May 9, 2013

• Camping, caching and ducklings

  During one half of Spring Break, the kids' dad had them so I was on my own for a couple of days. What's my favorite thing to do when I'm childless? Go caching, of course. So I went camping in Wenatchee.

      

  Wenatchee has a lot of really great caches; it was one of the first places I went caching back in 2005. It doens't rain a while lot in Wenatchee, it being on the Eastern side of Washington, known as the dry-side. I live on the wet side, so I always love visiting the desert. Well, I think at least half a year's worth of rain came down during my time there, but thankfully it was mostly at night. My new tent was totally dry inside all night even with stuff crammed up against the walls, though, so I was okay with the rain. During the day it was warm and mostly dry with just a few light sprinkles which made the bike rides and hikes very nice.

  There's a couple Earth Caches, one at Lincoln Rock, which is a rock that looks like....yeah, like Lincoln. Do you agree?

  

  On the way back to the campground I had to pull off and get a picture of this adorable whistlepig. I'm kinda fond of whistlepigs.

  

  The last night there, it was such a beautiful night that when I work up at midnight with a full bladder, I actually enjoyed my walk to the restrooms and even took a bit of a scenic route back because it was so nice out. I fell back asleep (after removing both pairs of socks and my hat!) thinking how nice it will be to pack up dry equipment in the morning. An hour later, I was woken up with the sound of hail and rain falling on my tent roof. Oh yeah. It dumped the rest of the night and well into morning. Everything got tossed into the car willy-nilly and breakfast was at Denny's instead of at the campsite. Both passes were having blizzard conditions so there wasn't any caching on the way home.

  Still, it was a very fun trip and I'm glad I went.

  At home, the weather slowly went from winter to spring with occasional summery days, and the duck in the nearby pond had 11 babies hatch.

  

  Doesn't she look proud?

  Last weekend, since I was nearing a milestone in my caching, we decided to make a special day of it and head to Sequim. That, of course, means a ferry ride, which is pretty much all it takes to call a day special in my book.

  The views were spectacular! 

  The view off the side of the boat.

  The Olympic Peninsula was so bright and clear, it was a joy to stand outside on the water and watch the scenery. It was a little chilly but with shorts and a sweatshirt, with a hat to cover my ears, I was completely comfortable. Except it was really noisy for some reason. The wind seemed to be howling through pipes or something, making a keening whistling sound that was annoying after a while.

  

  Do days ever look better than this???

  This is where we had our lunch.

  We cached all over Port Townsend and Sequim and had a great day.

  

  This overlook is at a park. We couldn't find the cache hidden here, but we found some signs that made us laugh.

  No motorhomes or trailers down this single track trial, unless you think it might fit, then....go for it!

    This one amused us so much I had to walk back to it from a parking spot to take a picture of it. I hope you are just as amused.

  I found my 7,000th cache and celebrated it with friends on a bright and beautiful day, and finished the day off with a milkshake, getting home late, tired and happy.

   

  My next adventure is camping in the Tri-Cities area over Memorial Day weekend. I am counting down the days till then!! We might get as many as 250 caches in one day there! The one after that involves the kids, as we take a 4-week, 12 state Epic Road Trip together.

  Till then, I'm having fun with my kids. My daughter just had her 12th birthday and while picking up a Sally's Beauty Supply gift card for her friend's birthday, the kids talked me into dyeing my hair green. They were so thrilled. There's a lot of silver/gray in my hair so there wasn't much for the dye to stick onto so it wasn't very dramatic (whew!) but K's reaction was to dance around singing, "My dad has a girlfriend, and my mom has green hair!" One can never understand what might cause a 12 year old girl joy. The green hair only lasted a few days before fading out, though, to her great disappointment. I even did it three times but there just isn't enough pigment in my hair to make it worth it. However, it was fun while it lasted. I have enough dye to do some streaks in the kids hair once school gets out, it will last all summer on them!

  Tomorrow we're going swimming, which they love. Hoping to get some of their friends to join us because the pool is always quiet on Friday nights. Having the pool to ourselves is fun, but it's funner to have it full of friends.

   

  • 5:02 pm
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