Earlier during the week, we noticed a cache publish in Centralia and I opened it up and read it, this will be a series of 12 caches placed along this trail. I was beyond excited that there were going to be a bunch of caches to grab near home. Bev and I talked about it often wondering when all 12 of them would publish. We were hoping all of them would by Saturday. We hatched a tentative plan, and we sure hoped the weather was decent for us.
I spent the next few days waiting for the rest of them to publish. The last one finally published on Thursday morning, and it was a puzzle to tie into the Airport Road series. I wrote out a list of the ones I still needed in that area including the new series that just published. I had made a list of 22 caches, and I knew she and Bob had most of them except for the newest ones. I asked her if she saved the coords for the multicaches and she said she might have but didn't remember. She said she would bring her puzzle book.
We talked about what we were going to do, which ones we were going to get and when we were going to go. I told her I would be at her house near 10ish. She told me that sounded good and to see me then.
That morning, I got up around 9, got ready and ate some breakfast. I loaded up the Escape with the recycle (we had a lot this time), made sure I had everything and headed into Rainier. I called Mom to see if she wanted to go and she said sure. I told her she had about 10 minutes to get ready so she should hurry up. I dumped off the recycle in Rainier and pondered where I was going to hide my Adventure Lab bonus cache. The trail in Rainier made it hard to find a location.
I picked up Mom first, she was finishing up getting ready, we grabbed her things and went and got Bev. Bev was sitting in her sitting room in front of the fire waiting for me. I knocked on the door and she had me come in. She grabbed all of her stuff, made sure everything was good to go and hopped in the Escape. We headed towards Tenino.
I thought about taking the backway to Centralia through Bucoda but decided to drive through Grand Mound on the freeway. As we approached the Harrison exit, I asked Bev to find out where our first cache, Rocky Balboa (GC9NVRG), was. We turned right onto Harrison, past The Country Cousin and saw some construction cones in the street. I made another right into a business parking lot. Mom stayed in the Escape while Bev and I wandered around the parking lot. The coords were taking us all over the place. Once they settled down, I was able to spot the fake rock near the side of the building. We signed our names and walked back to the Escape.
I asked everyone if we were ready to do the trail next and they all said yes. We got onto the road that took us to the Mellen Street park and ride. There used to be a cache here years ago and the city really cleaned up this park and ride too. It used to be all run down, creepy and looked like you would get hepatitis if you parked here. I like that they cleaned it up and made it look nice...especially if they wanted to bring people here to walk and bike the trail.
Lewis county has this plan to connect Fort Borst Park to Stan Hedwall Park eventually in several phases. Some of them have been completed while others have not and are still in the planning phase. The section we did this afternoon was the Airport Road section of the TransAlta Trail that was completed in November 2014. I always wondered when someone would put a mini power trail here.
We found a good place to park, and we saw a guy getting his kids ready for a bike ride. We made sure our valuables were either hidden or in my bag, locked the door and then decided we should bring an umbrella because you just ever know during the spring in Western Washington. I unlocked the door and Mom grabbed a couple of umbrellas. We started our walk (which was going to be two miles when we were finished with it) to the first one, which was the last one, Airport Road Trail #12 (GC9KRN8).
This one was pretty obvious once we walked up on it. There was a wood piece laying over the top of the bison tube. We signed our names, put it back and then realized that we also needed to be gathering waypoints as we walked. You just never know where they had the final cache. I've found some at the end, the middle and the beginning of the trail in the past. One of my series that I have, the final is in the middle of the sets of caches so the cacher(s) have to back track to find it. So, we wanted to be prepared just in case the cache owner was going to be sneaky. Yes, we had to backtrack a little bit so we could get the first waypoint.
From there on out, Bev manned the caches, and I manned the waypoints.
The second one, Airport Road #11 (GC9KRNW) was tied to the fence end cap and tossed behind the fence. They had wrapped it in camo tape shaped like a butterfly. We wrote our names down and put it back where we found it.
Between the one we just found and Airport Road #10 (GC9KRP8) we found this creepy discarded doll on the other side of the fence (the I-5 side) and it had looked like it'd been there for a while. That terrifying thing had a beard! The cache was a fence end cap and we found a couple more of the waypoints for the final cache in-between.
