Washington State Trip June 18 - 27, 2016

My son, Christopher, and I attended the 15th Annual Columbia River Gorge Geocachers Picnic at Rock Cover in Stevenson, Washington on Saturday, June 18, 2016.  The Event lasted from noon to 4:00pm however we had to leave about 2:15pm as we had many miles to travel this afternoon.  I have attended eight of these Events since 2006 including this Event!

We traveled I-84, I-205, I-5 and then Hwy 6 to Raymond.  My goal is to find a cache in as many DeLorme Atlas Ninth Edition c. 2008 pages as I can especially pages 61 and 48.  I found two Traditional caches on DeLorme page 71.  We stopped at McDonalds for dinner.  We stayed the night in Room No.: 9 at the Golden Lion Motel in Raymond, Washington.

Sunday, June 19, 2016 - Following breakfast at McDonalds in Raymond, I purchased an Annual Discover Pass at Grayland Beach State Park.  I found several caches along the coast on DeLorme page 70 and then an interesting cache called "Chain" on DeLorme page 57 northwest of Aberdeen on the way to Ocean Shores.  The highlight of the day was a visit to 1898 Grays Harbor (Westport) Lighthouse.  We had a tour inside but did not climb the 135 metal stairs to view the clamshell Fresnel Lens in the Lantern Room.  I found four Traditional caches and one Virtual.  We stayed the night in Room No.: 401 a fantastic two-story suite at Comfort Inn and Suites in Ocean Shores.

Monday, June 20, 2016 - Following breakfast at Comfort Inn and Suites, we reluctantly left our two-story suite with the sounds of the ocean.  I found seven caches - five Traditional, a Virtual and a Mystery cache.  Several caches were very interesting: the enormous shark head entrance to the building, twin phone booths in Amanda Park, Merriman Falls at Lake Quinault, Kalaloch (Virtual), and Sweetest Spot in Forks.  We had ice cream bars at 1:30pm at Amanda Park Mercantile, late dinner at Pacific Pizza in Forks and stayed overnight in Room 208 at Olympic Suites Inn  in Forks.  It evidently was an apartment complex turned into a motel.  Rather strange but quiet nestled among  the trees.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016 - We had breakfast at the Forks Coffee Shop.  Every since I did the four local "Twilight" caches I have wanted to do the multi "Twilight" in Forks.  We saw the Twilight sights in Forks and then went to La Push for the rest of  the Multi including the treaty line.  Before leaving Forks we stopped at Sweet Stuffs for ice cream.  We drove northwest to Neah Bay and then east toward Port Angeles (DeLorme pages 27 and 28).  I found four Traditional caches, a Multi and a Virtual.  We stayed the night at the Quality Inn Uptown in Port Angeles.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016 - Following breakfast at the Quality Inn Uptown in Port Angeles we drove east covering DeLorme pages 29 and 30.  The car was filthy after traveling gravel and dirt roads so I put the car through a Car Wash in Sequim.  We traveled though downtown Port Townsend and Fort Wooden State Park.  We stayed the night at the Guesthouse Inn and Suites Hotel in Poulsbo.  We found at least one cache on DeLorme pages 30, 31 and 44. I found four Traditional Caches.

Thursday, June 23, 2016 - Following breakfast, we drove southeast through Goblindust county.  We rode the Bainbridge Ferry at 2:05 from Winslow to Seattle.  Our car was loaded on the left outside lane so I had a view of the city while crossing.  We headed east from downtown Seattle on I-90.  We stopped at Scott's Dairy Freeze Ice Cream in North Bend for food.  I was able to find a cache on DeLorme page 61.  I found seven Traditional Caches (three were Goblindust Caches), one Puzzle Cache about "Twin Peaks" and one EarthCache on The Stuart Range.  We stayed the night at the Quality Inn in Ellensburg.

Friday, June 24, 2016 - Following breakfast at the Quality Inn in Ellensburg, we headed south along scenic Hwy 97 where I have an EarthCache.  I found two caches.  We went to the TC 2016 Meet & Greet at the Richland Community Center at 6:30.  I won a Steam Punk Coin.   We stayed at a great Choice Hotel in the Tri-Cities - clean, great view, quiet and quick access to the Freeway.

Saturday, June 25, 2016 - We did the Tri-Cities 2016 Geocoin Challenge.  I got the two hand held GPS and the Garmin Nuvi for the car downloaded with the caches at the GPX Station.  There were two multis and the rest were Traditional Caches.  There were several problems: the map was inaccurate showing the location of the caches, stamps were missing right off, the finals for the multis were posted, and the locations were incredibly boring.  When I went to get my Geocoin about 6:30pm I was told that I did not have a completed passport.  They were confused and so was I.  I was given the Geocoin but decided that I would find a couple more Tri-Cities 2016 Geocoin Challenge caches the next day.  We ate a delicious dinner at Mexico Lindo Y Que Rico Mexican Restaurant in Pasco.

Sunday, June 26, 2016 - Following breakfast, we found two more Tri-Cities 2016 Geocoin Challenge caches in Richland.  They were by far the more interesting of the Challenge caches.  We had lunch at the Moose Creek Cafe and Bakery in Dayton.  I really wanted to have lunch at Weinhard Cafe & bakery but it was closed.  I drove to the SE corner of Washington State to Camp Wooten.  We headed north toward Lewiston and Clarkston and then to Pullman.  We took a webcam photo and found the cache at the huge (live) Grizzly Bears at Pullman.  Altogether I found six Traditional caches and a webcam.  We stayed the night at the Quality Inn Paradise Creek in Pullman.  I was just too exhausted to go any further.  We ate dinner at Birch & Barley next door to the motel.

Monday, June 27, 2016 - Following breakfast at the Quality Inn Paradise Creek, we got gas in the car and washed the filthy beast.  We drove to Palouse to find a cache and then west to Saint John where I needed a cache for the A-Z Washington Cities Challenge.  We  had huge scoops of delicious ice cream at Spikes Inc. in Ritzville.  We found a cache at Moses Lake and then headed south on Hwy 17.  We wound our way through the labyrinth of Tri-Cities.  Altogether I found four Traditional caches.  We headed west on I-84, popping over briefly to Maryhill for a cache.  We got home at midnight! 

During the trip I found 71 caches - 64 Traditional caches, one webcam, three Virtuals, one EarthCache, one Multi and one Mystery, and found caches on 11 DeLorme Atlas pages.  I reached my goals of finding at least one cache on DeLorme Atlas page 61 (unfortunately I didn't get to DeLorme page 48 which I also needed) and finding a cache in Saint John, Washington for a challenge.  It will take me a week at least to recover!