Spokane Trip: Spending the Day with Brenda and Ray, Geocaching and Adventure Labs

I could definitely tell I slept in a different bed when I woke up.  I did hear Zuri go outside earlier that morning when she needed to use the bathroom.  The dog door to the backyard is through the guest room's closet. I rolled out of bed around 7:15 and got in a quick shower.  I got dressed and Ray and Brenda were getting ready to make breakfast and didn't have bagels.  I told them I would run over to Walmart really quick and get some for them.

I hopped in the Escape and made my way to the Walmart, which wasn't that far away from their house.  I went inside primarily for bagels and couldn't find the ones I wanted.  Apparently, they didn't carry the blueberry version of Dave's Killer Bread.  Bummer.  I settled on a bag of mini blueberry ones instead.  I grabbed a couple Pepsi Zero's and had a heck of a time finding my Milky Ways.  I grabbed a Gonzaga visor for Mom, for a Christmas gift.  I used self-checkout and went back to their house.

I got back just in time for breakfast to be done.  We added the mini bagels to it.  We had scrambled eggs, bacon and milk.  It hit the spot and would keep us going until lunch time.  We got ready for a day of geocaching.  Brenda made some meat, pickle and cream cheese wraps and cut up strawberries for lunch.  We made sure we had all of our caching tech and hopped into Ray's new truck. 

Our first stop was the Adventure Lab, Welcome to Spokane!  It had five waypoints and was super easy.  You could literally do it from anywhere near the airport by answering multiple choice questions.  After completing that, we drove over to the Spokane International:  Travel Bug Air Terminal (GC39FYZ) which we had both found already several years ago.  Ray wanted to drop off some trackables and this one was safe to do so.

We got onto W Government Way to do their Adventure Lab, Fort George Wright History Tour.  This one was a five-waypoint adventure that took you to various buildings and signs around the old fort.  One of the stops was at a totem pole. 

We stopped by Riverside Memorial Park for two reasons.  One, was to find the cool multicache that Ray wanted me to do so we stopped by the memorial to get the answers to figure out the coords but apparently did the math wrong.  I would have to come back and do it again another time.  The other reason was that Ray and Brenda wanted to show me their headstone and where they were going to be buried.  The cemetery didn't follow directions and carved the headstone and placed it way too prematurely.  They will still have to change the last names on it because it says Harrison instead of McGuire.  It was kinda funny that we could go and visit their final resting place yet also weird at the same time. 

We started their second Adventure Lab, Who Let the Dogs Out?  This Adventure Lab took us to five different locations around Spokane and Spokane Valley. 

While we were downtown, I wanted to stop by WSU Spokane since that was the only WSU extension I have never been to.  To Ray and Brenda's surprise, the bookie had moved to another location and had to figure out where it was on Google Maps. We made our way there, parked and went into the Bookie.  I wanted to see if they had a particular sweatshirt.  It was such a tiny campus; they really didn't have what I was looking for, so I just bought a Nalgene and some stickers.  I took a picture with the Cougar statue out in front before we moved on with our day.

They wanted to check on it because one of the dog parks was going to be changed soon and would have to alter their lab once the change had been made.  While we were letting the dogs out, we tried looking for one over by the cemetery near the dog park in question.  We looked everywhere and couldn't find it.  We assumed it was missing.  Ray and Brenda said they would go look for it another time. 

We drove to Manito Park to do some of the virtual caches.  I told them the last time I was in Spokane, in spring of 2018, we found a lot of the caches here.  We did Helen Keller Silver Linden Tree (GC9P67V) and then walked to the Japanese Garden.  

While we walked, Doug called me to complain about work and the current state of the ongoing problem he was dealing with.  The Japanese Garden was very pretty in the summertime rather than the spring, when everything was still dead and trying to grow.  They took me to It's in the Details (GCX74E) which had a lot of favorite points and I saw why.  It was very clever but didn't trick me.  We walked back to the truck.  It was getting warm.

