North: Shop Hopping and Picking Up Caches

Both Mom and I had Friday off but we weren't sure what we wanted to do with that day.  I asked Mom where she wanted to go and every time she said, I don't know.  She did mention something about the Shop Hop when we went to Vancouver on Saturday though.  I thought about that for a while and decided to ask her if she was interested in going to the north shops on the Friday.  She said that would be fine.  We planned what we were going to do and what time we were going to leave.  They didn't have one last year because of Covid but decided to do one this year but it had limited hours.  It usually lasts 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. but this year it will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. which seriously limits our travel time especially up north where they are more spread out and traffic is heavier.

We agreed that we would drive the Expedition and we will leave as close to 6 a.m. as possible.  We will need all the travel time we could get since our first Shop Hop stop will be in Lynden.  I was hoping we would get there a tad bit early so we could grab a few caches I need for the Towns and Cities Challenge I've been doing since I started caching in 2010.  It has been an on going process since then.  I would have been further along but didn't do a whole lot of local traveling from 2012-2015.  Oh well, it gave me a goal to attain and pushed me to take weekend adventures.

The night before, I made sure I had everything written down.  All of the shops and their addresses, the order and the caches I needed for the towns and cities I needed.  We also talked about bringing our lunch and finding a place to eat dinner along the way...wherever that was going to be.  We will see where we are at when that time comes.  I set my alarm for early o'clock and went to bed.  

The next morning I got up and got ready to go.  Mom was a few minutes late because she got gas at the Nisqually Reservation before she got to my house.  I got my Nalgene and food ready and put in the cooler with some ice packs.  I made sure I had my GPS and my notebook with all of our stops inside of it.  We left the house around 6 a.m.  We drove down Ruddell and onto College and eventually to Martin to get onto I-5 North.  I think we left at the perfect time because we didn't hit traffic until we reached Seattle.  Along the way we talked about work, Peru, brainstormed where to go next spring with our JetBlue points, geocaching, the Shop Hop and other random things that came up as we drove.

We got to Bellingham at a decent time (around 9 a.m.) and got off on Hwy 542 and headed northeast towards Everson.  We turned left onto Everson Goshen Road and with about three more miles to go, I had to go.  I am not above stopping on the side of the road and going.  I just had to find a good place to pull over.  I found a place and parked the Expedition on the side of the road.  I grabbed some wipes and ran across the road to someone's yard.  They had a side yard that was covered in brush and trees.  Perfect.  I will be well hidden from the road and the people that could be in the house.  I did what I needed to do and jumped back in the Expedition.  We followed the road and made our way to a town I've never heard of until I started this challenge.  It was literally a blip in the road.   We know this area more by the name of Nooksack Valley.

There were a few caches in this town that met the criteria but I decided on the one in Riverside Park.  I figured it would be easy to park and grab without being in the way or people seeing us.  We pulled into the park and just as I thought, it was an easy park and grab.  Test Tube Baby: Wendy (GC5NEN2) was underneath an old log.  Mom sat in the Expedition while I jumped out to sign it for the both of us.  I got a photo and we drove back into town to head to the next one.

We turned onto Hwy 9 and made our way north to Sumas.  The only time I've ever heard of Sumas was this past winter when the river flooded and the people were stranded there for a few days.  People were kayaking through town and everyone tried to keep the flood waters out of their houses with sand bags.  Anyway, I had planned on looking for No Overnite Camping (GC1HEMC) but the nettles and sticker bushes were in full force so we decided to go find the other one in town, Bridge Over Troubled Water (GC8ZNRN) instead.  We parked near the bridge, Mom stayed in the Expedition again while I ran over to the other side to go look for the container.  Thank goodness it was easy to find and it was there!  I signed our names, got a picture and realized I could literally see Canada from here.  

We were not even a quarter of a mile from Canada.  The main road in town was the border crossing.  Just north of Sumas is Abbotsford, the city that was suppose to host GeoWoodStock in August 2020.  But you know, Covid.  We were hoping to go this summer but still, Covid.  Maybe next summer?

I put our first address into Nuvi and then got back on the main road and follow it to where Hwy 9 turned into Hwy 546.  We had about 15 minutes until the quilt stores opened at 10.  We were going to time this perfectly.  Hwy 546 took us into Lynden.  We parked on the street and went into the first quilt store of the day, Tangled Threads Quilt Shop.  I know Mom and several other of her quilting ladies have been up here in the past, I have not.  This is uncharted quilting store territory for me.  I told Mom that we can't spend a ton of time in each of these stores or we won't make it to all of them.  She understood.  We walked around, grabbed our free pattern, got our passport stamped and saw a Covid quilt.  On to the next one!

