ET Highway Day 1- Travel Bucket List

Well, this year already I managed to take something off my travel bucket list. I wrote more about my travel bucket list here.


The Start of the ET Highway

My husband planned a trip to the ET Highway in Nevada with the purpose of geocaching along it.  We went without our kids.  This is the first time we have ever left our kids for more than one day.  We had an amazing time.  I have to give a great big shout out to Nonna and Pappy who took care of the two man wrecking crew.

The ET highway has over 2000 geocaches along it.  The highway according to hard core geocachers is considered a power trail. Specific Details about the ET Highway Geocaches.We only found a small number in comparison to what is actually out there.  We spent about a day and half caching the actual highway itself. We flew into Vegas and my husband proceed to rent an impractical but fun car - A CAMARO. 

We hit the road and found a few caches prior to the highway.  In retrospect we probably should of just started at the highway since we got such a late start. 

Alien0071

The caches are pretty much drive ups and in rock piles every 10th of a mile.  There was lots of starting and stopping. We were so glad we invested in a stamp to stamp the log book.  The first day we found about 92 caches. That was a new caching record for us. The landscape is so beautiful and so different from Western Washington.  I couldn't help but stare out at the landscape.

Landscape
Piece of Weathered Wood is a survey marker

We ended our day in Rachel Nevada at the Little  AleInn.  What a totally unique place. 

 

 

 We had no idea we were going to spend our night in a trailer but it was all good.  The food at the restaurant was exceptional and the people were friendly. We even had Alien Pie for dessert. Alien Pie I believe is Coconut, Pecan, and Raisin.  IT was seriously delish.  I also hard their alien casserole is great too.

ET Hwy Day 2

We had a fabulous time on our Epic Geocaching Trip. More about our Day 2 adventures below.

Day 1 Details

We got a pretty early start and cached on.  We joked that we couldn't escape Rachel Nevada as it was in sight most of the day. We did about 131 caches and decided we need to just drive.  The constant getting out of the car was just plain tiring.  We did eventually get back to caching.  We ended up with 160 caches for the day.

Yes, a cow with antenna.

 

Most of the ET Highway is open range.  On the second day, we saw lots of cows and an actual cowboy herding cows across the highway.  I wouldn't drive the highway in the dark to much of chance of running into cows.  We saw a dead cow on the side of the road. We also saw some wild horses as well.

Highlight caches

In Memory Of Sgt Stevenson- (GCYEWH) -This cache was placed in memory of Sgt. Howard Stevenson who was shot and killed on Jan. 9th 2005. He was an avid Geocacher and loved to spend time in the Nevada desert. This cache was a bit of a hike and search up a hill. The view was awesome

 

View from the cache.  You can barely see the car.

Oh Bucket (GCI6VQ3)- This one had a clever container and we have no idea what the huge bucket was used for. But even better this cache was across from a rest area.

Me standing by the bucket. Oh by the way, I am 5'7"

We spent in Tonopah.  The Best Western had a recent remodel and I thought the rooms were really nice.  The mattress was superb. We ate dinner across the street a the Tonopah Brewing Company.  They were also going to have live music that evening. the food and beer was great. The motel also served a hot breakfast.

Caching Nevada- Day 3

Looking out from the Tonopah Welcome Sign

After finishing our ET Highway experience, we headed back to Vegas. (Day 1 and Day 2)We were torn because the big Seattle Game was in the middle of our day.  We decided to just check our phone for the stats.  Nevada caches I have decided are a combo of rock piles, beat up ammo cans, and cattle guard hides.

We left Tonopah caching our way out.  We noticed there were a few caches on old highway 95 so we decided to do those.  The road was no longer being maintained but it wasn't too horrible.  We were able to avoid most of the pot holes. IT was interesting to see mining pits right off the road.

I think the highlight of the drive back was definitely Goldfield, NV.  One of our favorite caches we found or should say we did not find was in the Junk Car Forest.  This is what I love about geocaching is that it takes you to incredibly off the beaten path places.

 

 

 

 

We also saw these subway covers.  There is no subway in Goldfield so the why they are here is a mystery. I have to say all the caches in Goldfield took you to really interesting places a house made with bottles, some ruins that only had brick archway left, an abandoned high school.

 

I can honestly say on this trip this is the VERY FIRST TIME I cached a airplane cache.

 

IT was also the first time we have EVER cached by a brothel.

We ended up with 60 plus caches on Day 3 and made it back to Las Vegas.



 



What I learned in January

I am linking up with Chatting at the Sky.  Check out what everyone learned this month.

January started with a bang. I learned so much this month.

Charlie and Me on New Year's Eve

I learned you can live without your gall bladder. I also learned that your gallbladder only weighs 2 ounces. I got mine out on Jan 1st.  A bacon, bacon, bacon pizza the night before was my undoing.

I also learned that I LOVE road tripping with my husband.  We got to get away for long weekend to Geocache the ET Highway.  We are total geocaching nerds. We had a terrific time. We haven't done that ever without our kids. (Trip Details)  I am so grateful that Nonna and Pappy could take care of our minions. 

Hubby and I at the Start of the Highway

I learned I still love the SEAHAWKS even though they lost the big game.  It was a great game to watch.

What is saving me- BIG and small

I am linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy- What is Saving You?  We are at winter's half way point.

What literally saved me this past month was having my Gall Bladder out on Jan 1.   Yes, I know how to ring in the new year.  It was a wake up for me to change up my diet.  Who knew that 3 ounces could cause so much pain and anguish.  I can't believe how much better having my gall bladder out.  It made me realize that I had been in distress for a long time. I haven't walked up to anyone yet and said, "Wanna see my scars." I have been eating a lot of oatmeal in the mornings. 

