After a miserable night sleeping on the floor and getting up in the middle of the night with a throat/sinus thing, we got up around 8:30, got ready, ate yogurt and toast, Ben managed to get up and also got ready. He was sore and I had to rub that icky Tiger Balm all over him. It sure does open your sinuses in that unpleasent way!
He made a fried egg and had some toast with it. We cleaned up after ourselves and texted Brenda and Ray that we were on our way.
We left North Spokane around 10:30 and drove to the South Hill to pick up Brenda and Ray, they were staying at Brenda's mom and dad's house. We pulled up and Ray came out saying that we were still waiting for Brenda. She and her sister went and had a coffee date that morning. We visited with Ray until Brenda rolled up. They both hopped in and we started our geocaching adventure for the day.
They've been waiting a while to update their dog park Adventure Lab since one of the waypoints changed and they had to update it. They gave us directions on how to get to that dog park. The park was busy, but we stayed in the Escape while Ray got out to get what he needed to update their Adventure Lab.
On the way back down from the top of South Hill, we saw a cache we didn't have and were driving right past it. Brenda and Ray already nabbed Crestline Rock Garden (GC9JDKB), but they told us we could stop really quick and get it. Everyone stayed in the Escape while I went out, found it, got our names on it and quickly walked back. It was a fake rock hidden around rocks. Luckily, it was easy to spot once I saw it.
We searched the geocaching app for an Adventure Lab to do and that took us to a five waypoint one in Polly Judd Park. It was a smaller park with a tiny parking lot. We did manage to find a parking spot with Ray's handicapped pass. There were some people having a kid's birthday party underneath one of the covered areas. This Adventure Lab took way too long because one of the waypoints took us forever to figure it out. It was poorly worded, but we finally managed to figure it out. We walked back to the Escape and went to the next closest cache.
Downtown Abbey (GC4658D) was in an old South Hill neighborhood covered in trees, one-way narrow roads and strange confusing intersections. We managed to find a place to pull out of the road and Ray and I got out and walked the rest of the way to the guard rail. We found it quickly, got our names on it right away and put it back before cars drove by wondering what we were doing. We got back to the Escape and decided to drive further down the hill near the hospital.
We were on the backside of MultiCare Deaconess Hospital. Luckily, the street wasn't busy. We found a place to pull over so Ray and I could get out and search. The High Road (GC2HD3E) took us a few minutes to find. It was hidden well but missing a lid. We got our names on it and on our way back to the Escape, we saw a wild turkey waddle by.
We wanted to wander around Riverside Park to do some of the virtuals and the 12 waypoint Adventure Lab. Of course, parking was insane, so we found a place to park at a nearby store and hoped that we wouldn't get in trouble or have the Escape towed. We went inside the store to make it look like we belonged there. I made sure to grab my phone charging battery because something was seriously eating up my battery. It never really has done that before. Hmmm.
We walked into the park from the west and found where the 12 waypoint Adventure Lab, Art in Riverfront Park began. This one took us a while to do but we set aside the time to do it. We figured we would do it in a reverse clockwise rotation and take pictures of the art we needed and number each of them. The park was super busy and even the events center was showing a play that afternoon. We had to duck and dodge around everyone.
Ben and I did the Meet Me at the Clocktower (GC7B9R1) virtual cache, but I didn't read it entirely and had to do the rest of it online. I was super lucky there were photos online that depicted the answer I needed. I got a phone call from my non-Spokane friend Megan asking me a couple questions. I was on the phone with her for a few minutes. Ray, Brenda and I convinced Ben to slide down the giant Radio Flyer wagon because you just HAD to if you were at the park and he's never done it before.
We continued gathering waypoints as we wandered around the park and the finally, my phone died. I let it charge up with the portable charger I brought along. Ray and Ben would have to do read the info and take pictures. We all walked over to the pavilion to do the Pavilion in the Park (GC9P54V) virtual cache. We had to find a quote on the wall; find out how far away the ice-skating park was to the pavilion and take a picture of yourself or your group inside the pavilion giving a thumbs up or a peace sign.
We continued around the park and finally got all the pieces we needed to finish the 12 waypoint Adventure Lab. We did have a hard time trying to get the answer at the totem pole. We still aren't sure, to this day, if we did it right or not. We did have some great laughs though. We walked back to the Escape, and it was still there! Yay!
We piled in and drove out to the Valley to the Azteca for a light lunch. I messaged Fitzy to let her know where we are in our day. She was in Post Falls with Chaise's family hanging out after the wedding the previous night. She said she could leave whenever we wanted to meet up with her. She said we could hang out whenever and that there is no hurry. We told her that we were almost done and that Brenda and Ray had to be back soon to do some family stuff.
We got back onto the freeway and drove back to the South Hill. Along the way, we chatted about the good times we had in Portugal and the next time they would be in the States, they said probably in about a year when they come over to visit Brenda's son, who is stationed in Hawaii with his family. They were excited about visiting Hawaii. They thanked us for taking them around Spokane and hanging out. We gave out hugs and told us to make sure we kept in touch. It would be nice to go visit them in Portugal again someday.
We let Fitzy know we were done and could meet her wherever she wanted to go. She suggested the Iron Goat because they had some gluten free options. We told her we would be there soon and just leaving the South Hill area. The Iron Goat was on the west side of downtown Spokane. Luckily, there was some available parking nearby. We got there sooner than she did and hung out inside the car until she got closer. There were some homeless people around and just kept our distance for safety. She said she was almost there, so we walked the block into the restaurant and found a table.
She joined us, Fitzy and I grabbed a beer and Ben got a cider.
We chatted for a while on what has been happening in our lives, Fitzy told us about the wedding and some of the stuff she and Chaise were doing and thanked us profusely for being in Spokane to let the dogs out the other night. She appreciated that we were able to help her out with them and that they behaved for us. We also ended up sharing a pizza a little while later. It was great that we got to meet up with her that weekend.
We went back to the apartment in North Spokane and Willmarth still wasn't around and we tried texting him again. We both got cleaned up and played several rounds of dice while we waited to hear back from him. He finally texted us back apologizing for not being around very much that weekend and that he wanted to meet up tomorrow to have breakfast at the Calico Kitchen. He and Mandy would meet us at the apartment before we went. I told him it was a plan and to see both of them the next day.
Ben and I got ready for bed. We were both feeling a little worn down.
Next Adventure: Spokane Trip: Spokane to Lacey
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