Memorial Day Weekend: Lacey to Ellensburg and Some Caches

Ben and I decided to go somewhere for Memorial Day Weekend.  We threw around various places in Eastern Washington and came up with the Ellensburg area.  We haven't been there in a while.  Ben was in charge of arranging the hotel while I planned out the day's activities and where we were going to eat dinner.  Unfortunately, we also hit a snag.  My second Covid shot was scheduled for Friday when we were suppose to leave and I had no choice.  So we couldn't leave until after that was done.  It was scheduled for 1:40.  I was apprehensive about it because people have reported that they've felt terrible after receiving their second one.  I was hoping that my shot wouldn't ruin our mini vacation.

I went to the store earlier in the week and got some groceries for our trip, did laundry, did a little bit of research of the area so we knew what to expect and could not wait for the week to end so we can go!  It's been a while since we've been somewhere together.  The last time was the Wenatchee area in January.  Erika wasn't going anywhere this weekend so I asked her if she could come over once a day and make sure the kitties had food and their litter box was cleaned.  She said she could.  I left sticky notes as reminders of where stuff was.

That day I worked until 11:30, we ate lunch and Ben got his stuff ready to go.  Once I was off and had eaten food, I finished getting the rest of my stuff ready since I worked on it a little the night before.  I wanted as little to do before we left.  Ben loaded up the Escape, we got the kitties stuff ready and made one last pass of the house before deciding to head out.   

We left earlier than I anticipated.  I wanted to stop at the Walmart near our house to see if they had a hard shelled eyeglass case for my glasses.  I didn't want them getting crushed by something accidentally on this trip.  I meant to earlier this week but forgot to get one.  I ran inside quickly and discovered they had the cheap reading glasses but absolutely no cases.  Ben was also surprised they didn't have anything like that either.  We drove into Yelm.  I called Mom to see what she was doing and told me she was at Walmart.  I asked if she could look for a hard shelled eyeglass case for me since they didn't have them at the tiny Walmart near the house.  She said sure.  I added that we were at the doctor's office in Yelm for my second Covid shot so if we got done before she did that we could meet somewhere.  She said that was fine and to just call her.

Ben stayed in the Escape while I went in.  I used the restroom first, checked in and had me sit in the waiting room.  They came out really early and I wasn't done filling out the form yet.  I followed her into the room, got shot in the left arm, got a Band-Aid, she filled out my cards and waited in the front for about 15 minutes.  My phone was dying so I had to refrain from getting on it.  My 15 minutes were up and I walked back out.  I got done with my appointment almost before my actual appointment time started.  By coming early we were able to get out of town earlier.  Mom had just pulled up so we had some great timing.  She was on the phone so she just handed me the glasses case and told me I could pay her later.  She quickly said to have fun and she drove off.

We got gas at the Arco on our way out of town.  Gas is cheaper at Arco and it's easy to get in and out of their when you're driving east on Hwy 507.  We turned at the Y and got onto the 702 to Hwy 7.  I didn't want to follow a bunch of trailers through Eatonville so we opted to take Hwy 7 around Eatonville through Alder to Elbe.  I call it the swirly way because it is very curvy.  Ben was not a fan of this road.  He got a headache.

It took us a while to get from Elbe to Morton because we did have to follow a bunch of trailers, campers and RV's on our way to Hwy 12.   Some pulled off at the store in Morton and some turned right towards Mossyrock but there were still a bunch heading east.  We put some miles behind us through Glenoma and Randle but as we got closer to Packwood, I had remembered that they flea market was this weekend.  There were going to be a lot of people here.  I was hoping we would get through quickly because I really wanted to be in Ellensburg around 5ish.

Unfortunately, we got to Packwood and traffic literally stopped a few times.  People were letting groups of people run across the road.  We were never going to get through here if traffic kept letting people through here.  Why don't they have a specific cross walk for pedestrians?  It would eliminate people running across the busy highway wherever they wanted.  We noticed there were lots of people not wearing masks.  There will probably be a spike in Covid cases in Lewis County in the next few weeks.  We had a dumb girl in a car ahead of us trying to turn on Skate Creek near the gas station and had plenty of time several times to turn and get off the road.  I got so frustrated I went around her so we could continue on our trip.  I saw several other people did the same.