There were three in Lynden so when I originally put them in order I went from east to west since that's kinda the route we were going through town.  Calico Country was the second quilt store on our list and we went in, got our free pattern, passport stamped and looked around for a couple minutes.  Mom ended up finding some Seahawk fabric one of her quilt ladies was looking for so she bought a few yards of it.  I walked through the parking lot because I saw a huge windmill and I thought it was cool.  I walked back as Mom was getting her fabric cut.  We drove to the last one in Lynden and were making pretty good time.

Folktales was a little rustic quilt shop kinda off the beaten path.  It was outside of town and carried a lot of browns and greens...almost like they sold woodland creatures and forest colored fabric and knick knacks, kind of whimsical-like.  They had a lot of Christmas stuff and gnomes. We got our passports stamped, bought the finishing kit because it had buttons we needed to finish the square and Mom bought some of the 2021 fabric and the fabric to finish the quilt here as well.  We got back into the Expedition and drove to Bellingham.  

The quilt store in Bellingham was in a really obscure part of Bellingham.  We took some back roads from Lynden and popped us into the east side of Bellingham near Whatcom Lake.  When I was researching caches in the area to grab, I saw a virtual cache and it was near Kori's Fabric Creations.  As Nuvi took us closer to the store, we noticed we were in a residential area and wondered if we were going in the right direction.  We made one more turn and there it was.  The parking area was weird so we parked outside on the road and walked in.  There was a raffle drawing for a quilt outside so we spent a few minutes hearing their spiel and then went inside for our free pattern and our stamp and ended up getting the finishing kit here too.  We used the restroom before we left.  We went back outside and I put in a dollar to their quilt raffle.  As I filled out the ticket, the lady rolled her eyes at me when I accidentally put the used pen into the unused cup.  Mom thought they were rude and I really didn't care that much.

I put in the coords for the virtual cache, Triplin' the Rock Fantastic (GC8DBEH).  It was right up the road from the quilt store.  We follow Nuvi's directions and make our way to a place called Big Rock Gardens.  It featured a fenced off sculpture park (similar to the Monarch Sculpture Park near our town), trails and a parking lot.  We find a place to park and I read the cache details.  It was an offset one like most letterbox directions so we start walking down the trail.  Turns out it isn't along the trail but inside the gated off area inside.  We went inside and walk down to the sculpture that I needed to answer questions on.  I got what I needed and we walked back to the Expedition.  We ate our lunch as we drove ourselves to I-5 south.

We booked it down I-5 even though Sedro-Woolley wasn't that far away from Bellingham, a mere half hour drive, we just didn't want to waste precious Shop Hop time.  We weren't even halfway done with the quilt shops yet, but with this one we would be half way done.  I kept reminding Mom that the last time I did any Shop Hopping with them was with Grandma back in 2013, a whopping eight years ago, when we drove around Pierce and King counties.  I also remember the finishing kits being like a dollar or two, not this five or six dollar expensive stuff.  Mom said that it's a new thing because of Covid, a lot of these stores were closed down and didn't make much money the year before so this is how they are sorta making it up.  I get it but holy cow.

I didn't need any caches in Sedro-Woolley because we basically got them all when we were here in September so our visit will be pretty quick and easy.  We got off I-5 at the first exit that took us to Sedro-Woolley and that was a mistake.  This exit didn't have a light for a left turn and there were tons of people getting on I-5 south.  There was a huge back up on this road because people were stuck behind a tractor so it messed up traffic.  We did finally manage to find a gap so we could turn onto the road.  We got into Sedro-Woolley and found a parking place near the address of the quilt store.  We got out and went the wrong way and had to turn around and walk down the correct side of the road.  We walked into Quilting Foxes, got our free pattern, got our passport stamped and Mom looked around for a few minutes.

We drove down Hwy 20 back to I-5 south to our sixth quilt store, Cotton Pickin's, in Stanwood.  Stanwood was another town and city that I needed for my challenge.  We got off at the Lake McMurray exit and drove the back way to Stanwood on the Pioneer Highway.  I had checked the area for caches when I looked up the address on the internet.  I saw one that was the closest to the quilt store that I could basically walk to if Mom wanted to spend some time in the store.  We get to the quilt store, we go in, get our passport stamped and our free pattern.  I told Mom I was going to run across the street to get a cache and to check out a Scandinavian store called Uff Da.  She told me if I had time to grab her some cold water and handed me a couple bucks.  

