Cold, Blustery Afternoon in the Columbia River Gorge, Dec. 26th

Kimberly, Christopher, Catherine and I decided to travel the Columbia River Gorge on a very cold, blustery afternoon. The sun was shining. There were white caps on the Columbia River. We stopped at Lacamas Park in Camas, Washington to replace a cache. We traveled east on Hwy 14, stopping briefly at Cape Horn for the spectacular view. We stopped at Skamania Lodge to look at the view from the huge windows. A couple of us had steaming cups of hot chocolate. We crossed the Bridge of the Gods into Oregon. Kimberly and Catherine found a cache and benchmark by the bridge. We traveled west on I-84, stopping at the parking lot to view Multnomah Falls. Kimberly, Christopher and Catherine found the cache at Dalton Point. We found the cache (third try) at a cemetery in Troutdale.

10 Years of Geocaching

It has been almost ten years since May 3, 2000 when Dave Ulman of Oregon City, Oregon and Mike Teague of Vancouver, Washington -- independently stashed several five-gallon buckets and posted their locations to the Web. Then on May 30, 2000 Matt Stum, one of the original Stash Hunters, coined the name "Geocache" and offered it in place of the term Geostash which had negative connotations and the rest is history.

Afternoon Tea at Pomeroy Living History Farm, Yacolt, December 16th

My daugher, Kimberly, and I had Afternoon Tea at Pomeroy Living History Farm in Yacolt on Wednesday, December 16, 2009. We had Savory Cucumber Sandwiches, Cranberry Chutney and Pecan Sandwiches, and Bacon and Tomato Tea Sandwiches. We also had Scones with Devonshire Style Cream and two kinds of Jam. We had Peppermint Chocolate Nut Torte, Raspberry Tarts and Individual Trifle for desert. We drove along the Lewis River to the falls and then explored a couple antique stores in Battle Ground on our way back to Vancouver.

“Portland Holiday Sampler: A Northwest Christmas”

I attended “Portland Holiday Sampler: A Northwest Christmas” Exploritas (formerly Elderhostel) program from Saturday, December 12th to Wednesday, December 16th at a hotel near the Lloyd Center. On Saturday we had check-in & registration, dinner at the hotel and program orientation by our on-site group leader.

Following breakfast at the hotel on Sunday morning, we had a walking tour of Portland led by Peter Chaus, lunch at Southpark Restaurant, guided visit of Powell’s Books including the rare book room, dinner at hotel and a field trip to the Oregon Zoo for "Zoo lights" where we rode in the caboose of the Zoo Train.

On Monday we had a coffee tour and tasting after breakfast and visited Pittock Mansion nicely decorated for the holiday season. We had lunch on our own so Pat (from nearby Scappoose) and I ate lunch at Ram’s Head on NW Hoyt St. Afterwards the group did a tour and tasting at a micro-brewery and had dinner and sightseeing cruise on the Portland Spirit on the Willamette joining a parade of lighted boats.

After breakfast on Tuesday, we departed for Mt. Hood and a guided visit of Timberline Lodge on the snowy slopes. We visited Multnomah Falls which was partly frozen. After dinner in the hotel, we visited Pix Patisseries where we made individual desserts. Tomorrow I will have breakfast at the hotel and turn in my evaluation form.

SAGA Holiday Event, December 5, 2009

Christopher, Kimberly and I went to the SAGA Holiday Event yesterday. We signed the log for the Alphabet District Tour in Portland. Kimberly did the “Boone There Done That” cache in Wilsonville as Christopher and I had already “been there, done that.” We found three geocaches and two benchmarks (bronze statue w/gold leaf finish of Pioneer Man at State Capitol Bldg) in Salem before the SAGA Holiday Event from 4–6pm at the Anderson Meeting Room in Salem Public Library.

I brought homemade ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corp) biscuits which we call cookies. I came across these biscuits (cookies) at the ANZAC Tearoom while geocaching in The Dalles recently with Kimberly. We had a great time at the SAGA Holiday Event. Good food esp. the Monkey Bread, good company, fun White Elephant Gift Exchange ending the Event with a group search for "I've Got Standards!" geocache in the Library.

Geocaching on a sunny day in December

My eldest daughter, Kimberly, and I went geocaching today along Hwy 99 and I-5 from Vancouver to Salem and Eugene and then southeast to Fall Creek/Lowell area. I found 12 caches. Kimberly found a couple more that I had already found. My favorite caches for the day were “Dead Governors,” Ducks on Parade, “Eugene’s Letter” and the two covered bridges – Pengra and Lowell.