Mount Rainier Hiking to Carter Falls

Mom and I wanted to do one more hike before we went on our trip, preferably one above sea level so we had a choice between Mt. St. Helens and Mount Rainier so we discussed it.  I had a list of three hikes at Mt. St. Helens and found two for Mount Rainier.  We wanted to be kinda ready for Peru even though where we were going isn't even close to the elevation we would be at in Peru.  We ultimately chose Mount Rainier because it was closer.  

I looked at the two hikes I picked out and Carter Falls sounded like the best one because it wasn't super long, there would be waterfalls along the way and it was easy to get to.  Mom loves waterfalls and there was a virtual cache at the falls I wanted to get. 

I asked Fitzy if she wanted to go since she was in town and wasn't busy on Sunday and I asked Ben if he wanted to go since he finally wasn't working his life away that weekend and they both said that would be fun to go on an adventure.  The weather was suppose to be nice but because it was at Mount Rainier, the elevation was higher and the temperature wasn't suppose to be super hot so I planned accordingly.  I read up on what to expect at Carter Falls and the trip to the trail head.  I told Fitzy and Mom that we would pick them up around 10 a.m.  They said they would be ready to go.

Ben and I got up around 9 a.m., got dressed and made some sandwiches for lunch.  I brought a One bar for breakfast.  I threw in my walking poles, grabbed my back pack and threw in extra clothes, socks, my lunch, water and other things we might need like a small first aid kit.  I put my hiking shoes in the back.  Ben followed suit.

We drove into Rainier and picked up Fitzy first and then drove to Mom and Dad's house and picked up Mom, she was actually ready when we pulled up.  We threw everyone's back packs and shoes in the back.  We drove out the backway towards McKenna.  We got onto the 702 and went through Eatonville through the Alder Cut Off.  I wasn't going to subject anyone to the swirly road.  We went through Elbe and was hoping everyone was going to turn off at the Hwy 7/Morton junction so we didn't have to follow anyone down the 706 to the entrance to the park. 

We got to the park entrance and head to wait in line.  It was semi busy but not too bad.  When we got there, I paid the entry fee even though Fitzy offered.  She was our guest so she wasn't expected to pay.  Sadly, Mom isn't old enough for the pass and none of us were military or come to National Parks often enough to warrant the yearly pass.

We followed the road up to just before the Cougar Rock Campground, which is about an eight mile drove from the gate.  The roads were somewhat busy since is is the end of the summer and people are trying to get their last couple trips in before school starts and the weather turns.  We saw there was plenty of parking along the side of the road near the trail head.  We pulled in and made sure I had enough room in front and in back.  We all got out and got organized.  I put on my socks and hiking shoes, grabbed my back pack, locked the doors and off we went. 

Carter Falls is a 2.6 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail near Longmire and is good for all skill levels which is good because I tend to me a slow hiker.  A 1.1 mile portion of this trail to Carter Falls and Madcap Falls is also part of the 92 mile Wonderland Trail that spans around Mount Rainier and the park.  I've done bits and pieces of this enormous trail over the years with the last one being Spray Falls with Ben back in 2015.

We walked to the trail head, clearly marked with a Carter Falls sign, and followed it down to a neatly manicured, complete with rocks, dirt river bed trail.  The beginning of this hike was pretty unique because it took you over the Nisqually River, with a wooden footbridge that often washes out during the fall and winter months.  We could see the mountain from here and it was hard to see the highlight of our skyline so bare.

We followed the trail that paralleled the Paradise River and it was definitely a uphill hike.  It wasn't too hard of a hike unless you are severely out of shape.  I just haven't been out hiking hills in a while and got out of practice.  My endurance wasn't all that great.  I think by the time we got there we would have gained about 800 feet in elevation.  We took a couple water breaks as we made our way to the top.

We passed a pipeline to the left of us and it was very cold to the touch.  Fitzy mentioned that a few years back her Mom would hike with a bunch of other ladies on the weekends and remembered her talking about this hike and the pipes.  I told her I remembered seeing some of the photos of her Mom hiking different places at Mount Rainier.  We chatted about our upcoming Peru trip, people from Rainier and how Jean was doing with her treatments.  It was nice to see that she was improving and were able to do more things that she did at the beginning of the summer.

We walked past a few groups of hikers as we got closer to the falls.  We rounded the corner and there it was.  Carter Falls is a 50 foot horsetail shaped falls and it was named after Harry Carter, builder of much of the trail between Longmire and Paradise.  The falls was pretty cool but there were trees in front of it so it didn't allow us to get a really good view of them without some obstruction.  We took a few pictures and I couldn't figure out how I was suppose to log the virtual cache, Carter Falls (GCE4D), so I took pictures of everything that was around us, including the elevation sign a few feet away.  Both Fitzy and Mom had to pee so they found a place while Ben and I hung out enjoying the view of the falls.

We all reconvened and I asked everyone if we wanted to go about 500 feet further up the trail to go see Madcap Falls and everyone said of course!  Off we went.  Once we got there it seemed less than 500 feet and these falls were much easier to see and a lot more photogenic.  Madcap Falls is 34 feet gradual cascading falls with a 45 degree pitch.  We spent a few minutes upstream of the falls just to see what was over there.  Of course we took more photos.