I needed a cache in Liberty Lake, so they drove out that way, stopping at the dog parks along the way.  Brenda had a cache in mind at the library from the 2017 Spokane GeoTour. The letterbox, SOS:  Liberty Lake Municipal Library (GC77NB6) had a lot of favorite points. We parked and got out.  I could not figure out the "virtual stage" part of the cache for some reason.  I gave it a good fifteen minutes or so before asking the library employee for some guidance. She was happy to steer me to the right direction.  We went inside and found the correct book section the employee hinted us to.  

I pulled it down, signed my name and Ray took a couple pictures of me.  That is one more town I can cross off my list.  We jumped back into the truck and drove east towards our last dog park waypoint we needed to get to complete the Adventure Lab.  The Laughing Dog Park was near the defunct Spokane River Rest Area.  I was so happy to see the restroom was open because we all had to pee.  We ate the meat pickle wraps and strawberries in the back of Ray's truck.  They were delicious.

Since we were over in the Spokane Valley area, Ray and Brenda wanted to take me to Mirabeau Park, to show me where they got married in 2007.  They just got back from Europe after celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary.  They technically got married for the first time as McGuire's. We parked the truck and walked down to the waterfall and landing. Ray explained how he had everything set up and that it was the best day of his life.

We drove to the Hillyard area of the Spokane Valley to do three Adventure Labs, Hill Yard, Hillyard Murals and Cluedo, all were five waypoints each.  All were unique but the Cluedo one had a bonus cache, and we didn't quite understand how to get the coords for it, so it was put on the list of caches to do later.

It was getting late, and we didn't want to get stuck in the rush hour traffic so around 4 p.m. we headed back to Airway Heights.  Along the way, we noticed that Government Road was on fire--we were just on that road this morning and it was covered in helicopters and fire trucks. They were trying to contain it, so it didn't spread.  It was so dry and there were tons of isolated thunder storms the previous night.

We got back to the house, packed up the rest of my stuff and took it out to the Escape.  Ray and Brenda wanted to give me one of their many Abbotsford geocoins they got a few weeks back, but they had to adopt it to me.  I took a few minutes to show him how to adopt out a geocoin.  I thanked them for the coin, their hospitality and hoped that it wouldn't be a long time before I would be able to come to Spokane to hang out again. 

I texted Fitzy to let her know I was on my way.  I left Airway Heights around 5:30 and drove east to Spokane Valley.  Traffic actually wasn't that bad on I-90.  I followed Nuvi's directions to their house and arrived with ease.  I parked in the driveway, grabbed some of my stuff and knocked on the door.  Both her dogs went nuts and had to be put in the back yard for now.  Chaise wasn't feeling all that well, so he was pretty scarce. She gave me a quick tour of the house and showed me where I was going to sleep and where the bathroom was.   I got a face full of her greyhound, Seamus. 

She asked if I ate dinner, and I answered not yet.  She knew of a place down the road called Caruso's Sandwiches and Artisan Pizza.  We rolled in, found a parking spot and went inside to view our choices.  She said both the pizzas and sandwiches were good.  I got a pizza, and she had one as well.  She treated me to dinner.  We sat outside, enjoying the late warm summer evening while catching up with what's been going on over the past year or so, talked about how busy the summer was and the upcoming wedding plans. It was a nice, overdue chat. 

Afterwards, we stopped at the Coke machines off of E. Montgomery Drive on the way home.  She said she's driven past here over the last few weeks and wanted to stop.  I knew there was a cache here, but it wasn't the right time to look for it.  Maybe next time.  We grabbed about four or five different canned Coke products because they were 25 cents each and I had a buttload of change in the Escape.  I guess there used to be one of these in Spanaway but had closed down to the public. 

We went home, watched TV for a little bit, I got a shower in and went to bed around midnight.  It was a long day but very thankful to have friends to visit with I haven't gotten to spend that much time around over the past couple years.   It was nice to finally lay down and sleep.

