A Mini Vacation from Work and Driving to Selah

After the huge news that occurred on Monday about my job it sorta changed the way the rest of June and July was headed.  Apparently the person L&I picked for the Office of the Medical Director job I applied to didn't want the job so they offered it to me.  Monday was a really long day for me and it spilled into Tuesday because my supervisor wasn't at work on Monday.  I had already arranged to use my personal leave day (I had to use it before the end of June) and a half of a vacation day for my TriCities Geocoin Challenge I've been going to for years now.  She allowed me to take vacation so I planned my week around it.  I didn't expect it to happen like this though.

In a nutshell, I went to L&I to talk to the people offering me the job, just to hear about what I'd be doing again, during my lunch on Monday.  I asked them to give me a day to think about it and they said sure.  The next part is what I dreaded the most...telling my current supervisor that I was going to take another job after they gave me the job at WSDOT.  That was the most dreadful work day ever.  I waited until after lunch to do it.  It was physically making me ill.  I got up the courage to tell her and she really surprised me.  I thought she was going to be mad because they spent so much time and effort into hiring me.  She thanked me for telling her so she could get organized to find my replacement which ended up being the runner-up for the job.  I was instantly relieved and found myself being treated by her differently Wednesday and part of Thursday.  I mostly just kept to myself and worked on my letters and filing.  Before I left on Thursday she said that the entire next week when I get back I would be training my replacement.  I was alright with that and hoped that I had an easy person to train.  I made sure I had everything done by the time noon came around.

I decided to maximize my time by leaving directly from work and not stop at home.  I packed up all the camping gear, the food, my clothes and shoes and put it into the Escape the night before just to be that far ahead come morning.  The stuff I used that night would have to be packed up before I left for work.  Ben worked until tomorrow morning so he would have to leave with his stuff and drive separately over on Friday.

I got off of work and was relieved that I would be going back to L&I after next week.  My life would become somewhat normal again.  I stopped by the bank for some money for the campsite and got gas so I didn't have to stop anywhere besides my list of caches I had written down.  I was hungry so I ate my lunchable I packed up in the cooler.

I went through Yelm and McKenna to get onto the 702 to Hwy 7.  A few weeks back I got an email about my Ohop Pioneer cache (GC6KEW0) stating that it could be missing.  I brought a spare to replace it just in case it was missing.  When I got there I parked in the pull out and searched the area.  I found it immediately right where I said it was in the hint.  Those cachers did not know how to look very well.  Later on I made a note on the cache page stating that I checked up on it and it was there.

I moved on down the road to Buttons on the Bridge (GC7QBPX) and I had a hard time pinpointing where it was on the guardrail but eventually found it after some careful hand feeling.  Apparently some of the logs said there could be bees.  Nobody has time to get stung.

I drove through Eatonville and texted Ben where I was since I have service here.  Morton would be the next time I would have service again.  It was pretty uneventful but I wondered if my friend Shauna was on shift today.

I got onto Hwy 7 again and drove through Elbe.  There were a lot of people staying in the Hobo train hotel and probably going to enjoy the weekend at Mount Rainier.  As I got closer to Morton I briefly thought about stopping at Morton DNR Camp (GC1FJX2) but didn't because I had no idea where the road was or even if I was going to be able to find it.  I guess it was a hard one that hasn't been found in three years.  About a month ago I emailed the last person who found it and they gave me a couple of hints.  I will have to stop at some point since that is the only left on that road I don't have yet.

I got into Morton and texted Ben again to tell him where I was just to check in.  I also texted mom.  I got onto Hwy 12 and drove east towards Yakima.  I had a few stops planned out and didn't know how long they would take hence getting off of work so early.  The first one was down the road a bit just before Randle, Reflect and Rail (GC6086P) and that was off of a turn out just before entering the small down.  It was a guardrail cache.

I got stuck behind some slow vehicles for a while and it irritated me.  However, I knew I would be stopping soon so I didn't bother to try and pass them.  I got into Packwood and stopped at Out of My Cold Dead Hands (GC74XDA) and wasn't expecting to see what I saw.  It was almost comical when I got there.  There was actually a skeleton guarding the cache container.  I signed the logbook, took a few pictures and was well on my way though the rest of Packwood.

