Rainier, St. Helens and Scappoose, Oregon

A few days ago mom was browsing through the internet and saw that Rainier, Oregon had an animal sanctuary that housed sloths.  For some reason in the last few years mom had gotten into sloths.  However, the only thing we could find was the address and nothing else.  They hadn't updated their website in years.  Besides the address the instructions were pretty vague.  Mom decided she wanted to go the next Saturday.

I got up, got ready, got some food together and grabbed the recycle so I could dump it off on my way out to Rainier.  I called mom to tell her I was on my way and to get her stuff ready so we weren't waiting around for her when I got there.  I got rid of the recycle and headed to get mom.  She was ready for once.  She threw her stuff in the Escape and we were on our way towards I-5.  I've done this drive many times between June 2009 and February 2010 when I was seeing Brad in Hillsboro.  Once we got on the freeway I had mom try to find out more about the sloths in Rainier.  She really couldn't find much.  I might have to create an alternative adventure once we get down there.

The drive was pretty uneventful.  The weather looked like it could rain at some point today and we were hoping that it held up until we were on our way home.  We got off the freeway in Longview and took the highway to the Lewis and Clark bridge to cross the Columbia River into Oregon.  We drove into Rainier and found out that this sloth place was up the hill towards Astoria off of Larson Road.  We turned around and followed the directions.  It took us past Rainier High School and an Amish store called Black Buggy Furniture.  Not even a quarter of a mile from the furniture store was the gate to the animal sanctuary.  It had a large sign on it that said something about patrons waiting outside until their appointment time.  There wasn't an option to get an appointment.  How do people get to go in here?  It was a mystery.

We moved on and decided to do more research at another time.  Meanwhile, mom wanted to go into the furniture store.  I checked my geocaching app to see if there were any caches nearby.  There was one at the furniture store!  Score!  Mom stayed in the car while I walked down to the cache.  It was an ammo can hidden by Freda!  Oh how I missed Freda.  The geocaching world lost a good one when she left us to years ago.  I signed our names, took a picture and put 2's Company~3's a Crowd (GC3H8ZK) back in its hiding spot.

Mom and I went into the store and looked around.  All the furniture was handmade by Amish folk and it was really expensive.  Since it was handmade the quality was spot on.  I ended up finding some blue popcorn kernels to take home with me.  As we paid we talked about college football specifically the Pac-12 because they saw my sweatshirt.  We thanked them and headed back to the Escape.

I asked mom what she wanted to do next since we drove all the way down here.  She said she didn't know.  I suggested since we were down here we could go to St. Helens, Oregon.  I've been down there several times over the years but it baffles me that she had never gone.  I told her the movie Halloweentown was filmed there.  She didn't know that and wanted to go see it even more.  I told her since it wasn't October yet they probably don't have all the Halloween decorations out.  She wanted to go anyway.  We drove through Rainier again and down Hwy 30 to St. Helens.

I haven't been down this way in a while so it was nice to see if anything had changed plus it was a nice little drive.  When we got there I had to put in the coordinates so I knew where downtown St. Helens was on the river.  It has been a few years since I've been here so I couldn't remember every detail.  We found a free place to park near the shops across from the famous city hall building.  I told mom about some of the places that I could remember.

We walked to city hall and I found out there was a multicache, Historic Old Town St. Helens (GC6N4C9) here so we started doing the pieces of it as we walked the street and took pictures.  We walked down to the park near the river where we used the restroom and tried to figure out how to get to the other side of the fence that was blocking some of mom's river shots.

We finished the multi, which took us to the theater and then to the final on our way to the small walking trail along the river.  The final was a nano stuck to a yellow power box with a skull head on it just down the street from city hall.  I thought it was cool.

We made our way around the small walking trail as mom took pictures.   We walked back over to where we parked the Escape and decided to find something else to do while we were here.  I grabbed one more caches, The Forgotten Cache (GC3AXBW) tucked into a rock wall.  It was an easy rock wall.

We looked to see if there were any waterfalls in the area.  We drove to Scappoose to show mom the large red candle and we got monsooned on for about a half hour.  Then I saw the Goodwill and had to go inside.  I found a few things and was impressed on how organized this place was I gave a compliment to one of the workers.  She thanked me.