Next Adventure:  Spokane Trip:  Hanging Out with Fitzy, Farmer's Market, Rollerblading and Breweries

Spokane Trip: Lacey to Spokane

I had been in contact with Fitzy throughout the summer.  She told me that she and Chaise were moving back to Washington to be closer to family.  I asked her if she needed help moving and she said between her and Chaise, they got most of it covered.  I really wanted to go to Spokane to see them and their new home.  I asked her when the best time to come see them were and she said probably the end of August.  I set aside some time on the calendar and when that time came, I took part of Thursday and all of Friday off.

I had spoken to Ray and Brenda about coming over to see their house too.  They moved a few years back and I hadn't been able to make it over to Spokane to see them either.  Then Covid ruined a lot of stuff.  I asked if I left a little early if I could hang out with them for a day and they said to come on over!  I figured this plan worked great, hang out with them on Thursday and Friday and then hang out with Fitzy and Chaise Friday, Saturday and Sunday since they both work from home and I didn't really want to bother them on Friday.  Brenda was more than willing to take the Friday off to hang out.

The night before, I got gas, did laundry and packed up some of my stuff.  On Thursday, I got up, worked and finished packing up my stuff.  I asked my boss and co-workers if it would be cool if I ducked out early for my three-day weekend since I was done with all my work.  They said it was cool and to have a great time.  I logged off at 2 and threw all of my stuff into the Escape.  I left the house at 2:15 and hoped there wasn't any horrible traffic along the way.

It was slow through Nisqually on I-5 for some reason and then slow through JBLM.  There weren't any accidents or construction going on, so I was at a loss of why.  I got onto 512 and 167 and was smooth sailing all the way to Auburn.  It was a little slow at the interchange and I got bored so I called Trish to see what she was up to.  She didn't answer.

While on Hwy 18, it was very quick all the way to I-90, and I updated Ray and Brenda about my progress with texts and pictures.  I turned on my podcasts and listened to them as I saw the landscape change.  I was making very good time and hit a slow spot through Easton due to a stupid guy who forgot how to drive.  I knew I had to make a bathroom pitstop, so I chose Indian John Hill, and this is where I wish I brough snacks with me because I was getting a little hungry about this time.  It was around 4:30 or so. 

My ride was quick through Ellensburg, Vantage and George...it was about 90-100 degrees through there.  I talked to Ben on the phone for a while just after 5:15. He asked how my trip was going and told him I was making very good time.  He told me about his day, we chatted about other random things as I continued east.  I got to Moses Lake around 5:35 and noticed that I had to get gas soon.  I remembered that there was a Love's in Ritzville.  I tried calling Mom, but she must have been at quilting since she didn't answer.

I got closer to Ritzville and checked to see if there was a cache at or near the Love's.  There was!  Fuel Up! (GC9VFGV) was a quick park and grab.  I got gas, used the restroom and found the cache before getting back onto I-90 again.  I told Ray and Brenda I had to stop for gas and to use the restroom.  They could not believe that I was making that great of time.  It does help tremendously not having a ton of traffic to hold me back...plus I was going at least 80 miles an hour the entire time.

I continued driving east and Trish called me back, but my phone didn't ring so I called her back not realizing that.  We chatted for a little while between Ritzville and Sprague.  She was having trouble with her phone recently, so Ben and I were going to help her get a new one.  We finished our conversation as I got closer to Spokane.

Just outside of Fishtrap, I experienced a drop of 20 degrees in temperature.  It went from 90 degrees to about 70-75 degrees in less than 20 miles.  It was crazy.  The wind blew pretty hard, and you could see storm clouds off in the distance.  

I passed the exit for Cheney and noticed a lot of new buildings since the last time I was here, spring of 2018.  I got off at the airport exit and drove through Airway Heights.  Airway Heights also grew up in the last five years.  I followed the Nuvi to their house and pulled into the driveway just after 7 p.m.  I made to their house in under 5 hours.  

They welcomed me to their house as I gathered up my stuff and brought it in.  Zuri, of course, was a little nosey and had to smell all of my stuff.  Haha. I got settled in a bit, they gave me a tour of their house and where I was going to sleep.  They saved me some chicken Caesar salad and I ate that while we chatted about anything and everything.