I put some miles behind me (luckily I wasn't behind a semi truck or a horse trailer) so going over the pass was pretty quick.  I texted Ben and Willmarth at the top the pass because that is the only place I got service until I got to the Hwy 12/410 junction.  Two years ago I was doing the Rainier100 series and did the multi called Clear Creek Falls and thought I did it right.  Turns out I did my math wrong and couldn't find it.  I found my error while waiting in construction traffic that day but couldn't get it last year because we left too late to grab it.  This time through I knew exactly where it was.

I parked in the parking area, grabbed my keys, phone and a pen.  I followed my phone through the hilly trail and around the mountain brush. While I was trying to hurry I almost fell on a bunch of the brush but I caught myself and kept on going.  I looked at the hint to make this find a little easier.  I saw where it was being hidden, grabbed it and signed the log.  I picked up a trackable to move on as well.  I took a few pictures and headed back to the Escape.  I changed my shirt into a tank top because it was getting pretty warm outside.

I plugged the next set of coords into Nuvi mostly because I had never been around Rimrock Lake and really wasn't sure where to go.  The caches that I had picked out were basically on the other side of the lake.  That road seemed to take forever and I was glad I didn't have to follow anyone.  When I finally go to the pullout near ground zero, I expected the area to be a little nicer.  At first glance it looked like homeless people were living out here.  Upon further review it was just lazy ass dirty campers leaving their garbage behind for others to deal with.  This is why we can't have nice camping areas and they close off places for people to explore and enjoy.

I walked up the small hill to where both the virtual, Rimrock Silvers Cache (GC652A) and the traditional, Rainier1003: Rimrock Lake (GC6J5GF).  I did the virtual first which was basically taking your picture with the stump and then walked a few feet to a tree to retrieve the physical cache.

The geotour was basically over but I wrote the code down anyway just to write it on my passport.  I never finished the geotour but because I participated in it as a volunteer I got the pathtags anyway.  It was really windy but warm.  I spent some time reflecting about the past few months while I took in the view of the reservoir.  This summer so far was very painful but I still had hope.

I walked back to the Escape and continued around the loop until it met with Hwy 12 again.  Along the way there were some pretty cool spots along the lake.  I might have to come back this way again and check it out.

I followed some more slow cars and passed a few of them as I had the opportunity to do so.  When I got to the junction I finally had cell phone service so I texted Willmarth that I was almost to Naches.  I decided on the spot that I was going to take the back way over Naches to N Wenas Road instead of taking Hwy 12 to Selah because it was going to be rush hour.

I pulled into their driveway around 5 and prepared myself for the "attack" dogs.  I went through the gate and knocked on the door.  Willmarth greeted me and gave me a quick tour of the house...they were in the middle of playing Clue.

They finished that game and dealt me into the next game.  I quickly learned everyone's strategy and figured out the three cards in the secret envelop.  However, with my last guess I feel like I figured it out but because Kevin was before me he seemed to get it right after my guess.  What a little turd.  I did manage to win one of those games we played.  While we played we talked about the various things that were happening lately.  I told them about my job, Grammie and the upcoming stuff later on this year.

We all got ready to head to Kevin's flag football game in Wixon Park in Selah.  Willmarth coached a group of about 12 kids and it was through the NFL Flag Football program.  He coached the Saints and Kevin was basically their all-star.  Unfortunately the game started really late because the other game ran super late before ours.

In the meantime, I grabbed the Wixon Park Cache (GC7BCRP) which was just outside of the playing area near a small wall below the hillside.  I sat down to make it look like I was on the phone and started searching because there were a bunch of kids playing on the playground, parents watching their kids and several high school athletes running around the park in groups.  When I did find it I signed it as quickly as I could and put it back before anyone knew what I was doing.

As soon as I walked back to the field, the game had finally started.  The Saints were clearly the better team but Kevin needed to learn to share the ball and see others down the field.  They did win but they could have played a little better and made some of their catches.

