Honeymoon: Euro Trip - Day 2

It was hard to sleep on the plane, but we did get a few hours in here and there. It was a pretty chill night on the plane. As more daylight approached in the horizon, the flight attendants served breakfast. We were given blueberry yogurt, a breakfast calzone made from egg, cheese and spinach. Ben couldn't eat his, because it wasn't gluten free, so he just had the yogurt and coffee.  I had orange juice with mine.

I spent the remainder of the flight writing in my journal, dozing off here and there and patiently waiting for the flight to get to Amsterdam. We looked out the window as we got closer and closer to Europe. We could see Ireland and the UK as we flew over the top of the grouping of islands towards the Luchtaven Schiphol International Airport. We got ready for landing.

When we did land, I could not believe I was officially in Europe! I never thought I would actually be on this side of the world. It was a crazy thought. We had to wait patiently to get off the plane. I turned on my international plan so I could let people know we arrived safely. Once we got off the plane, we used the restroom and wandered around the airport. We found out there were no geocaches or Adventure Labs and were very disappointed. We bought some snacks and looked around for some food for Ben. He really couldn't have anything, and we didn't want to attempt it since we were traveling. 

We looked at the whiskey inside of one of the duty-free stores.  We probably should have gotten in line sooner because we didn't realize we had to go through a customs/passport check to get to our next gate. It was not clear at all.

The line was long and very slow. The airport was not prepared for this many people coming through Amsterdam. We eventually had to get in the quick connection line when we saw that our flight was an hour away from boarding. We had to be granted permission by the airport staff. Luckily, this line went quick, we got our passports stamped, asked us a few questions and we jogged to our gate because they were already boarding people. I was sweaty and tired by the time we got there.

At our gate, there were tons of kids and their chaperones from Salt Lake City doing a choir concert in Portugal. We got on our flight, got comfortable and I slept part of the way to Lisbon. We were given water and Stroop waffles as a snack. I did write in my journal for a little bit. Ben listened to music and slept most of the way. 

After about a 2+ hour flight, we finally touched down in Portugal. We were patient getting off the plane, grabbed our stuff and went into the terminal. We used the restroom and then followed directions for baggage claim. We had to wait a little bit to get our bags off the carousel and headed for the exit. I seriously thought we would get stopped customs, but we didn't. Maybe we had to in Amsterdam because that is where we entered Europe?

Ray had arranged a ride for us from the airport to the hotel we would be staying at in Lisbon.  We went to the pickup area and didn't see the person that was supposed to pick us up. We talked to one of the people in charge and he took care of it for us and got us a driver. We went out to the parking garage to wait for our driver. He showed up after a few minutes, helped us put our bags in the car and drove us a couple miles to the Hotel Inn Express, where Brenda and Ray were waiting for us. He dropped us off, we met up with Brenda and Ray, checked in to our room, cleaned up a bit and then sat in the hotel lobby visiting for a while. 

Ray found us a place to have dinner that was within walking distance. He wanted to avoid driving the car as much as he could in Lisbon. I didn't blame him. It's confusing driving in a foreign city. He pulled up the address for Maria Canela and we made the short walk. Just like any city there were some unsavory parts.  We just kept to ourselves while we walked. We found the place, looked at the menu and went inside. 

We got seated and ordered water and our food. I had a Portuguese bitoque, which is something I could definitely try and make at home. Brenda said just about everything comes with fries. I told her that was the case in Peru and Ecuador as well. 

We chatted about the last few months, the wedding, the adventures they've gone on since the moved to Portugal and the things in between. We just let the conversation go however it wanted to. The food was excellent however, I wished that my fried egg was runnier, oh well, we paid and walked back to the hotel. We made plans for tomorrow before heading up to our rooms. Ben and I were running on fumes at this point. He isn't used to traveling like this and I've had plenty experience with it. We both got in showers (our bathroom had a real bidet), relaxed for a little bit, talked to my Mom and Trish and then went to bed around 9 p.m. Portugal time. 

With the short naps aside, we were up for more than 24 hours and flew through several time zones. This was my first experience being more than 3 hours ahead of home. I was excited to go to bed but more excited to go explore Europe together!