It was time to take Zuri for a walk, so Brenda and I went outside.  I made the Soda Pirates (GC7VH7C) find and then walked to the end of the road down to the front of the housing development.  We saw dry lightning to the south of us; it was quite the show.  I found their other cache, Pillar Rock (GC7T6FK) and then walked back to the house, grabbing the mail, as we walked past.

The rest of the night we hung out, chatted about wedding stuff and then they showed me and told me stories about their recent trip to Europe.  We went to be super late.

Next Adventure: Spokane Trip:  Spending the Day with Brenda and Ray, Geocaching and Adventure Labs

Geocaching 20th Anniversary Celebration - Seattle Center (2 Years Later)

This was the last pending item on my list from 2020 that I had scheduled to do.  I have been waiting two years to finally get this event out of the way so I could plan new places and things to do.  This event was also postponed twice thinking we were going to be able to do it last summer, but it didn't happen.  So, here we are.  

I asked Mom if she was interested, and she said no and then I asked Ben if he wanted to go, and he said he was going to do a shift at the racetrack in Grand Mound.  I guess I was going by myself that was until Ray and Brenda decided to drive over from Spokane to stay with me and go to the event with me. This was decided literally days before heading up to Seattle.

Bob and Bev were supposed to go with Gabe and had every detail worked out several weeks ago and he basically stood them up for his girlfriend who lives in Federal Way.  He wasn't going to tell them until Bev called him on the Thursday before.  He assumed that I was going to take them up and bring them home without talking to me about a new plan. This is a huge pet peeve of mine.  You make plans with someone, and I expect you to honor those plans.  If something comes up let them know so other arrangements can be figured out. What if Mom and Ben were going with me? With Brenda and Ray, my Escape would have been full, and Bob and Bev would be stranded either at home or in Seattle. I was pretty irritated at Gabe for his petty decision making.  

We did manage to figure it all out, so everyone was able to go and come back.  Bob, Bev, Ray and Brenda were going with me in my Escape up to Angle Lake, ride the train to Westlake Center and the monorail to the Seattle Center.  We didn't have to find parking, get stuck in traffic or waste a lot of time. The roundtrip train ($6) and monorail ($6.50) ticket were totally worth it.

On Thursday, I cleaned the house and mowed the lawn so it would be presentable for when Ray and Brenda come from Spokane on Friday.  That Friday, I had my one-on-one with my boss and Ray and Brenda showed up around 3:00.  They went and grabbed a few caches in the area before coming over.  Once I logged off, we hung out for a while, I gave them a tour of the house, showed them where everything was, and we went outside to get the cache in the front yard.  They had a great time looking at the trackables and trading them in for new ones. 

Around 5:30, we hopped into the Escape and headed into Olympia for an event at Lion's Park to meet up with other geocachers. I wasn't sure who all was going to come according to the will attend logs.  We usually get more people than what the cache page says. We made a mistake and had to turn around to get to the park.  I had never been here before but have seen the puzzle cache on my map for a while and wanted to come out to do it.  I knew we wouldn't have time to while we were here and might have to come back another time due to dinner.

Welcome to Olympia, Washington (GCGC9Y53G) was hosted by a cacher named Truvtter from Kansas City, Missouri and her goal is to host an event in all 50 state capitals.  She is also a quilter, and her logbooks are quilt squares that the attendee's sign with fabric markers.  She is in town fot the celebration event in Seattle.  Quite a few people came, including some from out of town, we signed her quilt square, chatted for a bit and had a raffle.  She raffled off an earthcache kit and a quilt block.  Bev won the quilt block, and I was off by one number!

We did briefly think about staying to work on the puzzle, but we were getting hungry, so we went back to the house to meet up with Ben, who recently got off work.  We figure we would have enough time to do the puzzle on Saturday or Sunday before they leave to go back to Spokane.  We drove home and ate burgers, chips, corn on the cob and beans for dinner off the grill.  We sat outside on the patio furniture and table, that Rhonda gave us, and shared stories as we ate.