Airport Road #9 (GC9KT8Z) was an Altoids tin hidden underneath one of the jersey barriers separating the trail from Airport Road. It was a cross the field from the very large ponds with hundreds of Canadian geese and many forms of ducks and birds. Bev tried squawking at them. Haha! There was even a lone white goose hidden in the sea of black and brown Canadian geese. He was really easy to pick out of the crowd.
We grabbed a few more of the ten waypoints along the way. Some were on signs, some of them were on the guardrails, others on the electrical boxes. It was odd the way this was set up, but we managed to figure it out quickly, once we got going.
The next one, Airport Road #8 (GC9KT9D) was easier than we made it out to be and we were not the only ones who had trouble with this one. Mom, Bev and I searched that entire guardrail thoroughly. What were we missing? Is it hidden that well for a 1.5 difficulty? We were probably there for at least a half our looking, feeling and becoming frustrated. We really didn't want to come back another day to look for one we couldn't find. Bev called Dan (Frisbee'r) to ask if he's done the series and if he found this one. He said that he and Linda (Magtangle) were doing the series as we speak and had just started at Airport #12. We loitered for a little bit longer and then decided to look for it on the way back to the Escape.
We made our way to Airport Road #7 (GC9KT9N) and found a couple of the waypoints on the way there. This cache was one of those small golf tee shaped see-through containers with just a logbook inside of it. It was tucked inside of one of the holes in the bottom of the sign. It was an easy grab.
We could finally see Frisbee'r and Magtangle, who finally got to Airport #8. We couldn't tell but it looked like they were on their bikes. They were at the cache site for a while as we made our way to Airport Road #6 (GC9KV6Z). This cache was the biggest one out of the array of sizes, shapes and kinds of the caches we found so far. This one was also underneath the jersey barrier that separates the trail from the main road. We signed our names and put it back where were found it. We trudged on.
We approached ground zero for Airport Road Trail #5 (GC9KV6Y) and knew it was going to be another one of those small caches tucked in one of the holes in the sign. Again, we signed our names and put it back. Nearby, was another waypoint to write down in Bev's little notebook.
The next cache, Airport Road Trail #4 (GC9KV69), was super obvious of where it was going to be. We got to the foot bridge and started looking. Usually, when I am looking for a cache at a bridge, it's going to be magnetic and most of the time underneath the bridge to keep it out of view of muggles. I walked down to check underneath, and I couldn't find anything in the usual spots. Mom and Bev were above checking those spots. After striking out down below, I walked back up to help them look on the structure. As we were looking, Mom walked past us, grabbed a fake bolt that stood out, slapped it down on the railing and walked away to take some pictures. I just laughed. It was an unorthodox mic drop. Hahaha!
I honestly didn't see the thing and overlooked it. It did blend in very well. We signed the tiny logbook and put it back where Mom found it. It looked like Frisbee'r and Magtangle either found Airport #8 or, like us, try to find it on the way back. They were on the move again.
We were getting closer to the end of this string of caches. Airport Road #3 (GC9KV6F) was just like Airport Road #8. We were frustrated because it was probably the same hide, and we had no idea where to look or what we're looking for. We all decided to move on from that one too and head to the next. Then we saw that Frisbee'r and Magtangle were still at the bridge and that they were on bikes. They've been there for a long time. They must not be able to find it. We stood there watching and then decided to walk back to the bridge to help them out. About halfway there, they found it so we turned around and walked back to Airport #3.
We decided to just go and finish the series, so we went to Airport Road Trail #2 (GC9KV66) and this one was another sign hide with the small caches tucked in one of the holes at the bottom of the sign. It was a quick grab and sign. We found our last waypoint and got it written down. The guy who put out these caches and waypoints labeled the last one weird to make it seem like we were doing it wrong. We found our error, we accidently skipped one but was able to get it and walked to the end of the trail to get our last one, Airport Road Trail #1 (GC9KV67) which was another sign hide.
Yay, we were done with the trail! Now we just had to get a hint from Frisbee'r and Magtangle for Airport #3 and #8 on the way back when we passed them. We worked on the final for the cache to make sure we knew where it was before we walked back. We didn't want to accidently walk past it and have to backtrack. It was entered into my phone as a new waypoint. We saw that it was back where we started from and where we parked. Of course, it was.
