Who is Rose Red?

Rose Red is my Geocaching name. Rose Red was not taken from "The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer - My Life at Rose Red" ghost writen by Ridley Pearson nor from Stephen King's televison drama, "Rose Red." Rose Red was taken from the Brother Grimm story of "Snow-white and Rose-red."

Afternoon Tea at Myrtle's Tea House, Ridgefield, WA

My neighbor, Pat Gutierrez, and I had afternoon tea at Myrtle’s Tea House at 112 S. Main Avenue in Ridgefield, Washington today, July 23, 2010 about 1:00PM. The Tea House, formerly the Ridgefield Library, had lovely décor. We had the window table which looked out at the white church and churchyard. Our first course was a raspberry sorbet. We had dainty tea sandwiches (I ate one of the sandwiches and then remembered to take a photo), a bowl of tomato bisque soup and fresh fruit followed by a scone and desserts. Afterwards we went to the gift shop to pay our bill and browse the gifts. I bought a lavender butterfly mobile/wind chimes. Tearoom hours are 11:30am to 3:00pm Wednesday through Saturday. Contact: 360 887-9018. Reservations are a good idea.

Geocaching for six DeLorme Pages

My #2 son, Christopher, and I left Portland at 7:00AM yesterday morning. We drove south of Corvallis on I-5 where we turned east on Hwy 228 almost to Hoodoo Ski Bowl, then north to Idanha on Hwy 22 and then northwest on Hwy 22 through Stayton to Salem, and the north back home to Portland and Vancouver. Christopher got home about 8:00PM and I got home about 9:00PM as I stopped by my daughter, Catherine's house to have a piece of her Happy Birthday cake.

Our three favorite caches were "Rocky Road" - The Living Rock Studio in Brownsville, the cache at Crawfordsville Bridge, and "The Tasty Ol' Soda Springs." We were deeply disappointed in "An East Linn History Lesson" - we were there on a Thursday about 11:30AM but it was not open; "Cash in Trash Out!" (DNF), keller cache" (DNF) and "Historic Stayton: The Brown House." "Welcome to Gates" was a physically challenging cache.

Canby, North Clackamas and Estacada Geocoin Challenges

My #2 son, Christopher, and I did three Geocoin challenges the weekend before going to GeoWoodstock VIII. We found the Canby Geocoin Challenge on Friday, June 25th. We found the North Clackamas Geocoin Challenge on Sunday, June 27th. Afterwards we went to GEOregon Meet & Greet in Clackamas. We found Estacada Geocoin Challenge on Monday, June 28th. We picked up the North Clackamas and the Estacada Geocoins on Monday. Ornith (Bob Taylor) gave us out Canby geocoins at the Meet & Greet and Luau on Friday afternoon the day before GeoWoodstock VIII. We found ten caches for each of the Challenges.

GeoWoodstock VIII - Day 5

We packed up our stuff, hauled it in a wheelbarrow down to the car and left for home on Monday, July 5th. We stopped at Pine Lake McDonald’s in Sammamish for breakfast. We found ten caches and benchmarks on the way home. I stopped for a fish sandwich at Burger King about 5:15PM. Back in Portland I took Christopher to his apartment to unload his stuff. We went to Fred Meyer on Burnside to get some things and then back to his apartment. I got home about 8:30 PM or so. It was good to wash my hair, take a shower and sleep in my own bed!

GeoWoodstock VIII - Day 4

On Sunday, July 4th, we found ten caches and benchmarks. We ate lunch at Subway about 12:30PM at Kimball Creek Village in Snoqualmie. I had finished reading the novel “Legend” so I swapped it for another novel in a bookcase at the Snoqualmie Ridge Starbucks. We rode the Snoqualmie Scenic Train at 3:01PM from Snoqualmie to North Bend, back to Snoqualmie, to Snoqualmie Falls and then back to Snoqualmie. Round trip took approximately 70 minutes. I purchased food at QFC for a light dinner and breakfast. It poured down rain most of the day but it cleared up at 10:00PM for the fireworks. Christopher chose not to watch the fireworks and slept instead. Recorded music i.e. Aaron Copeland was played during the spectacular fireworks.

GeoWoodstock VIII - Day 3

Christopher and I attend GeoWoodstock VIII, an annual get-together of geocachers from all over the world, on Saturday, July 3, 2010 in Carnation, WA at Remlinger Farms, which is approximately 30 miles to the east of Seattle. Our Chinook Salmon level was $35.00 each which included Parking, Customized name badge, Lanyard, Meal (fresh strawberry shortcake with whipped cream topping for dessert or large chocolate chip cookie), GeoWoodstock event T-Shirt and GeoWoodstock event trackable geocoin. I checked out all of the booths but did not purchase anything. I enjoyed meeting cachers and helping them with a caching game -- "Getting to know you...". We left early to do more geocaching. We found five caches. We got sandwiches at QFC that evening for a light dinner.

