My Yakima Visit, December 1

I got up early to go help Shannon walk the dogs at the park at the bottom of the hill.  She waked Fletcher and I threw the ball to Zoey a couple zillion times.  We were there for about 45 minutes when we headed home.  It was cold.

Willmarth and I attempted to get the flat off but failed because of the angle of the van next to the curb.  We called the tire shop down the hill to come fill it with air so we could drive it to the shop.  We jumped in and drove it down the hill.  They got us in right away, fixed the tire and the repair only cost us 15 bucks.  The rolled the window down and I had forgotten that the driver's window has problems.  The guy couldn't get the window up.  Ugh, one problem fixed and onto another.

We grabbed some tacos from Taco Bell and came home.  We hate them as we watched a little TV.  After a while we all passed out for about 4 hours.  Shannon went grocery shopping and has social anxiety.  We found this hilarious.  She came back and did forget a few things.  We gave her a bad time but she is a great sport about it.

I fixed the window in the van and helped her bring in groceries.  She made us chicken and rice for dinner and watched sports and movies. I watched the dogs beat up a broom.  It was hilarious.

Stayed up til about 1 and had to go to bed.

My Yakima Visit, November 30

5:30 am is the worst time of the day.  I have the hardest time getting up and it doesn't even matter what time I got to bed the night before, it is always hard to get up for.  I didn't sleep well the night before anyway because I worried about the weather on the pass and possibly Grandma changing her mind about me borrowing her van to drive across the pass.  Oh well, one foot in front of the other today and to keep myself moving.

We threw the recycle into the car, I made my blueberry bagel because someone ate some of my cereal and did not close it, so it got stale.  Huge pet peeve.  Climbed in and headed to work, in the dark.

I kept myself busy majority of the time.  We had our reviews with Dr. Smith starting yesterday and wrapping it up today with the three of us who were left to do them.  Carrie's wasn't done yet so she finished hers around 10.  I was worried I would get the last interview again and have to wait around.  I needed to leave before 1 so I could get to Yakima before dark.  So I ran upstairs and asked Dr. Smith if I could have my review next.  He was on board.

There weren't any negatives to my work ethic, which was nice because several people cried during their reviews yesterday.  He asked me what my duties were, how my life was going and he gave me a dollar raise!  He may add hours to my week and I might get my own locker.  The only negative thing he had to say, which wasn't really that negative, was an OSHA thing with my uniform.  I had to wear long lab jackets if I wanted to take my clothes home.  Which was okay, I just didn't think I mattered enough to have lab jackets. So I got a raise, possibly more hours and two long lab jackets and a locker out of my review.   I would say I kicked Friday's butt.

We got the rest of our stuff done and headed out.  We dropped by the post office, went to the recycle, our post office to send Erika and Amy's packages and headed home.  I ate a couple bites of last night's dinner and hurried to pack up my stuff so I could get on the road.  I hoped I got everything.

I got over to Grandma's house and put my stuff in there.  I told her thank you for letting me use the van again.  I drove into Yelm and got gas.  Everyone and their dog were getting gas the same time I needed to.  Luckily, I snuck in there and left before it got crazier.

I was finally on my way and I was very tired.  I hated going through Eatonville but there was a cache just before the bridge on the other side of town I stopped for.  A quick guard rail cache.  To Hwy 7 I go.  I was so happy I did not have to follow anyone.  I did have to pass a motor home on my way to Morton.  Grandma's van drove very smooth.  It made my drive over less stressful.  I got to Hwy 12 and had to follow a semi truck for a while until I could pass and after that no problems.  Driving over the pass was as simple as driving over it in the summer time.  There was some snow but it was mostly near the ski area.  There were no cars or no one skiing.  Down the pass we went.  I gained about 7 minutes on the way down which was nice.

I got into Naches and called everyone to tell them I made it over.  I got into Yakima and it was starting to get dark.  I pulled up next to their driveway and got out and heard a hisssss.  Lame, the right rear tire was flat.  I've never gotten a flat tire.  I guess it was bound to happen since I have driven back and forth a lot from Pullman and Yakima in the last 10 years.  I walked into the house and was immediately attacked by the two crazy dogs.

They eventually settled down and Willmarth's voice came back from the surgery and being under anesthesia so we talked about some stuff.  I brought my stuff in from the van and then had pizza for dinner while we watched the Pac-12 championship football game.  Time got away from us and it was about midnight when I decided to call it quits and go to bed.  It had been a long day.