Next Adventure: Honeymoon:  Euro Trip - Day 3

Honeymoon: Euro Trip - Day 1

Ben and I thought pretty hard about where we wanted to go on our honeymoon. We threw around ideas such as Hawaii, the Caribbean and Europe. Ben has not been to any of those places, nor has he ever been out of the country. I have been to many places over the years, so I wanted this to be extra special and give him an opportunity to experience being overseas. I made sure he had his passport well in advance before planning an actual date.

In May 2023, our geocaching friends, Brenda and Ray, decided to retire and become expats in Portugal. They spent a lot of time getting prepared prior to October 2023, when they made the move over to Europe. They did a lot of research, filled out a ton of paperwork, sold a bunch of their belongings, their house, their car and went head on into the new adventure they carved out for themselves. It was fun to follow their progress along the way.

Ben and I spent months coming up with ideas of where we wanted to go, see and do. After being there for over a year, Brenda and Ray were craving for some visitors from family and friends. They suggested that we come to Europe and spend our honeymoon over there. It wasn't a bad idea. We could spend some time with them and then Ben and I could go do our own thing together. You never know when the next opportunity you have to do something like that again. Ben and I were excited to go to Europe and to not be at home or work for two weeks. Ben had asked Josh to take us to and from the airport and he agreed to do that for us.

We finalized our plans and were looking into going the last two weeks of February. Ben put in leave at work and I thought I would be considerate and let my supervisor and team know three months in advance. It did not turn out the way I imagined it going. She basically said that it was great that I had a plan and to next time give us a heads up. She continued with that we are still a group of people with various time off needs, but obviously it's great that I had a plan. I sat there going, what the actual hell? Next time give her a heads up? Were three months not a big enough heads up? I was literally dumbfounded. I actually asked my DJA supervisor for some advice on the matter. She said she would love a three month heads up if one of her agents knew they were going on vacation.

As the dates got closer and I got further into my DJA, it began to get stressful. A position opened up in the unit I was doing the DJA in and I was going to apply for it. At the time, I wasn't sure if they were going to open up the recruitment and close it while I was on vacation. I had planned on bringing my personal laptop to Europe with me just in case. I had most of my information updated and I had already begun to work on my resume and cover letter in early January. I was in a good spot, but it was still stressful.

About a week before we departed, Ben and I made sure we had all of our stuff booked, sent Brenda and Ray our itinerary, we had our luggage set out, made sure we knew where our passports were, Ben purchased a new backpack, Rhonda and Doug were going to feed our cats and check on our house while we were gone, I put in my leave, buttoned up a few things at work and waited for vacation.

The day before, I went into the office, and the universe must know that you were going to be out on vacation. It was so busy, and I was trying to get everything done before I left. I didn't end up leaving work until almost 5. I was exhausted when I got home but glad to know we were going to be on a plane heading to a place we've never been before. We made sure all of our laundry was done and the clothes we were going to bring were clean. I got in a shower. We packed as many things as we possibly could the night before and seriously attempted to not go to bed super late.

Technically it was Valentine's Day, but we call it Deadpool Day. We got up between 7-7:30 and noticed we had a little bit of overnight snow. We both slept terrible because we stayed up way too late the night before, something we were trying to avoid, but did anyway. I got dressed into my comfy airplane clothes, chatted with Erika on the phone, fed the cats and really didn't have time to eat. Ben shaved and took a shower. Josh arrived earlier than anticipated.

All I had left to do was pack up my toiletries and coat. I was worried that my suitcase would be too heavy. I also made the mistake of taking zinc and vitamin C on an empty stomach and did not feel the greatest the entire car ride to SeaTac.

We left just after 9:30 after stuffing our bags into the back of Josh's car. The ride up was uneventful, to traffic but I did feel nauseous after taking those supplements on an empty stomach. I listened to Josh and Ben talk about random things while I texted Debbie - I found out her internet was still down which did not affect me since I was not at work and wouldn't be until the beginning of March.

We arrived just after 10:45-11ish, the arrivals lane was packed so that made for extra traffic in the departure area. We found the Delta drop off, Josh pulled over as far as he could, we all got out, Ben and Josh got our suitcases out of the back, and I felt just absolutely terrible. I walked up to the sidewalk and puked. I haven't puked since 2018, when I had my last kidney stone. I hoped I had gotten it all out because we would be standing in several lines over the next hour or so. I felt blah the rest of the morning and into the afternoon.