We scooted along through the pass and overheard, while we were changing the radio station, that there was a 16 mile back up on I-90 eastbound.  I was sooo glad we chose to drive Hwy 12.  A bunch more trailers, campers and RV's pulled over when we got to the top.  It was pretty much smooth sailing going down the pass.  I noticed that the weather was beautiful over here and I was excited to finally be in summer-like weather for a few days.  It didn't take us long to get to the Hwy 410/Hwy 12 junction to Naches and to the junction at I-82 to Ellensburg.  We started up the grade and I called Mom to let her know we made it over here and we were one our way to Ellensburg on the freeway.

We stopped at the rest stop at the top of the ridge so we could use the restroom and walk around after being in the Escape for a few hours.  We both used the restroom and had to get the rest stop geocache, Redmond View (GC7NKQW).  We made the quick grab and took in the view of the valley down below.  It was very windy but warm.

We continued on I-82 and finally we were heading into Ellensburg.  The view from up here was amazing.  You could see Mount Stewart in the distance.  We followed the freeway to the junction of I-90 and then got off at the main Ellensburg exit and to our hotel.  Ben booked us three nights at the Red Lion Inn.  We checked in, took our stuff to room 144 and since we arrived at a decent-ish time, I wanted to go out on the Old Vantage Highway to do a 20 cache mini power trail.  We grabbed what we needed and took off.  Again, it was very windy.

We drove into Ellensburg near CWU and followed that road out to the Old Vantage Highway.  There was a mixture of the PSE series and the (K) series sprinkled along the highway with one cache we found that wasn't part of either series.  The last cache I had written on the list was the earthcache inside the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park.

We started roughly at 6:15ish and our first cache on the list was PSE: The Gate is Greener (GC74RDV) was hidden inside of a gated recreation area.  We parked outside the gate, unlocked it, looked for the cache, logged our names, put it back and walked back out the gate.  We made sure we locked it behind us.

We started the (K) series starting with (K-12) Historic Highway 10 (GC92RRK).  This series is relatively new as it was published back in November 2020.  They've been found almost 50 times before we showed up and will probably be found a lot over the summer as people get out and do these power trails.  Most of these were right off the road, near pull outs, mostly guardrails and sage brush.  We didn't have any trouble finding these.  I love how remote this road was.  We did see a few cars here and there but we were pretty much out here by ourselves.  It was super windy so we had to make sure we didn't get slammed in the door when we got out of the Escape.

A few miles down the road we stopped at PSE:  Welcome to Wildhorse (GC74RBX) which was at the Wildhorse Wind and Solar Facility.  We were the only ones there so it was easy to find both the caches that were here.  It was super windy so all the windmills that were here were pretty active.  It made for a great background for some of our pictures.  We found both caches and then moved on for the rest of the (K) series. 

At about the halfway point we picked up (K-8) Historic Highway 10 (GC92RR6) and a little further down the road Burned, Rusted and Still Standing Guardrail (GC2WFZA).  The first one was a quick park and grab on a fence post and the second one had us scratching our heads for a few minutes until we actually read the cache page.  I pulled it up and read it out loud so Ben could hear me.  There is no physical container here, you must log the guardrail. Luckily, I had a Sharpie in the Escape.  A few weeks prior, I cleaned out my red Escape (to get it ready to sell) and made sure some of that stuff went into my blue Escape, one of those things was a Sharpie for such occasions.  Ben wrote the date and then his name, handed me the pen and I added my name to it as well.  We both felt kinda dumb after that as we got back into the Escape to head to the next few (K) series.

We put in a couple miles down the hill grabbing three more.  (K-5) Historic Highway 10 (GC92PDQ) was another quick one on the side of the road.  We made the grab, signed our names and put it bac where we found it.  We had about seven more until we made it to the last of the (K) series and into Vantage.

It was around 7:30 when we found our last cache of the (K) series mini power trail.  (K-0) Historic Highway 10 (GC92PDC).  We pulled over and both got out for the lame guardrail cache.  We signed our names, got a photo to commemorate the last one and put it back.  We drove into Vantage for the earthcache.

I followed the road that led us into the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park and I made sure I had my Discover Pass even though I had my old Escape's license plate on it.  The place doesn't seem that busy and we weren't going to be here for very long.  We just had to answer some questions off the signage that overlooked the Columbia River.  Tree of Stone Earthcache (GC1C09Y) had us read a couple of signs about what the area used to look like over 15 million years ago.  Forests and water once covered the area and as it changed a chemical process petrified these ancient trees that we saw today.  We got what we needed and then saw we needed to go to the interpretation center just up the road (we passed it on our way here) for three more waypoints we had to answer questions on.  It was getting late and we needed some dinner so we decided to do the rest of it the next day coming back to Ellensburg.

