Friday, July 28th
We had talked with Trish earlier in the week and told her we were going to come visit from Friday to Saturday and that we had a geocaching event we wanted to go to on Saturday afternoon. She said it was going to work out perfectly because she had to work the afternoon on the Saturday. We discussed what we were going to have for dinner when we arrived there after work. She suggested meat and veggie kabobs, a green salad and a potato salad. She told me to bring the green salad and drinks. We also talked about Ben installing new smoke detectors because hers were expired and needed changed. I also finally talked her into going to the dump, so that is what we were going to do on Saturday after breakfast.
After I got off work, I assembled an overnight bag and waited for Ben to come home so we could go. I packed up some drinks into a small cooler and the salad making stuff. Ben had to stay a little bit later at work than anticipated, so he didn't get home until after 5:30. It never fails, when we have something planned, he has to stay late. Lame. We got him motivated to get ready to go. He changed his clothes, got an overnight bag ready, grabbed Ticket to Ride and Pop Darts and headed out. It was Ben's turn to drive. We let Trish know we were on our way so she could have a good idea when to finish the food.
We didn't hit any traffic, which was surprising for a summer Friday night and arrived at his mom's house around 7:15. We unloaded our stuff out of the Edge, put our bags downstairs and the cooler in the kitchen. I got out the salad stuff and assembled it in one of Trish's large bowls. She said that the kabobs were almost done. She said she was excited to have a chill night since the week was busy because of month's end. We told her about our week, grabbing plates and forks, as dinner finished cooking.
We ate our dinner outside on the deck while we enjoyed the warmth of the summer evening. We shared stories as we ate delicious food. Afterwards, Ben got out the Pop Darts and we taught Trish how to play. She had a great time throwing the darts, but it did come with a learning curve. I did not win.
I got out the new beer I bought the other day from a brewery in West Side Olympia the other day called Headless Mumby. I enjoy the Amber Ales, so I picked up a NW Amber Lager. I thought this one was a good one to keep in mind to have again. We went inside to get away from the bugs and set up Ticket to Ride. We got Amy to play the game with us even though she was reluctant to do so. I barely lost to Ben who got points for the longest train.
I decided that I needed a shower, so I went downstairs and turned on the shower and discovered that the shower head was leaking really bad. It was getting all over the floor because it was spraying up and over the shower curtain and the shower curtain rod. I tried not to get a lot of water on the floor by adjusting it. I hustled with my shower, got dried off and put my jammies on. I went upstairs and told Ben and Trish that the shower head was leaking, and it got all over the floor. I told them that I tried to mop up as much water with towels as I could. They said they would have to go to Lowe's to check out the shower head selection and change it out.
Ben spent some time playing the old school Nintendo and was able to get a few rounds of Punch Out in before the Nintendo failed. He tried Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and we both played that for a while until it stopped working. It probably needs the cartridge reader replaced.
It got to be about midnight, and it was time for bed. We brushed our teeth, got the fan and the nightlight on and headed to bed. Trish said she was going to get up around 9 and start breakfast.
Saturday, July 29th
I woke up around 9ish because I had to pee really bad. I could hear Trish upstairs getting stuff ready for breakfast. I used the restroom, washed my face and put on some flip flops and went upstairs to see if she needed help. She had the pancakes cooking on the griddle, bacon and sausage cooking in the oven and scrambled eggs cooking up on the stove. I helped her stir the eggs. We chatted about random things as breakfast cooked.
As it was getting close to being done, I went downstairs to make sure Ben was up and we both yelled towards Amy's bedroom door letting her know breakfast was almost done and to get out of bed. We got out the plates and some silverware. Trish was on her first cup of coffee. Ben emerged from downstairs, and Amy finally came out of her room. We all grabbed some food and sat down at the dining room table. Amy had some pancakes with her syrup. I had a small glass of orange juice and everyone else had their gallons of coffee they think they needed.
We cleaned up our dishes and left them in the kitchen for Amy to take care of. Meanwhile, we finished getting ready, Trish put the rest of the stuff she wanted to get rid of in the back of the truck and Ben started to put the smoke detectors up. He had me help him by handing him the stuff he needed. Once we were done, he synced them and made sure they were all functioning. He drove to Lowe's to get another shower head while Trish and I hopped in the truck and headed to the dump, which was literally a few minutes down the road.