We had to get gas before we were stranded and I always hated getting gas in Oregon because we had to have it pumped for us by the attendant.  I hated waiting there and I hated handing them my money.  Why can't I just do it?  It would take less time and I would be out of there.  But then it takes jobs away from people.

Mom, again, suggested that we go see one of the falls just located off the Scappoose/Vernonia Highway.  I said sure, it's still pretty early to be heading back towards home.  There wasn't an exact address when mom was searching for but we thought we found it but it turns out we did not.  We did find a little creek to enjoy though.

We got back on the highway and headed north towards home.  We drove through all the little towns and finally back into Rainier.  We went across the Lewis and Clark bridge and into Longview where we followed the road to I-5.  Mom wanted pizza for dinner so I figured since we were heading through Castle Rock in a bit to go to Papa Pete's for dinner.

We shared a salad and ordered a large pepperoni and black olives pizza.  I had a Pepsi with it and we scarfed that pizza down.  We took the leftovers home for dad and Ben.  When we got near Chehalis mom asked if we could stop at Walmart so she could get a few things.  I said sure.  She bought some Cheerios, strawberries and yogurt for dad.

We got off of I-5 and headed towards Rainier.  I dropped mom off and headed back into Lacey and went home.  I got a shower and hung out for the evening watching TV shows, logging caches and trying to catch up on my blog.

Next Adventure:  Beacon Rock, The Sasquatch Series and Panther Creek Falls

Heading Back to Seattle via San Francisco

Mom's alarm went off at 3:30 a.m.  This was painfully early considering this was really 1:30 a.m. our time.  I struggled to get out of bed.  I was pretty tired still but it was time to go back home.  I did my bathroom stuff and got my airplane clothes on.  I had to reorganize everything so my fifth of whiskey didn't break.  I wrapped it in so many clothes.  My suitcase was very full and tipped forward.  I had to make sure nothing broke.

Mom went down stairs and checked out while Erika and I packed the car one more time.  It was so early.  We got onto the freeway and followed the signs to the rental car drop off.  We parked the car and filled out the rest of the paperwork.  We took all of our stuff out and found out I had lost the button for the top of my Nuvi.  We looked everywhere for it and couldn't find it.  Bummer.  I walked over to the drop box and put the paperwork and the keys inside.

We walked ourselves and luggage to the departures section of the airport.  We printed out our boarding passes and checked in our luggage.  We paid for our luggage, went through security and walked to our gate, A8.  We waited there for a bit.  We all took turns using the restroom before we started to board.  Our flight left at 6:25 a.m. central time and would arrive in San Francisco at 9:13 a.m. pacific time.  I sat next to mom and got the window view.  I slept some and looked out the window during the flight.

As we flew over northern Arizona and southern Utah we got to see the landscape change.  I wasn't sure what I was looking at but it definitely looked like the canyons.  Maybe part of the Grand Canyon?

We arrived in San Francisco a little before our actual arrival time, which was nice.  I was ready for some breakfast once we got off the plane.  We had a short layover.  Our flight to Seattle left at 11:01 a.m.  We got off the plane and into the concourse.  We wandered around for a bit looking for food because I was trying to find a healthy alternative besides all the fast food places mostly for mom.  At this point she really didn't care so we settled for Burger King.  I haven't had Burger King in forever.  Just before 9:30 we all got a breakfast sandwich, a hashbrown and an OJ.  Erika got coffee.  We sat at the table for a little while before heading to our gate.

We got to our gate and we all used the restroom again before they started to board.  If I don't have to use the airline bathroom more power to me.  Our flight left on time and we headed north to Seattle.  Along the way, the clouds held up for us, we knew we were getting close when we saw some familiar landmarks.  The first one was Crater Lake.  We had gone here July 2017 when we went to Bend to visit with dad's friend Ron.

We knew we were getting closer as we approached Mt. St. Helens to our right.  We went to the Windy Ridge side of Mt. St. Helens this past summer for a fun day trip.  Both mom and I hadn't been there since the mid 1990s.  Mt. St. Helens is my favorite Cascade mountain.

