Halloween - Brian's First Time Trick or Treating

Mom wanted to take Brian trick or treating on Halloween. A couple weeks ago, she had a Friday off so she, Erika and Brian went costume shopping and then had lunch. Erika let Brian pick out his own costume. He was about a year and a half at this point, so she was curious to see what he would pick out. He immediately went to the Elmo costume. She put it back and went to a different part of the costume store just to see if he would pick it out again. He did. He wanted to be Elmo for Halloween. They went to the nearest McDonald's to get a Boo Bucket so Brian could put his candy in it.

We had tried the weekend before Halloween to take him to a trunk or treat in Rainier at the park, but it was cancelled because of the weather. We were bummed out but then we heard that either McKenna or Roy didn't cancel theirs and a tree fell down on top of a person and killed them. Instead, we went over to Megan's house to hang out with her kids. Brian was wearing his Elmo costume, and I wore my penguin one. We thanked her for having us over for a couple hours.

Doug had stopped by earlier in the day wearing an Oscar the Grouch costume on his way to work. He and Brian got a picture of them in their Sesame Street costumes together. It was adorable.

Mom made plans with Erika, Zac, me, Doug and Sonya to bring Brian over to Doug and Sonya's house so he could trick or treat in their neighborhood. We were hoping that it wasn't going to rain, but you can wish in one hand a crap in the other...

Of course, it rained and we were all bummed out, but Brian didn't seem to care! He wore that Elmo costume proudly and was ready to go trick or treating when Erika and Zach brought him over. We all met at Doug and Sonya's house around 5ish. I didn't wear a costume because it would have gotten soaked and I was mostly there to take pictures of Brian trick or treating. 

Doug and Sonya had decorated the outside of their house with signs, lights and other Halloweenie things. She also bought snacks and candy. Some of the kids who trick or treat at their house are not as well off as others, so she hands out things like small Pringles containers, granola bars, crackers, etc. We had a few groups of kids stop by before we got Brian ready to go outside.

We all went outside and started on the opposite side of the street Doug and Sonya's house was on. Everyone seemed to be kind knowing that this was Brian's first-time trick or treating. A lot of the people said he was cute. Some let him grab his own candy, others handed him candy for his Boo bucket and some of the houses Brian tried to walk into. We laughed and told him that those were not our houses.

Mom carried him part of the time and the rest of the time he waddled in his rain boots down the road. We did see a couple groups of kids out in the rain trick or treating. I imagine if it was a drier day we would have seen more kids running around the neighborhood. I remember trick or treating as a kid in the neighborhoods of Rainier. We used pillowcases and came home with tons of candy. Some of the candy would last until December or later. 

We crossed the street and made our way back towards Doug and Sonya's house. We were out for maybe an hour or so. The rain did not let up but luckily, we had umbrellas with us to keep us somewhat dry. I wore my rain jacket as well. 

We got back to the house, dried off some and went through Brian's candy. He was happy just putting the candy in and out of his Boo bucket and relocating items in their living room.

We all thanked Doug and Sonya for having us over and letting Brian trick or treat in their neighborhood. We all went home. I got home and made some dinner. We were all excited to see what Brian decides to be for Halloween the next year. We may even have a new baby at that point as well.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Next Adventure: Halloween Party with Friends

Mom and Dad's Birthday and Pumpkin Carving with Liz, Maddy and Isla

September definitely got away from us. We were painstakingly trying to work on the rental house's roof before the bad weather arrived for the year. We cut it close, but we did get it done on time. I felt bad that we didn't celebrate Dad's birthday in September. I talked to him about it and he said that it was fine, we could do it at a later time when everyone wasn't as busy. 

Mom was at a quilting retreat during her birthday weekend. She also said that we could celebrate it later on in October. I found a weekend to have both, Mom and Dad's birthday party that worked for everyone. I asked the both of them if pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, brownies and ice cream were fine and they said it was. 

I contacted everyone to let them know that we were doing a birthday party for Mom and Dad and told them what we were having, when it was and what time. I had asked Liz if she and her girls would like to carve pumpkins and we set aside a day to do it but had to change it because the girl's grandmother, Susan created plans without telling Liz until the last minute. So, we had to reschedule it for the last Sunday around 4 before Halloween. I told her that would be fine, but my Sunday would be busy with birthdays. I had to juggle two different events.