We started our way back down the trail and took more photos along the way.  There were a couple of cool shots along the Paradise River of large boulders and the river itself.  It was such a nice day and it turned out to be way warmer than I thought it would be.  We got back down to the Nisqually River and there were a bunch of people hanging out down by the bridge.  I took Mom's camera and took several photos of Mount Rainier and a couple of Ben, Fitzy and Mom crossing the log bridge.  We got a couple selfies and walked back up the hill to the Escape.

  I asked everyone, since we were already up here and paid our fee, if they wanted to go up the road to Narada Falls and everyone said sure.  We ate our lunch in the Escape on the way up to Narada Falls.  There were a lot of great views of the mountain, which I mentioned before, was thrashed this summer from really hot, dry weather.  It didn't have a lot of snow on it and some of the glaciers have seriously receded.  Hopefully we get some snow pack this winter or next summer will be another rough one for the region.   

We followed the road up to Narada Falls and I didn't remember it being this close to Paradise.  I thought it was closer to Christine Falls.  We found a place to park, we got out and made sure we had our masks since there were a lot of people here.  We walked the short distance down to the viewpoint of the falls and spent some time down there soaking in the incredible view.  The sun hit it just right to where we got to see the rainbow over the falls.  We walked back up the hill and I got winded because of the higher elevation we were at.  I had to rest a few times.  We used the restroom and walked back towards the Escape.  Fitzy was trying to get a picture of a chipmunk but it wouldn't hold still.  We all piled in and headed back town towards the gate.

We took the same route back into Rainier.  We dropped Mom off first and then took Fitzy home when we drove through town.  Ben and I got home, unloaded our stuff our of the Escape, got cleaned up, ate some dinner and enjoyed the rest of our weekend.  This next work week is going to be busy but short.

Next Adventure:  TriCities Geocoin Challenge:  Heading to Selah

Mariners vs. Royals with Alicia

I've been friends with Alicia since I worked in Retro back in 2017.  I got to know her pretty well over the course of the year I worked there.  She was very pleasant to talk to, she was very enthusiastic about her job as a claims manager, her life and her family.  I felt very comfortable around her.  She is originally from Sunnyside and worked at the L&I office in Yakima until she moved to the west side to get away and to start a new experience.  She has a very large family full of children and grandchildren.  She has three chihuahuas named Bella, Prince and Bruno and they wear sweaters in the winter time.  Once I was no longer a part of Retro, I still kept in contact with her through walks, passing in the hallways and random phone calls to ask how I was doing.  Some of those phone calls would last an hour or so.

I helped her move to her new place when her landlord wanted to sell the complex she was living in, I have met some of her family members and friends and got to meet her newest significant other, Jerry.  They've been dating for about a year or so when I met him and he seemed to be a pretty good guy.  She got a new job within L&I but instead of HQ she now worked out of the Tacoma location.  Then Covid hit and it ruined everything.  We were now all working from home and had a bunch of stuff taken away from us including vacations, family members and sports.  It was a terrible time in human history.

Once we all were vaccinated she spent many of her weekends driving back and forth to Sunnyside and asked if I could watch her dogs.  I said sure, why not.  She showed me what I needed to do and everything went well majority of the time.  There was one time one of the dogs bit another dog in the ear and there was blood everywhere.  I gave him a quick bath and everything was good again.  I watched her dogs a few times since December through the summer.

One day this past spring, I got a phone call from her and she sounded very agitated and upset.  I asked her how she was and she said not doing very well.  She then explained to me that her nephew all of a sudden died and she needed to be in Sunnyside for at least four days and if I could watch her dogs.  I told her I sure could.  She thanked me and apologized for the short call but she had to go get ready to go.  I spent the next four days watching her dogs for her while she took care of her family matters. 

Later on that summer, she and her family thought it would be great to remember him by going to a Mariner game as a group.  He loved baseball and they arranged for him to be honored on the big screen.  I asked Alicia later how it went and she said it was amazing.  She added because they did a group baseball game and Alicia was in charge, they gave her two free tickets for an upcoming home Mariner game of her choice.  She knew I loved baseball and helped her out these past few months with the dogs she asked me to go with her.  She just needed to know what home game I could go to.

The rest of my weekends were getting pretty busy with my upcoming Peru trip so the only day I had free was the last Saturday of August.  She said that was fine with her and we planned on doing that.  The Mariners were playing the Royals and at the time they were one of the worst teams in the AL.  I also saw the free giveaway was a Mariner Moose Funko Pop figurine so you knew there were going to be a lot of people going to the game.   

She sent me the link to chose the tickets we wanted but the instructions were not that clear so we had to have a ticket manager do it for us which is just as well.  She asked if I would drive and that she would give me some gas money.  I told her that sounded pretty good to me.  I found out Doug and Jenn were going to the same game because of his friend Ross.  Sadly, Ross couldn't go to the game because his mom was sick and couldn't risk getting Covid so he gave Doug the four tickets and told him to find other people to go with.  Doug has some really good tickets...five rows up from the field between the left fielder and the third basemen.  Doug couldn't get Erika and Zach to go, Dad isn't a big sports fan and Mom couldn't go because she had a quilt show in Yelm to go to.

