Ben and I were invited to Bev's birthday party at El Sarape on Martin Way on July 5th with their family. It was nice to be included for her 80th birthday since it was a huge milestone. I can't believe she and Bob are 80! Some people don't get to celebrate 80. It was a nice gathering and as always, good food.
I told Bev that I would come up with a Saturday where I would take her geocaching and to Papa Pete's as my birthday present. My July was getting full, but I managed to find an available day. I asked her if July 15th would work, and she said yes. I started planning and writing down which geocaches and Adventure Labs to get as we make our way down the I-5 corridor towards Castle Rock. I didn't realize that when I picked that date that it coincided with the Seattle to Portland bike ride. Whoops!
I made sure I had everything ready and packed up the night before in my orange backpack, including snacks, paper, pens, and other odds and ends I bring with me for an all-day outing. I told her I would be there around 8:30 and to be ready by then. She agreed and was looking forward to it.
I woke up around 7:45 and got ready. Ben was on call at JBLM and couldn't go with us. Doug offered, later on that day, to go to the dump since our cans were full. I put some water, ice and other drinks into one of my small coolers and told everyone I would see them later. Ben told me to have fun. I drove into Rainier and was late getting to her house by a few minutes. I had to follow a slow porta potty truck with no opportunities to pass it. She tossed her stuff into the back and off we went!
We got onto Hwy 507 and made our way through Tenino, Bev said that Sami was working the farmer's market and when we drove by, we tried spotting her. It was still early enough that we were not going to encounter bicycles from the STP until later on that afternoon. We made our way to I-5, hopped on and drove south. I had our first stop of the day ready to go on my phone. Bev already had Home of the Happy Ending (GCA4RG9) but I wanted to grab it really quick while we were in Centralia. It was in a bush in someone's front yard. A lady came out but didn't say anything to us. I write my name on it quickly and stuck it back where I found it.
We drove back across town, under I-5 on Harrison, and drove behind the outlet stores to grab Freckled King II (GCA8NP5). We had to read the hint, so we didn't end up down the embankment. It was easy to spot once you were in the correct place to see it. Bev spotted it before I did and was glad we didn't have to walk down the hill.
We drove through downtown Centralia and followed the road, past the fairgrounds into Chehalis to do the five waypoint Adventure Lab in the downtown area. We found a free parking spot on the street and walked around to the various location to grab answers off of a set of murals and plaques. We had a great time walking around and taking pictures. Once we got them all, we assembled the numbers we retrieved off of the journal pages to find out where the bonus cache was. It was all the way over on the other side of I-5 near the airport. I asked Bev if that is one, we should do on the way back and she said sure. We kept that one on our list.
We plugged the next one into Nuvi and followed it to the next cache, This Old Stairway (GCAA9BB), which was on the really tiny, one-way road, north of Washington Avenue. We had to awkwardly park on the street, but we knew we weren't going to be there that long, so we took the risk. Bev didn't want to walk down the stairs, so I went down. The coords led me astray for a while, but I eventually figured out where the cache was supposed to be and pulled it out from its hiding spot. I got our names on it, a photo and put it back. We walked back to the Escape.
We set the Nuvi to the next cache, but first we stopped at the Rite Aid down the street to use the restroom. Mom called me to ask some questions and to tell me about Erika's cake and bouquet for the wedding next Saturday. She and Erika were in Centralia checking on wedding dresses. She said that she was going to send pictures of some dresses and I was supposed to give my opinion on them. I told her okay.
Bev and I started seeing STP riders.
Ashely and Dan (GCA65A3) was down an alley way, off of McFadden Avenue, through the residential area of Chehalis. We parked and walked down the small alley to someone's side yard. There was a bunch of pets buried in their "graveyard", we found the cache, it had an unopened Covid test inside of it and we listened to a guy yell at his dog for barking. We signed the log, put it back and walked back to the Escape. We made our way to 13th Street.
We got on I-5 off of 13th Street and had to watch out for STP bikers. I had the GPS set for I'm Rooting For You (GC9W16Y) in Winlock. We got onto the freeway and headed south to the Winlock exit.