Because the game started so late, we got home really late at around 9:30.  None of us have had dinner yet so Willmarth made us some burgers, beans and chips for dinner.  We played more clue until about 11:30ish.  Kevin and Shannon conked out while Willmarth and I stayed up until about two talking about random things.  The TV played Invasion of the Body Snatchers in the background.

I decided it was time to go to bed so I excused myself to Kevin's room, where Shannon changed the sheets for me, and was greeted by Fletcher in the process.

I washed my face and brushed my teeth and told Fletcher that it was my bed and he had to move.  I got Willmarth to call him so I could finally go to bed.  It was a long day and I was beat.

Next Adventure:  Pasco and the Geocaching Meet and Greet

Father's Day

I honestly wasn't sure if we were going to have Father's Day this year.  I really didn't know how everyone was doing knowing that one of us was missing and at Mother Joseph's (Mojo's) trying to recover from a stroke.  She had only been in there for a little under a month but you could tell everyone was worried sick.  I wasn't doing too well knowing that Grammie was away from all of us on a family holiday.  I hated it when she couldn't come.  It just didn't feel right without her there.

About a week ago I decided to host Father's Day and we were going to put the grill into use by making burgers.  The weather was supposed to be nice so I planned to have it outside.  I assigned everyone something to bring and let Grandpa be in charge of the burger.  I bought it for him and he just gave me the money.  I tried to make it as simple as I could for him.  Ben and I provided all the condiments, the cheese, the lettuce, onion and tomatoes and beans, I had Grandma bring a homemade peach cobbler, mom made a potato salad, Erika and Red brought fruit and I just didn't have Tracy, Doug and Jenn bring anything.  Kevin and Karla brought their own food and I invited Trish and Amy but they decided to stay around home.

Tracy spent time at Mojo's with Grammie before coming to the party.  Grammie wanted to see pictures so I sent a bunch of pictures for her to see even though I wish she could have been there with us instead.  I think I ended up sending 50 or so pictures and I wasn't sure how many of them she actually got because the cell service inside Mojo's was spotty at times.

We ate our food, talked about random things as they came up and I told everyone about how my new job was going at WSDOT.  At this point I have figured out everything and was pretty bored in the afternoon after my supervisor left.  The only thing I hadn't been trained in was the appointments and the ordering of supplies in which I had to take classes for that.

Since it wasn't anyone's birthday we didn't have to make a cake or cupcakes.  Everyone helped clean up some of the stuff and we got ready to celebrate our two dad's, Grandpa and my dad.  They opened their gifts and cards and we sent more pictures to Grammie.  Tracy showed up just after we were done with the presents.  She sat, ate and visited for a while.

I tried to get people to play some disc golf since we had just gotten our new disc golf cage but no one really wanted to play.  I even had a football out just in case someone wanted to play catch.  The mood felt somber.  This was the first time I think anyone felt this way at a family gathering in recent years.  I was too little to remember how people felt when great grandma and great grandpa passed away and weren't at family occasions anymore.

We started bringing stuff back into the house and cleaning up a bit before everyone started leaving.  Everyone started to leave at around 4:30-5:00.  I knew Tracy would go back to Mojo's and since Doug and Jenn were here they would go see her as well.  I think mom and dad stopped by with Grandma even though Grammie didn't want that many people to go see her.  We did anyway against her wishes because it was important.  We didn't know how much longer she had with us and at this point she could still talk.

Ben and I cleaned up the rest of the food, washed all the dishes so we didn't have to do it later, brought in all the tables and made sure all the chairs were put back into the garage.  I was wiped out but somehow Ben talked me into taking our disc golf cage and our discs to the park down the street to throw around some discs.

We spent about an hour out in the sunshine enjoying the rest of our evening even though the day didn't go like I wanted.  I know we all have to deal with life but I just wasn't ready for it to change as drastically as it did.  I really wanted it to be the same as it was before last month.