We got onto I-90 and drove west to Ellensburg.  We got off at the exit and tried going to Taco Del Mar because it was next to our hotel.  They closed at 8 so they ruined our plans.  Ben knows Ellensburg better than I do since he did a fire camp here once, he remembered this burger place over by the college and we were hoping they were still open.  Campus U-Tote 'Em was still open so we got in line, ordered two burgers, a fries and an Oreo shake.  We paid, waited in the Escape until they called our number since it was still super windy.  We sat for about 10 minutes, Ben went and grabbed it and we took it to our hotel and ate it.

We watched TV, enjoyed our food, tried going to our reserved time in the pool and hot tub area but there wasn't a hot tub so we went back to our room and I took a hot shower instead.  I was so excited to sit in a hot tub, oh well.  It was so nice to be warm and clean after a long day.  We played 10,000 and talked to Trish on the phone for a bit, she had been drinking so she was silly.  We logged the caches we found today and made some notes for my blog.  We started getting tired so we started getting ready for bed.  My arm started hurting even worse and I worried how the next day was going to go.  We went to bed around 12:30.

Next Adventure:  Memorial Day Weekend:  Old Historic Highway 10, George, Quincy and Ellensburg

Covid-19 Vaccinations (First and Second Dose)

Here we are about a little more than a year later after the first cases of Covid and the world shutting down.  It was such a waste of a year.  I lost a bunch of money on a trip I didn't get to take, my stuff I do each summer was postponed and it felt like my house was a prison.  We did manage to get out and about once they lifted bans on being outside, it was amazing and much needed after the chaos that ensued starting in March.  

I complied with all of the staying at home and mask wearing because I wanted this stupid virus to go away.  It was prolonged because no one wanted to wear a mask or stay at home.  I had stuff I wanted to do.  It was irritating that people were so ignorant and disrespectful.  But I suppose maybe they wanted this around for a long time?  I sure didn't.  I wanted to get back to my life.

I know that Covid wasn't a secret and has been around for many years because it's a form of SARS.  I know they were trying to come up with a vaccine just in case this happened.  I know they've been working on it for a few years.  There will probably be more instances like this where a deadly virus spreads all over the world.  I sure hope not but look, it happened once before...why not again?

Washington State and the health department created an app for your phone so you can find out when you're eligible for the vaccines once they are available for everyone.  I found out that I wouldn't be eligible for a long time and probably will be sometime in the summer after I took the survey.  Since I am at home working and not around a mass quantity of people I was going to be one of the last phases of people on the phase system the state put in place.

The first set of vaccines arrived in Seattle, Washington on December 14th.  That included 3,900 doses of Pfizer and it arrived packed in dry ice at the UW Medical Center.  Each box contained 195 vials, each vial contained enough vaccine for five doses for a total of 975 doses per box.  They were stored in the freezer at -78 degrees C.  Then they were delivered to Northwest, Harborview and Valley Medical Center.  Moderna's vaccine was implemented after December 21st but doesn't have to be stored in subzero freezers but will still need to be kept cold in refrigerators and will also be easier to distribute.  I was not sure of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine but it was fairly new at the beginning of 2021.

The first set of vaccinations were given in December to healthcare workers, front line workers, emergency workers, elderly with underlying conditions and other people who fit that criteria.  From there, different groups of people where eligible as time went on.  Erika, Zach and Grandpa were the first set of people in our family who were vaccinated.  Then Mom was because she worked at the dentist office, then Doug and Jenn were eligible and did both their shots through a drive thru at the Thurston County Fairgrounds.  I tried to get the app to make me eligible but I couldn't get to it do it so I couldn't go with them and would probably be sent home if I did.  I didn't want to waste my time.  So I waited. 

Everyone received the Moderna vaccine and said that their first shot made them wimpy, tired, gave them headaches and their arms hurt for a few days.  I was prepared to feel bad the next day after I received my first one, whenever that was going to be.

Jenn sent me a video about the possibility of needing a yellow World Heath Organization international certificate of vaccination to travel internationally.  I've always wanted to have one just in case I needed one.  Mom got hers when she had to get a yellow fever shot when she went to Ecuador the second time.  I didn't go that time because of work.  I ordered one off of Amazon and hoped that it would be here before I got my vaccinations.

Mom told me to email a lady at our doctor's office to see if I could get vaccinated before April 15th, when the rest of the general public was allowed to be vaccinated.  I emailed her late March but didn't hear back until April 22nd.  The doctor's office called me to ask me if I was still interested in getting my vaccination and I said yes.  They told me when there would be openings and I took the soonest one which was the next day at 3:30.  I told my co-workers and scheduled to be at work the next day until 2.  I would get an early start to my weekend.  