This time, it wasn't as busy, but we did almost get cut off by someone who had no idea how the dump worked. We backed up in the spot the lady told us to, got out and threw the stuff in. There is something always satisfying about throwing stuff into the dump and breaking some sort of window, mirror or glass. Trish thought that I have way too much fun at the dump. She had no idea about all the times we went with Dad in our lifetime. From there, we drove to the parking lot of Lowe's because that's where Bonney Lake apparently recycles glass. She pulled out tons of these little empty bottles of hemp oil she takes before she goes to bed. She told me not to judge her and it helps her sleep.
We went home shortly after that and saw that Ben had fixed the shower head. He also adjusted the shower curtain bar, so it was a little higher up on the wall. Trish thanked us for helping her get that stuff done. I told her we would help her with whatever and she just had to let us know. She got ready to go put in a few hours of work while Ben and I got ready to go to Enumclaw for the WSGA Campout for a couple hours.
We headed out towards Buckley and saw there was an Adventure Lab, so we decided to stop at the various locations to grab the information we needed and completed the lab. We saw that there was a bonus cache but decided to do it later if we had time. If not, another day we were out this way. I saw there were a bunch of new caches that published for the event and the poker run. We were not going to do the poker run but thought we should grab some of the new ones before going to the event. I realized I forgot a sweatshirt so I knew we couldn't stay out for a long time.
We drove out towards Mud Mountain Road to grab Washington State Bird: Willow Goldfinch (GCABJWQ). It was in a really weird spot. Ben pulled over and I got out to go look for it because I thought it would be in a straightforward spot. It wasn't. The coords were jumping all over the place and the hint was pretty vague. I continued looking and then Ben got out to help look. We finally found the darn thing hidden behind a tree. Lame. We signed our names, got a picture, put it back and headed to the next one, just up the road.
We followed Mud Mountain Road to the Pinnacle Peak trailhead parking. This parking area was not here when we did the hike back in November 2012. It was pretty nice and there were quite a few people hiking. Washington State Dinosaur: Suciasaurus Rex (GCABYQC) was one we could literally drive up to. Ben pulled up next to it and we were within 20 feet of the cache. This one, was an easy park and grab. We got our names on the logbook, noticed the envelopes with the mystery cards inside, got a picture and headed to Enumclaw.
Ben and I haven't been to the King County Fairgrounds since we went to the Highland Games back in 2015. We pulled in and parked in one of the lots next to the RV and campgrounds. We hung out for a few minutes until we saw someone we knew. Ben was waiting to see Mike, because he had posted on his Facebook page if someone wanted his Seahawks preseason tickets against the Dallas Cowboys, and Ben had jumped on that opportunity. He got four of them so he could take Kenyatta, Del and Josh on August 19th. Kenyatta has never gone to a game and his favorite team was playing the Seahawks. So, we talked to Mike for a bit...about football, geocaching and life in general. I can't believe I've known Mike since 2011, when I went to my first event in Everett, he was one of the first people I met.
More people started to arrive after the poker run. We headed up, signed the logbook for the event and chatted with Antoine and Nikki for a while. Then the conversation merged to the rep from south central, "French" Ben, who is a huge player in the TriCities Geocoin Challenge, and then we made our way to the tent where everyone was hanging out, getting ready for the online WSGA meeting. We ran into Annette and Dick, and I asked her for her address because I was planning on sending them out before Christmas. She was so excited that we invited her to the wedding. After a few hi's and bye's, we headed back to Bonney Lake to gather up our bags and such.
Trish was back after working a few hours at the dealership, so we thanked her and Amy for letting us come and visit. We gave out some hugs and left towards home. Ben said he was hungry but didn't want to eat at home because it was getting late. I asked him where he wanted to go. He said Mexican, so we got off the highway and made our way to South Hill. We found a Mazatlan and went inside. We were seated right away. We both ordered a water and were given chips and salsa while our waiter grabbed our drinks.