The game was originally suppose to be a night game but it was changed to the day to accommodate the Seahawks preseason game next door at Lumen Field.

Alicia and I were sitting in section 142 row 35.  We had a great view of the field as well according to the seat view I saw online.  My friend Annette, who is an usher at the Mariner games, doesn't work on Saturdays so I wouldn't be able to see her until the TriCities geocoin challenge the next weekend.  I made sure I could access the tickets on my phone so I screen shot them onto my gallery so it would be easy to scan them.  

I had Alicia meet me at my house around 9:30 so we could get up there at a decent time and find parking near the stadium.  We got onto I-5 north and it was smooth sailing.  We chatted about various things as we drove.  Then I got a phone call from Doug asking me where I was.  I told him we just passed Federal Way.  He said he and Jenn was about a mile or so behind us.  He then proceeded into telling us that it would be in our best interest to get off the freeway at Angle Lake and take the train up since traffic would be awful and parking just as bad.  Plus, the Seahawk game so there were more people than usual for a normal baseball game.  

Alicia found the exit we needed and got off at Angle Lake and followed the road to the parking garage.  We found a place to park and meandered our way to the ticket office.  We each bought a $6 round-trip ticket to and from the stadiums and Doug and Jenn made it to the ticket kiosk as we got our tickets.  They bought theirs and we walked up to the platform to wait for our train.  I will probably do this from now on when I go to an event in Seattle...it is so much easier than trying to drive up there.

Our train came and we sat near each other on the train while we waited through all the stops.  There were 10 stops from where we got on to where we were getting off and it typically takes about a half hour or so.  We all hung out and talked while we waited for our stop.  There were some people on the train who were wearing Mariner stuff.  I haven't been to a Mariner game since April 2019.  Wow, that was a long time ago.  Covid sucks so bad!

We got off the train and walked towards the stadium.  Doug and Jenn decided to go find some food outside of the stadium so I told them we would see them later.  Alicia and I wanted to go see the new Edgar statue so we continued on around the stadium to where he was.  We had to wait a few minutes before we had our turn with him without any people in our photos.  

We decided to go into the stadium at home plate since it was right there.  We got through security and got our tickets scanned.  We received our Moose Funko Pop figurine and went up the stairs onto the concourse.  I asked Alicia what she wanted to do first.  We walked around for a bit and saw the different vantage points of the field.

We decided we wanted food so we walked over to Ivar's and I had to make a hard decision.  I really wanted fish and chips but I am trying to stick to my low carb diet so I chose Caesar salad and water.  Alicia got fish and chips and some chowder.  She said I could help her with her French fries if I wanted to.  I did take her up on that offer when we found our seats and sat there eating our food and taking in the ambiance.

I saw my brother and Jenn walk by.  They were in the next section over to our left down almost to the field.  He did call me to ask where I was and I stood up and waved at him.  He said if we wanted to come down and sit with them we were more than welcome to.  I told him we would consider it later on.

The game started and right off the bat (haha literally) the Royals hit a solo homerun in the first.  We left a lot of people on base and then in the 5th inning the Royals hit a two-run homerun making the score 3-0.  We finally answered back in the bottom half of the 5th when KC walked in a run for us.  Yay!  We were on the board finally!  We got up to check out the team store for a little while and came back before the 7th inning stretch but instead of our seats we went to go sit with Doug and Jenn.  They left to go get food, lots of garlic fries and beer.  They really didn't need it but they got it anyway.

We spend the rest of the game watching us lose 4-2.  At least we weren't shut out.  We sat there for a few minutes while the people around us cleared out.  We used the restroom and told Doug and Jenn that we would possibly see them at the train station.  Alicia heard that there was some sort of Lottery thing also going on next door so we walked over to Lumen Field and tried to get into the pregame stuff inside the field house but they weren't letting people in without tickets.  The rules must have changed because of Covid,  Bummer.

We went into a few of the unofficial team stores and my brother texted me telling me that Jenn wasn't done and they got some cheap tickets from a scalper.  I was jealous but I was ready to go home.  We walked back to the train and only had to wait a few minutes. 

About a half hour later we were at the Angle Lake train station once again.  We found the Escape in the parking garage and headed back to I-5 but took a wrong turn so we had to get on the freeway further down the road.

On the way back home we chatted about a lot of stuff and we got to know each other a little bit more than before.  It was nice to have a friend to talk about stuff with.  We got stuck in traffic in Fife but it eventually cleared and we were on our way back home.  When we got there, Alicia thanked me for the fun day and I thanked her back for choosing me to go with her.  She told me to enjoy my upcoming vacation and that we would catch up soon.

Later on I heard that Doug didn't feel very good so they came home before halftime of the Seahawk game.  I suspected he was dehydrated from all the sunshine and beer.  They got home safe and sound and I told him to get cleaned up, drink water and rest.  He said he felt better the next day.  

