I just could not stand to waste a really nice sunny day, so I had planned on driving down towards Kalama to pick up some caches and to go out on a drive. Mom was curling with her office as a reward up in Seattle, Ben was on a 24-hour shift at the station and Bev was busy making food for the next day's Superbowl party she was going to. Bev did say she might be able to if she gets her food all done and it would also depend on when I actually left to drive down. She asked me to keep her posted.
Friday evening, I got a text message from Fitzy letting me know that she was here for her mom's surgery, and she has been for about two weeks. She wanted to know if I wanted to hang out before she flew home on Sunday. I said sure, when and where? She said, tomorrow, we picked 11 and we were going to go for a walk on the trail in Lacey. I said to see her then.
That changed my Saturday but that was okay. I had to adjust what I was going to do with my afternoon now. It will be nice catching up with Fitzy. I haven't seen her since early December when she stopped by for a couple hours.
That morning, I got up around 10 and had some breakfast. I found some warm clothes, grabbed my wallet, phone and keys and jumped into the Escape and headed to the pack parking lot near the Thrive gym. I left at the perfect time because as I was pulling into a parking spot, Fitzy also came around the parking lot to find a place. It was a lot cooler than I thought it was a should have brought my hat and gloves. Oh well. I will warm up once I start walking. I had no idea how far we were going to walk.
We walked up the hill and through a neighborhood to get to one of the many trailheads along the Chehalis-Western Trail, the trail that starts south between Rainier and Tenino and ends up north at Woodard Bay in Olympia. I've been up and down this trail several times over the past decade either walking, jogging, rollerblading or biking. Many geocaches were also found during that time span.
We talked about many things. Her mom's surgery, the recovery, her and Chaise possibly moving soon, work, life, siblings, the holidays, looking forward to the warmer weather and other topic fillers as we talked. She looked down at her watch and noticed we had walked two miles and she said that we would turn around at the next stop sign.
The two miles back were about the same, more conversation and it was getting warmer and there were more people using the trail. We got back to the parking lot and ended up chatting some more while we stretched and got some water. I haven't walked that far in a while and will definitely feel it later on. She knew she probably should get back and get some stuff done before her all day long travel day. She said she had a long layover she wasn't looking forward to. I told her to let me know when she was moving or coming back out this way. She said she would.
I went home because I had no idea what I was going to do for the rest of the day. I knew I wanted to be outside but there weren't that many caches around the area anymore. I thought, maybe I could do the Adventure Labs. I called Bev and she decided it was too late to go with me and she had done the Adventure Labs already. I guess I am going to go wander around the cemetery and Capitol Campus by myself then.
I drove down Yelm Highway and found a place to park at the giant cemetery I've driven past so many times over the years, Odd Fellows. I even went to a funeral here back in 2016 for my boss at the time. her dad passed away and she invited us to the funeral. I opened up the Adventure Lab and there were five places in the Historical Cemetery Stroll to visit and gather information from.
The first was Masonic Memorial Park, where I had to grab some information off of a plaque. The next stop was Temple Beth Hatfiloh Cemetery, where I had to get something off of a gate, the third stop was Odd Fellow Memorial Park where I counted statues.
The fourth stop was a pet cemetery that I didn't know existed. I ended up talking to two women who had buried pets there and were cleaning up around the headstones. We had a nice couple minute conversation and then I walked to the last stop, the Calvary Catholic Cemetery, where I got information off of the large cross that towered over the rest of the statues and headstones.
This one also had coordinates I had to gather for a bonus cache, Adventure Lab Bonus - Historical Cemetery Stroll (GC8Z7BC). It took me a few minutes to walk back across the cemetery to where the bonus cache was. The coords were a bit jumpy but there was only one spot it could be. I had to be stealthy because it was right next to the road and cars driving by could see what I was doing. I did manage to find the cache, get my name on it and put it back without muggles watching me.
I walked back to the Escape and drove to Capitol Campus.
I wasn't sure where to park but I knew parking was free on the weekends. I got out just to make sure before leaving my vehicle to walk around.
Washington State Capitol - Our History Adventure first took me to the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial where I had to answer a question. There were people sitting nearby eating food overlooking the view of Downtown Olympia and the Olympic Mountain Range. It was such a nice day! The next stop was in front of the Capitol where the time capsules were buried. I had to get the date off of one of them.
Then I started having trouble with my phone. It wouldn't get close enough to the spots I needed so I could answer the questions. I called Bev and asked her if she could remember if her phone gave her a hard time when they did these. She said it didn't. I thought it might have been interference or something. I restarted my phone and was patient. It finally let me answer the question about the Moon Tree and the Korean War Veterans Memorial. It was weird that once I worked down here, for a month, at DOT. That seemed so long ago now even though that summer of 2018 was so chaotic and stressful. I finished off the adventure answering my last question about the World War II Memorial over by the building that my Dad used to work at before they moved them into the Jefferson Building. This one didn't have a bonus cache. With those Adventure Labs and the bonus cache, I am now seven caches away from 12,400.
With the little day light, I had left, I went to the Dollar Store in Tumwater and bought some decorations for Great Grandma, Great Grandpa and Grammie. It's been a while since I have been able to go visit them and chat. I stayed for about twenty minutes because it started getting dark and Mills and Mills had installed a gate to keep people from getting in at night. I didn't want to get stuck at the cemetery.
I headed home and then asked Dad if I could bring the truck back into Rainier and he said yes. He had to come into town to drop off clean clothes for Grandpa so he could bring me back into town. We stopped by Bonaventure and dropped off his stuff into his room. He was eating dinner in the cafeteria. This was the first time since the facility lock down, I was able to go inside and see him. On the way back down from his room, we stopped by the cafeteria and visited with him for a few minutes. He was happy to see us and introduced us to his friend. We told him that we would be back another day to visit properly when he isn't eating. He thanked us for coming by.
Dad took me home and then he went home. Doug offered to pay for dinner, so he asked me what I wanted. I was tired and hungry and walked almost 25,000 steps today. I told him I wanted a burger of some sort. He got onto Door Dash and looked up our options. We went with Hop Jacks because it was the closest to our house and we knew our fries wouldn't be gross. It arrived sooner than I thought it would.
I got a burger and Doug got fish and chips. I ate my food while I watched a couple movies. It was nice to get some food and relax a bit. I worked on my blog and looked forward for more days with warm weather so we can get out and do more outside.
Next Adventure: Superbowl LVI
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