I went shopping for the pork chops and the potatoes after work on Thursday since I was already out and about. I hit up the Costco and the Walmart and then went home. I got the house all cleaned up and made the brownies on Saturday and made sure everything was ready to go before I went to bed that night. I wanted Sunday to go as smoothly as possible.

That morning, Ben and I got up, did a few things to finish preparing for the birthday party and found out that Zac was sick and wasn't going to come and, of course, since Doug works the weekends away, he and Sonya weren't going to come either. So, we were going to have 10 of us instead of the usual 13. I hope someday Doug will get a different job, and he can join us with family gatherings again. Ben and I started peeling potatoes and getting the pork chops, green beans and gravy ready since everyone was supposed to be here around noon.

No one had arrived and it was pretty much noon. I texted everyone to let them know that the food was done. I had to wrap everything in tin foil to keep it warm because everyone was late! Everyone started to arrive and I gave them a bad time for being late. Their excuse was that it was so early for a party. I mostly did it so Erika could get Brian home at a decent time, and I had another event to go to that evening. September and October definitely got away from us this year.

Everyone grabbed plates and piled food on top. We all talked about random things - how the rental was going, work, retirement, projects, etc. It was quite the array of topics. Of course, Brian was a ham and wanted to touch and play with everything! I did collect a bunch of toys over the years just in case we had small children in our family to entertain. I was excited when I found an old school Fisher-Price cash register about a year ago. He thought that was the greatest thing in the world!

We cleaned up and I grabbed the brownies. Trish volunteered to bring vanilla ice cream. She helped me dish up to those who wanted dessert after we sang Happy Birthday to Mom and Dad. They opened gifts and cards and thanked everyone for thinking of them. Everyone helped clean up and headed home so they could get ready for the work week.

I got ready for my second event of the day. At 3, I texted Liz to let her know I was on my way. I brought the three little pumpkins with me, some carving tools and the Coke. Just before I got onto I-5, I ordered the pizza online. It told me that it would be ready in about a half hour. Perfect. Just enough time to get there, grab it and head to her house. She told me, "See ya in a bit."

I get to Pizza Hut in Centralia, and it was literally ready for me to grab the two pizzas and leave. Her house was just minutes away. I pull up, park and bring the food and drinks in first. I go back for the pumpkins and carving tools. I even remembered to bring a Halloween themed tablecloth. I think Liz appreciated what I was doing for her and the girls, but I can never tell. I believe the 4-year hiatus really did a number on the friendship. I didn't want to, but I really thought she didn't want me around anymore, so I left. It is what it is, I guess.

Anyway, we enjoyed the pizza and pop and conversation. One thing I didn't know about Liz was she didn't like to touch icky things, that included the inside of a pumpkin. She made an exception that day and turns out it wasn't really that bad. I also learned that the girls have never carved pumpkins before, but Liz had, when she was a kid. She showed them how to cut the top and scoop out the insides. They drew faces on their pumpkins instead of carving them. I carved the third pumpkin since Liz didn't want to do her own but help the girls with theirs.

Once we got all the guts out, Liz and I separated the seeds so she could clean them up and cook them in the air fryer for later. While we did that, we talked about a bunch of stuff. She told me that one of her aunt's in Mexico wasn't doing that well. Her mom has been going down there to help out and spend time with her. I told her about the progress with the rental, and we briefly touched on work. I let her bring it up because she had told me during the DJA that she didn't want to talk about work. I respected that request.

Her boys came in to give her a bad time and one of them wanted help on their homework. He wanted her to help him with his speech he had to give in a day or two - something about the argument on should college players get paid. That was up my alley. I had actually done a group project on that very subject while I was in college years ago. I shared my input. I didn't care if they used it or not. 

I didn't want to overstay my welcome, since it was a work night and all, so I thanked her for having me over and she thanked me for the pumpkins, pizza and pop. I told her it would be fun to do this again next year and she said it would. We would have to find a good time to do it next year if they had the time. She walked me out and I told her I would talk to her tomorrow. She said the same. I headed home.

I let her know I got home and she told me, thanks for letting her know. I got cleaned up, did a few things and got ready for another work week. It was a busy day, but I sure had a lot of fun!