A little farther north to the right of the plane was Mount Rainier.  I see Rainier just about everyday.  It has always been known as the mountain in our back yard.  You can see it on the way to my parents house and on the way to our house.  It's a fixture to our horizon we've always known.

We made our descent into Seattle.  I was so ready to be home.  I was tired and wanted some food and a long nap.  We got off the plane and headed towards baggage claim.  We grabbed our bags after a few minutes of waiting and went outside to wait for the shuttle to Ajax 2.  We probably waited maybe 15 minutes for the shuttle to arrive.  They drove us right to the Escape, we thanked them, handed them a tip and loaded our stuff into my vehicle.

We got onto the highway and onto I-5 south.  It took us about an hour to get home and that was including taking mom home.  When we got home, I had a sandwich and took a couple hour nap.  When I got up I worked on Grammie's photo slideshow for her celebration on Wednesday.  I had Monday off for the holiday, Tuesday and Wednesday were my bereavement days from work.  I was always hoping it would be a long time before I would have to use those.  Everything just happened so fast.  I almost forgot to breathe.

Next Adventure:  Celebrating the Life of Eileen Joy Larson (Grammie)

Knoxville, State Parks, McMinnville and Heading Back to Nashville

Today was our last full day in Tennessee and we were going to make the most of it.  We got up just as early as the first couple days.  This time we were going to gain an hour as we moved west back towards Nashville and we kept that in mind while we stopped at our sites.

Mom wanted to go back to Pigeon Forge so we got all of our stuff together and crammed it into the trunk.  I have been told by several people, since we've been here, that we needed to eat at one of the most famous southern breakfast places...the Waffle House.  Luckily, we didn't have to go that far.  There was one we could see from our hotel across the street.

We drove over, parked and found ourselves a booth.  The menu was straight forward.

Mom and I ordered the breakfast scramble, Erika got the waffles and I also got an OJ.  The food was pretty good and I can see why this place is pretty popular.  We paid and went back out to the car.  I asked mom what specifically did she want to go see in Pigeon Forge.  She said the buildings we missed yesterday.  Okay, so we would be stopping at random places between Sevierville and Pigeon Forge, gotcha.

We got onto the freeway and back onto the Winfield Dunn Parkway, the frickin' long road again, so mom could visit the list of places she saw yesterday.  First, we stopped in Sevierville to check out Dolly Parton's statue.  This part of town at this time of the day was pretty dead.  We were the only ones near City Hall.  We parked right across the street from the statue.  I read the cache page and had to figure out what the hint was trying to tell me.  I saw the sign they spoke of, grabbed the cache from its hiding spot and brought it back for a photo op at the statue.

Mom really wanted to see Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Show but it didn't open until much later.  We would have to actually do this some other time...maybe.  We drove over to the location and remembered that the Titanic museum was also nearby.  We spent time at the hillbilly building first.  There, we saw a ton of Canadian geese just walking around but mom was there to take pictures of the tractors and farm animals.  She got lucky though.  A few minutes later some actors (dressed as hillbillies) in a beat up old truck drove by and handed her a flier for that night's upcoming show.  She was so excited.  Erika and I walked around the front to enjoy the various chickens, goats, pigs and ducks.  Mom soon followed us.  We spent probably a half hour talking and making fun of the farm animals before we got back in the car and drove over to the Titanic museum.  I knew we didn't have time to go inside but I did want a picture of me with the building because it was cool.

Another place on our list to go see was the Old Mill.  I remember seeing these bags of flour in our house when I was a kid.  Once you see the logo you kinda remember it forever.  I didn't realize it was literally in town.  I thought it was outside of town a ways.  Trying to park was insane but once we did we went inside and looked at all the variations of flour, pancake mix, jellies and other miscellaneous items.

We went outside and took a picture of the mill itself and its waterwheel. Then we walked around the rest of the block just to see what was around.  Erika and I went into a leather store and she bought some moccasins.  Mom found us shortly after.  She was taking pictures.

Before we went back to the car we found a public bathroom just so we didn't have to stop anywhere in Knoxville.