Sequim Cenntenial Geocoin Challenge

We missed the actual event two weeks ago so we went today instead.  I really love the Facebook group South Sound Cachers because if you have a questions or a comment about something someone on there will know the answer.  I'm glad I heard that you could still do the coin challenge.

A few days ago, Bev and I decided that Monday would be the best day.  The weather was going to be dry and to get the coin, the city hall would have to be open.  And Monday it shall be!

The night before I printed out a few things to help us with our efficiency of grabbing the caches.  Essentially it was a large circle.  If we stuck to the circle, we should be able to do it in less than 3 hours and no back tracking.  I got my food together and stuck it in my lunch box and put it in the fridge for safe keeping.

For some reason I slept like garbage.  I tossed and turned all night long.  I might have gotten a few hours of sleep but it wasn't good sleep.  My alarm went off and I zombied myself out of my bed, washed up, put my warm clothes on and gathered the rest of my stuff.  I got everything done before 6:30 and waited.  And waited...

It was about 6:40 so I texted Bev.  They are never late.  She got back to me quickly.  She said they were on Runyon Rd and that the chickens they were watching for their neighbor took some extra time and she left the coffee pot on and had to go back and turn it off.

I grabbed my stuff and out the door I went.  It was so dark outside.  We had some conversations as we drove the 100 miles plus to Sequim.  I showed her the map I made and we sung Christmas songs there and back. "It's the most wonderful time of the year!..."

We stopped in Quilcene to grab a cache that Bob and Bev have been to three times now.  We figured since we had the time why not stop?  I found it within a minute of arriving on the scene.  They used the facility and we were on our way to our free geocoin!

We knew about two other groups of cachers who were also going up to Sequim today.  Two guys from Seattle and a couple from the Marysville area, I actually knew them.  We drove right by the red Prius, that the guys were driving near a cache we already had from a previous trip.  Maybe we will meet up with them later?  We went to our first cache of the challenge.  It was in the small town before Sequim, Blyn.  It was at a family cemetery.  It was a quick grab.  We were to stamp our passport and gather a letter and number for the final cache.

Sequim Centennial History and Geocoin Challenge:  http://coord.info/GC41686

As we left and got back onto 101, we drove past the red Prius again, I waved but they didn't see me.  They followed our route the rest of the day.  They contacted me later saying every cache they signed that day had our names on it.  We continued on our circle around Sequim.  Some of the caches took us near the ocean, some to historical buildings, canneries, sites and one even took us to a place where they dug up a mastodon in the late 70s early 80s.

 Two caches didn't have stamps in them and that got us worrying that we might not get a coin.  We met up with the two other cachers in their white Toyota Echo.  We exchanged greetings and asked if they found two caches without stamps, they did as well.

We finished the last few we had to do, which took us south over 101 towards the Olympics and the final one of the series at the park in town.  The same park we had lunch at a few months back.  We put together the letters and numbers we gathered and found the solution to the final but went the wrong way to it.  We read the hint and figured it out.  It took us to the building who were sponsoring the caches (besides City Hall) and the final was underneath one of the old historic buildings.  I climbed underneath to take a look, got a sliver and set my knee on top of a small rock trying to get out from beneath the building.  We took pictures and reflected on our caches we got.

We drove to City Hall a little bit worried that we might not get out coins because two of the stamps were missing.  The lady was understanding  and let us have them.  She apologized to us for them being gone and she hopes that they will be replaced soon.  We also mentioned that 4 other cachers were right behind us will have the same issue.  Bob and Bev bought the silver version of the coin for Kenny and Mike.  We did the only challenge in town before we headed out for more caches around town.

We started off with one I've had a hard time with for almost a year.  I can't believe we didn't look there but both times we didn't find it, it was hurricane-ing and the second time too many muggles watching us. Check that one off the list!  We drove around town a little more grabbing ones we didn't get to on previous trips and had two DNF's.  We even finished a couple of multis in town.  They were kinda fun.  One multi took us to a park we've been to before.  We got out of the car and was molested by about 50 ducks.  I fed them the rest of my crust from my sandwich.

We hit up a a few more and it started to get dark and we could not end on a DNF.  We grabbed one of the lavender series and then back on to Hwy 101 towards home.  We told stories and enjoyed the ride.  I almost fell asleep but caught myself.  We got into Shelton and decided we needed gas and something for dinner so we went to Denny's nearby.  They had a turkey dinner and I had a burger.  We headed home, they dropped me off and I took a shower and logged my caches while I caught up on some shows.

Next adventure:  Yakima, Wash.