Backroads of Upper Washington State DeLorme Atlas and upper Idaho DeLorme Atlas

Friday, August 18 - My son, Christopher, and I left Vancouver, Washington about 9:00am.  We stopped at Fred Meyer for gas for the car and batteries for GPS.  We headed north to Snoqualmie.  We stopped for breakfast at McDonalds in Kelso at 10:30.  The weather was hot but a lot cooler than last year.  We had lunch at Denny's in Spanaway at 2:30pm.   We found a cache behind the restaurant.  Employee (smoker) muggle told my son he couldn't go back there.  Ha.  We found the cache anyway as he had finished his smoke break.  We wandered for miles and miles on the backroads of farm/dairy country.  We had a great view of 14,411 ft high Mount Rainier in the Cascade Range.  We encountered a lot of traffic in Snoqualmie and North Bend.  We stopped at Double R Diner.  I had Cherry pie with vanilla ice cream.  A few days ago I created a "Twin Peaks" Bookmark.  We checked into the Summit Inn for two nights.  We were in a handicap room 107-A.  We attended the Meet and Greet "going APE" from 8:30-9:00 outside the lobby of the Summit Inn.  We walked next door to the Lee Summit Deli for late dinner to take back to our room 107-A.

Saturday, Aug 19 - We had breakfast at The Summit Pancake House.  We went to the Event location.  Christopher went through the spooky 100-year-old, 2.3-mile-long Snoqualmie Tunnel. He found Iron Horse Cache, KE BS Troop 570 Iron Horse Cache, The Iron Horse Express Cache, and The Rocket Cache along the Iron Horse Trail.  I signed the Logboard for us at the "Going Ape 2017" Event and purchased APE event geocoins.  I purchased a cup of very weak lemonade.  I drove to the Annette Lake Trailhead.  Exit 47 was closed for construction so I drove quite a distance to the next exit and backtracked.  I picked up Christopher.  The entire hike was 5.5 miles.  We found ?What a Wonderful World cache across the freeway before heading back to Snoqualmie Pass.  We had dinner at The Commonwealth Cafe.  We spent the night again at the Summit Inn in Room 107-A. 

Sunday, Aug 20 - I purchased a large muffin at The Summit Pancake House for light breakfast.  I attended the "Gone APE 2017" Event outside the lobby of the Summit Inn.  I took a Travel Bug that I will drop off later.  We had breakfast at Riverbend Cafe in North Bend.  Watched the golfers out the cafe window.  I do not understood golfers.  You golf for the exercise however you ride golf carts rather than walk!  I parked at the Parking Lot. Walked the Pipeline Trail at Sammamish to sign the Log for ?Washington DeLorme Challenge (GCQQ9B) Final.  We still have specific requirements that must be completed before logging this cache as Found.  We found Three Lakes Geo-Library at North Snohomish, found TNT bOoK CaChe at Marysville (we had lunch at McDonalds at 2:30) and found Cache a Nap at a Rest Stop on the way to Bellingham.  Couldn't find Up the Creek cache.  We had dinner at Round Table Pizza in Bellingham.  We stayed the night at the Econo Lodge & Suites in Room 307.  I prefer sleeping on the top floor.  We covered Page 32.

Monday, Aug 21 - We had a continental breakfast.  Christopher found two caches that I had already found: Pickett House in Bellingham (#15) and Roadkill Turtle (#32) in Sedro-Woolley.  Eclipse of the Sun hysteria.  We went too far east on Hwy 20.  However we did get to use the facilities at the North Cascades National Park Visitor Center.  We had to backtrack 10+ miles to travel south across the long, narrow silver bridge on the Cascade River Road to find the cache "Bridge over ...".  Back to the silver bridge at Hwy 20 and then east again.  The North Cascades Highway was completed in September 1972, connecting the Skagit River Valley with the Methow Valley.  The highway is closed in the winter due to snow accumulations and avalanches.  The highway crosses Washington Pass at 5,477 ft. (quite spectacular as is the Early Winter Spires) and Rainy Pass at 4,860 ft.  We got into Okanogan really late.  We checked into the Quality Inn Rooms 301 and 303.  We went to Burger King and McDonalds to pick up our dinners to take back to our rooms.  We found nine caches and did not find three caches.  We covered Pages 15, 16, 32, 33, 17, 34, 18, 19, and 35.

Tuesday, Aug 22 - We had breakfast at the Quality Inn.  We drove south to pick up Page 36.  We replaced a missing cache for A Handy Cache and found another cache downtown at Surveyors Park in Brewster.  We headed north and then east to find 14 more caches.  We stayed the night at Benny's Colville Inn in Room 243.  We got some food items at nearby Whittys South Town 7 for dinner to take back to our room.  We covered Pages 36, 20, 21, 38 and 22.

Wednesday, Aug 23 - We had a light breakfast.  We found 13 caches and did not find two caches.  Finding the Cully cache was particularly exciting!  The road was primitive and it was not clear whether it circled around (it did).  We had croissant sandwiches and a coconut macaroon (for me) for lunch at the Uphaus (German) Bakery in Kettle Falls.  We covered Pages 23, 39, 24, 40, 25, and 41.  We stayed the night at the Quality Inn Valley Suites in Room 416 in Spokane.  We sat at a booth at Denny's waiting to order dinner for way too long so I insisted that we walk out.  We ate at Applebee's.  Much better ambiance!