Next Adventure: Halloween - Brian's First Time Trick or Treating

The Pumpkin Patch with Mom, Erika and Brian

Mom wanted to take Brian to the pumpkin patch now that he was a little older and walking around. Last year when we took him, he was literally a potato actively wondering what we were all doing. It was fun but we knew the next year it would be more fun.

I took the Friday off, so I had a three-day weekend to do whatever I wanted. I slept in, because I really needed a good sleep, and then I got ready and met up with Erika and Mom in Tumwater at Meconis for lunch. I had my usual. Like always, my sandwich hit the spot.

We drove over to Rutledge Family Farm off of 93rd in Tumwater. We were hoping since it was a weekday, there wouldn't be that many people there. Last year we went on a Sunday and boy, was that a mistake. We pulled in and it was a little less busy than last year which was great to see. We found a close parking spot, grabbed what we needed because it was a little chilly and wandered over towards the pumpkins with a wheelbarrow and Brian's wagon. I was kinda excited to see if he would put pumpkins in the wagon.

We started walking around the pumpkin patch looking at the pumpkins we'd like to bring home. I called Ben to ask what shape of pumpkin he would like to have, and he told me to send him some photos and he would choose one. I sent him some pumpkins that fit his profile and he did end up picking one he liked. I put that in the wheelbarrow. We got into some of the little pumpkins and watched Brian pick them up, set them down and he did put one in the wagon. Mom and I tried putting some in his wagon and he would grab them and toss them out. We laughed hysterically.

At one point, there was a little boy, his mom and his dad picking pumpkins and he was interested in Biran's wagon. We told his parents he could push it for a few minutes. The little boy didn't want to stop, and you could tell Brian didn't want this little boy touching his wagon anymore. His parents told him to give the wagon back to Brian and they thanked us for entertaining them by sharing.

Once we found the pumpkins we wanted, including Brian, we wheelbarrowed them over to the cashier's station to be weighed. I had four smaller pumpkins and three larger pumpkins to carve at some point later on in the month. We took them to the cars and Brian got to ride in the wheelbarrow. We took the wheelbarrow back and Mom and Erika decided that we should take Brian into the kids' area to play with the available activities. We each paid an entrance fee and went in.

I bought an apple cider slushy because it looked good. We wandered around with Brian for a few minutes until he found something that interested him. Erika, Brian and I took our shoes off and bounced on the bouncy mat. It was funny watching him jump on it. Then he fell on his face. He was okay. 

Erika and Brian waited their turn on the tractor ride and went around the pumpkin patch two times. Brian was having a good time unlike the other small children; they cried and wanted off. We walked over to the bubble making station and spent a good while making bubbles for Brian to poke. He and Erika swung on the swings and then he saw the talking tractor, and we watched the tractor for a bit. It made Brian smile.

It was getting late and Erika needed to take Brian home so he could get in a nap. Erika thanked us for coming out and getting pumpkins with them. I got back into the Escape and Mom followed me in her Expedition, we hit up the Walmart in Tumwater, drove out to Lacey to check out Hobby Lobby and Michael's for a couple of things. I headed home so I could make dinner and Mom drove back out to Rainier.

Next year, I am excited to see how Brian is at the pumpkin patch. We will be weeks away from meeting the new baby at that point.

Next Adventure: Mom and Dad's Birthday and Pumpkin Carving with Liz, Maddy and Isla

Seattle Seahawks vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I had planned on going to the Pullman/Moscow cache machine and taking Friday off but then Mom asked me what I was doing on October 5th. I told her we were thinking about driving over to Pullman for the cache machine. Why? She said that Randy gave her tickets to the Seahawks game. I immediately checked to see what team we were playing that day. The Buccaneers. I wrote it on the calendar and told Mom to send me the link so I could download the tickets when it gets closer. I guess we were not doing the cache machine, which was fine, the Seahawks game would be cheaper than staying in a hotel for a couple nights and driving all the way across the state.

I looked up the stats of the game, it was going to be a 1 o'clock game, both teams were going to be wearing their "throwback" uniforms, we were going to be on the party bus, which was nice, I didn't have to worry about driving to the game or finding parking and a Mariner playoff game started at 5, Sodo was going to be insane.

