Seattle Sounders (S2) Game

Ben and I got to talking about our upcoming days off.  I mentioned a Mariner game but they were going to be in California on the days we had discussed.  He then brought up going to a Sounders 2 game this weekend.  I asked him, who are the Sounders 2?  They are the reserve team for the Sounders.  Basically they are the Sounders JV team.  Instead of having them just practice and sit on the bench, they created this team to play against other secondary teams in the USL.  S2 was created on October 14, 2014 and they had their inaugural game March 21 against the Sacramento Republic and won 4-2.

I told Ben that we should go because it would be fun.  We planned on going as soon as I got off of work.  He had scheduled a meeting with his tax guy but ended up not going.  I got off work around 4:30 and hurried as fast as I could safely towards Tukwila via Hwy7, 512, 167 to 405.  I had been to Starfire once before back a few years ago with Bob and Bev geocaching, never for soccer.  I met him and we ate dinner near the mall at a Mongolian grill, Ben was craving a teriyaki like meal, and this was the closest with the amount of time we had left before the game.  I had enough to fill me up and he scarfed down two giant plates of food.  I changed my clothes into my Sounders gear.  I followed him to the complex where we should have gotten there sooner and brought cash with us for the parking fee, $5.  We had to turn around and head to the overflow lot where the parking guys let us park there for free.  There's the silver lining for being late, plus we really didn't have to walk that far.

He told me a little bit about the complex and where we were going to sit.  We had to go to will call to get our tickets.  Ben talked to a few people he knew from the Emerald City Supporters.  I saw a photo booth so we had to go take a picture.  We chatted with the guy who was running it.

We didn't know if the complex had food or not or we would have eaten dinner here.  They also served beer.  My bag got checked and our tickets were scanned.  I followed Ben to the far end where the ECS supporters and the flags were.  We found our spot on the bleachers and waited for the game to start.  We were sad we both didn't have enough cash to go buy beer.  Ben said he would go to his car to get some money for beer at half time.

I found an S2 flag on the bleachers so I put it to some good use.  It was just like being at a Sounders game at CenturyLink just at a smaller scale.  The same chants, the same flags, the same crazy Sounders fans were all around us.  It was a good time.  The Timbers scored first on a header.  No one was defending goal side.

At half time Ben went and got some money for us to have a six dollar beer but it was part of the crazy soccer experience.  I thanked him for running out to the car and for the beer.   Just as he was paying for it we shot a penalty kick and it went into the goal.  Game was now tied 1-1.

Five minutes before the game ended (with stoppage time) we scored a really awesome goal.  Right over the Timber's keeper's head.  It was awesome!  The crowd went nuts!  The S2 were still undefeated for the season.  The team was given doughnuts by some fan as they were heading back to the locker room.  The interaction with the players were more intimate at Starfire.  I saw one of the players give a fan his captain arm band.  I tried to find more S2 flags but couldn't find any.  I did managed to grab a program before we left the stands.  We used the restroom before we walked back to the car.

 

We hung out in his car for a while chatting about our upcoming days off and what we were going to do.  He was going to stay in town and hang out with his friend Dion.  I had to go home because I had to work the next day.  I got home around 11:30.  It was a fun evening.  I hope to go to more in the future.

Next Adventure:  TBA

Errands and Tumwater Caching

After work I needed to go put my check in the bank.  I was going to try and have dinner with Ben but he had a meeting at 6 and I wasn't going to make it.  I went to the store and to the bank.  I had to wait in line at the bank.  After the bank I knew mom wasn't going to be home to cook dinner so I thought Eagan's in Tumwater sounded good.  Plus, I haven't had it in a while.  I parked and walked in.

I wasn't really feeling the special for the day so I ordered my usual, cheeseburger and fries with a side of tarter.  I sat down and waited until they called my number.  It was weird eating food by myself.  Every time I've been here it was with at least one or more people.  I silently sat there and ate my food while I texted Ben and Bev.  I also wrote down a few caches in the area I did not have.  There were five to get since it wasn't raining and I had some time before it got dark.

I put the coords into Nuvi to the first cache, Shortcuts (GC5EC8P) and when I got there I knew I have been here before for another cache.  I parked in the same place and talked to Ben for a few minutes before he had to get ready for work.  I got out and looked.  The only spot it could have been and it was missing.  I didn't want to log a DNF so I replaced it.  All of my cache maintenance stuff was in the back of my car so I got a container out and put some black electric tape on it.  I signed it and put the logbook in a baggie.  I hid it as best as I could.  I was probably stolen in March.  I made a note that I replaced it for the cache owner in my log.

I put the coords in for the next one.  That one was down the road a little ways near the spiral walk way over I-5.  Again, there used to be a cache here a few years back.  I parked in the exact same spot.  I followed my arrow to the location and found nothing.  Does this guy not replace his caches?  I didn't want to leave empty handed again so I made another replacement cache for Trackable Heaven (GC5AR9D).  It was suppose to be hidden in the ivy so I tried to hide it as best as I could.  I believe the neighborhood kids had something for its disappearance.