Next Adventure:  Mount Rainier Hiking to Carter Falls 

Farewell Red Escape

I felt like I won the lottery when Ben's mom decided she wanted to sell me the Escape back in 2014.  I've always wanted an SUV because it was higher off the ground and I could see the stuff around me better.  I've had a ton of hand me down vehicles since I started driving and don't get me wrong, I was thankful to have those but some of them were very unreliable and I didn't know when they were going to strand me places.  Some of those vehicles did strand me and this was before cell phones. 

 I remember when I was in high school and I got into the van to go get the mail from the post office and once I was there, I got out and went inside to get the mail and came back out to start the van and the starter wouldn't turn over.  I had to sit there for almost an hour and I am sure Mom wondered where I was for an hour.  It should have taken me maybe 15 minutes.  Then I got a flat tire going into Mom's office to pick up money for gas and the power steering fluid was low and I miss calculated the turn and I hit the curb pretty hard.  We had to have Bill's Towing come over and put the doughnut tire on so we could get back to Rainier in time for our basketball game.

Also, when I was high school, the muffler on the van came off as I was heading home.  It scraped against the asphalt on the road and it looked like the back of the van was on fire even though it was just sparks from the muffler dragging on the road.  I had several people try to flag me down to let me know but I did know and I was trying to make it home to tell Dad.  The heater/defroster stopped working in the van and I had to drive home one night after an away basketball game and it snowed.  I had to Ace Ventura it home.  For those of you who don't know what that means it is when you have to drive with your head out the window because you can't see through your windshield.  It was so cold part of my hair froze.  The radio didn't work because my friend, Brandon, his horse ate the antenna off the van.  At one point, the van's speedometer didn't work and I could start it without the keys for about three months.

Nothing super weird happened when I drove the truck except that no one told me the gas gauge didn't work and I ran it out of gas once on the way home from school.  When I was in college the Intrepid didn't give me any problems except that I ran over a screw and had to drive back to Pullman, pulling over at every major town along the way to put air in the tires.  Once I got there, I was able to get into Les Schwab to get my tire fixed.

Then there was the Taurus.  Oh man, the Taurus.  It ran good for about three years and then the transmission died in it.  Luckily, I was not that far away from home when that happened.  Dad managed to find a place and people to put another one in for fairly cheap.  That lasted for another two and a half years pretty well.  Then the disasters started to happen.  The Taurus started lurching and revving and I knew it had to do with the transmission.  I was really hoping that the car would last a little bit longer.  Then a hose broke and Dad helped me fix it.  Then the car would overheat and I had to carry a bunch of antifreeze with me when I went places.  It was stressful driving it.  

Then I started making a little bit more money and I could maybe afford something different.  This is where Ben's mom came into play.  She was worried about me and thought I was going to get hurt or be stranded somewhere so she offered to sell the Escape to me because she wanted to get a different vehicle.  Dad looked at it and thought it was a pretty good deal.  So I bought it from her for $8500.  I would pay her $200 a month and she would take care of the title transfer, license stuff and all of that.  There were some months I couldn't pay her the appropriate amount because I was working at a hotel that didn't pay me very much so some months I paid her all I could.  That prolonged me paying it off a few months.  

I bought car insurance for the first time through Progressive and they even gave me a discount for being a safe driver.  I put on seat covers because Ben got chocolate on one of the seats and just took really good care of it.  I had to buy tires for it in 2016, I had to fix an alternator, should have fixed the crack in the windshield but I didn't, I had to fix some of the baring's and replace the battery once.  It was a great little SUV and I drove the crap out of it.  It went on many adventures over the years including driving in Canada, which was weird driving my vehicle in a foreign country.

I was sad and frustrated the last time I took it in to the mechanic because it kept making noise I thought fixing the baring's would help.  He said it wasn't the baring's but the differential and eventually the transmission.  I had to make the decision into getting a newer car rather than dumping more money into something I didn't want to dump money into.  I didn't drive it as much as I used to until I could figure out what other vehicle I wanted and could afford.  

I did finally find something I could afford and brought my new 2017 blue Escape home.  The red one sat in the yard as I cleaned it up, took the stickers off of it, vacuumed and wiped it out and got some For Sale signs and dealt with it as I had time.  It took a few months just to clean it out and whatnot because the weather was either rainy or really hot.  I thought about posting it on to some of the marketplaces, auto traders and craigslist but I didn't get that far until we had our yard sale.  

I really wanted at least $1500 for it because it was still a really good vehicle but it did have a lot of repairs that needed done to it.  I was hoping to make some money off of it to pay a couple of months towards my new car.  That didn't happen.  I had a couple people who were interested in it but for some reason they weren't sure or never came back.  There was a guy who was at our yard sale who came back to check out the Escape one more time.  He showed up right when I was doing my calls.  I stopped and went outside.  He explained that he wanted to buy it for his grand son and it had a lot of stuff that needed fixed and that he was willing to offer $500 for it.  I honestly, just wanted it gone so I agreed to it.  He gave me the money and I gave him the title.  He said he would be back later on that day and we agreed upon 6 p.m. because I had to run a few errands.  

He came back with his wife around 6 p.m. and Ben and I watched him drive the Escape away.  I was sad watching it drive away because there were so many memories had in it the 7 years I had it.  Farewell red Escape, you served me well.  Onto another chapter with the blue Escape.