I ran across the street and into an old shopping center called Viking Village.  It was once a thriving shopping center but time has crushed its spirits.  There are still some businesses still functioning in the run-down mini mall but there are a lot of vacant store fronts.  I found the nano, Velkomen to Stanwood (GCWH64) on the sign near the highway.  I initialed our names, put it back and spent a few minutes inside of Uff Da.  

I saw a winter hat I'd like to have but I didn't have my wallet with me.  Just as well.  I had to get Mom some water so I ran across the street to Rite Aid and got her a bottle of water.  Afterwards, I walked back to the quilt store and she called me to see where I was.  I told her I was almost there.  We get back into the Expedition and put in the next address. I wanted to to get the virtual cache a few miles down the highway towards Camano Island but we were running short on time so we decided to do it another day.

The next quilt store was to Aunt Mary's Quilting Shop in Arlington.  This shop was going to be right off the freeway but we knew there was going to be some traffic since it was now early afternoon.  We got off I-5 and saw we couldn't make a left turn because of the cement barrier.  We will have to go around the block at the light.  That took way longer than it should have because of the traffic.  We eventually got there, parked and went inside.  We got our stamp, grabbed the free pattern, donated a dollar to the raffle for a chance to win a basket and we both used the restroom while we looked around for a few minutes.  

We got back on the freeway and headed south to Marysville.  We got off there and drove east on the 528 to Hwy 9.  We followed Hwy 9 south through several stop lights and into West Lake Stevens.  Hwy 9 took us over Hwy 2 and directly to Snohomish.  We drove through the main part of town, which was 2nd Street, and we kept our eyes peeled for a quilt store named Quilting Mayhem.  Mom saw the sign for it and it was a huge warehouse!  We found a place to park and went inside.  The place was ginormous!  It doubled as a store and a retreat getaway.  I'm sure people who do retreats here spend a pretty penny.  We got our passport stamped, got our free pattern and entered in a contest to win a brand new Janome sewing machine.  We looked around for a few more minutes but had to hit the road if we wanted to get the last two stores before 5 p.m.  We had come through here last September to grab this town and city for the challenge so we didn't need to get another cache here. 

We followed the road east out of town and got onto Hwy 2 towards Monroe.  I also have cached in Monroe so we didn't need to make any extra stops while we were there.  When we got within the city limits the traffic was terrible!  This is what was going to eat up our time.  Everyone was on Hwy 2 hoping to get out of town so they could head to Eastern Washington for the weekend.  Ughhh!  I hate traffic!  We did eventually get to the Ben Franklin Craft Store for our free pattern and another stamp to our passport but getting out of town was gruesome.  Somehow, we managed to get back onto Hwy 2 but it was so slow it was eating me alive!  We inched our way to Hwy 522 and were able to get some of the time back we wasted.  We had less than an hour left and we needed to get to Woodinville to our last quilt store.  Dinner, gas and everything else would have to wait.

Gathering Fabric, was our last quilt store of the day.  We got off of Hwy 522 in Woodinville and made our way onto the Woodinville-Redmond Road.  We followed that through many distilleries, breweries and wineries.  No wonder there was a ton of traffic on this road.  That paired with high school graduations, weddings and extra people in town because it's nice and summer time made it really hard to find a parking spot near the fabric store.  We actually had to drive around for 10 minutes just to find a sketchy place to park.  We weren't going to be here for more than five minutes so I felt pretty good about it.  We walked to the fabric store and we were literally the only people in there besides the owner.  She stamps our passports and hands us a free block pattern.  We engage in some small talk and she says she's been in the same location for almost 30 years and has seen this area grow exponentially.  She says some days are crazier than others.  We thanked her and run back to the Expedition before someone tickets it.  

I ask Mom, where to now?  She said let's get out of this crazy place and make our decision.  I needed to get two more caches while we were up here so I plugged the coordinates into Nuvi for my Woodway cache.  From there, we will decide as we drive past places.  We got back onto Hwy 522/Bothell Way and meandered our way to Hwy 104/Edmonds Way.  Once onto Edmonds Way, we both vaguely remembered being on this road when we helped Doug and Jenn move back in October 2018.  We follow Nuvi and notice there was an Ivar's on the south side of the highway.  I asked Mom if she wanted to eat there once we were done grabbing the cache.  She said sure.