We printed off our bag tags and boarding passes and then got in line to drop off our suitcases. My suitcase was 46 lbs., lol. We got into the security line, I dumped out the water in my Nalgene and then Ben disappeared, he had gotten into the money exchange line while I proceeded through security. Security, this time, was a breeze, no extras - I didn't have to take my shoes off or take out my laptop. I grabbed my stuff and waited for Ben. I felt bad but it wasn't awful. I did use the restroom while Ben waited for me.

We wandered to our gate to see where it was. We had some time to kill so we stopped at Qdoba and Hudson for some food and drinks/snacks. We both had the chicken and rice bowl. I really needed something in my stomach after that puking episode in front of the unloading zone. I'm sure some people saw me, and I became a story for them to tell. We found a table to sit at and eat our food and play on our phones.

We found out our flight was going to be delayed by about a half hour. Instead of 2ish, it was going to be closer to 2:30ish. We hung out near our gate while our phones charged. We got up a few times to use the restroom, stretch our legs while we could and check in with our families and friends. 

It was finally our turn to get in the boarding line, presented our tickets and got onto the Delta Airbus. Ben and I picked two seats to ourselves next to a window when we booked our tickets. We didn't have to sit next to strangers! When we did get to our seat, some guy was in Ben's seat. We had to show him he was in the incorrect seat and adjusted. Ben let me sit next to the window and we got comfortable. It was going to be a 10-hour flight from Seattle to Amsterdam. This will be the longest flight I've ever been on.

We took off. I was excited that we were on our way to Europe for the first time. It has always been on my bucket list and part of it is finally coming true. Once we leveled off, we adjusted and I grabbed my notebook, pens and headphones out of my backpack. Ben and I passed the time writing in my journal and watching movies - Beetlejuice 2, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Despicable Me 4 and Book Smart. Ben watched Deadpool and Wolverine, Venom and the D&D movie along with playing virtual chess, poker and sudoku. 

A couple hours into the flight we were served dinner and Ben had to be careful what he ate since some of it was not gluten free. We had chicken, rice, veggies, cheese, a brownie, crackers and a diced pepper/cauliflower medley.  The food wasn't that bad.

As it got dark, we tried getting comfortable so we could get a couple hours of shut eye. 

Today and the day we come back will be extremely long days. I sure hope I had enough energy to enjoy the first day we arrive to Portugal. I usually bounce back quickly when I travel but this was going to be several time zones 8 hours ahead of home, which is essentially an entire workday.

Europe, here we come!

Next Adventure:  Honeymoon: Euro Trip - Day 2

Two Kidney Stones and a Trip to the ER

I always knew it would happen again someday but wasn't sure when. I am lucky it happened before we went on our trip to our honeymoon. It would have been a terrible time being away from home in this amount of pain.

The past 24 hours have been rough here at our house. Since 2004, off and on, I have had some episodes of kidney stones, some works than others. Last time was in 2018, until the night before at 1:30 a.m. That entire day I felt off, but I wasn't sure why I was feeling off. 

I woke up with a sharp pain in my left flank. I moved around trying to get comfortable hoping that it would go away.  It didn't. It just got worse and worse. I shot out of bed and was like, no, no, no, no, no, this can't be happening, not today! I have to get up and to do HQ to do my job. People were counting on me. Thursdays are busy for me. I can't be getting kidney stones again.

I continued lying in bed for another half hour, really hoping that the pain would go away...it never did. I tapped Ben and told him that I needed to go to the ER.  He was wide awake at that point. He got up and got dressed. I threw on some sweatpants, a sweatshirt and grabbed my phone and wallet. We were out the door in the cold, frosty weather. It didn't take us long to get to the new clinic off of Pacific Avenue near the Fred Meyer.

I slowly walked into the clinic around 2:30 a.m. while Ben parked the car. We checked in and sat for about a half hour or so, pain coming and going in waves. I heard my name be called so we went into the back so they could get my vitals and get a port in me. I hate needles.

We sit there for a bit while people came and went. The doctor finally saw us, and she gave me the run-down of what she thought it was without the tests and CT scan. She said they were classic symptoms of kidney stones, and she rattled off what kinds of tests I would get getting that early in the morning, followed by the meds she wanted me on. They took my blood, and we waited for the CT scan. 