On April 23rd, I worked and logged off around 2:30.  I got my stuff together (my yellow vaccinations card arrived) and headed into Yelm.  I got signed in and the lady handed me a form to fill out.  It was basically giving consent and making sure I wasn't allergic to anything.  I sat there until they called my name.  I followed the lady into a room and she asks me if I had my card.  I assumed she meant my insurance card?  I thought these shots were free?  I pull out my insurance card and she goes, oh...no, your white vaccination card.  I told her I didn't have one because this was my first one.  She says, the girls in the front told me the wrong thing.  She gets me a white card and I whip out my yellow one.  I asked her if she could fill in that one too.  They may require it for international travel.  She said sure.

I hate shots.  So the anticipation of it was terrible.  She told me to lift my left arm out of my sweatshirt and the needle went in.  Ughhhhh.  Within seconds it was done.  She slapped a Band-Aid on it and told me I was very hydrated because my arm bled instantly.  I told her it was because I drink a lot of water since I have a sedentary job.  She handed me my cards and she said make sure you sit in the waiting room for at least 15 minutes before you go and because you had a Moderna shot that I had to come back on a certain day because this clinic was discontinuing them.  I told her okay and that I understood. 

I went out to the waiting room and talked to one of the ladies behind the desk.  I told them that I needed to come back for my second Covid shot on either the 25th or the 28th.  She looked at her computer and told me that I had to come on the 28th because the other day was full.  I didn't realize it at the time, because I had no choice, that I was going to take that day off so Ben and I could start our Memorial Day Weekend sooner.  Bummer.  We were going to have to alter it.

The next day, I woke up and we did our chores.  My arm hurt pretty bad and didn't want anyone or anything to touch it or accidently bump into it.  That didn't stop Oliver from sleeping on my arm.  Out of every other single day he wouldn't but now that I had a shot he was right there to lay on it.  I felt a little wimpy, tired and drained throughout the day but it didn't stop me from doing our stuff we had to do.  In the evening, arm still hurt, I got hot and cold and my head started hurting.  Luckily, it was the weekend and it didn't matter.  All my symptoms went away the next day except for the sore arm.  That didn't go away for about four days.

Erika, Doug, Jenn, Trish and Mom said their second one was worse.  It kept Doug and Jenn from going to work the day after they got theirs.  I knew it was going to affect everyone differently and I was hoping that mine wasn't that bad.  I really didn't want it to ruin our trip.  I hoped for the best with my fingers crossed.

The day for the second dose was on Friday, May 28th at 1:40, so I just took a half day from work.  Ben had the Thursday and Friday off so he got a lot done the day before so we could leave after my shot on Friday.  I logged off and we got all of our stuff ready and packed up in the Escape, ate a quick lunch and made our way to Yelm around 12:30.  We made one stop at the store but couldn't find what we were looking for so we went to the doctor's office.  Along the way I called Mom to see what she was doing since she was off work.  She was at Walmart and I asked her if she could check to see if they had a hard shelled glasses case and she said she would.  I told her that I was at the doctor's office in Yelm if she wanted to drop it by.  I wasn't sure how long I would be here.  She said she would.  

I went in a little earlier than my appointment (maybe they would get me in early?), used the restroom and checked in.  The lady gave me the same form to fill out and I checked off that I was coming in for my second shot.  I barely had a chance to finish it before the girl came out to take me to a room to get my vaccination.  Wow, I'm gonna be out of here sooner than I thought.  I hand her my cards and she gets out the vial, gets the needle ready and again, ughhhh I hate shots.  She told me to relax and shot me again in my left arm and covered it up with a Band-Aid.  She told me to go sit in the waiting room for 15 minutes and then I could leave.  

I sat in one of the chairs and tried not using my phone since I forgot to plug it in to charge.  It was at like 8%.  It was hard to just sit there, stare and people watch for 15 minutes.  As soon as my 15 minutes were up, I went back out to the Escape where Ben sat for about a half hour.  I was literally done with everything almost before my actual appointment was suppose to begin.  Mom pulled up just at the right time.  She was on the phone so she just handed me the glasses case and I told her thank you and I would pay her later.  She said to have fun and continued talking on the phone.  Ben and I drove to Ellensburg for our long weekend.

Mom told me that Dad got his shot also that afternoon.  He got the Johnson and Johnson vaccination.  We were hoping he didn't have any adverse affects from it since that particular one was having issues.

