Oktoberfest!

Ben had mentioned a few weeks back that there was a local Oktober Fest event we could go to. I had never been to an Oktober Fest so I was pretty excited I had an opportunity to go and it worked out with our schedules.

I got off work a little early, went to the bank (I just got my first state paycheck) and headed home.  We both made it to my house around the same time.  I grabbed everything that we might need, including the steins (Ben bought these from his previous years in Leavenworth), he bought our tickets online, said our good byes and we were off to the Puyallup Fairgrounds.  We took his car and for some reason everyone on Hwy 507 after McKenna wanted to drive under the speed limit.  It drove me nuts everytime!

We stopped at Spirit Halloween in Spanaway for a bit.  We checked out all the costumes, house decorations and some of the make-up kits and funny hats.  I found a really awesome bear mask and Ben and I had to goof around with them.  It was almost dinner time and we were hungry.  Gotta go feed the hungry bears!  Haha!

He bought a few things for our roles in the upcoming haunted house at Walt and Wendy's house on Halloween.  We still gotta find some costumes for the asylum theme we have going.  We got in the car and headed the back way to the Puyallup Fairgrounds.  We parked in the lot to the east near the cow statue and grabbed everything we needed and walked to the expo building.

Our ID's were checked and we were given a wrist band.  We went inside and it was insane!  I used the bathroom then we stood in line for food.  I had the bratwurst plate and Ben had this pork steak burger thing.  I was so hungry I inhaled my food.

We sat at a table with a guy who was also a volunteer fire fighter but with the Eatonville department.  Ben would find the guy who is a firefighter, lol.  We ate our food and chatted with him for a while.  Then we stood in line for beer!

Each beer ticket was worth $6.  Most of the steins required 1 ticket to fill it up.  We paid $36 for 6 tickets and we definitely got our money's worth of beer.  There were six choices:

1.  Trumer Pilsner
2.  Warsteiner Oktoberfest
3.  Hofbrau Oktoberfest
4.  Haker Pschorr Weisse
5.  Snoqualmie Harvest Moon Fest Bier
6.  Warsteiner Dunkel

I filled my stein up twice with #4 and #2.  Ben filled his stein up with #2, #3 and #5.  We both liked the #2 the best.

We waited along the bleachers to play a round of corn hole.  We waited about 45 minutes until one opened up.  I don't recall throwing them that far before.  We did pretty bad for not having played this in a while but we did score 2 points!

We went into the souvenir store and looked at some of the stuff they were selling.  Then we waited in some lines to try our skill at beer pong.  The last time we played beer pong was in Chelan back in May with Ben's mom.  I sat at the table for a while as Ben kept our place in line.  I just had to get off my feet for a bit.  Meanwhile he talked to some Coug alumni and I talked to some really really drunk people.  It was hilarious.  Our turn was coming up so I walked back over and waited in line until it was our turn.  The Coug pair almost won.  We attempted our fate at beer pong.  It got pretty hairy there for a while but we managed to come back and beat them when it really counted.  We dethroned the kings!  Then we lost to some girls who clearly drink more than we did.  We left the arena in shame...haha no not really, we just needed to pee really bad!

We then made our way over to the stage area and listened to the headliner Manuela Horn, yodel to some of today's top 40 hits.  She sang 99 Red Balloons in German and yodeled the Na Na song.  We laughed uncontrollably.  That was worth the half hour we spend listening to the music.  Ben needed some more food so we bought some chicken strips and fries and I stole the big container of ketchup and brought it over to our table.  We talked about a bunch of stuff and then I had to pee again.  When I got back he had bought a pretzel and ate half of it.  It was getting late so we decided to head home around 11.  I drove us back to my house to give him some time go sober up.

We got to my house about midnight and I gave him some water and we hung out for a bit before I had to send him back home to get ready for his fire shift the next morning.  Hopefully we get to do the Leavenworth Oktober Fest next year.

Next Adventure:  Maris Farms Haunted Woods/Corn Maze

Lewis County Discovery Trail Caching

After work I had a chiropractor appointment in Centralia and decided to go see Ben at the station afterwards.  I needed to find something to do for about an hour and a half while waiting for him to get off work.  I remembered that I needed to finish finding the caches along the Discovery Trail nestled  up against the Chehalis River.  Ben and I had been on this trail back in March while we did the Lamprey Challenge but didn't really have enough time to grab the rest of the caches.

