NatureScaping Booth at Home and Garden Show, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012

I volunteered for the NatureScaping Booth from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Home and Garden Show in the Portland Expo Center. The NatureScaping Booth was located at the far back corner of one of the buildings in the plant sale area by the Master Gardener's and One Green World Nursery. I figured that there would not be much foot traffic but I was wrong. I talked about the garden almost constantly. I mentioned to a few people that there was a Geocache in the garden (Wildlife Botanical Gardens GC1GHJR). Afterwards I wandered through the three buildings looking at the various displays and booths. The most interesting item was a chess board made from marble with an unusual chess set.

2011 Estacada Geocoin Challenge & Afternoon High Tea at Chariteas, Sandy, Oregon

My daughter, Catherine, and I found the caches for the 2011 Estacada Geocoin Challenge, picked up our Geocoins at the Estacada Chamber of Commerce and drove to Sandy, Oregon to have Afternoon Tea at Chariteas. We had four assorted sandwiches each (the salmon sandwich, and the cucumber sandwich were especially tasty), scone w/butter and clotted cream and dessert. The chocolate cake was rich and so delicious! And, of course, we each had a pot of tea. Afterward we drove the scenic backroads to Marine Drive and then west on Marine Drive along the Columbia River to the I-205 Bridge and home. Catherine took the last photo of the Columbia River when we stopped to check on the cache at Ilchee, Moon Girl.

Who is Rose Red?

Rose Red is my Geocaching name. I have been Geocaching off and on since October 2004. Rose Red was not taken from "The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer - My Life at Rose Red" ghost written 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." Rose Red is very outspoken and cheerful, and loves to play outside; on the other hand, her sister Snow-White is more quiet and shy, and prefers doing housework and reading. However I would rather read a good book than play outside - especially if it is cold and rainy.

Garmin GPSmap 62s Bundle purchase at REI Portland, OR

I received a $100 REI gift card in January 2012. I spent two separate times at REI looking over the store items and did not find anything that I wanted to get. So I got a Garmin GPSmap 62s Bundle this afternoon:

Garmin GPSmap 62s - Supports paperless caching; waterproof; 3-axis tilt-compensated electronic compass; automatic routing; helix antenna; supports Custom maps, BirdsEye® Satellite imagery, and photo navigation; high-sensitivity receiver; high-speed USB and NMEA 0183 compatible; uses micro-SD card; 1.7 GB memory; barometric altimeter; sun/moon information; tide tables; area calculation; custom POIs; unit-to-unit transfer.

Info on back of the Bundle container: The GPSmap 62s features 2.6" sunlight readable screen, 3-axis tilt-compensated compass, barometric altimeter, wireless unit-to-unit transfer and 1.7 GB of storage (with expandable microSD card slot). The device comes with a download of one TOPO U.S. 24K regional map (my choice), as well as one year's access to BirdsEye Satellite Imagery. Plus an included protective case and carabiner clip make it easy for me to use and care for the Garmin GPSmap 62s.

On Saturday February 18 my daughter, Catherine, and I went to the Tualatin Library from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm for Geocaching 301 - GSAK Basics. I wanted to know how to get away from punching coordinates into the GPS unit one digit at a time. I want to have the GPS unit loaded and ready to go and not load coordinates enroute. I took my Toshiba NB300notebook computer for Catherine to use during the class. We stopped at Fred Meyer Interstate on the way home to get drink/cookies at Starbucks. I bought Catherine a CD for going with me to the GSAK class.

Washington State DeLorme Pg. 88 Trip

On Friday February 17 my daughter, Catherine, and I drove north to Woodland to have a late breakfast at the Oak Tree in Woodland. Afterwards we drove east to Cougar passing Lake Merwin and Yale Lake on the way. We stopped at Yale Lake to take photos. This photo is one that Catherine took. We made the trip as I needed to pick up DeLorme Map Pg. 88 for the DeLorme Challenge. We headed south on Hwy 503 stopping at a Starbucks in Battle Ground for lunch. We had good weather for the most part. We found eight caches.

Ice Age Floods Talk by Dr. Scott Burns, Geology professor at PSU

This evening I attended the Columbia Gorge Refuge Stewards Annual Meeting at 7:00pm at the Camas Public Library at 625 NE 4th Avenue in downtown Camas. After the meeting we heard a presentation on the Ice Age Floods by Dr. Scott Burns, Geology professor at Portland State University. He signed updated copies of "Cataclysms on the Columbia". Light refreshments was provided.

Afternoon Tea at Tea Thyme and Lavender and St. Mary of Oregon

When I visited the Tea Thyme and Lavender Tea Room in Beaverton yesterday afternoon I sat at a red and gold retro style table at the front of the shop. I had carrot soup with french bread and butter followed by a lavender scone with creme fraiche and three kinds of jam: cherry/pomegranate, marionberry and apricot. I had lemon gateau, chocolate dipped cookie, chocolate covered raisins and a French chocolate for dessert. And, of course, a pot of herbal tea.

This afternoon I had Valentine Afternoon Tea at Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon at the Motherhouse in Beaverton. It was the 10th Anniversary Afternoon Tea. I had Earl Grey Tea. The First Tea Plate was Orange Filbert Scones with Devonshire Cream and Raspberry Preserves. The Second Tea Plate was Cucumber Rounds, Ham and Pineapple in Swiss Cheese Puff and Curry Almond Chicken Salad Sandwich with purple grapes. The Third Tea Plate was Biscotti, Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Rum Balls. I did not like the Rum Balls though. There was entertainment: a Monologue and Musicians. I won a hand crafted Yellow Rose Bookmark in the raffle. Most enjoyable afternoon!

Geocaching Virtuals vs Challenges

I really like Geocaching Virtuals. I have tried for years to get Groundspeak to bring back Virtuals. Well, they created Geocaching Challenges instead.

I have a couple issues with Challenges. You get Geocaching credit for Virtuals but you do not get Geocaching credit for Challenges. The text for my Peace Candle Waymark was plagiarized word for word by a cacher for his/her Challenge. I found 10+ Oregon Covered Bridges to complete a Challenge only to find that the Category was archived shortly afterward: http://www.geocaching.com/challenges/CX1E2E_Covered_Bridges_of_Oregon. As time goes by I am sure that I will have other issues with Geocaching Challenges.

Waymarking is a failure and so is Challenges. Just bring back Virtuals!

"Discovery Roseburg 2" Geocoin Challenge

My youngest daughter, Catherine, and I had a great time during the "Discover Roseburg 2" Geocoin Challenge on Saturday, Feb. 4. We also found the entire Clue series on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

On Sunday we drove east to Glade to pick up DeLorme pg. 54. We found a cache where we met the cache owner, a covered bridge for Geocache Challenge, a Virtual and an Earthcache. We had a delicious lunch at Munchies and found the Letterbox Cache.

Altogether we found six caches on Friday, Feb. 3; three caches and attended the Event on Saturday, Feb. 4 where we found five caches and 15 Virtuals; and five caches plus the final Clue cache, Letterbox cache, Virtual and Earthcache on Sunday, Feb. 5. We found and photographed four historic Covered Bridges: Mosby Creek (Stewart), Pass Creek, Calapooya Creek (Rochester) and Cavitt Creek. Fantastic weather for early February!

We got home about 7:00pm on Sunday in plenty of time to get something to eat, check the Internet and settle in in plenty of time to watch our favorite television show "Downton Abbey".