We took the really long road back to the freeway.  I set the Nuvi for the Sunsphere because I wanted to see it before we left Knoxville.  The Tennessee Volunteers were getting ready for their game but it was in Charlotte against the West Virginia Mountaineers so the school opened up places for people to watch the game that could not attend.  Tennessee ended up losing to West Virginia 40-14.  We listened to it on the radio as we drove west.

One of the main things mom wanted to do while we were in Tennessee was to see some of the state parks with waterfalls in them.  I made a list of ones that were popular and got their addresses to make it easier when we were looking at the map (mostly so we didn't back track.)  Our first state park of the day was Fall Creek Falls.  It was going to be about a 2 hour drive along I-40 towards Cookeville.  As we drove we enjoyed the scenery.  We crossed into the central time zone (we gained an hour) between Rockwood and Crossville.  We got off of I-40 and took some side highways toward Spencer, the closest town near the state park.

Fall Creek Falls is one of Tennessee's largest and most visited state parks.  The park encompasses more than 26,000 acres sprawled across the eastern top of the rugged Cumberland Plateau.  Laced with cascades, gorges, waterfalls, streams and lush stands of virgin hardwood timber, the park beacons those who enjoy nature at her finest.  Fall Creek Falls, at 256 feet, is one of the highest waterfalls in the eastern United States.  Other waterfalls within the park include Piney Falls, Cane Creek Falls and Cane Creek Cascades.  In 1937, the federal government began purchasing the badly eroded land around Fall Creek Falls.  The following year, the Works Project Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began restoring the forest and constructing park facilities.  A few years later in 1944, the National Park Service transferred ownership of the park to the State of Tennessee.

We got there and the park was so large we had no idea where to go.  It was a good thing I grabbed a map so we could figure out where we wanted to go.  We ended up parking at the wrong end of the trail and so we parked in this open gravel lot and walked up to the falls.  It was a longer walk than we thought.  Once we got there I felt dumb because there was a parking lot like right there.  Oh well we got some walking in after being in the car for so long.

I think we came at the wrong part of the year because the waterfall was not that watery.  The landscape was pretty cool though.  I tried to see if I could do the earthcache here but it required us to walk down to the bottom which we didn't have enough time for so I didn't do it.  There was a brief thunderstorm and some light rain while we were there at the edge looking in.

We left the state park for the next one but I put in a detour to McMinnville mostly because I had to.  In 2007 I lived in McMinnville, Oregon where I worked with the athletic department at Linfield College.  First it was an internship so I could get my diploma but then it turned into a six month job.  I saw that we weren't that far from McMinnville, TN and I just had to go so I could say I've been to both.

We got into town and I tried looking for the first cache that popped up near us on the app.  I got out and unfortunately I could not find it.  Out of the corner of my eye I noticed this older gentleman walking towards us.  The introvert me wanted to run to the car and drive away really fast but the oh, maybe he needs help kicked in.  He did need help.  He couldn't get his truck started and he asked if he could get a jump.  I said sure.  We drove the car over and helped him get his truck started.  We told him our car was a rental and we were from Washington State on vacation.  He asked us what we've seen so far and we told him.  A few minutes later we got his truck started and he thanked us.  That was our yearly pay it forward.

I plugged in the coords for the next state park, Rock Island.

It is a 870-acre park located on the headwaters of the Caney Fork, Collins and Rocky Rivers.  The park features scenic overlooks, waterfalls, deep pools and limestone paths perfect for hiking, swimming, fishing, kayaking and exploring.  It also features a natural sand beach and boating access on Center Hill Lake.  The park was named for an island in the Caney Fork River.  A textile mill operated here in the 1890s.  In 1917, a hydroelectric plant and dam here built by the Tennessee Electric Power Company, just downstream from the Caney Fork and the Collins Rivers, creating Great Falls Lake.  The plant's village and Rock Island thrived during this time, for employees and as a resort.  The community water supply, resembling a castle (Spring Castle), is now a charming park feature.  The Tennessee Valley Authority took over operations in the 1940s, and in 1966 leased property to the State of Tennessee for park development.  Since then, Rock Island had been a leading recreation area.