I got onto Linderson Way, it paralleled I-5.  I saw where Wheels on the Bus Go...(GC5F9RD) was suppose to be and found a place to park.  I got out and tried looking for it.  Logically I would look on the bus stop, the glass had been shattered by I think a battery that was on the ground nearby, but the coords took me to a tree in a grassy area.  After ten min of searching I called Bev for some hints.  She said Bob found it and it was a while ago.  She couldn't remember.  I couldn't find anything so I left becasue I didn't have a replacement for this cache.  Maybe the cache owner will replace it?

Apples Anyone? (GC5F8G2) was the next one down Linderson near the hotel.  I parked at the hotel and walked to ground zero.  The hint was confusing and the coords were 30 feet off so I looked at the fire hydrant first and when I didn't find anything there I checked the obvious apple tree and found a red pill bottle.

The last cache was on the other side of I-5 so I drove down towards Isreal Road and crossed over, went through several roundabouts and headed to the back side of a doctor's office.  As soon as I got close to it my GPS died and I thought I had more batteries in my bag...nope.  I got onto my phone and to the geocaching website and read the hint.  I checked two places and found it right away.  It was at the other side of the spiral walk way over I-5.  Medication (GC5C0FQ) was hidden between a rock and a hard place.

It was getting to be that time so I decided to head home.  Before actually going home I stopped and did some cache maintenance on my Triangle II (GC2RP33).  Someone had crushed the lid with the rock so it was letting in a lot of moisture making the contents inside very moldy and mushy.  I took the stuff out of the old cache that wasn't molding or wet and put it in the new one.  I put it back and added more rocks to hide it better.  Off I went towards home.  It was a good day.

Next Adventure:  Seattle Sounders (S2) Game

Easter Fun!

This is a two-parter.


April 4

Celeste chose the date for this month's game night.  We usually pair it with Easter if Easter happens to fall near the date we end up choosing.  Since Celeste chose to be the egg filler and hider she also chose to host the event at her house this year.  Lindsay and I had a great idea for the food this time around.  One evening she came over to drop off my charger I left at her house the last game night and we got to talking about the next game night and food.  We really liked the idea of making mini pizzas and putting our own ingredients on them.  Megan made the two kinds of pizza dough, regular and gluten free, I brought olives and pepperoni, Lindsay and Justin brought some sausage, onions, and more pepperoni, Celeste and Lance provided the sauces, cheese, cupcakes and cookies and Nicole brought some roasted garlic and some games.

I was the first to arrive.  I actually thought I was late.  Everyone else arrived shortly after.  Since it was Megan's birthday her and Matt went out to dinner and might stop by later on.  We started with a game Wits and Wagers and then we got hungry so we started our pizzas.  There were a lot of toppings to choose from.  We had fun making our mini pizzas.

 We ate our pizza while we played another round of Wits and Wagers.  After, Celeste went and hid the eggs so we could go find them.  Last year Nicole was in charge of the eggs and she hid them.  We had airplane shots and adult paraphernalia inside the eggs and well as candy.  This year Celeste did the same thing except no airplane shots, instead we had glow in the dark condoms and tingly lip balm.  Lots of light sabre jokes were added to the conversation.  There was the golden egg, inside that one was "love dice."  Nicole was the lucky finder.

Lance had to get ready for work so we played some King's Crown.  Justin whooped all of us and he's never played the game before.  We all stayed until about midnight and had to go home.  A few of us had to work the next day unfortunately.

April 5 (Easter Sunday)

Our family Easter gathering was canceled this year because all of us were sick and my aunt and uncle who were hosting it didn't want sick people in their house.  We were suppose to go over there around 4ish and we were also celebrating birthdays.  I worked so I had to kinda learn not to make holidays important because I would be missing a lot of them while I was at the hotel.  Don't get me wrong they are important but I had to try not to make them a big deal or I would stress myself out being mad because I couldn't go to them...especially if they were on weekends.  It's hard to put that stuff aside.  Holidays with family is very important to me.

I worked and got done around 4.  Ben invited me over to his aunt's house for dinner.  I told him I would try to get there as soon as I could.  I arrived just after 5 and they were all already done eating but they saved me some food.  We chatted about a few things and watched the little kids play hide and go seek for a bit.  By that time, everyone was ready to go home and do their own thing.  We said bye to everyone and thanked them for the invite and the food.  Ben and I decided to go find an Easter cache nearby.

The closest cache took us to the local Walgreens, How Good Are You? (GC4WJKG)  We used his app because my query didn't go out that far.  He read off the hint and we assumed it was on the first bench.  I knew we were looking for a nano but it was on the other bench when we finally found it.  It was hidden pretty well.  You couldn't see it but only feel it.  We logged our names and took some time for a picture.  Then we put it back as we found it.

Then we headed over to his mom's house to hang out.  I got home around midnight.  Good times.

Happy Easter everyone!

Next Adventure:  Errands and Tumwater Caching