For some reason the Nuvi tried to lead us astray but found our baring and figured out where we actually had to go. The coords redirected themselves to Winolequa Park, a place we've been to before in the past to grab caches. They've since been archived but there was a new one, we needed to grab. We parked in the lot, noticed there were a bunch of people camping at the park, which on the sign coming in, says no camping allowed, but maybe making an exception for STP'ers and their families. We were just speculating because we didn't know.
We walked down to the Olequa Creek on the small dirt trail. It was getting hot, so it was nice to be down by the water for a few minutes. The coords bounced around and our signal was kind of weak. I checked most of the tree roots and then found the tree roots that it was hidden inside of. We signed our names and walked back up the hill to the Escape. I had to keep in mind that Bev is not an off-road vehicle, so we went slow.
I put the next set of coordinates into the Nuvi and down the road to Vader we went! We were led astray once again by the Nuvi. It thought we could go through someone's private driveway to get to the cache. We did figure it out and found the correct road to McMurphy Park, a place I have been to in the past for other caches.
We drove into the park and followed the circular dirt road towards the river. We parked and followed our phones to the correct location to find, Blow Me 2 (GC9XRHD). It was a square container inside of a rotted tree. I could see this one disappearing by muggles or when the river swells in the winter and spring. I took a picture of the little falls as we left.
We back tracked a little bit so we could drive out towards Ryderwood to pick up Little Falls Cemetery (GCVZHJ). We drove in and had the place to ourselves. We parked the car near the little building and walked the rest of the 100 feet to the cache. We made this cache harder than it needed to be because we looked too much into the hint and what everyone else said in their logs. I literally went to the tree I thought it was at the entire time and found it. I felt dumb after we found it. We signed it, put it back and walked back to the Escape. We left the cemetery and drove back towards I-5 to get on the freeway to head south to Castle Rock.
We hopped back into the Escape and followed Powell Road over I-5, took a left onto Dougherty Road and stopped at Batman & Robin - Where Are You? (GCA5JZ0) in the middle of a guardrail on a side road. We thought it was an odd place along the guardrail to hide a cache. We signed our names and put it back. I was glad no cars came down that road while we looked.
We drove up the side road that paralleled I-5 and back into Castle Rock and finally to Papa Pete's. We were both excited to be there because it's been a while since our last visit. We went in and ordered a family sized pepperoni pizza and olives. We had to sit and hang out for 40 minutes but that was okay. We washed our hands, talked about which other caches we wanted to get and hung out. My name was finally called, and we chowed down. I had about four pieces and Bev had three and a half-ish. I got a box to take our leftovers in, used the restroom one more time and headed out to grab a few more caches.
We followed the side road south towards Longview. We stopped and was led astray by the Nuvi once again while driving to Gimme a Cache #3.1 (GC8RNGJ) which was hidden near a power box on the side of the road, covered with rocks. I retrieved it and brought it to Bev, who was sitting in the car, keeping cool with Big Bird.
Gimme a cache #4.1 (GC8RNQ2), was the next one up the road. I parked in a pullout and Bev wanted to stay in the Escape, which was fine. I walked to where the coords were taking me and could not find anything at the posted coords. I wandered around the side of the road for several minutes. I just could not find the darn thing. I read that the coords were way off, on the wrong side of the road and was hard to find. I managed to figure it out off of a photo a past cacher had posted to their log. As you can tell, I really hate logging DNF's. I was not going to leave this area empty handed. I hopped back in the Escape with Bev and told her that one was really hard to find and explained the process in which I found it. Glad to have that one off of the list. The next one, Gimme a Cache 5 (GCA5JZ7) quick park and grab by a guard rail.
We went as south as we could and started making our way back to Castle Rock. We saw we didn't have one outside of Castle Rock near the southern end of town. Jabberwocky. JabberRocky? (GC8RNQH) was near a small park near the Cowlitz River. I parked as close as I could because there was another car in front of us very close to where the coords were pointing me. I got out and really couldn't look without being super obvious. I ended up just telling them what I was doing so it wouldn't be as awkward. They thought it was interesting when I pulled it out from the hidey hole of the large rock. I showed it to them, and they looked at it like they were intrigued by it. They thanked me for the information and got back in their car. I logged our names on it and put it back. Bev asked me when I got into the Escape about those people. I told her that I had to explain to them what geocaching was.
