So far, my week back after vacation has been very busy. First a celebration of life and now a geocaching community event, Geocaching's 22nd! A Community Celebration Event (GC8JZW0). I was so glad Ohjoy decided to have it after work instead of in the middle of the day. I mean, she did also have a CITO that day during work hours but that was okay...as long as I got to go to the community event. We got special geocaching icons for attending those type of events. After I logged this one, I will have two community events under my belt.
I did my normal work routine throughout the day and was pretty tired after being on vacation for a week. It was really hard to get back in the monotony of work again...and it was only Tuesday! I logged off at 4, got changed and headed out to Priest Point Park. I haven't been there in a year during the last event Ohjoy had up there. This spring has been very disappointing, lots of rain and cold weather, and I had to wear warm clothes. Luckily, it didn't rain but it was still chilly.
I got to the park and had to park on the other side of the bridge in the "overflow" parking since a lot of people were already here for the CITO from a few hours earlier. They had spent some time walking around looking for some of the other caches in the park. I still have many to find but I knew it wasn't going to happen that day. I would have to come back a few times to clear it all out.
I signed the logbook and noticed Bob and Bev were there, so I talked to them for a bit, Wayne walked over, and we chatted with him for a bit and then some of the Lackey's came and we visited with them for a while. As the event time approached, Ohjoy got up and spoke to everyone. She thanked us for all coming and especially thanked the people who were able to come to the CITO earlier that day. She said we were going to do two raffles, both had a FTF prize so whomever got those got access for FTF's and the basic coins, tags and geocache containers.
The first raffle was a FTF for a cache called Into the Heart with Courage (GC9RRQX) and that went to PNWcarrots, an older married couple from the Kent/Covington area. Ohjoy handed out a couple tags and geocaching containers as well. We waited for the cache to finally publish and whoever wanted to could go with the FTF winner out into the woods. A group of us followed her down the trail into the woods to find it together but she was the only one that could log it as a FTF.
It was hidden in a a large old growth stump. Ohjoy had hidden it high, so you had to climb, and it was tied off, so it dangled from one of the edges of the stump. PNWcarrots signed it first and then we passed the logbook around to everyone. We took a group photo, put it back and walked back to the event area. I stayed behind a bit with Gabe and talked about my NYC trip. I noticed that I was going to walk past a puzzle cache I had solved last year and decided to grab it on the way back. Brought To You from Sweden (GC861ZT) was hidden alongside a large tree right off the trail. I made sure we were the only ones there because I knew Ohjoy wouldn't want everyone to log it if they hadn't solved the puzzle yet.
At the event site, people continued visiting and sharing stories. Bev and I talked to Rhonda for a bit and then we did the second raffle. The first prize was the second FTF and that went to runhills. Ohjoy continued raffling off prizes until they were all gone. I actually won a raffle item. It's been a while since I got a prize at an event.
Then the FTF cache published, and everyone followed runhills to its hiding spot. It didn't take us long to find it and again, we all passed the logbook around for Celebrating Community Circles (GC9RA7Q) so people could write their names on it. We walked back to the event site.
At this point, it was almost time to head home because I was getting hungry. I knew Ben was going to stop by Tenino after work to clean his bunker gear. I wanted to find a couple more caches but decided to do it on a different day when the weather gets a little better. It was nice to see everyone, especially the people we haven't seen a while. I told Bob and Bev bye as they drove their hamster car towards home. I stopped by Fred Meyers on the way home to pick up a ready-made chicken and potato salad because I wouldn't have time to make food because it was so late. Ben got home about the same time I did. We ate, watched the Penguins beat the Rangers in 3 OT's to take the first game of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
I logged my four caches, worked on my blog, got cleaned up and ready for bed.
Next Adventure: Mother's Day
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