It's amazing that there are still greenbelts and areas of open land restricted from building amongst the concrete jungle still around.  I bet it's nice for these city people to have some sort of haven to retreat to when they are tired of the hustle and bustle of the city and traffic.  Once we arrived to the Woodway parking lot where the coords took us, I was happy to see this small trail system was in such great shape.  There was hardly any graffiti, no garbage thrown about or drug paraphernalia littered along the ground.  Mom sat in the Expedition while I walked the short tenth of a mile to the letterbox, Welcome to Woodway (GC95B4G).  It took me a few minutes to find it because my GPS jumped around so much.  I let it settle down and found it inside of a downed log with small mushrooms on it.  I got our names on it, got a photo and put it back.  I imagine most of its finds were people finding it to meet the requirements of the Towns and Cities Challenge. 

I hopped back into the Expedition and we were on our way back to the Edmonds Highway to get some food from Ivar's.  We knew we were getting close but couldn't remember where exactly we saw it.  Mom saw it and we pulled in.  We weren't sure if they were allowing indoor seating or not so we grabbed our wallets, phones and masks and went inside.  We both ordered the three piece fish and chips and drinks and waited at our table for our name to be called. Once we got our food the place lit up!  It got super busy really quickly.  Between families coming in to eat, to Uber drivers picking up food for their customers, it was like a small ant pile with sunshine on it.  Mom and I ate our food and planned our next stop.

We threw our garbage away, used the restroom one more time and went to go find some cheap Arco gas nearby.  I got out my gas buddy app and there was one nearby.  I had Mom relay me the address so we could put it in the Nuvi.  We were in and out of the gas station quickly and then made our way back over to I-5 south.  We knew I-5 was going to be a train wreck.  It always was through this part of the state.

We merge onto I-5 and inch our way through Northgate, the University District, downtown and we managed to get in the correct lane to get onto I-90, I knew I-90 east wouldn't be that bad at this time of the evening.  Sure enough, it was smooth sailing through the tunnels, Mercer Island and onto the bridge to the other side of Lake Washington.  We followed Nuvi's instructions off of I-90 and to some side roads leading to the small community of Beaux Arts Village, the last of my Western Washington Towns and Cities.  Once we got into the neighborhood, the roads were very narrow and there were tons of houses crammed into this development.  I betcha these houses were super expensive as well.

It was really hard to find a place to pull over and get out.  I did manage to find a place about a quarter of a mile away so Mom stayed in the Expedition while I walked to Qualify (GC5JCR7) which was hanging in a tree.  I had to make sure no one saw me because there were a bunch of people taking their nightly walks through the neighborhood and a few people walking their dogs as well.  It was a camoed bison tube hanging in a tree.  I signed it and  put it back as quickly as I could.  I walked back to the Expedition.

We got back onto I-90 and made our way to Seattle and merged onto I-5 south.  It was smooth sailing through Burien and Federal Way but when we got to Fife it was awful.  Mom also wanted a strawberry milkshake from Dairy Queen and Fife was the closest place that had one.  I was gonna get off the free way anyway because it was gross.  

We exited at Fife, went over the freeway to the Dairy Queen on the east side of I-5.  We were going to go in and order but we had to go through the drive through.  We had a butthole and his wife cut us off at the drive through.  We hoped that he and his wife choked on their food and or ice cream for being jerks.  

We decided to drive to Puyallup instead of getting back on to the train wreck of an interstate.  We made our way around the roads, we weren't familiar with the road we were on, but I knew it eventually went into Puyallup.  Ben had taken me down this road before so it wasn't like it was unknown.  We got into Puyallup, got onto Meridian and got onto 512 and followed that to I-5 in outside of Tacoma.  There was no traffic.  It didn't take us very long to get back to my house.  We pulled in, I took out my stuff and told Mom I would see her tomorrow for our trip down south with Bev.  She went home and I got a shower and then logged the caches we found.  It was a long day but fun to go to places I've never been before.

As of today, I need 25 more for the Towns and Cities Challenge.  Majority of those still left are in Eastern Washington.