As it got closer to game day, I made sure I got our tickets into my Google wallet, so they were easy to access when we were entering the facilities. Mom met me at my house, and we drove the Escape to O'Blarney's, parked and when the party busses arrived, we found out which one we were supposed to be on. That was bus #2. We climbed aboard, found the seats we were assigned to and got comfortable.

We got up I-5 and the emcee started in on the raffle, the 100 square and the checklist game while we drove north. Mom and I got a few raffle tickets and participated in the 100 square and the checklist game. We were hoping we win. I even had a blue Jell-O shot that were being handed out for free. Why not, right?

Just before we got into Seattle, we did the raffle. Mom and I didn't win. Oh well, however, we did get into Seattle in less than an hour and a half. That was pretty good for a busy game day on the freeway.

Mom and I got off the bus and walked towards the field house on the west side of the stadium. We went in, got through security and had our tickets scanned. We received a deck of playing cards and we got some free pretzel bites from King's Hawaiian.

We walked around the fieldhouse, got our picture taken, watched a presentation of the 50 best players in the past 50 years (this season, the Seahawks were celebrating their 50th Anniversary) and then moseyed over towards the stage to watch a miniature Sir Mix Alot concert. Yes, he sang Baby Got Back for us.

Mom and I went into the stadium and made our way up to the third level. I asked if she wanted food and she said yes.  I knew where the Ivar's was and thank goodness the line was short.  We got our food in minutes. We made our way to our seats in Section 316. We sat down and ate while we watched the pregame activities including a nod to all the cheerleaders who have cheered for the Seahawks since 1976.  Today was throwback night so both teams were wearing their throwback uniforms. The field was even painted like it was in the Kingdome.

I asked Mom if she had ever been to a Seahawk game in the Kingdom and she said she had with her dad, but never went again until the early 2000's. My first Seahawk game was in 2016 because we could never afford the tickets.

The first quarter was awful. Our defense struggled this game after allowing the third fewest points in the NFL going into game 5 of the season. We did have some key defensive starters who were injured - DeMarcus Lawrence, Julian Love and Devon Witherspoon. We allowed them to keep the momentum running wearing out our players. Luckily, only a field goal was scored on the Buccaneers behalf.

Tampa Bay was able to capitalize on our mistakes and ended up taking the lead 13-0 late in the second quarter, however, Jaxon Smith-Njigba was able to score a touchdown for us just before the end of the half. We went into halftime down by 6.

We started out with a touchdown at the beginning of the third quarter. From there, it went back and forth, each team matching with a touchdown and a made field goal. The defense on each side was nonexistent. The Buccaneers had an advantage at the end of the quarter, leading 28-21.

We took the lead after two touchdowns (AJ Barner and Tory Horton) and two field goals in the fourth. We led 35-28 with 3:15 left in the fourth quarter. Then we let Tampa Bay march down the field to tie it up with 2:10 left to go in the game. I was so disappointed in our defense. They were letting Baker Mayfield do whatever he wanted. We got the ball with just a couple minutes left of the game. If we did this right, we could march down the field and kick a field goal leaving the opponents with no time to spare. That, unfortunately, did not happen. Sam Darnold, in Darnold fashion, threw an interception. All the Buccaneers needed to do was waste enough time and kick it in for the win. That is exactly what happened. We lost 38-35. I was so angry because it was a winnable game and we had the advantage at the end.

We waited until the clock hit 0:00 before we grabbed our stuff and shuffled out. It took a while to get to the bus because there were sooo many people everywhere because of the Seahawks and the upcoming Mariners playoff game. The streets were filled with tons of fans! We got to the bus, and it took a while to leave but we eventually made our way out of town. We had to stop in Fife and JBLM for traffic problems.

We got back around 6ish and I asked Mom if she had to go to Fred Meyers she said yes. I tried stopping at Office Depot first to get a calendar, but they were closed already. We got our things from Fred Meyer and went back to my house. I talked to Trish about the game, took a shower, talked to Mom and Dad and made Spam rice dish for dinner.

Ben had met up with Jericho for the rental kitchen cupboard, went to Rochester to look at flooring and did a couple things at the rental until about 7. We watched the end of the SNF Bills and Patriots, Bills lost - there are no more undefeated teams this season. The 1972 Dolphins record is still intact until next season, when it is threatened again.

We did some chores and got ready for the work week. Mine was short since I had a 4-day weekend coming up.