Today also marks the 3rd year we've been without Grammie.  I am pretty sure she helped me sell the Escape.  Why would it have happened today, right?  Miss you Grammie!

Next Adventure: Mariners vs. Royals with Alicia

Yard Sale Weekend

We have been having yard sales pretty often over the course of my lifetime.  The last time we had one was at Grandma Karen's house August 2012.  We did it in her yard because it was visible from Vail Cut Off and she had a pretty good yard for it.  Plus, most of the tables and yard sale items were in her shop.  We tried not to tell Grammie about our yard sale because she would come over and buy stuff and she didn't need anything else.  She did eventually find out and she did come over and buy some stuff.  It was a running joke for the next couple of years. 

Life between 2012 and 2019 were very busy.  Dad's surprise quadruple bypass heart surgery to working my life away at a hotel for a year to losing Grammie to moving Erika back home from Nevada, helping Doug figure out his life to Mom trying to keep stuff organized with her job and all the busy stuff in between.  Life just got away and it was very unfair for a while.  Then stuff started to turn around.  We all got pretty good jobs, we all moved a few times, everyone got healthy and all the annoying stuff that was dragging us down everyday seemed to get better with time.  We didn't have time for any yard sales at this time.

Dad has been wanting to do another one so we planned on doing it the summer of 2020 and then Covid hit so it put us back another year of having it.  That year instead I went through a bunch of my stuff and organized it because we weren't able to travel or go anywhere.  I was stuck at home so I got a lot done while I was patiently waiting to get back into traveling.  Waiting was the most difficult thing I had to do because we didn't know when we were going to be allowed to do anything again.  There was no set date or schedule.  I was mad and frustrated because life was put on hold.

Dad had been collecting stuff over the past few years and keeping it boxed up and dry in Grandma's shop up on the hill.  Dad had also been going through Grammie and Grandpa's stuff since Grandpa moved out of his house fall of 2020.  Dad said that being in the house and going through their stuff is one of the most hardest things he's ever had to do.  It is very depressing at times but there are a lot of memories packed in that house.  He hates getting rid of things his Mom collected and loved over the years.  A lot of it is junk without a purpose but some of it is special and holds memories to different people.  I was able to go in there a few times and grab some stuff that meant something to me.  I now have some of it displayed in my house because it makes me smile.

We planned on having it one of the last weekends in June and we were going to do it at my house because I am in town, more people would come by and check it out, my front yard is big and flat and I have a way to store some of it in the side yard behind the fence.  Dad started bringing stuff over early that week and we placed it in the side yard and stuck a tarp over it.  We then saw the weather was going to be really hot and decided to postpone it because no one is going to come to a yard sale when it is over 100 degrees outside.  It would have been miserable.  

We ended up choosing August because it wasn't busy that weekend and I decided to take that Friday off so I didn't have to work and I could help out.  We talked Grandma into coming so we could get her out of the house for a little bit.  Plus, she had some stuff in the yards sale so she could make a little bit of money.  August as a whole, was super busy for me.  I was getting really nervous about my trip to Peru in early September.  I really thought the Delta variant was going to ruin my trip and it would get canceled again because of stupid people.  They won't get the vaccination and they don't want to wear masks when they are around a lot of people.  People are keeping Covid around and I don't understand why. 

Dad brought more stuff over the weekend before up until the day of so we had plenty of stuff to sell.  We brought over the signs on Sunday.  Monday we didn't do a whole lot and Tuesday I told him I was going to be busy so we reconvened on Wednesday.  After work on Wednesday, Dad came over and we put the tables together which took a while and then put the white butcher paper on top of it to make it look uniform.  I had Ben bring home KFC for dinner and we all took a dinner break and then went back out.  When we were done, it pretty much took up all the evening and Dad went home and I started to get ready for the next day.

Thursday after work, Dad came over again and we spent time putting the stuff on the tables and pricing them.  I spent some time posting our yard sale to Craigslist and on Facebook Market Place.  I wanted to make sure we had a bunch of people come buy our stuff.  The more exposure the better.  We did as much as we could so we didn't have to work as hard the next day when we opened at 9 a.m.  I told Grandma if she wanted something to do for a couple days that she could come and sit with us.  She said she would come by around 8:30 both days.  Our neighbor Rhonda, gave us a couple more tables and a Cougar pop up just in case it rained or was really hot.  

I got up around 8 a.m. on Friday and went outside to start getting ready.  I took some more stuff out and put it on the tables.  Both Dad and Grandma showed up around 8:30 and Dad picked up the signs and put them out on the highway so people knew where to go.  He was gone for about 10 minutes while Grandma and I set up the two tables Rhonda let us borrow with clothes.  Let the junk buying commence!  

It was fairly busy in the morning and kinda tapered off around lunchtime.  Then it got super busy again for a couple hours and then got slow around 4, which was good because we were done sitting around and wanted to cover up stuff for the next day.  I made sure to bring the money box into the house to count money.  I had a couple of people interested in the Escape but no one wanted to pay for how much I had it listed.  I wanted to make at least some money off of it and not just give it away for practically nothing.  Erika came over and brought more stuff for the tables and she stayed for a couple of hours.  Mom came over after work and hung out for about an hour or so.  