I followed the road to the parking area which was right next to someone's home and the trail carved its way along their property line.  They had many signs along the edge of the trail saying do not trespass or will be shot on site.  They mean business.  I got out and changed into some different, more comfortable clothes.  As I finished putting my shoes on and grabbing my phone, GPS and a pen, some guy and his dog showed up.  Of course, there had to be one other person on the trail while I was here.  He seemed nice enough.  They kept to themselves the entire time.  Then there was the barn.  With the leaves turning and it really looked like autumn.

There were 8 caches and the Lamprey cache we had already gotten back in March.  I hoped I had enough time to get them before the sun went down.  It looked like I wasn't going to get them all.  The fog had started to roll in and I had to hurry.

I started with Think Outside the Box (GC52AWE).  It was about a half a mile to the south of the entrance.  I walked and if I was going to get at least 4 of them  I had to hustle.  I jogged most of the way there.  When I finally got there I found out it was off the trail about 20 feet around a very large tree.  I started looking and I had trouble because it was much darker inside the woods and I didn't have a flashlight installed on my new phone yet.  About a minute into searching I remembered the name and started looking for a cache that was tied to a branch or the tree itself.  I almost ran into it.  Haha.  I signed the log and took the travel bug out to move it along.

On the way back, I grabbed 12-13-14 End of Era (GC5HTAV), a cache by RL Painter, one of our Thurston County buddies. That one was about 5 feet off the trail hidden on the backside of a tree with a natural shelf.  I was 2 for 2!

I jogged the rest of the way to the next one, Pink Power Ranger Adds to the Discovery Trail (GC4Q973), which was near the trail entrance.  It was hidden underneath a rock next to the sign.  I picked up the rock and touched a slug! Ew.  I signed my name and but it back better than I found it.

I walked to the next cache, Cheshire Cat (GC5EKE7) and started looking for it.  When I didn't find it right away I looked at the logs and was disappointed.  The last few people didn't find it.  I looked on the ground and the next couple trees just to rule out it fell and that the coords were off.  I didn't find it.  Sad day.  I will have to come back when the cache owner replaces it or when I come out here again I will bring a replacement.  This is where I ran into the guy and his dog again.  They were on their return trip back to the car.  I started my way back towards the Escape.  I knew if I tried going for the next one it will be dark plus it started sprinkling and I didn't want to end up being soaked.

I got back to the Escape and decided to go back towards Centralia.  I had a Subway gift card that I could use because I wasn't getting paid until the next day.  I got myself a sub and Ben his sub.  I sat down and ate it because I still had to eat up some time before he got to the station.  When I was done I went and got some dessert to bring with me as an offering for the guys at the station.  He told me he was going to be at the Grand Mound station but that changed as I sat in the parking lot with his sub, cinnamon rolls and some ice cream sandwiches.  They let him stay at the Rochester station instead.  I hustled on over and he was waiting for me outside to let me in.

He ate the sub, we had dessert and we dinked around with the two other guys who were on shift for a little bit.  We shot rubber bands at various targets.

Then came the time we both dread...saying good night for the evening and having to leave and go home.  We really hate that part.  I got home around 10:30, took a shower, got ready for work the next day and fell asleep as my head hit the pillow.  It was an eventful day and it was nice to finally rest.

Next Adventure:  Oktober Fest!

Picking Up Two in Centralia

After work as I emerged from the warehouse, I found out it was a beautiful day.  I wanted to embrace it.  I had a chiro appointment in Centralia I had to get to but had some time afterwards for a few caches in the sunshine.  I had about 35 minutes to get to my appointment on time.  Traffic wasn't horrible so I got there early and he got me back early.  He worked on my right shoulder blade and amazingly it felt better afterwards.  I paid and then decided which ones I wanted to go for.

I decided on Fahrenheit451 (GC5XRMT) at the Riverside Fire Authority or the Centralia Fire Station.  I parked about 200 feet away and walked right up to ground zero.  I knew where it was going to be before I even got there.  The location was pretty cool.  I like hides like these.

I put every thing back the way I found it and walked back to the Escape.  I looked for the next one and it was further down 507 on the way home.  HUNTER (GC51H7A) was literally right off the highway.  I had to find a side street to park off of to go grab this one.  The coords had me at an old chair and a light pole.  It had to be simpler than that.  I read the hint and I instantly knew where to look.  It was hidden inside a water meter box in front of the cacher's yard.  I hate looking for caches in people's yards.  I tried to hurry as fast as I could just in case they decided to come out and talk to me.  I didn't have time to talk.  I got it out, signed the log and put it back all in less than 2 minutes.

I walked back to the Escape and went home.  I really wanted to go get more but I was getting hungry.

Next Adventure:  Lewis County Discovery Trail Caching