We brought everything inside, did the dishes and put the extra food away.  We hung out for a little bit more and then got ready for bed since the next day was going to be a very long day.  I told Ray and Brenda if they needed anything to help themselves and showed them where the extra pillows and blankets were.  They thanked me and told me they would see me in the morning. 

The next morning, I got up around 6:20 and started getting ready to go for some reason my phone didn't charge the night before.  I guess I was lucky that the phone went off when it did.  I plugged it in and hoped it had enough power by the time we got to the train station.  Ray and Brenda also got up around the same time, ate a quick bowl of cereal and I had some yogurt and half a blueberry bagel.

Bob and Bev showed up to the house around 7 a.m. We through all of our stuff in the back, I had packed my bag on Thursday and Friday as I remembered stuff to shove in it.  Off we went to I-5 north and we arrived at the Angle Lake parking garage around 7:50, found a place to park (in spot #399), grabbed everything we would need and headed to the ticket kiosk, purchased our roundtrip tickets to Westlake Center. 

We sat there waiting for our train to depart for about 10 minutes.  During that time, we sat there and talked to The Dips.  It took us a little less than an hour to get to Westlake Center--there are 12 stops between there and Angle Lake.  We got off the train and headed upstairs to the Monorail, I paid for a two-way ticket to the Seattle Center.  

We got on and took the short trip to the Seattle Center.  We got off and went into the Armory to use the restroom because none of the train stations nor stops had public bathrooms.  Then we went to the event, Geocaching 20th Anniversary Celebration (GC896PK). 

From there, we wandered around for a bit, signed the giant 2022 logbook, stood in some lines, did the nearby Adventure Labs (some didn't have specific geofences so we didn't have to walk a lot), talked to a bunch of people we haven't seen in a while, renewed my WSGA membership (because I was taking on WSGA caches for a Geotour), chatted with Chris, picked up some swag from various booths, talked to Rich, Lisa, JD and Josh, bought some merch and hung out with the group I came with.  We were probably there for 5-6 hours or so.  I also handed out some of my pathtags.

We all started to get hungry but didn't want to stand in line with the food trucks, so I suggested Dick's, which was a couple blocks from the Seattle Center.  Everyone seemed to agree with me, so we made our way a couple blocks north of the Seattle Center to the Queen Anne Dick's.  It had changed the last time I was here back in 2013 when I came with Bev for the Pacific Science Center event we went to.  All the tables and chairs were gone (due to Covid) and the prices went up.  I ordered the cheapest stuff on the menu, two cheeseburgers, a fry and a strawberry milkshake.  We stood at the public counter and ate our food.  I joked around about having Dick's in our mouth. 

We walked back to the event and used the restroom one more time, talked to a few more people, I went back into the building with all the booths one last time and then decided we were pretty much "funned" out for the day.  We got back onto the monorail, then down to the train station and finally back to Angle Lake.  

We looked for the cache, Angle Lake Train (GC6TWE7) before we got back to the Escape and left.  We had to find the correct level to find the cache at...once we did, it was an easy find.

We soon headed home and only had to slow down in Fife for a little bit, other than that, we encountered no other traffic.  The day went as planned and everyone got to do what they came for.  We all arrived at my house around 4:30, Bob and Bev went home, and Ray and Brenda went with me to a couple caches and then back to Lion's Park. Lion's Pride (GC6PQ6W) was more difficult than we anticipated.  We had to call the hotline to figure out where the last lion was because it was not easy.  We all saw it but thought it was a piece of garbage.  We found the final cache and we were probably there for at least an hour.

I took them to the Treehouse Inn - A TB Boarding House (GC7YQP9) at Harvey's Pack's house and then we ate dinner at the Mayan because Brenda wanted margaritas.  They had nachos and I had water and chicken chimichangas.  We went back to the house, hung out and logged caches. Ben came home from the racetrack later on; we visited a little bit longer until bedtime.  That was a long day but glad to finally be done with events pending from two years ago.  Now, we can start making new plans and doing new things.  It was a relief that all of those things we planned on doing in 2020 were finally done and we can now close that chapter of that book.

Next Adventure:  Spokane Trip:  Lacey to Spokane