Next Adventure:  South:  Shop Hopping, Picking Up Caches, WSGA Meet and Greet and Pizza

In Bonney Lake for Amy's Birthday

Friday, June 4

About a month ago we asked Trish what we were going to do for Amy's birthday this year.  She is in the process of getting rid of her WorldMark timeshare so no more trips to where we stay with that timeshare anymore.  Last year's trip got canceled due to Covid.  They were suppose to go down to Klamath Falls in Southern Oregon for a week and Ben and I were suppose to go down there for the weekend and spend some time down there with them.  It sucked but it's just as well that she is getting rid of it because it is costing her way more in monthly dues than actually getting her worth out of it.  It was time to bite the bullet and find out how to get rid of it once and for all.  Trish said that we would talk about specifics of Amy's birthday in the next few weeks.

As it approached a week beforehand, Ben and I called her to ask what she decided we were going to do for Amy.  She said some sort of activity outside like a hike or something.  We were on board with the idea but was Amy?  Amy seemed to be interested but she ultimately didn't care what we did even though it was her birthday.  We talked about two possibilities, Pinnacle Peak in Enumclaw and Mud Mountain Dam which was outside of Enumclaw.  We didn't think that Amy or her boyfriend David, would be able to do Pinnacle Peak so we decided on Mud Mountain Dam.  There are a few trails there that don't gain elevation and if they are they're minimal.

As far as food, Trish said we will be having pizza on Friday night and burgers and hotdogs on Saturday while we were at the park.  She picked up all the supplies at the store and some party decorations at the Dollar Store.  She asked us to bring a tomato, lettuce and whatever else we wanted to bring so I also decided to bring pickles, because I like pickles on my burgers and they never have any, and some beans.  Ed brought chips.  We also brought drinks too.

That week, I went to the store to go shopping for her birthday present and Ben and I never know what to get Amy for her birthday or Christmas.  She is the most difficult person to get stuff for and I hate getting people gift cards.  Then I remembered that she spends a lot of money on bottled water from work.  I asked Ben, what if we get Amy a Nalgene?  He loved that idea.  It will get her to use that instead of buying bottled water all the time.  It's a win for her and a win for the environment.  I also added a few things that I've had inside her gift bag so she didn't just get the Nalgene. 

That Friday, we worked and then packed up our stuff.  Ben came home at a decent time and packed up his stuff.  We took his Edge.  There was no traffic which was nice for a Friday around 6ish.  We stopped at the Safeway in Bonney Lake for gas, I went inside and got a tomato, beans, pickles and a maple bar for Ben and I because it was National Doughnut Day.  Safeway maple bars are my favorite and I can't help myself when I go into a Safeway.  We headed to the house.

We pulled in and unloaded all of our stuff and took it inside the house.  Trish was so excited to show us her new deck.  It wasn't quite done but it would be done by the weekend.  It was missing some of the boards on the steps.  She said she has been waiting like 26 years to have a deck.  She could not wait to get patio furniture and host parties on it.  

She was still upset by her choice to hire a "unknown" person to come do her lawn.  The yard looked terrible and this has been about six weeks, when he said it would start looking okay.  She has been trying to get a hold of him so he could come fix it.  She hasn't had any luck.  I told her she should have asked Ben and I before she went ahead with it.  

Amy had the pizza going in the oven so we had a meat lover's and a Mediterranean style pizza for dinner.  Amy opened her presents from us and she really liked the Nalgene.  We told her it would cut back the amount of money she spends on bottled water, it's pretty indestructible, reusable and can be washed in the dishwasher or by hand.  

Trish realized she forgot to get ketchup and ice so she sent us back to the store to get those items.  We got back and played a round of 10,000 and I won!  I haven't won that game in a while.  It felt good.  We all had to get up somewhat at a decent time so we all got ready and went to bed.

Saturday, June 5

The next day we all got up before 9, so we could get dressed and quick breakfast of quiches and cinnamon rolls.  The weather looked promising outside but had to remember we are going towards the mountains and they tend to make their own weather.  Trish and Ed go to the park early, around 9) to make sure we got a table and a BBQ pit so he just chilled there until we left.

Meanwhile, we got all of the stuff packed up into the two vehicles and Ben and I set off while Trish and Amy went to go pick up David.  We thought we'd be clever and take a back way near the Rainier School to avoid traffic on Hwy 410.  That soon backfired on us and we had to back track and eventually get onto 410 in Buckley.  The weather was still decent.