He came back and Ben ordered a Colorado burrito, and I got a chicken chimichanga. I was glad we didn't have to wait a long time for our food. We ate, paid and drove home. There wasn't any traffic, so we made it home around 8:30 or so. It was nice to relax a bit before it was time for bed. I did log some caches, made some notes on the day and had some popcorn. Of course, we went to bed late.
Sunday, July 30th
We slept in, had a light breakfast and got ready for our day. Lindsay had texted me a few days ago about celebrating her 40th birthday at the end of the month. I asked her the specifics, what time, where and do I need to bring anything. She answered all of those questions. It was going to be at 1 p.m., at Keven and Amber's house in Rainier and not to worry about bringing food because there would be plenty of it. I told her I would see her on Sunday.
Since the Escape stopped working the week before, the battery kept disconnecting itself for some reason, so Ben had to drive us out to Rainier. I gathered up some drinks in our little cooler. We left around 12:30, so we would be there on time. We got into Rainier and into Keven and Amber's driveway exactly at 1. The property and the house have changed so much since the last time I visited; I had no idea where we were supposed to park. We just drove out where all the other vehicles were and parked. I texted Lindsay about what time she and Justin were going to arrive. They haven't left yet and were going to be there closer to 2. Why did you tell us to be here at 1 then? Ughhh.
I really didn't know Keven and Amber that well and it was going to be awkward making small talk until everyone arrived. Ben and I got out and walked up to the door. We knocked and Amber answered the door and welcomed us in. Then she proceeded to give us a tour of the house since it's been remodeled. It looked completely different, and they did a lot of work to the house. She had quite the spread of food on the counter. She had a charcuterie board full of meats, crackers and cheeses, chips and dip, fruit and veggies, salads and other little finger foods.
The kids got their swimming suits on and hopped in the pool that was set up in the back yard. It was a little smaller than my grandparent's pool. Ben chatted with Keven about random guy stuff. A little while later, Lacey, Nicole and Del arrived, followed by Lindsay, Justin and Wes. Keven was in and out of the house cooking chicken on their BBQ. Lindsay's parents arrived with Nathan, and a couple other family friends I didn't know. It was close to about 20 people or so. We hung out and chatted for a little bit.
Keven said that the food was done and that everyone could dig in. I didn't hesitate, I grabbed a plate and piled on the food. We all ate outside on the patio and did more chatting. My group of friends talked about the upcoming weddings the next summer. We found out Nicole and Del set a date for their wedding, September 21, 2024. Next year is going to be super busy. We took a couple group pictures and then a few people had to head home.
Amber gathered up everyone so we could sing to Lindsay and have cake. We all gathered around the patio table and Amber brought out two different kinds of desserts from Costco. I think one was a strawberry Tiramisu and the other one I believe had peanut butter in it. We sang and Lindsay blew out the candles. I decided to have a piece of the Tiramisu because I am not a huge fan of peanut butter. She opened a few gifts. I stopped by her house the previous Tuesday and gave her the birthday present and a cupcake. I also dressed up in a Hawaiian outfit for fun.
We thanked Keven and Amber for their hospitality and thanked Lindsay for the invite. We told them we had a date with our neighbor, Randy, who was going to look at the Escape when he was done refereeing soccer games. They thanked us for coming. I went inside and grabbed some more chicken to bring home with us, so I didn't have to make dinner the next night. We drove back home.
Randy came over and he and Ben spent some time trying to figure out why the battery kept disconnecting to the Escape. I went out there about 10 minutes later and I was very surprised the Escape was working. They asked me if I wanted to know how stupid it was, and I said sure. Randy loosened one of the terminals a little bit and banged on the alternator. When he did that, they heard some sort of build-up fall off of it and the Escape magically started. He had a device with him that showed if the battery was holding a charge or not, and it was. Whatever he did made the Escape work.
I still had some appointments with Dad's mechanic and the car dealership so I could find out what actually was happening with it. I just had to be patient and wait for my appointments. We thanked Randy and paid him in beers. I decided I should drive it around (it had been sitting in the driveway for a week) just to get it driving around. I went over to Erika's house to drop off a couple things. I came home and we got ready for the work week and went to bed.
Next Adventure: Stone Temple Pilots and The Smashing Pumpkins Concert at the White River Ampitheater
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