The next morning we did the same thing.  Dad and Grandma came over around 8:30ish, Dad put the signs out and Grandma helped me put the clothes out again.  It had rained over night and everything was wet.  It sucked trying to get some of the stuff wiped up.  I wish we were able to put tarps over everything but we couldn't.  No one was going to want the stuff.  Lame.  I tried drying some of the stuff off with towels but some of the items looked bad, especially some of the books.  As the day wore on and it got warmer, some of the stuff dried off.

Ben came out and took his tires out and his Ninja motorcycle just to see if someone was interested in it.  We had a few people look at it but no one wanted to take them home.  Ben went with a guy who was interested in the Escape and took it for a test drive but when they came back he said he would have to think about it.  Later on an older gentleman came by and pondered the Escape pretty hard.  I gave him some information with my phone number on it just in case he changed his mind.  He thanked me for the information and paid us for the stuff he bought.  It was a little slow that afternoon but picked up just before it was time to close up.  I was done sitting in the yard and was happy to start closing up and putting stuff away.  I was curious on how much we made because it didn't seem like we sold all that much.

I got everything counted and separated it out for everyone who made money.  We made $348.16 total for both days.  I couldn't believe the amount because it didn't seem like we sold that much stuff.  I had to count it twice because I thought I counted wrong.  Nope, that was correct.  We must have sold a bunch of junk.  I distributed money to those who sold stuff.  I made about $20 but Dad gave me some more for hosting the yard sale.

The next day we took stuff down and put it back into the side yard until we could get to it.  We covered it with a tarp.  We took down the tables and put them back into the trailer.  Dad had to wait a few days to see if his friend in Tumwater wanted to borrow them.  The yellow trailer sat in my yard for about a week.  Dad took it home the next weekend.  Turns out Dad's friend never got back to him about their yard sale or using the tables so Doug helped Dad unload them back at Grandma's house where we kept most of our yard sale stuff.

I kept some stuff that I thought I could sell on OfferUp.  I did sell one item and hoping that my other stuff would sell at some point.  We will see.

**Dad came over on 9/25 to load up the stuff we've been keeping in the side yard since June.  It is now inside the trailer, the tarps are all folded and it is now sitting in Grammie and Grandpa's yard until we can distribute it accordingly.**

Next Adventure:  Farewell Red Escape

Grandpa's Birthday at Bonaventure

A week before, Dad and I talked about how we wanted to do Grandpa's birthday this year.  We decided to see if we could get a room at Bonaventure in the cafeteria and have a party with him in there.  Dad did some of the ground work and he said after talking to the Bonaventure staff that it would be easier to have it outside rather than indoors.  We wouldn't be able to have everyone in the room at the same time because of the change in the Covid rules, food was going to be difficult to organize and no one wanted to wait until it was their turn to visit with Grandpa on his birthday.

I emailed everyone explaining what we were going to do the first time and then had to send a new one with the updated changes.  Dad and I went during my lunch time one day to scout out where we could have it.  The weather was going to be in the upper 80's/lower 90's so we would have to have it in the shade somewhere before noon.  Everyone sounded like they liked the plan and were all going to be there.  Tracy told us she wasn't going to come but Kevin and Karla said they were...probably because it was going to be outside.  

We came up with a food plan that would be easy to do since it was going to be somewhat of a "mobile" birthday party.  I talked to Dad about what kind of food to do and he said something like ordering or making sandwiches and bringing chips, fruit and some sort of a dessert like a cake or cupcakes.  I looked into ordering sandwiches from Maconis, Safeway, Walmart or Costco but it just seemed like we could make them cheaper if we bought the stuff ourselves.  

Dad gave me about $60 so Mom and I could go to the store on Saturday after I got back from the Vancouver Meet and Greet with Bev to pick up the supplies we would need for sandwiches.  I had cupcake making materials so we didn't need to get anything like that.  I had planned on using my Oreo cookie cupcake batter and frosting I got a few weeks back.  I asked Mom to come out to Lacey so we could pick up everything and she said she would.  We took care of Erika's dogs since she and Zach were out of town and after we went shopping and went back to my house and unloaded all the stuff.

We picked up three French bread loafs, two kinds of cheese, three different meats from the deli, squirt mayo, onions, tomatoes, lettuce and mustard.  I bought two bags of chips just in case and everyone was suppose to bring their own drinks.  I told Mom I would make the cupcakes that night and if she could come over the next day to help me make the sandwiches.  She said that sounded fine.  

That night, after dropping Mom off and checking on Alicia's dogs,  I made the cupcakes and got everything else ready to go. We found out Grandma might have been exposed to Covid so we told her to stay home just in case.  She didn't like it but she did it anyway.  Mom came over the next day around 9:30 so we could get the cupcakes frosted and the sandwiches together.  We didn't have a ton of time to get everything put together and get the tables and chairs ready so I gave Ben the job of getting the tables and chairs into the Escape while Mom and I got the food ready.  

