The alarm went off around 8, but we continued laying there until about 8:30, when we decided to actually get up. We had a long day of driving a head of us. We got dressed, packed up our belongings, ate our breakfast - yogurt, bananas, etc., and started taking our stuff out to the Escape. We both went back into the room to take one final sweep of the room to make sure we had everything.
We checked out and left the hotel just before 10. We drove over to the Sinclair gas station to fill up before leaving Idaho, since gas prices were insanely high in Washington. We ended up paying $3.60 compared to the $4.00+ in our state.
Before we left town, I wanted to try our hand at Community Incognito (GC6J7T6). It was the most talked about cache of the weekend. Apparently, it was hard, and people had tried giving hints at both events without actually telling everyone where it was. We didn't have time to look for it the day before, so we were going to give it the ol' college try before we left.
We drove over to the gravel parking area and got out. We had no idea how long we were going to be there or if any other cachers were going to join as we searched. This was similar to the Community Events #2 (GC207ZT) on how creative and cleverly hidden it was. However, it was a harder find. We looked in all the same places of the sign as we did at the other from the day before. We were not finding it. Where could this possibly be? Why are people having a hard time finding it? Then, I had an idea. We haven't checked the lava rocks yet.
I drug my hands in the lava rocks and did this several times until I found it. I could not believe the cache owner was this sneaky. You had to be delicate with the cache container because it was fragile. We unscrewed the container, wrote our names on the logbook and screwed it back together, gently. I got a few photos and told Ben that I was glad we waited to find this one before we left town instead of the day before. He agreed.
We got back in the Escape and left Lewiston and Clarkston. It was nice visiting the valley again as well as experiencing Pullman and WSU with Ben.
We got onto Hwy 12 and headed west towards Pomeroy. We stopped in Pataha, a small community just outside of Pomeroy. I wanted to get the virtual cache, Combine Art (GCGQDD), so we pulled over at the really cool dinosaur to take pictures. We had way too much fun at this cache, and I wondered how many people stop by and take pictures with the dino, cachers or not. We got what we needed, got back into the Escape and drove to the next one, Welcome to Pomeroy (GC1ZWAW). We searched all over the place but couldn't find it.
As we got back onto Hwy 12, a familiar yellow truck drove by, we recognized who it was because she had gotten pulled over during the cache machine. They pulled over and parked along the street when they got into town. We pulled over as well because I wanted to get Pocket Park (GC76QHF) since it had over 20 favorite points.
We waved to Lori and Lana as they drove past us in their yellow truck. I had no idea they were going to turn around and come help us find it. They got out of the truck and went into the small pocket park with us. They said that they found that one years ago and thought it was over where the coords took us. It wasn't. I found some trash and a pencil. I moved to the corner of the pocket park because that is the only other place that has enough room for a regular sized cache.
And there it was! Someone had moved it but didn't change the coordinates on the cache page. Cachers are logging it as found on some instances and not found on others, so it confuses everyone on whether or not it's there or not. I logged our names and chatted with Lori and Lana as we walked back to our vehicles on the street. They were headed to Palouse Falls and we were on our way back to Olympia. We wished each other safe travels and left Pomeroy.
We continued driving west on Hwy 12. The scenery was so nice. I was glad to be away from home even if it was just for a long weekend. After about 40 miles we drove through downtown Dayton. I wanted to stop for a cache outside of town called iCache (GC6XFK6) because it had over 100 favorite points, so it must have been a good one. We pulled over at a driveway and there it was, one of those old iMac's from the early 2000's. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to open it without breaking it. Once I figured it out, I got our names on it, got a photo and put it back for the next cacher.
We were getting hungry, and I knew Lewis and Clark Trail State Park was coming up. Highway 12 divided it up into two halves. I've been to the southern part of the park but not the northern part, which had the camping areas. We pull into the park and follow the loop to the restrooms. I took out my Discover Pass only to discover it was expired. I told Ben we needed to keep this visit quick just in case the ranger comes around to look at passes. We both used the restroom and then we made some PBJ sandwiches. Of course, the ranger did come around, but she was only there to change out the trash bags. She didn't even come over to where the Escape was. I did get nervous there for a minute though. We ate our sandwiches and chips and continued west.
We drove through Waitsburg and Prescott, I reminisced to Ben about our trip last October in Walla Walla doing the power trails, we sure had a great time, but a pair of his underwear didn't, haha and made that long stretch of road into Burbank and then into Richland. We breezed through the TriCities and again, Ben and I talked about the TriCities Geocoin Challenge and wishing it hadn't gone away. We will miss it so much!
I listened to some of my podcasts while Ben dozed off a few times on and off. We drove through Sunnyside, and I asked Ben if he wanted to stop at Miner's since we were driving though Union Gap and Yakima. He said, of course! I added, did we want to stop at the fruit stand too? He said no, we really didn't need anything. I said alright and we made our way to Miner's. We pulled into the parking lot, and it wasn't busy! I love it when Miner's isn't busy.
We jumped in line and ordered our usual. We shared the giant pile of fries, and each ordered a milkshake. Our food came really quick and enjoyed every last morsel because we knew we might not be coming over here for a while.
We threw our trash away, hopped back into the Escape and got gas at the Arco before getting back on the freeway. We merged at the junction and drove west to Naches. I was sad we were never going to be able to visit Willmarth in Yakima again. We've had a ton of memories over the past 20+ years coming over to this area.
The pass and the rest of the way home was uneventful. Ben was in and out of napping and I listened to my podcasts to keep me company. I love it when the pass isn't busy because I can actually make good time to the other side. We got into Lacey around 7 and stopped by Safeway to pick up a few things since we were gone all weekend. We rolled into the driveway, unpacked the Escape, took showers, washed clothes and got ready for the work week. This would be the last long weekend/vacation together for a while.
Next Adventure: Bachelorette Party Weekend: Vancouver, PDX, Astoria, Sunset Beach
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