I've never had a CT scan before. It was interesting. They called for contrast and when the lady told me what I would be expecting from that, she wasn't wrong. My body got warm, I had the sensation that I was peeing my pants and my mouth tasted metallic. When I was done, I went back out to the waiting area with Ben, and they got me on an IV and some meds to help with the pain because I had a bad sharp pain after that CT scan. The nurse said I would. It hurt so bad my eyes cried.

We sat there for about another hour or so to wait for the CT scan results while being pumped full of liquids to force me to pee in a cup. All of the sudden, out of nowhere, I went from not having to use the restroom to needing to use the restroom now. I got my cup filled up, handed it to Ben and he gave it to the nurses.  We continued to sit there, and I had no idea what time it was.

My CT scans results were finally done so the doctor went over it with us. It was weird seeing my body parts on the screen. She pointed out what everything was and then pointed out two small white dots on the screen. She said, those are your kidney stones. I was surprised there were two of them. She continued with, they were small, and one had already made its way down to the bladder. She added that I will probably pass them quickly and by quicky she meant within the day or so. It wasn't going to be a week-long marathon. That was a relief, but I still felt terrible.

She ended the conversation with letting know that the nurses will help get me discharged and get the port out of my arm. That process was taken care of, and we left just after 6 a.m. We were exhausted. I sent out a few texts to my coworkers and family. We got home and Ben amazingly still went to work on like two hours of sleep, and I got onto my work computer to let everyone know what was going on. I was disappointed in my supervisor but relieved that my DJA supervisor supported me to take the day off, relax and get some rest. 

I immediately went to bed and slept until about 12:30. My body was angry and sore. I got up, ate some breakfast and then went to go get my meds at the Safeway on College. On my way there, I had another sharp pain episode and if I wasn't in the Escape I would have dropped to my knees. I went into the store, hoping it would be quick, haha, joke's on me! I was there for an hour! I wanted to die! I was in so much pain that I laid on the floor in the waiting room because they told me my meds weren't going to be filled for another half hour. I just wanted to go home.

I waited the half hour, which turned into an hour. I got back in the long line, I was in agony, finally got my meds and went home as quickly as I could. I changed back into my sweats, grabbed my pillow and blanket and set up shop on the couch. I took my meds and hoped for the best. 

The first few hours were ice and then had a couple miserable moments where I wanted to die. Ben felt bad and wished he could do something for me, but he couldn't. I had to let it take its course. He did make dinner and some chores, all on two hours of sleep. I thanked him. Why did this have to happen on that day? Why couldn't it have waited until Friday or the weekend? Ughhh!

My arm about five days after my visit to the ER.

It's interesting who gets kidney stones and who doesn't. I am unfortunately one of those "lucky" ones.

*Updates - I found out my visit to the clinic cost almost $50,000. I am so thankful I had insurance and only had to pay $500.00 of it plus a couple copays. I two appointments so far with a urologist. I had to pee in a collection funnel and dump it into two different jugs.  Once those were completed, I had to mail it into a clinic. I found out that my uric acid was low, so I had to have more citrus fruits in my diet, obviously keep drinking water. My follow up appointment is in December for a follow up appointment and another scan.*

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Seattle Kraken

I got a message back in August from Antione and Nikki asking if I was interested in going to the Penguin and Kraken game in January. I had to ask Mom if she was available that day and I would let them know as soon as possible. Mom said yes and so I let them know we were interested and will be putting it on the calendar. I'm happy the game was on a Saturday because it made it easier for us to get to and we didn't have to take any time off of work to go.

When they received their tickets, Nikki let me know what the price was and I sent her money through Venmo, and they sent me the tickets to my email. All we had to do now was wait until January. Nicole decided to start a Dungeons & Dragons campaign in the fall/winter, and we scheduled some sessions. I should have taken a picture of my January calendar before committing to the date. Yes, I double booked myself. Ughhh.

As game day got closer, I moved the tickets into my Google Wallet and made sure they were there and didn't have to fumble with them when we got to the gate.

I chatted with Mom the night before that we were going to meet up at my house and drive up around 10. She said that would be fine. I got all of my stuff ready and shoved it inside my see through bag. I set aside the Crosby jersey, the Kraken beanie I was going to wear and hoped that it was going to be an exciting game.

I got up and prepared for the day.  I hoped Mom got here before 10 to give us some time to get there just in case of traffic. I ate a quick breakfast, and she did roll in around 10. I am glad I got gas the day before, so we didn't have to make any unnecessary stops.