Some Game Notes: Darnold went 28/34 for 341 yards and four TDs. Smith-Njigba had 132 yards with eight receptions and a touchdown. Jason Meyers went 5/5 on extra points but had no field goal attempts. We possessed the ball seven minutes less than Tampa Bay, but we had more total yards than they did 463 to their 426.

Next Adventure: The Pumpkin Patch with Mom, Erika and Brian

My 10 Year Workiversary

Here we are.  Back then, 10 years was something that you had in the back of your mind and a day I always thought would take a long time to arrive. Time is a funny thing because something that is far away isn’t really that far away in the scheme of things. We all perceive time differently even though each day is the same amount of time for everyone. The question is - do you use your time you have wisely?

I am thankful for the people that helped me get my foot in the door 10 years ago.  I remember going in for my interview in late July.  It was a hot and sweaty day. I parked in the guest lot in front of the building and made my way in. I was so anxious I could not determine if I was sweaty from the heat outside or nervous for my interview.  Probably both, if I am being honest.

That interview went well and I heard back several weeks later that they created a job for me working with human resources, records and the records center. That first day, 10 years ago today, I did my best to learn as much as I could and ask questions.  I knew it would be a marathon being brand new in the state government.  I impressed my team and others around me so much that they kept extending my time I had there. Unfortunately, it did have to end. They wanted me to succeed within the agency that they even spent some time helping me look for another job.

That landed me in the mailroom after another nervous interview. I dove in and learned as quickly as I could. There was a lot of memorization, sorting and learning a routine. Once I got that down, the job was easy, but navigating personalities took a little bit longer to figure out. I was able to learn the building and meet different people throughout the various program areas.

Within the year, I applied to a non-permanent job in retro so I could gain knowledge on two of our widely used computer programs. I figured that the reason why I was not being picked for jobs was because I had no experience using those programs. That year was probably the most taxing one I had because the unit was so different from the previous ones I’ve been in thus far.  I met some great people there that I still talk to even to this day.

I left my agency to another agency for a month before coming back to the agency I was familiar with. I started in another business area within the office of the medical director. I had no experience with any of that sort of work, but I am a person that learns quickly and uses what I learn to make my job as easy as I can make it. I am thankful they brought me back to the agency where I felt like I belonged. I was there in office for eight months before we were forced to work from home due to Covid, and that is where I stayed for almost seven years. We adapted to our new normal and working from home was odd at first but after almost five years I couldn’t imagine going back into the office and being around people again.

Then what seemed like out of nowhere - last fall I was offered an opportunity to do a developmental job assignment with another business area I was unfamiliar with. I did not hesitate, I said yes without even hearing what they had to say about it. It was worked out with both program areas, and I was doing two jobs at the same time for five months. I never thought I would have a chance to do a DJA.

That DJA brought me back into the building and let me tell ya, from a person who used to go to work at HQ to see how life was before 2020 – it was so busy with people all over the place, it was noisy, the cafeteria had a line, there was always something going on in the many training rooms, the rotunda was buzzing with activities, you didn’t dare leave at lunch time (unless you had your monthly lunch meetings with friends) because you would lose your parking spot and have to hike when you got back and most of all you were able to network with people. It’s much harder to network with people when you are at home.

Post 2020 – I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone every time I came in. It was so empty, entire floors were moved around, the bank of elevators were updated, there were a lot of new faces I didn’t know because a lot of them got jobs after 2020, I felt like I was one of the old people when I learned how young these people were, the parking lot was virtually empty, the cafeteria will never be the same, the cubicles and working areas are so quiet but it was nice to meet new people and network with them, even the technology was different.  However, I still enjoyed working from home.

A position opened up and I applied for it. I believe I needed a change and I could not pass it up. After another nervous, sweaty interview (this was my first virtual interview) and several stress-riddled weeks later, I found out I got the job. I was excited to start my new work journey. Job transitioning is never easy especially on the unit losing the teammate. I enjoyed the time we all spent together.

The first four and a half years seemed to go by slow because I was going to work every day at HQ and in that span, I held five different jobs in five different capacities and moved around a lot in the building. I had to learn a new job almost every year up until 2018 (if you broke it down with the actual time, I was in each job). It was difficult to be the “new kid” every time I changed jobs and had to be trained on how to do the job just to turn around and have to learn a new job a year later. It was wearing on me and stressful.  While that was happening, I just didn’t understand why I was always being passed up for that full-time permanent job. Was I not worth taking the risk? I applied for at least 70-80 jobs during that time frame.