GeoWoodstock VIII - Day 2

Christopher and I are “Twin Peaks” fans. We took a driving tour of the television series locations in Snoqualmie, North Bend and Fall City area while in the area for GeoWoodstock VIII.

We took the Highway 202 exit to North Bend. We stopped briefly at the Double R Diner (now called Twede's) near the railroad tracks. A man behind the counter was wearing a “Twin Peaks” T-shirt.

We took a right onto W North Bend Way and went through the downtown area of North Bend. We saw Mt. Si Motel on the left side of the street. This is the motel that Leland met with Teresa and saw Ronette and Laura in the motel room.

We turned around and went back to downtown North Bend, hit Highway 202/North Bend Blvd S, and took a right. We followed this road to Meadowbrook Way SE and took a sharp right. There was a high school from the pilot to our left. It looked very different as it has been remodeled.

We drove pass the high school to an intersection before a bridge. There was old garage to the right formerly white and now a dark gray. This was the Leland/Laura/Gerard intersection. Fat Trout Trailer Park was to our left. In the middle of the park was the Number 6 pole. As of eleven years ago, Teresa Banks' trailer was still there.

We drove across the bridge. Only one vehicle can cross at a time so traffic is controlled by a signal. We continued down the road to Ronette's bridge. The trestle used to go across the road but doesn't anymore. This intersection of Reining, Mill Pond and Meadowbrook was “Twin Peaks” Sparkwood and 21.

After taking some photos of the bridge and finding the geocache, we headed down Reining Road. We think that we found the actual place where the “Welcome to Twin Peaks” sign was located.

We turned around and headed back and got onto Mill Pond Road. We turned off to the left. This is the location of Packard's Saw Mill and the “Twin Peaks” Sheriff Station. The mill was gone and the office building was being renovated into a driver training facility.

We went back the way we came and got back on Meadowbrook Way SE. We headed back to Hwy 202, turned right into Railroad PL SE and headed northwest. As we entered Snoqualmie, we noticed the very big log on our left which was in the credits of “Twin Peaks.” We did the Virtual Geocache and a couple other caches. In the same area is the Railroad Car Museum which housed Laura’s railroad car way back when.

We kept going northwest on Railroad PL SE to the Salish Lodge (TP’s Great Northern). We walked to Snoqualmie Falls. The mist obscured the falls at times. We found two Geocaches.

We continued going northwest. As we entered Fall City to our right was Fall City Grill (Hap’s Diner). From that intersection, we turned left and went across the bridge. As we got to a stoplight we saw the Roadhouse on our left and the Bookhouse behind it. This was the exterior, not the interior.

We headed southwest down Preston Fall City Road SE/Hwy 203. We scarcely recognized Big Ed’s Gas Farm. We saw the Hurley house with that window across the street.

We continued south on Hwy 203 until we got to Interstate 90 (the town is Preston). We headed south toward North Bend. We exited near Exit 27 on Winery Road and followed it to the end of the road/parking lot to Snoqualmie Point Park. On a clear day you can get a great view of the “Twin Peaks” area including the mill however today it was raining and cloudy. This is the location of the “Twin Peaks” picnic scene and the scene where James sits looking at the necklace. Christopher found the geocache. From here we headed to Lake Sammamish State Park and the Meet & Greet and Tiki Luau arriving about 2:00PM.

Christopher and I had a great time at the COWWS Meet & Greet and Tiki Luau. We picked up our GeoWoodstock VIII Registration Packets, T-shirts and Geocoins. I purchased two Tiki Luau event Geocoins for Christopher and I. There were hotdogs on the grill along with cookies, chips, and drinks. The rain held off so the weather was cool but enjoyable.

We drove to the Tolt-MacDonald Campground in Carnation where we hauled our stuff to Yurt #3 in a large wheelbarrow and settled in. The pit toilets were a bit uphill and the showers were a long ways away!

We found a couple caches in Carnation. We ate dinner at Pete’s Grill & Pub about 8:30PM. Another couple joined us but the music was so loud that we could not talk very much.

We found eight caches today. Christopher also found the cache on the suspension bridge in camp that was later lost in the river.

GeoWoodstock VIII - Day 1

My #2 son, Christopher, and I left Portland, Oregon about 1:00PM. We stopped at Fred Meyer in north Vancouver where we ate lunch at an outdoor Starbucks table about 1:15PM. We traveled north and then northeast to North Bend. We found 11 caches on the way. One of the caches was near a lonely gravesite in the woods. I purchased a couple food items at QFC. We stayed the night at the North Bend Motel. It was chilly so I used my sleeping bag as a quilt.