I checked the geocaching app to see how many were along Mud Mountain Road that were easy to get.  There were a couple of them but we had time to grab one on the way through.  We knew we were ahead of Trish, Amy and David.  I haven't been out this way since the last time we came through here in September 2016.  Wow!  It's been that long?!  There were three along the road but we only had time to grab one, I looked to see which one was a quick park and grab.  KC Geo-Poker 2013 #9 (GC4JX4W) was indeed a quick park and grab.  It was hidden in the guardrail next to a gated off area so there was plenty of parking off the side of the road.  As we were signing it, Trish, Amy and David drove by.  Ben and I just waved.  

The weather was still okay.  We might make it through the day unscathed.  

We pulled up to the parking lot and found a place to park.  We started unloading our stuff and taking it to the covered picnic area that Ed has been guarding since 9 a.m.  The wind started picking up so it made it hard to put the table covering on the picnic table.  Luckily, someone remembered tape.  We get everything organized and you could tell Amy and David were bored to death.  The outdoors aren't there cup of tea.  However, it's good for them to get out once and a while and do character building things.  It started lightly raining so we decided to play a round of Phase 10 while we waited for the rain to die down.  Amy and David use the restroom and then want to sit in the car waiting for the rain to subside.  It got worse.  It was pouring down rain now and the wind made it even grosser.  We had to make the call.  Today wasn't a day to BBQ in the park but we sure tried.  We helped Trish put everything back into the vehicles and we drove back to the house.  We were all soaked.

Along the way, the weather miraculously got better and Ben and I stopped at the bottom of Pinnacle Peak for a cache.  We both noticed that they put a lot of work into this parking lot.  It actually had a parking lot now instead of pullouts along the road.  They did a great job and it looked really nice.  Anyway, Mt. Peak Parking Lot (GC79FEB) was another easy park and grab. It was hidden beside a large rock off to the side.  I sign our names and got back into the Edge. 

We got onto Hwy 410 and drove the short distance into Buckley.  There was one more we could get that was an easy park and grab.  The Mountain Man Geocache (Troop 557) (GC8FD5P) was hidden inside of some Rhododendrons off the side of the Foothills Trail.  We signed our names and put it back better than we found it.  I could see this cache eventually disappearing.  

Ben and I drove home the back way so we didn't have to continue driving on Hwy 410.  We got back to the house, settled in and helped Trish prepare everything.  It was after noon and everyone was ready for some food.  The weather was nice in Bonney Lake but not at Mud Mountain Dam.

We got the BBQ prepared, I made beans, got the plates, napkins, silverware and the rest of the food set out.  Ben was outside making hot dogs and burgers.  Trish had made her famous potato salad, she had fruit and cupcakes for later.  We ate, chatted about random things, cleaned up and played dice and Phase 10.  I played terrible in both games.  We also brought Throw Throw Burrito and had a blast playing. 

We ate cupcakes and David gave Amy a necklace for her birthday.  It was getting late and we had to gather up all of our stuff so we could head home so we could take care of our kitties.  We gave out hugs and told Ben's mom we'd be in touch for the next gathering.

We got home at a decent time, the traffic wasn't bad and fed our kitties.  They were happy to see us.  We unloaded our stuff, Ben played his game for a while since he hadn't been on in over a week...plus he had to catch up with Josh.  I watched some DuckTales, worked on my blog and ate some popcorn.  When we got tired we headed to bed.

The weekend didn't go as planned (sucky weather) but we had some back up plans so it turned out alright.  Amy's birthday has been a little different over the past two years since Covid but maybe soon enough we can go back to the beach in the next year or two (not with WorldMark) and spend the weekend there.

Next Adventure:  North: Shop Hopping and Picking Up Caches

Memorial Day Weekend: Ellensburg to Yakima and Home

Ben and I set our alarms for 9 a.m.  Of course we laid there until about 9:30 because we are not morning people.  We did eventually get up, did our bathroom things, put on our clothes for the day, ate our cereal, bananas and chocolate doughnuts.  I put my bag on the bed and started packing up my stuff a little better than just cramming or piling clothes inside the bag.  I folded everything neatly so everything would fit.  The dirty clothes bag was just going to be put inside the Escape how it was.  Ben got his stuff all packed up including the bathroom stuff and the items we kept on the hotel table.  We made sure everything was unplugged and stored away.  

We took everything back out to the Escape and tetris'd it in the back as best as we could...making sure the cooler with our drinks was accessible.  Ben took the key cards through the hotel to check out at the front desk and I drove around front to meet him.  We got gas at the Chevron once again before we left.  I like having a full tank before we go anywhere.  While I pumped gas, Ben walked around the building and found the cache, Pit Stop (GC42Q59).  He said it was pretty easy but was very nervous because there were bees nearby.