The next four and a half years went by faster than the first four and a half. I enjoyed the extra hour to sleep in, I could wear sweatpants all day, I had two fuzzy coworkers who kept me entertained, no commute, I could make an actual lunch during my lunch hour, no one interrupted me and I was able to get my work done efficiently. The best part is that was able to get more personal stuff done with those extra hours I saved not getting ready or commuting. I learned a couple new skills like learning how to cook better, and I had more time to exercise. I loved being able to do chores during my breaks or lunchtime, that also saved me time during the day.

I do believe that I was in the right place, with the right people, learning what I needed to know at that point during my career.  I was supposed to learn those certain things, meet those particular people and learn those specific lessons for reasons beyond me, however, if you are not being challenged there is no personal growth.

Was every day perfect? No. 

Were some days harder than others? Yes.

Were there days I didn’t want to get out of bed and go to work? Yes, but I did anyway.

Did I want to do better than the day before? Yes.

Will I ask you questions? Absolutely. 

Will some of them be dumb? Maybe.

Did I learn something new every day? Yes, and I will always continue to do so.

A huge thank you to those I have met throughout the years without you, your advice, stories, support and expertise, I would not be where I am today.  I appreciate the time and effort you put into me.  That does include - the ups, the downs, the teamwork and collaborations, the miscommunications, the successes, the failures, the learning moments to do better, to be better, the education and training opportunities, celebrating the victories, giving and accepting feedback and most of all being human and giving me that chance.

Here’s to the next 10!

I received my 10-year certificate about a month after my anniversary date during a quarterly program virtual meeting. I also received a pin and a $50 gift card to Amazon.

Next Adventure: Seattle Seahawks vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Labor Day Weekend in Long Beach with Trish

Saturday, August 30th

About a month ago, at the WSGA Campout, I spoke with a lady named Sherry (LifeIsGuud). She and her husband live in Pacific County and was going to host an event at the end of August. Without thinking, I agreed to host an event during that same weekend, just for the next day, so I could suffice hosting an event near the ocean as the WSGA chapter rep. I didn't realize it was Labor Day weekend. That meant not many people will probably attend and hotels would be expensive. Ughhh. Oh well.

I asked Mom if she wanted to go with me that weekend, but she was already doing a quilting thing with her people. I asked Megan if she wanted to go and she was going to until Robert screwed up the kid's schedule and she ended up having her kids that weekend (which was a good thing she got her kids), so I asked Trish if she was available to hang out for a weekend and she said she was and would go with me.

I got onto the internet and tried finding an affordable hotel room for one night. I managed to get lucky and found one right in the middle of where we needed to be in Long Beach. I hated that it was about $250+ a night but it was a holiday weekend. Trish told me she was going to pay half of it, and I thanked her for offering. I let her know when we would be leaving and would appreciate her meeting me at our house so we could leave to head down. I also told her to bring stuff for any occasion...it is the coast in Washington after all, it could be hot, cold or perfect. She said she was looking forward to it.

This was my first time on a trip with just Trish, so this could be an interesting weekend. She got to our house around 9ish. We moved her stuff into the Escape, we used the restroom, made sure we had everything, told Ben bye and hit the road around 9:45. I decided to take Hwy 4 out of Longview/Kelso because I haven't been down that way in a while. We spent the next few hours talking about random things throughout the drive. They were some great conversations and I enjoyed them.

We arrived in town roughly around 12:30. I asked her if she was hungry and she said she could eat. We scanned the streets for a place that looked good and came across North Jetty Brewing. The parking lot was virtually empty so maybe we got there at a good time? We went inside and was immediately taken to a table and served a menu. I ordered Another F**king Raspberry Hef because I love fruit beer and Trish ordered a Boneshaker IPA. For food, I got the Cubano and she got the Ham and Cheese Panini. They came with a bag of chips. The food and beer sure hit the spot.

We got back into the Escape and found a free public parking lot so we could spend some time walking around. We spent about an hour or so walking up one street and down the other. Our first stop was at the virtual cache, The World's Largest Frying Pan (GC7B6C5). I've been here several times throughout the years but this time someone finally put a virtual cache here. Trish and I posed in front of it to suffice the logging requirements. 