We got onto I-5 and headed north to Seattle. The traffic wasn't that bad actually and we were able to get into Seattle around 11:30. We got to our exit, and I tried really hard to remember what lane I had to be in to park at the Seattle Center. I messed up and had to drive around the block.  We pulled into the parking lot, I got out and paid for a couple hours of parking, we grabbed our stuff and walked to the arena. Since we were short on time, we didn't have time to eat lunch at the Armory before going inside Climate Pledge. 

We went to the closest gate, waited in line and we had trouble with the tickets.  They wouldn't scan for some reason. They told us we had to go see a secondary ticket person because we were not the only ones having trouble with our tickets. He was helpful and apologized for our inconvenience. I asked Mom if we should grab some food before we headed to our seats and she said it would be a good idea. 

We wandered around trying to find a place for food.  None of them were being ran by people anymore. You had to have a credit card to scan and enter into the food court. You picked what you wanted and left out the other side. I was like, how do they know what you got and if it got paid for? I asked one of the people that were monitoring people. She said they had a lot of cameras to watch the activity of people and charged your credit card you scanned based off of what you "purchased". Hmm, what a world we now live in. 

I wish we would have had enough time to eat at the Armory though, so we didn't have to spend so much money on food. Instead, we spent a bunch of money on a burger, fries, to share and a couple drinks. It was well over $50. It's a good thing we don't come to games or Seattle very often. We wandered back to our seats, took a few pictures, sat down and ate our food before it got busy.

I still am in awe on how nice Climate Pledge Arena actually is. It was fun to experience the ambiance of the arena while we ate our food. Both teams came out and did their pregame warm up routine. Nikki and Theo showed up and sat in the seats next to us. Theo was excited to be there and asked me several questions. We got settled in and the Kraken did their hype video and player introductions, and we stood for the anthem. 

The first period was uneventful as there were no goals scored, however, there was one penalty called on the Kraken which the Penguins did not take advantage of being a man up. It was sad to see Evgeni Malkin from the Penguins leave midway through the first period with an undisclosed lower body injury. They were going to miss him in the lineup as one of the top offensive weapons. 

During the first intermission I chatted with Nikki about the random things that have been happening since the last time I saw her. It was fun catching up and thanked her again for the tickets.

The game resumed into the second period. Assited by Andre Burakovsky and Chandler Stephenson, Oliver Bjrokstrand opened up scoring by putting one in the back of the net putting us ahead 1-0 in the early minutes of the period. The crowd cheered, chanted LET'S GO KRAKEN, high fives were given, and we were hungry for more. 

Just two minutes later Sidney Crosby scored his 14th goal of the season with the assist by Rickard Rakell and Kris Letang. I was so excited that Crosby scored. There were two penalties on the Penguins. Just before the end of the period, Vince Dunn broke the 1-1 tie with a go-ahead goal assisted by Jared McCann and Chandler Stephenson. We now led 2-1 heading into the final period, and the crowd was amped! LET'S GO KRAKEN!

We went into the second intermission, and we stayed in our seats. Nikki and Theo left to go use the restroom and to get some snacks. Buoy entertained the crowd.

Five minutes into the third period, Eeli Tolvanen gave us an insurance goal assisted by McCann and Shane Wright.  The place went nuts! LET'S GO KRAKEN! I was hoping at that point that the Penguins scored a goal soon to make it more exciting. Although, I did not want a tie game. I did not have time to stay for an overtime. The game continued back and forth with a penalty by each team, and no one scored off the power play advantage. Matty Beniers sealed the game with a goal assisted by Kaapo Kakko. We were now up 4-1 with less than 6 minutes left in the game. 

The Penguins tried everything they could to get those goals back but ran out of time. I was hoping for another goal or two by Crosby, but it didn't happen. The final horn echoed throughout the arena and the Kraken fans cheered!  

I thanked Nikki one more time for the tickets and Mom and I headed back to the Escape. The game got over just after 3 and we had just under two hours to get home. We had to leave as soon as we could so I could make it back home for the Dungeons and Dragons session at Nicole's house.

We managed to get to I-5 and traffic was a little slow getting out of Seattle, but we were making good time...until we got to Fife. It was stop and go all the way through Tacoma. Once we got through it, it was smooth sailing all the way home. I took us back to the house, Mom got into her Expedition and I grabbed a few things and drove out to Tumwater. I actually beat Celeste who also was going to be late. Erika made gluten free enchiladas, and we battled blood sucking stirge's and the gaggle of harpies. 