Thursday, Aug 24 - We had the Quality Inn breakfast.   We found two caches and an Earthcache in Washington State and then eight caches in Idaho.  We had dinner at Three Mile Corner Cafe in Bonners Ferry.  Many construction delays both in Idaho and Washington State.  I really should have booked TWO nights in Spokane or Thursday night stay someplace in Idaho.  It was too much to drive from Spokane through upper Idaho and then all the way to Pasco via Spokane.  Argh!  We stayed the night at Sleep Inn in Pasco in Room 212.

Friday, Aug 25 - I was exhausted.  Time to head home via Hwy 395 and I 84.  I played music previously downloaded on my I Phone via Bluetooth until we reached The Dalles.  Too much traffic.  Music would be distracting.  When we neared I 84 and I 205 junction traffic had come to a complete standstill.  I drove through downtown Portland to Interstate Avenue.  I stopped for gas at Killingsworth Gas Station.  I stopped at the Caples Post Office in Vancouver to get the mail.  I got the car washed at Andreson Road car wash.  We drove about 1818 miles on this trip.  If I did it correctly I have completed the Washington State DeLorme Challenge. 

Jacksonville Trip, August 8-10, 2017

The 50+ Travel Group from Vancouver, Washington met at Luepke Center (Marshall Center) about 7:30am.   We checked in and bags were loaded.  We departed by 8:00.  We had lunch at the Wild Duck (on our own) in Eugene.  I had berry pie with vanilla ice cream.  We went to the Wild Life Safari for an Elephant Encounter (money maker for WLS).  Our next stop was the Vortex House of Mystery at Sardine Creek at 5:00pm.  I was hot and miserable.  We checked into our hotel, Riverside Inn, and settled in our rooms.   I had upgraded my room to the top floor with a great view of the rainbow arch Caveman Bridge and the Rogue River.  We had dinner at nearby Tap Rock.  I had Ivars Clam Chowder and Caesar Salad.  I watched the last hour of "America's Got Talent".  

I was up early at 6:00am.  I had breakfast at the hotel.  I found a Benchmark on the Caveman Bridge and a geocache a bit farther along.  We departed for Jacksonville by 9:30am.  We took a Trolley ride.  I stood on back trolley platform so I could get some photos of benchmarks i.e. church steeples.  We had a narrated tour of this historical town.  "The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid" was filmed here in 1972.  They removed modern traffic signs, the city streets were covered in dirt, wooden sidewalks added, and hitching posts added.  They constructed a new building filling in an open lot. We had lunch at the Jacksonville Inn.  I had warm crusty bread with butter, two small bowls of gazpacho soup and a crispy salad.  I had a scoop of vanilla ice cream at The Scoop Shoppe.

We returned to the Riverside Inn in time for the jetboat ride.  We were told to be at the loading area at 3:15 but the boats were not loaded until 4:30!   Dozens and dozens of people showed up to ride the boats.  I was hot and miserable so I left.  I got a great photo of the jetboat roaring down the Rogue River from my room balcony.  I had a lovely dinner at a window table with a view of the Caveman Bridge at the Tap Rock of BLT with avocado on focaccia bread, and house chips.  I took 1/2 of the sandwich and some chips back to my room to eat while watching "Master Chef".   I do not regret opting out of the jetboat trip.  I heard stories the next day of getting soaked and having to hang clothes over the hotel patio railing to dry, having to deal with wasps/bees during the family style dinner at the OK Corral and being berated by one of the group leaders on the return trip.

I rose at 6:00am.  Breakfast at the hotel by 7:00.  Both leaders walked up as I was checking out/paying for my upgraded room at the Front Desk.  They were absolutely livid!  Especially the short, plump one.  Evidently the charge also showed up on the City of Vancouver bill.  It wasn't so much that the City of Vancouver got charged but it was a Control issue.  I heard later that she was rude to some of the people on her van. 

I enjoyed sitting on the deck of my room.  I was reluctant to leave but it was soon time to head back to Vancouver.  Our first stop was the Butterfly Pavilion at Elkton.  I found the geocache.  I met some geocachers who knew me.  I got a ride with the fort interpreter on a cart down to the reproduction of Hudson's Bay Fort Umpqua along the Umpqua River.  The others had walked or ridden the van.  The fort was not built on the original location.  We rode to the small downtown where I had pizza and beer at a restaurant.  I found a geocache.  I got an ice cream bar.

We traveled to Eugene.  Most of the group took a tour of the Ninkasi brewery.  I sat in the shade at the patio and charged my IPhone.  We stopped at Euphoria Chocolates for samples and to purchase chocolates.  I wonder if the group leaders got a kickback?  We had dinner at Sam Bonds Garage.  A dreadful, hot place.  I got a large chocolate chip cookie as I was not that hungry.  We headed north with a rest stop at Pilot truck stop on the way.  I had planned to take the city bus however Carol Z. gave me a lift home.