McMenamins Tavern on 1716 N.W. 23rd, Portland, OR

Last night we had the worst meal. My son and I invited two singers, Diane and Dee, to join us at McMenamins Tavern on 1716 N.W. 23rd after the concert about 8:45PM.

We got the menus rather promptly and the waiter was anxious to bring us drinks. After serving the drinks it seemed like forever for the waiter to return to take our orders.

The food was terrible. My son ordered chili which came warm not hot. I ordered one-half tuna sandwich which came with brunt grill marks w/ drippy tuna, too much sliced onion, hard green tomato slice and very little lettuce. The tomato and rice soup was cold. My soda crackers were not in wrappers. The waiter said that he had taken the liberty of unwrapping them. They come two to a package so I should have been given four soda cracker instead of three. It was like I had been given someone's leftover soda crackers. Dee’s cup of tomato and rice soup was also cold. And the fries were dark brown, thin, lukewarm, and limp and the fish undercooked on Diane’s fish and chips.

It took forever to get the bill from the waiter and then it took forever to get the waiter to get our credit cards. We finally stood up to get the waiter’s attention.

I had requested that my meal and my son’s meal put on a separate check as I planned to pay for our meals with my credit card. The other two women were going to pay separately. However it all came on one bill. I circled the items that I would pay for. The waiter did not seem to grasp why he only ended up with three credit cards.

Last night’s Chef would not last one night on "Hell’s Kitchen". Serving hot food cold and undercooked fish is unacceptable.

The Keizer Iris Festival Geocaching Challenge, May 23, 2010

My daughters, Kimberly and Catherine, my son, Christopher, and I drove to Keizer for The Keizer Iris Festival Geocaching Challenge early. We stopped at Starbucks for blueberry muffin and drinks. We found a few caches, picked up our Passports and hit the road. We found all of the caches in three hours. Kimberly almost walked off with a colored pen and Catherine almost walked off with a large green lid to a cache container. I drove down a service road into a golf course and had to turn around in the tight space. We found two caches in two locations. We had a fun time!

Trip to Cannon Beach, May 9, 2010

Christopher, Catherine and I went to Cannon Beach yesterday. We drove into town where I purchased an Oregon State Park year pass, orange and poppyseed muffin.

We drove to Indian Beach, parked in the lower parking area and hiked up the trail about a quarter mile. We found the fourth and last of the “twilight” series caches. The coordinates were over 80’ off.

It was warm day with a light breeze. We ate at a picnic table overlooking Indian Beach (La Push in the movie). There were a lot of surfers. Driving back to Cannon Beach I stopped briefly at Ecola Park to take photographs of Tillamook Rock Lighthouse.

We drove into Cannon Beach where Christopher found a cache. Catherine and I waited at a bench with a view of Haystack Rock. We headed back about 2:30pm. Clouds and rain met us as we drove east over the Coast Range.

Christopher and I will find the "twilight" series Bonus Cache someday soon. I plan to have lunch at a nearby restaurant. I met the owner a week ago and had an interesting chat.

10th Anniversary of Geocaching Event at Redland, Oregon

On Friday, April 30th, I drove my #2 son, Christopher, around to all of the caches so he could fill each with stamps and passports. Yesterday I dropped him off at the Grange in Redland, Oregon before 8:00am so he could give coordinates and passports to the cachers. I had a very early start and knew the caches locations so I stamped my Passport but did not sign the logs. I placed one of the ten caches set for the 10th Anniverary Event - "Slumbering Giant." I stopped briefly at the Original Stash (Cache) Plaque on S. Fellows Road. About 150-200 cachers attended the Event at the Redland Grange. I have my "10 X 10 Challenge Official Passport" as a souvenir.

Trip to Astoria and Cannon Beach, Oregon April 21-22

Christopher (Dancing Penguin) and I drove to Vernonia and Astoria on Wednesday, April 21, geocaching and benchmarking along the way. We had a free guided tour ride on the waterfront trolley in Astoria. We stayed overnight in a motel suite overlooking the Astoria bridge and the Columbia River.

