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".

Scone & Tea at The Enchanted Tea Room

I had a pot of Earl Grey cream tea with bergamot and a large plain scone just out of the oven with cherry jam and clotted cream this afternoon at The Enchanted Tea Room at 5th & Washington in downtown Vancouver. They had rearranged the shop again. I really liked it. I sat at a small table in front of the window. I found out that they are moving the shop later this month to a place two doors north of the historic Kiggins Theater. It will be a much better location. After I finished my scone and tea I drove to the new location where I took photos (see picture) and coords for my Waymark.

Rituxan Cancer Treatment - January 2012

I was diagnosed three years ago with low-grade B cell lymphoproliferative disorder. I have been putting off treatments as I have no symptoms other than occasional tiredness. My HGB fluctuated between 9.5 and 8.3. I have decided finally to Bite the Bullet (from the film of the same name). I will be doing four treatments each Monday beginning Jan 9 (yesterday) of Rituxan/Rituximab (Injection).