Some stats from the hockey game:

Joel Blomquvist had 21 saves while Joey Daccord had 28 saves.

Penguins had 6 penalty minutes while the Kraken had 4.

Penguins had 29 shots, Kraken had 25.

Penguins had 44% of the faceoffs while the Kraken had 55%.

Most importantly Crosby scored a goal for me! Go Kraken!  Go Penguins!

Next Adventure: Two Kidney Stones and a Trip to the ER

Doug's Birthday Party

I had to ask Doug when he wanted to have his family birthday party because last year there were several conflicts because the lack of communication. He said we could do a breakfast birthday party on the Saturday before his actual birthday. He wanted biscuits and gravy, sausage links, over easy fried eggs, hashbrowns and oranges. I did have some orange juice and chocolate milk if people wanted that to drink with breakfast. I texted everyone and found out Grandma couldn't come because she had prior engagements with some quilting ladies that didn't involve Mom.

The night before I made a chocolate gravy to take care of Arkansas in my meal challenge, I've been doing since 2023. It is part of the Appalachian cuisine, and they put it on biscuits as a sweet treat. I am also glad I made the gluten free biscuits and gravy for Ben the night before, so I didn't have to do it that morning.  I am also happy Sonya volunteered to make regular biscuits for everyone else and some of her famous sausage gravy. I wouldn't have to get up super early to start making food. Ben and I did set up the tables and chairs, so we didn't have to do it the next day.

I chose to have a football themed party for Doug because I had those decorations handy. I told people they could wear football related attire if they wished to do so. That day two games were played, the AFC and NFC Divisional games. The Commanders beat the Lions, and the Chiefs beat the Texans. I really wanted the Lions to win so we could have a Lion/Bills Superbowl, but it wasn't going to happen.

Ben and I got up around 8 and finished up the table, the decorations and jumped into making the hashbrowns and over easy eggs. I was also responsible for making gluten free sausage gravy for Ben and his gluten free biscuits. As cooking was winding down, people started to arrive around 10 a.m.

I had all the food in my warmer. Doug and Sonya arrived with the food they prepared and set it on the table. Once everyone was there, we announced which food was gluten free and which wasn't. We grabbed our plates and grabbed some food.

We chatted about random things, watched Brian be goofy at the breakfast table and after we were done eating, Doug opened his presents. He thanked us for the cards and gifts. It was approaching nap time for Brian, so Erika and Zac went home. Everyone soon followed suit. There were thank yous and hugs. Ben and I spent some time cleaning up after the party - dishes, vacuumed and put the tables and chairs away. 

Since it was a nice, dry day, I convinced Ben to walk around the park with me. There were plenty of people walking their dogs, kids and themselves. We talked about random things and the excitement of our upcoming honeymoon trip to Europe. I was so excited for a vacation since I haven't had one in almost two years. I had also built up a lot of leave during that time. We got back home, and I asked Ben if we could go get the multicache, Brought to You from Mexico - Dia de los Muertos (GCAFCQ7). He said sure. 

We hopped into the Escape and drove the short distance to the cemetery. The place was busy because they were having a celebration of life inside the building. We were able to find a parking spot. We found the starting coords on the caching app and started our walk through the cemetery. We tried to make sure we didn't back track, but it was impossible. Oh well, we got our steps in. We gathered all the waypoints we needed for the final. However, the final coords took us to the starting coords. We must have done something wrong. I figured out what we did wrong a few minutes later.

The final was out towards the road in the treed area next to the building. We followed the "deer" trails to a stump. We both looked for the cache and Ben found it. He pulled it out of its hiding spot and admired the container.  We got our names on it, took a few pictures and put it back. We walked back to the Escape and drove home.

The rest of the day we did laundry, watched football, other random chores and I wrote in my blog and got caught up on my Instagram posts. It was nice to chill the rest of the day.

Happy Eary Birthday Doug!