The rest of the day I felt fine but my arm was a little sore.  The next day I really couldn't tell if I felt wimpy, tired, hot or cold because it was hot outside and we kept moving.  It didn't really affect me until later on that day.  I had a raging headache, my arm hurt worse and I did feel fatigue.  I needed some IB Profin.  That seemed to make it hurt less.  I feel I was spared from all the horrible from the second dose of the vaccine but was I?  I have no idea.

I heard we may have to have boosters in the future but that has not been confirmed yet so we shall see when it happens.  It feels good to have these done and are helping the world get rid of this huge inconvenience.  

Next Adventure:  Memorial Day Weekend:  Lacey to Ellensburg

Zach's PJ Masks Birthday Party - The Big 3-0

Zach's 30th birthday was approaching and I asked Erika what she wanted to do for it this year.  I told her she and Zach could host since they have the room and a yard now.  She said she would think about it.  As she thought about it, we discussed what kind of a birthday party we would have and she suggested a PJ Masks themed party.  I told her I would check various stores for decorations.  Meanwhile, I picked up a few presents for him as I saw them.  Apparently, Zach is really hard to buy gifts for.  I found stuff at Walmart and The Dollar Tree.  They were PJ Mask and Baby Shark stuff.  I did go to Harbor Freight so he would have his own pair of ear muffs.  I could not find PJ Masks decorations so Erika had to order them online.

Erika finally got back to me and she said that she and Zach would be okay with hosting this birthday party and will make burgers and hot dogs on their new grill.  I helped her break down the stuff that we would need and to assign people to bring it.  We chose the Saturday before his birthday around 2 p.m.

I was to bring lettuce, beans, pickles and cheese along with tables and a few chairs.  Mom and Dad were to bring tomatoes, onions and potato salad.  She called me the morning of to ask if I had her mandolin so she could thinly slice the onions and tomatoes without cutting herself.  She couldn't find the one she had at home so I looked.  She also told me that while she was looking, she found my sliders maker I've been looking for over the past several months.  I was excited.  I did find her mandolin and I would have to bring it with me to Erika's house.  Doug and Jenn were responsible for the buns and chips.  Erika and Zach provided the burgers, hotdogs and the condiments.  

The day of, Ben and I got everything packed up in the Escape and headed over.  I wanted to go a little bit earlier but oh well.  Erika started the burgers at 1:30 so they would be ready by the time people showed up at 2.  We parked in the front yard, Ben unloaded the table and chairs to the back yard.  I took the stuff into the kitchen and got the beans on the stove and washed the lettuce before the kitchen got super busy.  Mom, Dad and Grandma arrived and Mom was also in the kitchen with me slicing the onions and tomatoes so it was a little crowded in the kitchen for a bit.

We brought everything out and set up the table with the food.  We tried putting on the table cloths on the table and got them on eventually since it was super windy.  The smoke from their fire blew at us constantly and by the time we got everything set up and the food on the table we all smelled like smoky food. 

We all dished up and ate in various places in the yard.  There was a table we set up away from the smoke and some sat on the porch where the others sat in camping chairs near the fire because they were cold.  I had a hamburger, some chips, beans, potato salad and a couple pieces of watermelon.  It was delicious.  Everyone ate, chatted and hung out.  If it weren't for the wind, the day would have been perfect.  

When we were done eating, we closed up the bags of chips and the buns, took some of the dishes into the kitchen, cleaned up the table so we could bring out presents and the apple pie Zach wanted instead of a birthday cake.  We sang happy birthday to Zach, we ate pie and whipped cream while he opened his birthday presents.  Again, Zach is hard to find gifts for so I stuck to the Baby Shark and PJ Masks theme.  I found some Baby Shark macaroni, a Baby Shark kite, PJ Masks cups etc.  He opened up everyone else's and then he and Erika proceeded to play with the kite.  Then Erika went and got the rest of the kites out of the house.

We hung out for a little while longer until it was ready to pack up and go.  You could tell everyone was getting cold and wanted to go soon.  We helped Erika bring in the stuff from outside, we helped her wash the dishes, we gathered up the stuff we came with and Ben and Doug put the table and chairs back in the Escape.  We thanked Erika and Zach for hosting and we all went home.  In the midst of the chaos in the house with packing up stuff and cleaning, I had forgotten my back pack on the living room floor and had to come back to get it.  I was hoping they were home when I came by so I texted her and she didn't get back to me until I was knocking on their door.  She wondered why I was there and I told her I left my back pack on the floor.  I grabbed it and we talked for a few (minutes and then she went back to working on her thesis.

Next Adventure:  Covid-19 Vaccinations (First and Second Dose)