Afternoon Tea and Geocaching

My daughters, Catherine and Kimberly, and I had Afternoon Tea at Myrtle’s Tearoom in Ridgefield, Washington. We had a selection of tea sandwiches, cup of soup, scones, fresh fruit and delectable sweets with Earl Grey tea. Afterwards we went Geocaching in Ridgefield, La Center and Woodland.

Geocaching in Camas and Washougal, Nov. 25th

My eldest daughter, Kimberly, and I did several errands in Vancouver. Afterwards we drove to Camas and Washougal to look for geocaches and a benchmark. I stopped at the Georgia-Pacific Paper Mill in Camas to inquire about the water source for the mill. It still comes from Lacamas Lake and Round Lake via the Mill Ditch, and Deep Wells. We had lunch at Quiznos. The sun shone part of the afternoon which made it very pleasurable. The last cache was our best find: Washougal’s Quietest Neighbors. It was hidden in this very unusual tree.

Geocaching and The Anzac Tea Parlour, The Dalles, OR

I went geocaching with my eldest daughter, Kimberly (kimmykat), so she could get The Dalles-Dash Geocoin. Afterwards we drove just north of Dufur to find a cache and then east on fifteen mile road to find a cache and a Virtual.

We enjoyed Australian afternoon tea at The Anzac Tea Parlour in a historic house in The Dalles. The Wollongong Two-Course Tea included delicious Chicken Almond Tea Sandwiches, Cucumber Tea Sandwiches, Olive Rolls, Sun-dried Tomato Quiches, Chocolate-dipped Strawberries, Petite ANZAC Biscuits and red grapes with a large, shared pot of Earl Grey tea with Bergamot. We also had a second course of Bev's freshly-baked Scones with Devonshire Cream and two kinds of Jam. We saved our Chocolate-dipped Strawberries and Petite ANZAC Biscuits for late afternoon snack.

Afterwards we found the remains of two NGS benchmarks at a viewpoint a couple miles east of Mosier, drank hot chocolate and ate our Chocolate-dipped Strawberries and Petite ANZAC Biscuits in front of the fireplace at Skamania Lodge and then drove back to Vancouver via I-84 in the pouring rain.

Pumpkin Afternoon Tea at Pomeroy Farm, Yacolt

My eldest daughter, Kimberly, and I went to Pomeroy Farm in Yacolt to have Pumpkin Afternoon Tea on Wednesday, November 18th. I took a couple photos of the table setting before we sat down. It was a lovely tea. We had Cucumber and Garlic Butter Sandwiches, Carrot and Cheddar Sandwiches and Turkey Tea Sandwiches; Scones with Devonshire Style Cream and Strawberry and Blackberry Jam; and for desert Eggnog Cake, Lemon Tarts and Chocolate Cheese Cake.

Afterwards we took the scenic drive through Yacolt and Amboy to Woodland. We stopped at the Cedar Creek Grist Mill to find a cache that we were unable to find on our last visit. We watched large fish trying to get upstream over the falls. There was a lot of water from the recent rain storms. We drove back through Woodland and then south on I-5 to Vancouver.

Molalla, Oregon Geocoin Challenge, November 14, 2009

On Saturday afternoon, November 14th, my eldest daughter, Kimberly, #2 son, Christopher, and I went to Molalla to do the 1st Molalla Geocoin Challenge. Near one of the caches the street sign had Christopher's name.

We found nine of 10 caches however we were unable to find the “Images of Molalla” cache. We were there about 3:15 in the afternoon. We searched for about a half hour and then walked back to the car meaning to go into Mollala to get our geocoins as we had found all the rest of the geocaches. Two couples drove in so we went with them back to the cache area. We all searched for about 15 minutes. No cache. No code word.

We drove into Mollala to get our geocoins arriving minutes before closing. The Executive Director of the Molalla Area Chamber of Commerce told us where the cache was located. We had already searched that area. We drove back anyway and searched for another 20 minutes or so. We used hiking sticks to drive into the ground hopeing to find the large metal ammo can. It got dark so we left. And of course we never got the code word.

It was a great Geocoin Challenge. We saw several very interesting places in and around Molalla, Oregon. It would have been better if it was not so very cold though. And dark too soon.

Geocaching and Benchmarking in the Columbia River Gorge, November 4, 2009

My eldest daughter, Kimberly, and I went geocaching and benchmarking in the Columbia River Gorge. We left Vancouver, WA about 7:00am, traveling across the I-205 bridge and east on I-84 to Troutdale. It was very chilly and windy. After finding several geocaches in Troutdale, we traveled along the old Columbia River Highway finding geocaches and benchmarks along the way. At Crown Point the wind was blowing so strong that we had trouble standing upright!

We traveled east to The Dalles on I-84 where we had Afternoon Tea at The Anzac Tea Parlour - "A Taste of Australia" in a historic house. Besides the sandwiches and savories shown in the photo we had scones with jam and cream and choice of desserts. I saved my chocolate covered strawberry and Anzac biscuit (what we would call a cookie) to have later. We were invited into the large kitchen with its blackboard slate floor, old growth beams, and collection of collectible tins.

We did some geocaching and benchmarking in The Dalles and Mosier on the way home. We took the Old Columbia River Highway via Rowena Crest. I photographed and got the coordinates to a Glacial Erratic in Mosier for a Waymark. The sunset was absolutely spectacular! There was a full Harvest Moon but it was seen dimly behind the clouds. The three outstanding caches: Co-Pilot's Log, Bridal Veil R.I.P. and Old Town Troutdale.

Cedar Creek Grist Mill, Woodland, WA, Sunday, November 1, 2009

My daughter, Kimberly, and I did some geocaching on the way to the 1876 Cedar Creek Grist Mill in Woodland, Washington and then one geocache afterwards on the way to I-5 S and back to Vancouver. At the Grist Mill we watched the grinding of two kinds of wheat into flour and cornmeal. We were given small brown bags of flour (great for scones, biscuits, pancakes) and cornmeal (great for cornbread to serve with chili). Neither of us took the bread flour as we did not make bread. We got a couple recipes also: Collins' Honey Beer Bread and Grist Mill Buttermilk Pancakes. I have the "Cedar Creek Grist Mill Favorite Recipes" Cookbook c. 1991 which has recipes for Baking Powder Biscuits and County Scones.