Next Adventure: Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Seattle Kraken

NYE and New Year's Day

Tuesday, December 31st

I got up, zombied out to my desk and turned on my computer to get it logged on. I worked on my two lists throughout the morning and if I hit any slow moments, I worked on my DJA work. There were a few times I had to wait for work. I got as much as I could done in the morning, ate lunch and then jumped into my DJA work. I worked on the prepping for collections spreadsheet and the Orion spreadsheet getting out about 26 ER4's to mail out next time I was in the office. I was not able to do wage releases with Leah. Leah did share with Sandra and I that she was leaving the agency mid-January. Later on, that afternoon, my supervisor and program manager finished up my performance evaluation, so I worked on that and signed it. My supervisor even asked me if I wanted to extend my DJA out to the end of March.  I did not hesitate. I said yes. She said she would talk to my DJA supervisor when she got back from vacation.

Ben got off work early, went to the DMV to get his new tabs for the Edge and picked up his medication on the way home. Look at him being responsible and getting his stuff done!

I logged off at 4 and immediately started finishing up chores, feeding the cats and getting our duffels packed up for a night in Bonney Lake. Our friends didn't want to do anything for New Year's Eve this year, so we decided to go to his mom's house. We put everything in Ben's Edge (since it was his turn to drive) and got on the freeway.  We got there within an hour since traffic wasn't that bad.  It surprised me since it was technically a holiday.

We rolled up the driveway and unloaded our stuff. Trish asked us if we were moving in with the amount of stuff we brought with us. We brought enough stuff for just about anything including board games, clothes, bedding, food and drinks. She understood.

Ed was already drinking.  We got settled in and I started making dinner since I promised Trish I would. I chose to make the Southwest Chicken and Rice Skillet, the same food we made and brought to the Halloween party with us a couple months prior.  It's relatively easy to make, it feeds a bunch of people, and you can eat it with chips, tortillas or by itself. Everyone looked like they enjoyed the food. We watched the rest of the Fiesta Bowl where Penn State beat Boise State 31-14.

We helped clean up and Amy worked on the dishes for a little bit. We cleared off the table and got ready to play some board games. Ben and I brought along Ticket to Ride. That game takes a while to play so we started off with that one. Ed always has a hard time with it, Ben always tries to get the longest train, Amy thinks she hates the game but does well every time she plays, and Trish and I always make sure we do not end up with unfinished routes.

We ate snacks and drank as the night wore on.

Ed introduced us to a game called Racko. It's a simple game if you get the correct cards. You are delt cards and you have to put them in ascending order. Your goal is to have the lowest ascending cards on your rack. I actually won a few rounds.

It got closer to midnight, so we got out our fun hats, glasses and noise makers.  We turned on the Space Needle and watched it count down with everyone else in the Pacific Time zone. It's insane that I've brought in the new year 41 times in my life and every once and a while I will think about those times I spent with those people over the years.

Once 2025 was ushered in, many hugs were given, kisses were had and lots of photos were taken. It was hard to get a good one of everyone, but we managed to get it. We all went to bed late. I was happy to get in a quick shower, into my pajamas, relax and drift off to sleep.

A new year and a new chapter to our lives. 2024 was pretty awesome and going to be tough to beat! Let's see how this one turns out. Happy 2025 everyone!

Wednesday, January 1st

Everyone slept in and sleeping in felt good. I got uncomfortable in the downstairs bed, got up, washed my face and went upstairs because I heard Trish upstairs getting ready to make breakfast. The menu for that morning was French toast, sausage and scrambled eggs.  As always, the food was delicious.  We helped Trish clean up and Amy did the dishes.

I didn't want to waste a nice day. I convinced Ben to hike around the trails of Tehelah to get a couple geocaches I've had my eyes on. There were three in particular I needed to fill in my Fizzy Grid. It's a geocaching challenge I've been working on since I started in July 2010. I've been hitting it harder over the past couple years.

I wasn't sure where to park or where the trailheads were to these caches, so I reached out to Rhonda to get her advice.  She was able to give it since she lives in Bonney Lake and had recently done them. She was happy to help us out. 

Ben and I hopped into the Edge and made our way to Teheleh.  If they do any more building, they will have to make it its own city with a zip code!  It had exploded since we were there last. We were in awe.  Anyway, we follow the back road towards out to Orting Lake. I had no idea this lake was even out here. We found the pull-out parking Rhonda was talking about, pulled over as far as we could go, grabbed what we needed and walked along the muddy road filled with large puddles.

The first one, PREDADOR (GCA8JE2) had a bunch of favorite points, so we stopped along the way to the lake. It was not what I expected but it was an awesome 3D rendering.  I saw it first, but I waited until Ben got to the tree so he could grab the cache out of it. We got our names on it, put it back and got a quick picture.