Next Adventure:  A Mini Vacation from Work and Driving to Selah

Driving Home From the Oregon Coast and McMinnville

I got up the next morning around 9ish but I didn't want to get up because our bed was super comfortable.  I knew everyone wanted to sleep in but I was getting hungry since we didn't have a chance to get to a grocery store to make our own food.  I tried to wake up everyone so we could go get some food before it got too late.  David was on the couch and Amy shared the other bedroom with Trish.  I finally got everyone up and moving by about 10 a.m.

I spent some time looking up restaurants with good reviews in the area and came up with one called Nye Beach Café in Newport, which was south of where we were.  We could have taken one of the vehicles but decided on two just to have enough room for everyone.  I got the address and plugged it into the Nuvi while I had Trish follow me to the café.

We got onto Hwy 101 and headed south.  I made sure not to get too far ahead of Trish so she knew where we were going.  I have the tendency to speed a little bit.  We drove past the actual "town" of Depoe Bay and noticed that is where the whale was.  I remember Jessie made a big deal about stopping there and getting a picture with the whale.  We would have to do that one the way back to the condo.

As I followed the directions from Nuvi I started to see the various places I've been to over the years.  It's been at least six years since I've been down this way as well.  We got off Hwy 101 and found the side street the café was located on.  There were a few spots to park at along the street so we took full advantage of that.  The café looked busy but we managed to find a spot for the five of us to sit.

Our waitress came over and we got our drinks.  Everyone ordered coffees and waters and I got a Pepsi.  When she came back around for us to order food, everyone ordered breakfast except David and I, we got sandwiches.  I ordered the turkey and cheddar on homemade bread.  It was delicious.  We talked about where we wanted to go afterwards and we all agreed to go see the Devil's Punch Bowl near Otter Rock.

We paid for our food and decided that everyone needed to fill up on gas.  I tried to find the cheapest one and it was a few blocks away.  Trish went to another one up the road.  I really hate getting gas in Oregon because you can't just do it yourself.  You have to wait for the person to come out, ask you questions and pump the gas.  They hand you the receipt and off you go.  I could have done it so much quicker than that and I wouldn't have to talk to anyone (must be the introvert in me.)

Off to the Devil's Punch Bowl we go!

I think the last time I came to the punch bowl was with Jessie and her family when we stayed at the nearby Otter Crest...and I think that was 10 years ago to the weekend.  And the last time before that was with my family during the summer before my senior year of high school.

We followed Nuvi to the parking lot and found that the lot was pretty full but managed to grab a spot from someone leaving.  I read the cache page to see what we needed to answer while we were here.  Sea Caves to Devil's Punch Bowl (GC1HW39) was just as cool as I remembered it being.  We had to guesstimate what it would look like in another 100 years of erosion, what elevation we were at and some random things about the location including a picture.

We enjoyed watching the waves splash up against the punch bowl.  I saw there was also a traditional at this location, Where Is That Little Devil? (GC7BPB7) so I decided to go look for it.  It was either muggled or very well hidden because we looked everywhere!  Apparently it was there and we just couldn't find it.  What made it especially hard were all the muggles walking around wondering what we were doing so we just gave up.  We were there for about an hour enjoying the view of the coastline.

They all decided to head back to the condo while Ben and I had to make a stop at the whale.  I got a message earlier that weekend from Jessie basically demanding a picture of Ben and I there.  I honored her wishes and got the pictures taken. We had to wait until the fountain spout went off so it could be in our pictures with us.

Afterwards on the way back to the Escape, we stopped and did one more earthcache called Sprouting Horns (GC1CWYC) near the viewpoint.  Sadly, the tide was going out so we didn't get to see the ocean sprout out of the hole in the rock.  We answered the questions and took the necessary pictures for our log.  We headed back to the condo to pack our stuff.

Ugh, I really didn't want to leave.  I really needed another day of vacation from my, what it seems right now, crazy life.  It's been a rough few weeks and I didn't want to think about the new job I didn't want and my grandmother trying to get better from her stroke.  I just couldn't imagine life without her and I struggled with that thought every day.

