just to the north of where we were. I looked closer and it was a small trail in the Selah Cliffs Natural Area Preserve. I ask Ben, you wanna go? He said sure as he was nose deep into his Clash of Clans game. We pulled into the parking area and there was one other vehicle here, most likely a family enjoying their day. I told Ben there were three here but we probably weren't going to go get the third one which was at the end of this trail. It was a mile away so a two mile walk there and back. Ben said he didn't have the pizazz to do that much walking in this heat. I agreed. So we decided on just the two caches.
We get out and lock the Escape and stopped at the one near the entrance to the trail head. That one was called Enraging Daisies (GC7BCT5) and I was not sure what to expect. It was located at a sign that talked about the preserve. We started looking and I noticed a bolt and nut combo that didn't make sense. I started unscrewing it and low and behold it was the cache. Ben thought it was a pretty clever hide. We sign our names and kept in mind the family that belonged to the vehicle were walking back down the trail and were almost at the trail head. We stood there looking at the sign pretending we were reading up on the place before putting the cache back. Once they left, we put it back and got a couple pictures of it.
The last cache of the day were down this neatly graveled pathway. It was a little less than a half a mile and we walked past many flowers, some cacti, saw birds, insects, heard running water but there wasn't water in the small creek at the base of the cliffs and we thought it was weird, enjoyed the cliffs for a couple of minutes and found Selah Cliffs NAP (GC97JQD) which was tucked in the corner of a wooden structure. It was a quick find. We were the only ones out here which was nice.
I got a text message back from Willmarth stating they were home now so whenever we were ready to come over they were excited to see us. Back in April, I dropped my phone on the ground, screen down and the screen hit a rock. Of course, I didn't have a screen protector on it and that was because none of them would stay on my phone. I went through two of them. They would come off. The Samsung Galaxy 9+ had rounded edges and it screen protectors did not stay on so I tried really hard to keep my screen safe. It stayed safe for almost three years. Anyway, there was a blemish on the screen and it slowly got bigger over the course of a month and a half. While on our trip, it was hard to get it off of its sleep mode every time I wanted to use it or I got a phone call. It got worse as the day went on. I really didn't want to buy a new phone. They are so expensive nowadays.
We walked back to the Escape and put in Willmarth's address into Nuvi. She took us the quickest way to his house. We got there just before 1 p.m. Because of Covid, we have not seen them in almost two years. We got to their house and saw different vehicles in their driveway. We parked and went inside. We were attacked by guard dogs, Fletcher and Zooey. We sat in the living room for a while and visited. We talked about Covid and the long 2020 we all just had, the vaccinations and how our bodies reacted to it, work, school, Kevin's school year and his basketball team, frustrations, the stuff they've been doing, the stuff Ben and I have been doing and dealing with all the estate stuff when you have a family member who passes away or who is in a nursing home.
Ben spent some time with Kevin while I chatted with Willmarth as he was watering his vegetable garden. Shannon spent time spiffing up the place and trying really hard to get Kevin to start studying for his finals and last week of his freshman year of high school. We usually aren't here until the end of June when school isn't in session. He and Shannon did go into the back room a few times to work on online flash cards. I went back there to see what kinds of subjects he was studying. The high school he attends is a private Catholic school in Union Gap. Kevin had to take an assortment of religion classes and that is what he was studying for when I went into the room. We went through some of those flash cards and I ended up learning something as we went through them.
Around 3, is when Willmarth started getting lunch ready. We had burgers and hotdogs he cooked on the grill with beans, chips and potato salad as sides. We ate in the living room and tried to guard our food from the dogs. We chatted about other random things as we ate.
It was approaching 5:00 and we, unfortunately, had to get on the road since it took us about 3 hours to get home. We thanked them for having us over, they were happy to see us almost after two years, we gave out hugs and told everyone we hoped to see them soon. I was talking to Shannon about kayaking and she and Kevin went last summer and loved it. I told her that we have kayaks but we needed to get the hardware to transport them on my Escape. I added, once that happened we could come over and we could go kayaking. She said that would be awesome and that we would talk about it soon.
Ben and I got in the Escape and had the AC on full blast. We waved goodbye and got back onto Wenas Road to head to Selah. Once we got into Naches, I stopped by Slim's Market, the creepy grocery store on the right side of Hwy 12. I've stopped here hundreds of times throughout the years. I wanted some cold drinks. I grabbed a Cherry Coke because it sounded good. I thought Ben would want something but he passed.
We got back on the highway and didn't stop until we got home. There wasn't a lot of traffic heading west on the pass, which was nice, I'm sure I-90 was a total joke with all the people heading home after the holiday weekend. We got home around 9ish, unloaded the Escape, got cleaned up, called Mom and Trish to let them know we got home safely and the kitties were so happy to see us.
It was nice to get away for the weekend and explore an area we really weren't that familiar with. I've been through the area tons of times while at school but never got a chance to stop and learn about the area. In four days we found 227 caches, learned some history of Quincy and the surrounding area, went hiking, drove some historical roads, met up with a fellow cacher at a virtual cache, ate some good food even though the places we wanted to go were permanently closed or had Covid hours. The best part was that we got to spend time with each other and finally got to see and visit our friends in Selah. I am looking forward to the next time we get to come over there to hang out and go kayaking.
Next Adventure: In Bonney Lake for Amy's Birthday
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