We finally crossed paths with them and had a nice chat. They said that they did have a hard time finding the guardrail cache, but they did. They told us where it was. How in the world did we miss that? It was a magnetic hide a key tucked in the north side of the guardrail hidden very well. We all missed it including people who had found it before us according to the logs. We thanked them for letting us know. I told them that I was working on an Adventure Lab that I was going to publish soon so to look out for it in Rainier. They seemed interested.
We started our way back as they finished the last few. They also said they were going to do the waypoints on the way back which, to me, was risky since you didn't know where the cache owner decided to hide the final along this stretch of trail. We stopped by Airport #3 and found it. We felt so stupid that we didn't find this the first time because it was obvious. We just didn't reach in far enough I guess.
We continued on our long walk back. We all could definitely feel it in our hips and feet, especially Bev, who is not an off-road vehicle, even though this wasn't off road like some of our adventures have been in the past. We got to Airport #8 and found that one quickly as well. Why did we have such trouble? I have no idea.
We really thought that Frisbee'r and Magtangle would pass us since they were on bikes and could cover more ground that we could walking. They never did. We actually beat them to the parking lot. Then I remembered that they were going to do the waypoints for the final cache, Airport Road Trail - Puzzle (GC9KV75), on the way back, so they stopped ten more times to gather the numbers they needed. We walked over to where the coords were taking us. They were pointing towards the jersey barriers, but we weren't seeing a small-sized cache. I walked away to check another place and looked underneath from that vantage point and saw it. The last set of cachers stuffed it under there further than we could see, plus the angle was weird. I had to shove my hand and arm pretty far inside to grab it. We got our names on it, put it back and walked back to the Escape for the next part of our adventure.
We got on the freeway and headed north to the Harrison exit again so we could get off and get some Papa Pete's Pizza. We were curious, since they lifted the mask mandate a few weeks ago, if the dining room was now open for people to eat inside. The last few times we had to get it from the drive thru window and eat it in the car. We whipped around the side to see if the signs were still in the window and I saw that it said, "this location is permanently closed." We were all upset! This was our favorite pizza place and now it's gone!
But why? I did some research on Facebook and found a post that it had closed at the end of February, which was about a month ago. I also found that the reason why it closed was because of the person(s) who owned the building. I guess they were terrible owner(s) and the restaurant had to close because of it. It opened in 2010 and it only lasted 12 years. RIP Papa Pete's in Centralia. Bummer. Now, we will have to go to Castle Rock when we want Papa Pete's.
I asked everyone if they wanted me to drive the 30 miles south to Castle Rock and no one said no. You all know Mom really came with us this afternoon for the pizza, right? Haha. We got back onto I-5 and headed south. I had Bev call the Castle Rock location to find out if they were still open and if they allowed people to dine in. They said yes to both questions. Bev added, okay, we are on our way to you and hung up.
It was a quick 30 miles. We got to the exit and noticed it wasn't that busy, which was good for us. We parked, walked in and ordered some pizza. I immediately washed my hands because I touched a lot of gross stuff while we were caching along that trail. We found a place to sit, and they said that it could be about a 20-minute wait, which was not a big deal to us. We had plenty of things to do. I brought in my notepad, and we wrote down the caches we found so far. We talked about the ones we still had to get if time permitted.
Mom's name was called over the loudspeaker and she went and grabbed the pizza. I drove so I made Mom buy the pizza. She had bought two, one to eat now and one to take home for later. It's been about two months since I've had Papa Pete's. There is just something about that pepperoni that is addicting!
Once we were done eating, we packed up our extras in tin foil and got back into the Escape. I said that we should have Mom find the Aloha TB hotel that was nearby, and that ended up turning into doing the Adventure Lab in Castle Rock since there was one there.
The first stop was at the visitor's center, where we had to answer a question about a piece of logging equipment. We literally were able to drive right up to it, pop out really quick, get the code and/or phrase and pop back in. Then we drove down the hill and into town to do the second one at the small park, Harry R. Truman. Yes, he became famous in 1980 when Mt. St. Helens erupted. We found a place to park, I jumped out and answered the question and jumped back in. It was a wooden canoe with flowers in it. We noticed that the roofed structure had caved in and there was caution tape around it.