We drove into Castle Rock and had to wait to cross the bridge because of construction. The last time we were here I said that this bridge needed some serious work done to it. I was glad they were finally fixing it but wasn't glad to wait for the light to turn green so we could cross. Once we got to, we turned right onto the Westside Highway and started making our way north. We had to dodge STP'ers since we were seeing them more and more as it got later into the day. We took a side road to grab two caches, one of them Bev already had.
We stopped to grab ET (GC1N1FR). This was one Bev already had so she sat in the Escape while I went into the Henson's yard to grab it. It was one of those orange cylindrical plastic protector you would put over exposed telecommunication wires. I have found a couple like these over the years. I got my name on it, put it back and joined back up with Bev in the Escape.
Just down the road was our next one, Bird Droppings (GC9BWHF) and that one had several favorite points, so we knew it was going to be a good one. Bev decided to stay in the Escape again, so I hopped out and found this bird house. I wasn't sure what to do with it at first but after a few seconds of inspecting how it was done, I figured it out, turned the knobs and strigs attached to it, lowered the bottom of the bird house so I could grab the container. Pretty cool cache!
I asked Bev if she wanted to go into Toledo to do an Adventure Lab - Toledo Art and she said sure. We drove back up to Vader, looking at all the groups of STP bikers, crossed over I-5 and onto the east side of the freeway into Toledo. We opened up the Adventure Lab to see where all of the waypoints were. Most of them were in the downtown area.
We parked along the street and did the first three and then had to find a bathroom. There was an art shop open, and the lady came out to ask what we were doing, because it looked like we were looking for something, and we told her what we were doing. She was interested and asked us more. Bev asked if she could use the restroom while I continued talking to the lady. She used to be a teacher in the Toledo School District. We thanked her for her kindness and walked across the street to find our fourth waypoint. We finished off the Adventure Lab as we headed out of town at the water tower.
We got back onto I-5 and headed north. I had Bonus Cache - Unusual History of Chehalis (GCA9N0V) on the Nuvi. We got off I-5 at the Adna/PeEll exit and drove to where the coords took us. We had to watch out for STP bikes again. We got onto Airport Road and managed to find a break in the bicycles for me to pull over and grab the cache out of the guardrail. It had a little alien on it. We signed our names, got a quick picture and I ran out and put it back before the bikes came. I asked Bev if she had time for one more. She said yes.
We drove further up Airport Road and found a place to pull over. There were a bunch of bikes we had to watch out for. Majestic Cedar - An Airport TB Hotel (GCAA9V4) was hidden inside the tree. I thought the container was going to be bigger when I spotted it. It was hanging off of one of the limbs from inside the tree. I grabbed it and brought it out so Bev could see it, plus she had the pen. We signed our names and took a selfie to commemorate our last cache of the day.
We drove back to Rainier, dropped off Bev, stayed for a few minutes, she gave me some raspberries, strawberries, salmon and halibut to take home. I planned on making some pies, desserts and hopefully some fish and chips with it when I had time. I thanked her for the food.
I drove over to Mom and Dad's house to fill up water jugs. Mom and Erika came home from dress shopping in Centralia and actually found a dress to wear. Erika also bought Mom a dress she can wear both to Erika and my wedding next summer. Mom showed me her dress. There are lots of things to do over the next few months. I drove into town and decided to stop at Erika's house for a few minutes to drop off some stuff and see her dress she bought. I then went over to Alicia's house to check on her dogs while she was away and then finally went home. Ben made chicken teriyaki and rice for dinner. I logged my caches, made banana bread and got the stuff together for a visit to his mom's party the next day.
I got in a shower and Ben and I went to bed too late which is easy to do in the summer time.
Next Adventure: Trish's Backyard Family Bash!
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