The small thing that has been cracking my Husband and I up and making our day lighter is simply an observation. This has been literally the year of the random odd sock. 

Don't have any pictures of our random
sock finds so I decided just to share a
bright sock picture

What I mean, as we were in the ER parking lot we spotted a sock on the ground on our path on the first day of the year. You know the day, I had my worst gall bladder attack EVER.  My husband at once began to notice a pattern of the random odd sock and it seems like hardly a day goes by without a sighting - freeway, airport parking lot, casino.   My hubby and I have been noticing them.  It is our inside joke.  There are a lot of bigger things we could be paying attention too but this is cracking us up.

Rooting for the Seahawks has been a lot of fun.  It is amazing how much 12th man spirit is out there. Seahawk fans are the BEST! The whole family has gotten into it.  A lady just gave my hubby a knitted Seahawks hat.

 I am not sporty but I do enjoy watching the Seahawks play.

Marking something off my travel bucket list - Geocaching the ET Highway.  It is something that both my husband and I have wanted to do for a while and we made it happen. We ended up in 4 days getting around 307 geocaches.  (Travel Details)

Lastly, the winter's here are dark.  They haven't been as cold this year.  Thank you El Nino! Books are my light in the dark.  I finished Boys in the Boat but I have been working on Tracks, Maze Runner, and The Rent Collector.

What Worked for Me in 2015

I tried to jot down what was successful for me in 2015. Things that worked for me and what inspired me and the things I learned. I am Linking up with Chatting at the Sky - What I learned last Year

Picture taken during walk at Hovander Park

Walking is my exercise choice. HOWEVER I do my best walking with my friends.  Walking is way better with company. I use a fit bit and I think it is a good motivator. Walking is a bit exercise and a bit therapy for me.

Blog wise my most read posts were my Book reviews aka What I Read linky at Modern Mrs Darcy. I plan on continuing to READ lots and lots of books and give my little book reports

Interesting T-shirt found at Value Village

My biggest three series on my blog were Diary of a Mediocre Homemaker, T-shirts with a Message, and Linky Love.  I plan on continuing those series.

Post it To Do List from Life as Mom - I used this system the entire year with some minor adjustments. It basically kept me on track.

Keep Going on Adventures  - Big and Small

*ET Highway
* Hedge Maze
* Dropping a Friend off at College aka cougar calves
* Colorado
* lots of geocaching adventures

31 Days of Adventure- Bucket List

I am joining the Nester's 31 Days of Writing.  Check out my entire series - "31 Days of Adventure."

I have a little bit of a bucket list of places I would like to visit. I even have a pinterest board for my travel bucket list

There is currently a contest called the Epic Bucket List sponsored in part by the Buried Life that sounded interesting.



My Current TRAVEL/ADVENTURE Bucket List

Ride The Hiawatha Trail - This is has been at the top of my list for a while. It is a bike adventure.

Hawaii (Maui)

Glacier National Park

Crater Lake - Another 31dayer, Ridgetop Rammblings 2 did a post on Crater Lake as part of their 31 day series.

See the Northern Lights in Iceland

ET Highway and do all the geocaches along the way. You know all 2,000 plus of them

I decided to do a poll of family and friends to see what is at the top location on their adventure bucket list

My best friend aka Mrs Epi - Alaska was at the top of her bucket list. She would specifically like to stay in a cabin and fish in a river for a couple of weeks to experience the real Alaska
.
My sister aka The Polyester Princess said the top of her list was Paris and Italy

My 16 year old son said Disneyland

My Husband said Australia

Do you have an adventure bucket list? What is at the top of your list?

What's on my bucket List

The prompt for my modern story this week was make a bucket list. Back in 2014 I had made one on my blog. My bucket list is mainly a travel bucket list.

Ride the Hiawatha Trail (Complete)
Hawaii (Maui) - We had wanted to do this for our 25th anniversary this year. Not going to happen
Glacier National Park
Crater Lake
See the Northern Lights in Iceland

Drive the ET Highway and do the geocaches along the way. (Complete)

There are a few more that I crossed off my bucket list that weren't on that list

Tulips in Mount Vernon, WA (complete)
Oyster Dome (complete)

Def Lepard in Vegas (complete)
Whale Watch Cruise (complete)

Of course there are a few I would like to add.

Scotland
Walk the Camino Del Santiago in Spain
Mt Rainier - I have been here but would there is still a lot I would like to see
Mount Saint Helens
Olympic Park

Of course the prompt led me to other bucket lists I have. I have some genealogy bucket list items as well. I think that is a post for another day.

Caching Las Vegas

There is a virtual at the Welcome to Las Vegas Sign

On our last day of our ET Highway geocaching trip (Details here), we of course decided to geocache Las Vegas.  We did a number of virtual caches. There are quite a few virtuals along the strip.

A Virtual Cache is about discovering a location rather than a container. The requirements for logging a Virtual Cache vary—you may be required to answer a question about the location, take a picture, complete a task, etc. In any case, you must visit the coordinates before you can post your log. - Geocaching.com

We stayed at the MGM for the night and there was a virtual called "In the Belly of the Beast."

We also did the Welcome to Vegas. They were expanding the parking around the sign.  We even saw Elvis there on the phone.

We ended up exploring the industrial area around the airport as we still had our rental car. So before turning in out car, we did some caching. We did many nano (small) geocaches- some on mail boxes, light poles, parking structures).

Snoopy Mural
Cache nearby

Our long weekend netted us 307 geocaches bringing our lifetime cache found number to 1,700!