I noticed a butterfly mural across the street, so I made Bev and Mom get a picture with it. I told them these are the fun random things we do when you go place with Val. They had fun. Don't let them lie to you.
Our next stop was near the fairgrounds across the Cowlitz River. The bridge we drove over has terrible patch jobs and I thought my tires would fall off. Anyway, we turned off the road and followed the side road to a sign. We needed to answer a question on the sign next to the river. This was also a quick park, look, answer and jump back in the Escape. We drove back over the bridge and went to the south end of town to pick up our last waypoint.
We parked, I got out really quickly and got what we needed to put it into our phones. I guess this area is why it is called Castle Rock. There is a volcanic rock outcrop at the south end of town (near where we were parked) and there are two trailheads that lead up to the formation over the Cowlitz River that resembles a castle. It became a landmark for the Cowlitz Indians and the Hudson's Bay Company traders as early as 1832. I, to this day have never gone up there but maybe the next time I am down here I might check it out.
We assembled the coordinates for the bonus lab cache, Castle Rock Adventure Lab Bonus Cache (GC9G5D7) and we had to drive over the lame bridge again towards the high school. I took the wrong road and had to back track to the correct one. Once there, we followed the road to the cache. No one was at the park, so we parked right next to the landscaping circle, I got out, climbed on top and saw the fake rock. I took it back to the Escape so I could sign it there. I climbed back up and put it back, got in the Escape and drove back to the main part of town.
Before we left Castle Rock, we stopped by the famous Aloha TB Hotel (GC1G3TR) because I wanted Mom to see this one. Bev and I had already been here several years ago. I had Mom open it up, but she made me sign her name. I went through the TB's, took a few of them and left a pathtag. We locked it back up and got back in the Escape.
We got onto I-5 and headed north back to Chehalis and Centralia. Bev had provided the location for a multicache, Westside Park (Multi) - Chehalis Park Series (GC9495T), I wanted to get before it disappeared again at Stan Hedwall Park. We parked near the field, I got out really quickly, counted the eighth tree and found the container. I got our names on it and walked back to the Escape.
Bev had mentioned that she wanted to stop by the vitamin store on the way through town, so we got onto Harrison and parked in the lot where the Goodwill was. I got out to go check out the selection of stuff inside and managed to come out with some books and Bev got her vitamins.
We had one more cache to grab before we headed home. Ribbit (GC9PD67) was on the other side of the railroad tracks in Centralia off of Gold St. I've been out this way only a few times because there was really no need to be out here unless a geocache was nearby. One of my family's favorite restaurants was at the south end of this road, Harold's Burger Bar. Which reminds me that we need to go again soon.
We parked in the rocky parking lot, so we were off the road, Mom stayed in the Escape while Bev and I looked. For some reason the coords were jumping all over the place. The cache owner could have hidden it anywhere along that area. Then we figured it has to be hidden underneath one of the jersey barriers again. Sure enough, it was but those chunky rocks though, those hurt to kneel on to retrieve the cache. We got our names on the logbook, took a couple of pictures and hid it back where we found it.
We got back in the Escape and drove back to Rainier via Bucoda on 507.
I saw I was getting low on gas, so we decided to stop at Dave's Market Place at their new gas station, where Scotty B's used to be. It was the cheapest in town since they now have three gas stations. I paid an outrageous amount for gas which isn't as much as Ben or Mom pay when they fill up their tanks but still, $56.00 is insane. I hate high gas prices!
We got into Rainier and Bev asked me to stop by the post office so she could get her mail. I then wanted to check a spot so I could hide my bonus cache to my Adventure Lab I created in town on Thursday. I had everything written up, all the coordinates and photos, all I needed to do now was to hide the cache and get coordinates for that so I could submit all of it to the reviewer.
We took Bev home, dropped Mom off and then drove back into Lacey. Ben had beaten me home after his academy skills day at the station off of Ol' 99 in south Tumwater. I got cleaned up, ate some popcorn and watched some TV while I logged my caches. We pretty much relaxed the rest of the evening. It was nice to get out, grab some caches and get some fresh air. Oh, and of course, eat Papa Pete's pizza.
Next Adventure: Easter Sunday 2022
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