Mom called me the week before asking if I was interested in joining Yelm Dental on one of their quarterly outings. They've gone curling and glass blowing in the past. She explained what it was we were going to do, and I said sure. She needed to fill in some spots because several of her coworkers dropped out for various reasons. I would be partaking in an activity called riding the rails outside of Shelton. The place was called Vance Creek Railriders. She said she had to fill four spots, so she got Erika, Doug and Sonya involved in it as well. Ben couldn't come because he was with Josh at a festival. He was invited by our caterer who did our wedding.
Mom and I figured out when everyone was supposed to meet up at my house and who was going to drive. I guess Rhonda was also going to come with us in Mom's Expedition. We were going to have a snuggy drive up to Shelton with that many people inside the vehicle. She made me go to Walmart and grab some ice so she could keep the bottled water cold in the cooler for her coworkers. I got back home, grabbed the cooler and put the ice in it.
Mom showed up with Rhonda in tow. I started putting my stuff into the back of the Expedition while we waited for Doug, Sonya and Erika to arrive. Once everyone got there, we loaded everyone into Mom's vehicle, and we were on our way. We did have to stop at Safeway so people could get coffee and snacks. From Lacey, Shelton was about a 45-minute drive. We had a time slot of 3 p.m. and we had to be there to check in by 2:30.
The drive up there was pretty uneventful. We did talk about mushroom coffee and Rhonda's IQ protein bars. Of course, there were other conversations being had but those were the ones I do remember because Rhonda was sitting in the front with me since Mom made me drive.
When we got there, the parking lot was full! I didn't know this place was that popular. I didn't even know this was a thing until a week ago. We did find a place to park. I changed my shoes and made sure I had some snacks and some water in my bag since this was going to be a 2-hour long adventure. As we are standing in the parking lot, I notice someone I haven't seen in person for many years. Is that Rob Larson? It was! He came over and talked to us for a bit. We found out they were going to be with us on our time slot.
More of Mom's coworkers arrived and we had to go over to the building and we each had to sign the waiver. Once we got everyone signed in, the "conductor" had us walk over to the rail cars. He and his "caboose" helper went through the safety talk with us and the information we needed to know while we were on our adventure. We figured out which 4-person car we wanted to be on, and I shared a car with Erika, Doug and Sonya. We got strapped in and waited for our adventure to start.
It was really weird peddling with four other people. We also had to watch the people in front of us and had to make sure we didn't get too close to them. Mom, Rhonda and two other coworkers were in front of us. We kept making fun of them for breaking all the time. They were telling us it was the people in front of them making them break. There was a lot of smack talk between our car and Mom's car. It was hilarious.
As we peddled, we had random conversations, looked at the scenery and had to stop a few times when we crossed some of the main roads. All of a sudden from the car in front of us we saw someone's cell phone fall and hit the ground. It fell between the rails. Uh oh! Whose phone was that? I asked Erika if she saw the phone fall, she said she kinda did but didn't pay attention to where it fell from. We peddled closer to the car in front of us and yelled out so they could hear us, who dropped their phone? They all checked and of course, it was Mom's phone. You could tell she secretly was freaking out but was trying to play it cool. We also made fun of her for being "that person" on our field trip with her office.
As we continued at a slight downhill trajectory, we finally made it down into the forest with the Goldborough Creek winding along our path. Even though we were going downhill and making great time, you could feel it in your legs. When we reach the end and turn around, we will feel it more going uphill back to the parking lot.
We cruised about a mile more and our "conductor" said that this was the end of the line. He had us all unbuckle and dismount our cars. There was an area to sit, use the restroom and snack. We stood there visiting while we watched him use his machine to flip the cars around the other way. It took less than a half hour. He reminded us that it would be easier if everyone sat in the same cart. We found our carts and buckled up. This time we would be peddling slightly uphill so it would be slower, and we would have to use more effort. He also told us that if he saw us struggling, he would push us up the hill.
We started up and could only go as fast as the cart in front of us. Mom and her cart were now behind us and the cart that was behind us was now in front of us. We peddled along while watching the scenery pass by. Once we got to the section of where Mom lost her phone, we all had our eyes peeled for it. At this point, we had no idea the crew picked it up and had it with them. So, when we didn't see it on the tracks, we knew it was probably safe and sound.
We got to the road that we had to stop and cross safely with our crew and then from there it was smooth sailing back to the lot. We safely dismounted our cart, and we all met over at the building for a Yelm Dental group photo. The crew did find Mom's phone and handed it back to her. She thanked them. After that, everyone said their goodbyes and left. Mom and I went inside the building, and I bought a couple stickers for when I eventually have time to scrapbook again. I'm glad the weather was decent, and everyone had a great time. It was a unique experience pedaling the historic Simpson Logging Company Railway along the countryside. I had a great time! It is worth the experience if you want to try something new.
We headed back towards home and arrived around 5:30. From there, everyone thanked Mom for the invite, and everyone went their separate ways. I had a couple hours to relax before Megan came to get me for our drive-in movie back in Shelton. Yes, I was going to Shelton for a second time that day.
Later on, that evening...
I've never seen the movie Rocky Horror Picture Show all the way through and I've never been to a drive-in movie theater either. I almost did while I lived in Oregon, but we never made time to actually go. A lot of people were actually surprised I've never actually done both. It blew their minds.
Megan asked to borrow her dad's truck for the outing, so we could sit in the back of it - you know like a true drive-in movie experience - we had a couple of blow-up mattresses, blankets and pillows. I was excited! We all divvied out what kinds of snacks we were going to bring. Megan bought the candy, I bought the popcorn, Nicole and Celeste bought some assorted drinks - we were all set.
Celeste had purchased our tickets from the website when they had finally gone on sale. We paid her back the $10.
Megan came by the house and picked me up around 7. We drove to Celeste's house and picked her up (we misunderstood her text message about not ringing the doorbell, whoops) and then over to Nicole's. Megan had an extra smoker laying around, so her dad helped her load it into the back of the truck to bring it over to Nicole and Del. We helped Megan unload it and carried it to Nicole and De's garage. All they had to do was clean it up.
We all piled into the truck with more blankets and pillows, and we were on our way to Shelton via Hwy 101. Hmm, this drive looks familiar, lol. We got to the Skyline Theater just before 9 p.m., the movie started at 10. We found where we were supposed to park, backed in and started blowing up the air mattresses. Celeste and Nicole went to the building to rent a radio so we could hear the movie from the back of the truck. It took a while to blow up the mattresses and the pump was loud, lol.
We got settled in and it was a bit squishy...so it was good thing we liked each other.
At one point we saw Celeste lift up her blanket and take a picture of her crotch. We all looked at her and asked, why are you taking a picture of your crotch? She said, of my snacks. We reply, oh, that's what we call them now, eh? She laughed and said she was texting her snacks to Isaac. Yes, we try to bring that up once and a while to make fun of her and every time someone says snacks, we snicker.
They started off with a drag show near the building where the food and bathrooms were, talked about the rules to the movie, yes, they were interactive, and to have a great time!
It was fun honking, yelling and pretending to throw stuff at the screen. It was great to spend time with friends and watch a movie the entire way through. It was also a mild night, and the weather held up for us. We all agreed that we needed to do this next summer too.
We dropped Nicole off first, then Celeste and Megan took me home before driving herself back into Rainier. I made sure she texted me to let me know she got home safely.
Man, what a day!
Next Adventure: Seattle Mariners vs NY Mets
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