After breakfast we did some benchmarking in Astoria and then traveled to Ecola/Indian Beach to complete the 4th and last of the "twilight" series. We hiked up the hill where we hunted for two hours for the cache but were unable to find it. I slithered under a log and Christopher climbed over it. We searched both sides for about 100 ft. Found some likely places but no cache. There was a lot of blowdown from winter storms. We did find a brown beer bottle and Christopher found a frog. Deeply disappointed.

We traveled back to Portland/Vancouver on Hwy 26 stopping for late lunch at a Dairy Queen. Christopher had a Geocaching meeting at a restaurant at Clackamas Town Center so I took him. Afterwards we went back to my house to watch "Survivor."

The Dalles-Dash Geocoin Challenge - Saturday, April 3, 2010

My daughter, Catherine, and I drove to The Dalles so she could do The Dalles-Dash Geocoin Challenge. We stopped in Hood River at McDonalds for breakfast where my Subaru Forester, a Travel Bug with the license place TVL BUG, was discovered. Catherine found The Dalles-Dash caches rather quickly using her Garmin Etrex Venture GPSr. She slipped on the muddy trail at one of the cache locations and got her sleeve and the seat of her jeans muddy and injured her shoulder. It was unfortunate as she was supposed to play First Violin with an orchestra on Monday and Tuesday evenings and had to cancel. We had time to visit Maryhill Museum to photograph and get the coordinates for a Glacial Erratic at the far end of the museum parking lot. We arrived back at Anzac Tea Room in The Dalles in time for a lovely afternoon tea. Afterwards we traveled west on the Old Columbia River Highway over Rowena Crest. At Mosier we stopped to view another Glacial Erratic in the quarry. We saw a lot of waterfalls from I-84 as we drove back to Vancouver as the sun was setting.

On Thursday morning, March 18, 2010, Christopher, Catherine and I went to Walla Walla for the Cache Machine Event. I picked up Christopher in North Portland, picked up Catherine in east Vancouver, and headed east on I-84. Catherine got a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit at Troutdale McDonalds. We had lunch at Subway in Biggs. I found nine caches, Christopher found ten caches and Catherine found 11 caches on the way to Walla Walla. We also found a benchmark by the Two Sisters marker and another at the Fort Walla Walla monument. We explored both ends of an old concrete highway bridge over the Walla Walla River with the middle section missing. The bridge had been inundated by waters of Wallula Lake in 1964. We checked into the Holiday Inn in Walla Walla and later had dinner at Shari’s Restaurant.

On Friday, March 19, 2010, Christopher, Catherine and I had breakfast at the Holiday Inn. We started Geocaching about 8:30am. Catherine bought a Goodtime Crossword Puzzle Book at Rite Aid. We found about 19 caches. We found an Elevation 1264.29 Benchmark atop a rock mound however it was not listed. Catherine really liked a nearby cache – “A Bird’s Life.” I enjoyed “Log Book on Tape” where I took a photo of each of us standing in front of the statue -- "Matilde On Her Way to the Market," by a local artist Nano Lopez. We attended the COWWS Poker Event at the Crossroads Steakhouse. We talked to a few cachers, had dinner in the poker room, didn't play poker, signed the log and left early.

On Saturday, March 20, 2010, Christopher, Catherine and I had breakfast again at the Holiday Inn and started Geocaching about 8:30am. The car was frosty. The days are quite warm but the nights are cold! We found about 18 caches. We had light sandwiches for a mid-afternoon snack at Taco Bell. That evening we attended the Cache Machine Event Dinner at Lorenzo's Pizza. The pizza was not very good. We did a couple caches and then went back to our motel. We watched “The Nanny Diaries” starring Scarlett Johansson on television.

On Sunday, March 21, 2010, Christopher, Catherine and I had breakfast at the Holiday Inn, packed the car and headed home. We found four caches on the way. We stopped at a gazebo at Umatilla to eat wrap sandwiches that I had purchased at the nearby Harvest Foods market. The wraps were delicious! It was a lovely spot but a bit chilly. Catherine drove part of the way so I could take a nap. I got a hot fudge sundae at Biggs McDonalds. Catherine got home about 4:00pm. We went to my house where Christopher logged his finds and ate dinner. We watched “Amazing Race.” Christopher went home afterwards. I logged most of my finds and then finished logging the next morning.