We headed down the trail to the lake. Orting Lake Earthcache (GCAFYHJ) asked us to figure out if this area was a kettle pond or not. Ben and I discussed the four questions and came up with some answers to put in our logs. We also got the necessary picture before walking back to the Edge.

Before we got back into the Edge, we saw there was one near the trailhead called Uncle Fester (GCA0JQG). I had a hard time zeroing in on it with my phone however, there was a spot that looked like it was picked over by others. I moved a couple pieces of bark out of the way and there it was!

We got into the Edge and drove down to the end of the road where the next "trailhead" was. At least this is where Rhonda said she parked to get these set of caches. It was a weird road, and I questioned it. It did look familiar, and I checked my app to see why.  Yes, Ben and I had been here before back in 2014. We made our way down the sloppy, muddy, now foggy forest road. 

World Icon Series - Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris (GCA3ZTX) was our first target.  There were many caches spread along this section of trail. We would only have time to grab about five or six of them. We got to the coords listed and this cache was easy to find. It was a 3D printed mini version of the Notre Dame Cathedral. 

We started back down the trail after we put the cache back in its hidey spot. Gruncle Craps (GCA41XE) was the next one. We weren't sure what to think of the name.  I could be a fake pile of 3D painted poo or something that had to do with gambling. Most likely, gambling.  We approached ground zero and had to backtrack just a little bit. The coords took us off of the road and up the hillside just slightly. I found the large piece of bark hiding three giant dies. Of course, we rolled them and had fun with it. We signed our names and put them back as best as we could.

We got back on the forest road and continued on. We grabbed Spiderman (GCA41XX), and I thought I got a picture of it but apparently, I didn't.  This one was of the main forest road along a trail. We made our way back to the main road to Lumiere Befriends Gruncle (GCA41Y8). This one had us checking all sorts of stumps.  We finally got to the correct one and found out someone had broken the cache at some point. It was stuffed in a plastic bag to keep its integrity. It took me a while to assemble the pieces to get a picture of it whole. 

We get back to the main forest road again and we have our sights set on World Icon Series - Chichen Itza in Mexico (GCA3ZV6). We get close to the posted coords and had no trouble finding that one. Ben was the one that actually found it. 

Gruncle Keeps Monkeying Around (GCA41YX) was hidden just off the forest road in a grouping of trees. Ben found this one too.  He even acted the part when we got a picture of it just after signing the logbook. We had fun finding these caches. 

We had time for one more and The Hulk (GCA41ZB) was one of the caches on my list.  I was so excited to whittle down three of my last four remaining squares on my Fizzy grid.  I just need one more and the closest one was on Lake Kapowsin in Graham. I have plans to go this summer to go get it if we aren't too busy. If not, it will have to wait.  I wasn't sure what to expect when I got closer to the coords. I was so happy that the container was a Hulk fist.  We signed the log, got a picture and put it back. I told Ben that was the last one.

We made our way back to the Edge. It didn't take us long to walk back since we were not stopping every 500+ feet to look for a geocache.  We found a total of 10 on the first day of the year. I was happy the weather held up for us, so we weren't stuck inside the house all day on a day off from work. It was nice to get some fresh air and exercise.

We drove around the new housing developments in Teheleah. Ben was in awe how quickly the forests were cut down, and houses were built up in an area he and his friends used to ride their bicycles in years ago. We also couldn't believe how expensive houses are now. I keep making the joke that I should have bought a house when I was 18, when they were affordable. 

We drove back to his mom's house and noticed the Oregon Ducks were being stomped by Ohio State in the Rose Bowl game. They did make an effort for a comeback, but it was way out of reach. Ohio State won 41-21. We hung out and lounged around the house for a bit.

We helped his mom by changing out the bedding and making the bed for her with clean sheets and pillowcases.  We packed up our stuff, loaded it into the Edge, gave out hugs and thank yous and left Bonney Lake around 6:30. We got home around 7:30. We unpacked the Edge, put the food away, got in some showers, started some laundry and fed the cats. We spent the next hour or so getting ready for a really short work week of two days. I would have had two Mondays and two Fridays once the week was over. I am not a fan of holidays in the middle of the week.

Next Adventure: Doug's Birthday Party