We parked in the very small parking lot and Erika again, opted to stay in the car.  We really didn't have a whole lot of time to hike to the main waterfall so we enjoyed the smaller ones near the overlook.  There were a bunch of people down below jumping off the small cliffs into the pools of water.  If we weren't crunched on time I would have gone down and done the same.  This is a very unique area and I am glad Tennessee takes care of their state parks.

Our last state park in Tennessee was Burgess Falls.  We weren't going to have enough time for any more today unfortunately.  We were running out of time and we needed to get some dinner in us before heading to the hotel.  I put the address into the Nuvi and headed about 20 miles north near Sparta, TN.  It took us down small country roads and highways.  We got to see a lot of small towns along the way.  We reached the turn and followed the road to the parking lot.  There were quite a few people here.  Again, Erika decided to stay in the car.

Burgess Falls State Park, located on the Falling Water River, is noted for its natural beauty and four waterfalls that cascade down from over 250 feet in elevation.  The last of these falls is the most spectacular, plunging more than 130 feet into the gorge.  While the park is popular for its waterfalls and wildlife, the open air Native Butterfly Garden, adjacent to the upper parking area, is easily accessed and provides striking seasonal native wildflower displays.  The area was originally populated by Native Americans of the Cherokee, Creek and Chickasaw tribes.  These tribes used the land as a hunting ground until the late 19th century when a gristmill and a sawmill began operating on the river.  The Falling Water River was used to generate hydroelectric power for the city of Cookeville from 1928-1944.  In 1973, the territory became a designated Tennessee State Natural Area, protecting the diverse forest and aquatic habitats.

We found the trailhead and followed the trail along the river.  We saw several people along the way.  There were a lot of great views and places to stop to take pictures of.

The trail was a 1.5 mile round trip hike to the overlook of the falls and back.  There was a short down and back to the top of the falls.

After we spent time at the overlook enjoying the falls mom wanted to walk down to the top of the falls.  This trail was pretty steep and uneven.  Nothing mom and I couldn't do.  When we got down there we actually could walk out near the waterfall.  They did have a park ranger down at the bottom to make sure people don't get too close.  We hung out for a while before heading back up the hill and back to the parking lot.  Tennessee had some great waterfalls.

When we got back Erika wasn't in the car...she had the keys.  We walked towards the bathrooms and didn't find her there.  She was sitting on one of the curbs listening to music.  She said she needed some fresh air.  We all got back in the car and got back onto I-40 towards Nashville.  We were hungry so mom asked what we should have.  I suggested Texas Road House because I have never been to one and the closest one to us at home is in Kennewick.  I have been near it but have never had enough time to go in and eat.  We found the closest one to us and it was in Hendersonville, just northeast of Nashville.

It was in a mall complex and it had just got done raining.  It was very humid outside.  We went in and it would be a short wait.  When they got us back they gave us some waters, fresh bread and this awesome cinnamon honey butter.  I'm not really into butter that much but this butter was awesome!  I could not get enough of it!  We looked at the menus and we all got the smallest cut of steak and a baked potato with whatever toppings we wanted on it.  It was delicious and hit the spot after a really long day.

I just had to get a cache in Kentucky.  It was 30 miles away and I could not think of another time in the near future that I would be this close to a new state.  I asked mom and Erika if we could go get Kentucky before we go to the hotel.  They said sure.  It was a quick drive to the border.  We got off of Hwy 65 and got on a side road that was under construction.  Luckily, it was quick.  We parked in the lot next to an outdoor theater.  I could not tell what was actually playing on the screen.  The cache, 31 W Drive In the 21st Century (GC5R6P2), was on the theater's property and I had to find it, sign my name, take a picture and put it back as fast as I could without everyone watching the movie seeing me.  I'm pretty sure people saw me.  I got my first Kentucky cache!

We got back in the car and headed to our hotel.  This time our hotel was near the airport so we didn't have to drive so far in the morning.  We got there about 8 p.m., mom checked us in, we parked the car, grabbed our stuff and headed up the elevator to our room.  I got cleaned up, we repacked our suitcases and relaxed a bit before going to bed.  We had a really early day of traveling ahead of us.  I shared a double bed with mom again.  This time she didn't kick me in the middle of the night.

Next Adventure:  Heading Back to Seattle via San Francisco