We went into a few shops just to pass some time before we could check into the hotel and make it to the event by 5 p.m. We even went into Marsh's Free Museum to see the weird stuff and Jake, the alligator man. I bought a few postcards and a magnet. From there, we saw we were within a short walking distance to grab a traditional cache, SS Admiral Benson - Graveyard of the Pacific (GC632BP) and another virtual cache, Long Beach, WA: A Beach Town (GC9P7FP). We had enough time to grab them and then make our way back to the Escape to drive and check into the hotel.

We made our way to the Best Western and checked in. We took our stuff up to our room and picked the beds we were going to sleep in. I got a room with two queen beds, so everyone was comfortable. We grabbed what we needed and headed back out to the Escape to drive to the event. It was short couple blocks down Bolstad Beach Access Road, but it was totally worth driving. We parked in the lot because we knew better about driving in the sand. We did NOT want to be those people. We grabbed our chairs and looked for the group of geocachers next to a fire. We went and grabbed Discovery Trail - Captain Clark Statue (GCAD2BV) before the event and then admired what was left of the professional sandcastles.

We saw where the National Beach and Toasted Marshmallow Day! (GCATMGC) was. I recognized Sherry and a couple of the other people from past events. We spent the next two hours sharing stories, watching at least eight different people/cars get rescued from being stuck in the sand and enjoying smores by the fire. We had about 10 people show up to the event, and we stayed until about sunset. We helped Sherry pick up her stuff.

Trish and I went back to the hotel, ate some food we packed, relaxed, got cleaned up, she slaughtered me at Phase 10 dice, we watched some college football and then went to bed. I slept like poop even with the A/C on and ear plugs.

Sunday, August 31st

I did a lot of tossing and turning throughout the night. I got up a couple times to adjust the A/C so it would drown out the snoring. I also tried to adjust my ear plugs so I could get some sleep. I eventually did but it wasn't good sleep. My body definitely knew I wasn't in my own bed when I woke up around 8:30 feeling a little sore. We laid in bed for another 20 minutes or so before getting ready and going down to the buffet for some hotel breakfast.

They actually had a decent spread and Trish, and I found plenty of food to get us through most of the day. We packed up our room, checked out and headed to the Escape. I asked her what she wanted to do before the event I was hosting, and she said she was up for whatever. I looked at the geocaching app and saw a couple of geocaches on the Discovery Trail we could get. We can grab caches and get in a walk. We parked at the Sid Snyder Beach Access lot, grabbed the stuff we needed and walked south.

We made our way to the first cache, Catching Waves (GCAVB2V), while ducking and dodging electric bikes, families with dogs and a little girl just learning how to ride her bike with training wheels. The location of the first cache was obvious, it was somewhere near the dolphin sculpture, and it was a 4.5 difficulty. I explained to Trish that it could be any of the following examples and listed off a few. This one was sneaky according to the past logs. We were on the right track but had to ask the cache owner for a hint. Trish found it and we celebrated!

The second cache, Discovery Trail - Pine Grove (GCAD36A), was easier to find. I popped that right out of its hiding spot. Trish snapped a picture. We continued walking south down the boardwalk for another quarter of a mile or so. We crossed over the grassy area onto the beach and walked the beach back to the parking area. We saw a vulture eating dead seagulls.

As it approached event time, we got back into the Escape and drove to the Bolstad Beach Access entrance, parked, loaded up the wagon and pulled it to a spot on the beach. We got all set up and waited to see who came to my second WSGA event. A few people came, signed the bucket, hung out and chatted. A couple of us worked together to make a sandcastle. I always thought it would be fun to host a sandcastle geocaching event because I've never been to one, and I've never heard of anyone hosting one before. We had a great time!

I thanked everyone for coming, packed up, wagoned everything back to the Escape and Trish and I headed home via Hwy 4 through Longview again. We left the beach around 2:30. We stopped at Papa Pete's just outside of Longview for some pizza and a much-needed pitstop. 

After food, we hopped onto I-5 north and didn't stop until we got home. We arrived around 7. Trish thanked me for a fun weekend, and she got home safely around 8.

Next Adventure: My 10 Year Workiversary