Before we got onto I-90, we stopped at the trucker gas station/rest stop to get the one here.  Many years ago, there used to be another cache here that has since been archived.  I was not able to find that cache before heading to Yakima down Canyon Road.  I was hoping today we would find the newish one that was here. Broadway's Flyby Cache Cache N' Go (GC95MTE) was on the south side of the gas station/grocery store combo between the building and the first row of parked cars.  There was a picnic table, a green electric box and the random wires and electronics on the side of the building.  We have to be careful about muggles going in and out of their cars.  I stood there for a minute to decide where someone would hide a regular sized cache.  Ben was carefully looking and I had him come stand beside me.  I ask him, okay, where would a regular sized cache be?  What was out of place in this general area?  We noticed a black lid, one that would screw onto a PVC pipe, that was very out of place.  We open it up and there it was!  We sign our names quickly, get a photo and we put it back, hoping that we weren't seen.

We got onto I-90 and got off at the I-82 junction to head up the hill to Yakima.  I wanted to stop at the Manastash viewpoint on top of the hill to do the three caches up there.  We get up there and find a parking spot.  We choose to to do Kittitas View SB (GC7PR1Z) first.  We followed the coordinates to GZ and look for a few minutes.  We found out we were not in the correct rock pile so we walked to the one about fifteen feet from us and bam, there it was.  We signed our name and put it back where we found it.  We walked through the parking lot and noticed the great view of the valley and Mount Stewart in the distance.  We took a few pictures.

Inside one of the guard rails, was the second cache, View From the Top (GC46194) and of course guard rail caches are dumb but we also had to be somewhat sneaky with people coming in and out of this viewpoint area.  We did manage to grab it, sign it and put it back before anyone saw us.  We walked the short distance to the earthcache, Manastash Ridge Formation (GC98H75).  It had us analyze and estimate the different layers while answering the series of questions from the cache owner.  We wrote down a couple answers and some of them I could look up online.  We got a photo of the hillside so I could refer back to it later.  We walked back to the Escape and continued south on I-82.

About halfway there, I told Ben to text Willmarth to let him know we were on our way.  I decided since we stopped at the northbound Selah rest area on Friday night that we should stop at the southbound Selah rest area to use the restroom and get the cache that was here.  As we got closer to the rest area, I really needed to pee.  Ben said he was good.  I added, well while I am using the restroom you can go look for the cache, you know kill two birds with one stone.  He said, sure.  He went off and found Selah Creek Leg Stretcher (GC7FNAV).  He said some bees were also trying to make a nest at this location as well.

After finding the cache and using the restroom, we got back on the freeway and made our way down to Selah.  We heard back from Willmarth, he and Kevin were at basketball practice and had about an hour left.  He said he would be home a little after noon.  I told Ben we could find a few in town while we waited.  We looked at the map and found a few we could find.  We had to kill about an hour so we started at House in the Tree (GC4ZT4N) off of Pomona Road.  I was glad to see a place I could pull off the road.  We both got out and walked to this large tree.  I thought this was going to be an easy grab.  Haha, it wasn't because we both overlooked it.  We literally walked past it.  I could have hit us in the face!  We walked back to the Escape and off to the next cache!

We looked at the time and we had maybe enough time for a couple more.  I looked at the map and saw a couple caches just to the north of where we were.  I looked closer and it was a small trail in the Selah Cliffs Natural Area Preserve.  I ask Ben, you wanna go?  He said sure as he was nose deep into his Clash of Clans game.  We pulled into the parking area and there was one other vehicle here, most likely a family enjoying their day.  I told Ben there were three here but we probably weren't going to go get the third one which was at the end of this trail.  It was a mile away so a two mile walk there and back.  Ben said he didn't have the pizazz to do that much walking in this heat.  I agreed.  So we decided on just the two caches.

We get out and lock the Escape and stopped at the one near the entrance to the trail head.  That one was called Enraging Daisies (GC7BCT5) and I was not sure what to expect.  It was located at a sign that talked about the preserve.  We started looking and I noticed a bolt and nut combo that didn't make sense.  I started unscrewing it and low and behold it was the cache.  Ben thought it was a pretty clever hide.  We sign our names and kept in mind the family that belonged to the vehicle were walking back down the trail and were almost at the trail head.  We stood there looking at the sign pretending we were reading up on the place before putting the cache back.  Once they left, we put it back and got a couple pictures of it. 