We made a huge mess and used a lot of plates, utensils and bowls.  I told Mom I would do the dishes when we got home later.  We got everything into the Escape, got the sandwiches made and put onto platters with saran wrap.  I got a text from Erika asking where I was and I told her we were coming.  We were suppose to be there before 11 a.m. but that didn't work out.  Mom and Ben drove separate just so we had her Expedition to put stuff in later and Ben had to go to a race shift around 1 p.m.  We were only 10 minutes late.

I parked as close as I could to the area we planned on setting up in and feverishly got all the tables, chairs and food out and set it up on the table clothed tables.   Dad went and got Grandpa and wheeled him up to one of the open tables.  We served him first because he was the birthday boy and then well all dug in.  We spent a good half hour eating and carrying on.  Karla and Kevin sat near Grandpa and told him weird stories.  Mom and I cleaned up as we went so we didn't have a huge mess at the end.

We had cupcakes and Grandpa opened his gifts.  Dad told me that he needed some new T-shirts so I got him a few of those and some Jolly Ranchers.  Ben had to go so he could make it to the track on time and was happy that he had a chance to come.  Grandpa was about done so Dad wheeled him back upstairs and we told him that some of us would meet him up there to help set up his computer Mom and I got him a few weeks ago.  Everyone helped me put all the tables and chairs back into the Escape and got ready to head upstairs.

All of the sudden Tracy showed up.  She didn't give us any warning that she was actually coming up but she came up because she needed new tires.  She wanted to show me her tires but I really didn't care all that much because we were here for Grandpa.  I grabbed her a sandwich and a cupcake and went up to Grandpa's room to help Dad, Doug and Jenn with Grandpa's new computer.  He has been computer-less since September 2020...so almost a year.  We were all trying to remember Grandpa's log in stuff.  Dad had talked to the internet people in Yelm and figured out all of that stuff.  We did manage to get on, logged on to all of his stuff to make sure it worked and even got him an Olympian subscription.

Once we got all of that set up and the computer secured on to his table, we found out that it wasn't going to work because he couldn't reach the computer and his hands were so shaky he couldn't use the keyboard.  The way he sat in the chair was going to be a challenge as well.  Sadly, this set up wasn't going to work.  We had to figure out a new game plan.  He did appreciate that we tried though.  I had some stuff I had to do so I told him happy birthday one more time and headed home to clean up everything and put stuff away.  

We really weren't sure if we were going to celebrate another birthday for Grandpa.  He wasn't doing so well last year at this time but with some persistence and Dad making some hard decisions for him he was able to get better and put in a much better situation.  I was thankful we got to celebrate his birthday with him this year.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Next Adventure:  Yard Sale Weekend

Salmon Creek Meet and Greet in Vancouver and Errands with Mom

I saw there was a meet and greet event in Vancouver and even got personally invited by the cache owner on August 11th that said, "Howdy! As one of the Excalibur finders, I am extending a personal invitation to you.  I am having a geocaching event, outdoors of course, this Saturday afternoon in Salmon Creek.  Here is the link http://coord.info/GC9E5M8 I hope you can stop in and say hi. -Debbi."

I asked Bev if she got the same email and she said yes.  She asked me what time we were going to leave on Saturday and I told her to be ready by 11ish.  She said she could do that.  I told her to bring water because it was going to be a hot day.  Ben couldn't come with us because he was on shift that day in Tenino and Mom decided she wanted to stay home after yesterday's adventure.  I didn't blame her since it was a long day and we got back late.  I wanted to go because this is summer and we have to do as much as we can while we have nice weather.

I got up around 9 a.m. and took a blueberry muffin with me to eat along the way to Rainier.  I let Bev know I was on my way.  It didn't take me very long to get there and she was ready when I pulled in.  Bob decided he didn't want to go with us and he told us to have fun as he continued on with his day.  We headed to the freeway via Tenino and Grand Mound.  I was hoping for a smooth ride down to Vancouver. 

The ride down wasn't all that bad.  We talked about the upcoming TriCities geocoin challenge, my trip to Peru, the stuff Bev has been doing, talked a little bit about fantasy football and other random things that came up.  We approached our exit so I got into the correct lane and found out we needed to get off at the next one because there was no through road to this park from this exit without going all the way around.  We didn't have time for that so we turned around and got back onto I-5 and got off at the next exit.  

We followed Nuvi's directions until we got to Salmon Creek Park and neither of us had been here before.  We turned off the road and followed the directions to a gravel parking lot with a geocaching sign indicating us where to park.  I recognized some of the vehicles.  We knew most of the people attending were going to be from Oregon.  We parked and got out.  We saw there was a geocache nearby, Taunting My Best Bud Again (GC2CC1F) so Bev and I grabbed it before joining the event.  It was next to a tree and an easy find.  We walked over to the event and Debbi (verano) was happy to see we made it.  We signed the logbook for Salmon Creek Park Meet and Greet (GC9E5M8), got a ticket for the raffle later on and blended in with everyone.  It was already hot. 

