The alarm went off around 8:30 and we eventually got up around 9. We are not early morning go getters unless we have a schedule or have to be somewhere. We are definitely lazy in the mornings. We got dressed, packed up our clothes, gathered all of our belongings we brought in the kitchen and living room, unloaded the dishwasher, took pictures of the inside of the chalet so we can show people where we stayed, put the furniture back (we had to move the couch around), finished up the check off list and finally, wrote in the guest book.
We made one final sweep of the place, loaded our stuff into the Edge and took a couple pictures outside before we left. Ben wanted to have breakfast in Leavenworth at a place called Louie's. We got into town and had a heck of a time finding a parking spot. We did manage to find one and had to pay $3.50. We then walked to Louie's from there.
Since Leavenworth is a popular place on the weekend, especially in the summertime, yes, we had to wait in a short line for about five minutes or so. It was quick because there were only two of us and most of the people who were in line with us had like four or more people. The host seated us outside, which was nice since it was going to be a beautiful day and was already starting to get warm. She took our drink order and then came back for our meal. We both got chocolate milk and for breakfast, I got the 2, 2, 2 (blueberry pancakes, sunny side up eggs and bacon) and he got the Denver omelet. It was delish.
We paid, walked around town a little bit more and went into a store to get some saltwater taffy because my Dad likes it. We walked back to the Edge and decided we were done with Leavenworth for now. I'm sure we will be back again sometime soon.
I had solved Tesla (GC920KB) the night before because we knew we'd be picking it up while we left town, so we had the coords and I told Ben where we had to go to get the cache, he parked near Dan's Food Market while I got out and grabbed it from under the lamp skirt. There were a lot of people, so I had to be really sneaky. I got our names on it and put it back just as sneaky.
We got onto the Chumstick Highway and drove north to Plain. Neither Ben nor I have been to Plain before. We stopped and grabbed Washington Native Plants A-Z: J is for Juniper (GC77NZQ), Washington Native Plants A-Z: O is for Oxeye Daisy (GC77P0E). They were both park and grabs hidden in guardrails. We reached the switchbacks and grabbed Washington Native Plants A-Z: D is for Douglas Fir (GC77NZF) and Washington Native Plants A-Z: P is for Ponderosa (GC77P0Z) at the next switchback. Most of them were easy park and grabs and the others required a little bit more looking to find them.
We drove down the hill and into Plain. It was definitely a small town. A couple of small stores and the rest is houses with some farmland and a few housing developments. We drove to the furthest one north of town, Bear Paw (GC22399) was a snowmobile rental, horse rides and a zipline place. Ben and I decided that we would have to come here when we were in Leavenworth again. I told Ben that the last time I ziplined was in Ecuador. We found the cache, signed our names and headed to the next one.
Pea See See (GC86DQW) was on the corner of Beaver Valley Road and Chapel Drive with a view of the PCC Church. Ben parked on the side of the road, I got out, grabbed it, signed our names and put it back.
Next, we got back on the main road and turned into the hardware store for Plain Old Gang Saw (GC37VF6). Of course, there were people standing outside of the store chatting. I had Ben pull up in front of the old machine, we got out and started looking. We knew it would be a magnetic cache but where did the cache owner put it? Luckily, we found it quickly so we could sign it, put it back and leave without a lot of questionable stares by the small-town folk.
Plain 25 (GC7NAR7) was on the same side road that the hardware store was on. We turned down it and probably weirded out a guy who was walking his dog when we pulled alongside the speed limit sign. I got out really quick, made the find, signed our names and put it back. We were there less thatn two minutes.
The next two, were south of town. The first one was Hazel Nut (GC838QD) and we were both tricked into looking for this one for way too long. I really thought the small trees on the side of the road were Hazel Nut trees. We were almost about to give up when after reading some of the logs, Ben had an idea that turned out to be a smiley rather than a sad face. The "nut" they were talking about was on the back of the stop sign. We both felt super derpy and embarrassed after that one. The last one in town was Plain Ranches (GC7XTPX) and I should have looked to see it had a few DNF's before we went looking for it. However, sometimes you do find it when others couldn't. We gave it a try and decided it was really gone.
We left town and got back on the Chumstick Hwy south back towards Leavenworth. We made a left turn onto North Road which paralleled Hwy 2. We followed that road into Peshastin where I wanted to get a cache at. The one with the most favorite points was 1-11-11 (GC2MA52) and it was a magnetic key holder stuck to the side of a newspaper dispenser in front of the post office. Another quick park and grab.
We got onto Hwy 2 and headed east to the junction of US 97 but stopped at the park and ride to grab Washington Native Plants A-Z: Y is for Yarrow (GC77P1M). It was a water bottle stuffed in the guardrail. I got our names on it and put it back before someone saw us.
We merged onto US 97 and drove south towards I-90 and Cle Elum. I wanted to make a stop along US 97, so we stopped at The Rock for the geocache Rock It (GC7WBYH) and some milkshakes. Over the past couple years, I've always wanted to stop to see what was here. It was a fun little area to stop, use the restroom, eat and drink. My strawberry milkshake sure hit the spot.
We stopped in Cle Elum to do the Adventure Lab, Historic Cle Elum, which took us to five historic downtown buildings to gather the code words. Ben drove while I got out and grabbed the word. We both entered it into our phones until we were done. This particular Adventure Lab didn't have a bonus cache afterwards.
We got on I-90 and the traffic was terrible throughout the Easton area all the way to the edge of the eastern part of the mountain pass. There was absolutely no reason for it.
We got home around 6:15, unpacked, put stuff away, Trish stopped by on her way home from the ocean (she was visiting her friend Laura), and we chatted for a little bit, showed her the ring and then she went home, we ate the rest of the leftovers from BBQ and watched Old School, vacuumed and showered. Ben got ready for the work week, and I had another day off to recoup and unwind. It was a fun, memorable trip, and we came home as an engaged couple. Took us 9 years to do it but we did it!
Next Adventure: Paddle Caching on Lake St. Clair with Mom
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