While we were packing up our stuff, we took a short break and sat out on the balcony with Trish to watch the Gray whales that breached every so often.  I've never actually watched whales before so this was a pretty cool experience.  We could never get a good picture of them though without the "good" camera.

We thanked Trish for inviting us down there to spend time with them for about a day and she thanked us for making the drive down for Amy's birthday party.  They were staying for the entire week and leaving next Saturday.  We got all of our stuff and crammed it into the Escape and got onto Hwy 101 north at around 3ish.

I decided to get off Hwy 101 and drive northeast towards Hwy 22 and McMinnville because I wanted to show Ben where I lived for a year.  Plus, I had to grab a cache along that road once we got into Polk County so I could check that county off the list.  Over the last two summers we've done a lot of traveling into places I haven not cached and have gotten quite a few counties.

Along the way I told Ben a few stories about McMinnville and the places I was going to take him by.  But first, we were getting really close to the cache, Four Play (GC10P96) for Polk County.  The cell phone services was kind of spotty here and I totally forgot to check the hint and write it down.  The Nuvi and phone got us to where we needed to park and get out.  I followed my phone to the spot we needed to start looking in. The coords bounced around so much it made it hard to look for it.  After a few tries, I finally got my phone and the geocaching app to show me a hint.  I couldn't believe how close I was.  I was within inches of touching the container!  I finally pulled it out of its hiding spot, signed the log and put it back.  The cache was really icky inside.

I saw all the familiar areas as we got closer and closer to McMinnville.  We hit the junction and continued on Hwy 99W.  I remembered we haven't had any food since that late morning/early afternoon and we should probably get something.  I recalled there was an Albertson's on the west side of Linfield's campus (almost near where I lived) that we could go get drinks and snacks from.  It was still there!

Ben used the restroom while I walked around grabbing some stuff that sounded good to snack on.  We were still roughly around 2.5-3 hours away from home.  I grabbed some bananas, various drinks, popcorn, a lunchable and some Twizzlers nubs.  I paid and took the stuff to the Escape and went back inside to pee before we left.  Ben was finally done.  I told him what I bought and he was cool with the selection.

We got back in the Escape and I took him to Linfield.  I showed him the places I used to live, the building I worked in and the fields I spend time working at.  I even told him one of my co-workers was World Series Champion, Scott Brosius.  He was the head baseball coach while I was there and even got to talk to him and see his rings!

We drove around the campus and onto the main drag.  We then took the backside of Linfield and went into the middle of town to do the statue virtual cache, Strolling Mac's Bronze Art (GC7B7JX).  There were a lot of statues to go look at but the cache owners only required us to find at least four of them and we found five because I knew where some of them were already.  We had to answer a question or two about the statue to prove we were there.  We had a great time.

I showed him McMinnville High School and told him there was a movie that was filmed there back in the 80's.  I showed him where I usually got gas and the places that I shopped.  We took a small detour because I wanted to take him to one of the coolest caches I've found in McMinnville.  It was a giant TB hotel in someone's side yard.  I was hoping there were TB's inside.  Since I've already found Westside Grand TB Hotel (GC2HTG2) I had Ben go through the locks to get inside of it.  There were a few TB's and only took a couple.  I left a pathtag as Ben was logging his name.  I can't believe the last time I was here was in December 2012.

I didn't even want to try to get to I-5 and drive through Portland at this time on a Sunday...guaranteed traffic!  I decided to go the way I learned about while I lived here.  It would bypass a lot of I-5 especially through Portland.  We left town and headed towards the small towns of Yamhill and Forest Grove.  From there, we took Hwy 26 to Hillsboro and got off at Cornelius Pass which dumped us out on Hwy 30 just before Scappoose and St. Helens.  Then we went through Rainier and got onto the Lewis and Clark bridge into Longview.  From Longview we met up with I-5 north and headed home from there.

I would say we got home a little bit around 9ish, unloaded the Escape, got cleaned up and unfortunately got ready for my second day at WSDOT.  It was going to be a very long week.  Yawn.

Next Adventure:  Father's Day