 The last cache of the day were down this neatly graveled pathway.  It was a little less than a half a mile and we walked past many flowers, some cacti, saw birds, insects, heard running water but there wasn't water in the small creek at the base of the cliffs and we thought it was weird, enjoyed the cliffs for a couple of minutes and found Selah Cliffs NAP (GC97JQD) which was tucked in the corner of a wooden structure.  It was a quick find.  We were the only ones out here which was nice.

I got a text message back from Willmarth stating they were home now so whenever we were ready to come over they were excited to see us.  Back in April, I dropped my phone on the ground, screen down and the screen hit a rock.  Of course, I didn't have a screen protector on it and that was because none of them would stay on my phone.  I went through two of them.  They would come off.  The Samsung Galaxy 9+ had rounded edges and it screen protectors did not stay on so I tried really hard to keep my screen safe.  It stayed safe for almost three years.  Anyway, there was a blemish on the screen and it slowly got bigger over the course of a month and a half.  While on our trip, it was hard to get it off of its sleep mode every time I wanted to use it or I got a phone call.  It got worse as the day went on.  I really didn't want to buy a new phone.  They are so expensive nowadays.

We walked back to the Escape and put in Willmarth's address into Nuvi.  She took us the quickest way to his house.  We got there just before 1 p.m.  Because of Covid, we have not seen them in almost two years.  We got to their house and saw different vehicles in their driveway.  We parked and went inside.  We were attacked by guard dogs, Fletcher and Zooey.  We sat in the living room for a while and visited.  We talked about Covid and the long 2020 we all just had, the vaccinations and how our bodies reacted to it, work, school, Kevin's school year and his basketball team, frustrations, the stuff they've been doing, the stuff Ben and I have been doing and dealing with all the estate stuff when you have a family member who passes away or who is in a nursing home.

Ben spent some time with Kevin while I chatted with Willmarth as he was watering his vegetable garden.  Shannon spent time spiffing up the place and trying really hard to get Kevin to start studying for his finals and last week of his freshman year of high school.  We usually aren't here until the end of June when school isn't in session.  He and Shannon did go into the back room a few times to work on online flash cards.  I went back there to see what kinds of subjects he was studying.  The high school he attends is a private Catholic school in Union Gap.  Kevin had to take an assortment of religion classes and that is what he was studying for when I went into the room.  We went through some of those flash cards and I ended up learning something as we went through them.

Around 3, is when Willmarth started getting lunch ready.  We had burgers and hotdogs he cooked on the grill with beans, chips and potato salad as sides.  We ate in the living room and tried to guard our food from the dogs.  We chatted about other random things as we ate.    

It was approaching 5:00 and we, unfortunately, had to get on the road since it took us about 3 hours to get home.  We thanked them for having us over, they were happy to see us almost after two years, we gave out hugs and told everyone we hoped to see them soon.  I was talking to Shannon about kayaking and she and Kevin went last summer and loved it.  I told her that we have kayaks but we needed to get the hardware to transport them on my Escape.  I added, once that happened we could come over and we could go kayaking.  She said that would be awesome and that we would talk about it soon.

Ben and I got in the Escape and had the AC on full blast.  We waved goodbye and got back onto Wenas Road to head to Selah.  Once we got into Naches, I stopped by Slim's Market, the creepy grocery store on the right side of Hwy 12.  I've stopped here hundreds of times throughout the years.  I wanted some cold drinks.  I grabbed a Cherry Coke because it sounded good.  I thought Ben would want something but he passed.  

We got back on the highway and didn't stop until we got home.  There wasn't a lot of traffic heading west on the pass, which was nice, I'm sure I-90 was a total joke with all the people heading home after the holiday weekend.  We got home around 9ish, unloaded the Escape, got cleaned up, called Mom and Trish to let them know we got home safely and the kitties were so happy to see us.  

It was nice to get away for the weekend and explore an area we really weren't that familiar with.  I've been through the area tons of times while at school but never got a chance to stop and learn about the area.  In four days we found 227 caches, learned some history of Quincy and the surrounding area, went hiking, drove some historical roads, met up with a fellow cacher at a virtual cache, ate some good food even though the places we wanted to go were permanently closed or had Covid hours. The best part was that we got to spend time with each other and finally got to see and visit our friends in Selah.  I am looking forward to the next time we get to come over there to hang out and go kayaking.

Next Adventure:  In Bonney Lake for Amy's Birthday