About a half hour in, Bev and I decided to get the tree closest geocaches since we had about 45 minutes to wait until they did the raffle.  We broke away from the pack and headed west in the park.  This park was huge and you could spend several hours walking around.  We only had about an hour and it was hot.  The first one on our map was Salmon  - Crossroads (GC7B5FF) and it took us a few minutes to find the right tree.  Someone had posted that there might be bees near ground zero so we had to be careful just in case there were.  We found the right hole in the tree and pulled out a bison sized tube with a twist cap on it.  Bev signed our names and we put it back.

The next one, Salmon Small Bridge (GC6FKQB) was further down the trail and we passed a group of people walking a bunch of dogs.  We exchanged some pleasantries and tried to figure out where this cache was.  It was taking us all over the place.  There was a pond nearby, an almost dry creek bed with a small wooden bridge over it and a dry-ish landing amongst cottonwood trees.  We found the downed log the cache was hidden in.  We got our names on it and put it back better than we found it.  We walked over a small bridge to the next cache.

Salmon Holly (GC6FKQJ) was a little bit further of a walk away.  We got out of the trees and into a huge open field to where we were exposed to the sunshine.  We did bring our water with us.  We followed the gravel trail over to the south side of the park near a row of trees and bushes.  We saw the small road that lead up the hill and a bunch of holly trees.  My first guess was that it was hidden on the back side of the tree away from view.  It wasn't there.  We read a few logs and the last few people didn't find it so we were at a loss.  Hmmm, we were going to look everywhere before we gave up.  I read on.  Someone said something about a stump and I didn't see a stump so I grabbed a stick and started moving the holly bush out of the way.  There it was, a small stump hidden in the holly bush.  I grabbed the container and we signed our names in victory!  We put it back and almost walked away when Bev said she still had part of the cache in her hand.  I grabbed the stick again and retrieved the cache.  We put the stuff back into it and hid it back.  We walked back to the event since it was getting close to raffle time.

We walked through the baseball fields and decided to use the restroom before making our way back to the event.  We took turns inside the hot box.  We went to the event, mingled again, grabbed some cool water that was being offered since the water in my Nalgene was warm now.  I was told I had to move my Escape away from where I parked it.  Apparently, it was way too close to a gate.  Then some guy asked me where the lake was and I told him I wasn't from here and showed him my caching map to possibly where he wanted to go.  He thanked me anyways.  

We made it back to the event just in the nick of time for the raffle.  Sadly, we didn't win anything this time.  We thanked Debbi for a good time and decided it was time to head home since I had some stuff I had to do.  I did take some TB's for my hotel at home.  We hopped back into the Escape and got back onto the freeway to head back home.  I had a couple caches written down at the two northbound rest areas and I wasn't sure if Bev had them or not yet.  She looked on her app and she and Bob did have them.  She said I could stop and get them if I wanted to.  

PIT STOP (GC40F1K) was at the Battleground northbound rest area and she and Bob picked that one up a few months prior when they were down this way last.  We parked in the car parking lot and found out we should have parked on the other side since it would have been a shorter walk.  We walked to it anyway and smelled pee along the way.  I walked up the short hill in the east side of the rest area, got stabbed by a stick on the back of the shoulder but I found the cache!  I wrote my name, grabbed the TB and put it back.  Some guy was watching us from his parking spot.  We just ignored him.  We got back to the Escape, noticed a guy sleeping in his truck next to us and left.  

We got back onto I-5 and I saw I was running low on gas as I got to Kalama.  I told her I was going to stop in Kelso at the Arco to fill up since it was a place easy to get in and out of.  We approached the exit, I got off, pulled into the gas station, filled up and we left.  We were in and out of there in about 10 minutes.  I didn't realize we used that much gas but the last time I filled up was Port Angeles the night before.

We were near the Toutle River Rest Area (GC8D39W) and I decided to pull off the road into the rest area to grab this one as well.  Bev said she vaguely remembers getting this one with Bob.  She didn't remember where it was but somewhere out near the trees.  She decided to stay in the the Escape while I tiptoed around dog poop to the cache site.  It took me a a few minutes to find it because it wasn't in any of the obvious spots plus the coords bounced around a little bit.  I signed my name quickly, put it back and got back onto the freeway.

It was smooth sailing all the way until we got off the freeway at our exit.  I got into Rainier and dropped off Bev, she said she had a good time and that she would most likely see me again at the TriCities geocoin challenge here in a few weeks.  The next couple weeks were going to be busy.  

I picked up Mom and headed into town to take care of Erika's dogs since she and Zach were up north visiting Shane and Linda and didn't want to bring the dogs.  We fed them, made them go into the back yard to use the potty.  We noticed that Toby has lost a lot of weight and was more active.  He launched off of the porch when we got the soccer ball out.  Emmett was not impressed.  We were over there for about a half hour or so and then told them to be good until they got home.  We went to Walmart to pick up the sandwich making things for Grandpa's birthday.  I was hungry so we got a couple of chicken sandwiches from KFC, went to Fred Meyers for a couple things and then I drove back to my house to dump off the stuff, drove back into Rainier, dropped off Mom, went into Tumwater to check on Alicia's dogs and then went home and made cupcakes.  I saw the Seahawks lost to the Raiders 20-7 in their first preseason game.  Let's not hope this is what the season will be like.

Next Adventure:  Grandpa's Birthday at Bonaventure