Big Adventure

***This is more about our quest to get 50 State Park Centennial Geocaches for more information click here and our adventures here.

"Go On A Adventure" was on our summer bucket list.  I think the road trip we took on Saturday, counts.  We started our day at 4:30 to arrive at the Coupville Ferry Dock to take the Ferry to Port Townsend on the 7:15 ferry.  Much to the chagrin of the adults we neglected getting coffee because of the time table. Oh us adults not caffeinated is "interesting".  We made the ferry and arrived at Port Townsend.  We headed to Fort Worden.  We wandered around on the roads.  We stopped and took a hike to find the Centennial GeoCache.  We ended up off the main road and on what I call a billy goat trail. Hey, sometimes you need to find your inner goat. Though it brought us to this interesting broken down building.

Giant Man Child with Tigger

There is some fabulous history here with all the artillery batteries.  What a great place for kids and adults to explore. 

You just can see Cody up in the Tower

There was a lot of talk of exploring, ruins, and Indiana Jones. The view would be fabulous but it was rather overcast. We found the geocache without much trouble.   The whole time we were here, I thought we were at Fort Townsend.  I am blaming it on lack of caffeine.

Next we headed to Fort Townsend.  We followed a little nature trail to the Centennial Geocache which was quite cleverly hidden.  The trail also ended in a great place with a view but it still was quite overcast.

Boys and Dog near the cache site

Then we were off to Fort Flager.  Prior to this we finally located COFFEE.  I am so turning into a Pacific Northwest person. Fort Flager is a favorite park with many and while we didn't stay long. We were there  just long enough to find the geocache under the old hospital steps.  I could tell this would be a great place to spend more time exploring.

Onward, we arrived at Anderson Lake.  Oh my it was simply beautiful and the most uncrowded place we visited so far.  The lake was closed to due to algae bloom but gorgeous anyways.  We followed a trail around the lake.  We ate our lunch here too.

Anderson Lake

We had a change in plans and decided to forgo visiting Miller Peninsula State Park.  After reading the description about the hike, we decided not to visit. We headed to Sequim State Park. The Centennial Geocache takes you to a lovely covered bridge within the park.

Because we decided not to do visit Miller Peninsula we headed south to Dosewallips.  We managed to end up at the wrong parking area but eventually figured it.  By coincidence we found a centennial state park coin at the first parking area in the camping area. Once we at the right area, we headed down the path to an observation tower.  We soon had the cache in hand.

Triton Cove was down the road so we headed there next.  Don't have much to say about it as the cache was a drive up one and only Cody got out of the car.

The last cache of the day was at Potlatch State Park on the dry side or should I say hilly side.  Once again we went on a billy goat hike.  My inner billy goat had given up. We found the cache though and decided against going back the same way and cut through the campground. That ended our cache hunting for the day. 

We now have 28 of the state park centennial geocaches.

Booking It August

Check out what everyone else read at Life as Mom. This past month I read a couple books.  It was more quality than quantity.

I read Salt to Summit by Daniel Arnold.  It was a story about a hike through Death Valley to Mount Whitney.  The author discusses what he was thinking about as he crossed this vast landscape.  He weaves the history of Death Valley into his narrative.  It was a fascinating read.  The writing about the landscape makes you feel like you are right there.

I also picked up Mr. Penumbra's 24 Bookstore by Robin Sloan.  I don't know how this quirky book got on my list but I am glad it did.  This book kept me guessing and reading.

A gleeful and exhilarating tale of global conspiracy, complex code-breaking, high-tech data visualization, young love, rollicking adventure, and the secret to eternal life—mostly set in a hole-in-the-wall San Francisco bookstore.  (Amazon)

Lastly, I read Eighteen Acres by Nicolle Wallace.  Eighteen Acres refers to the 18 acres the White House sits on.  This totally fiction book follows 3 powerful woman in Washington including a woman President.  This book reminded me a lot of the TV series Scandal for some reason.  I thought it was a decent read.

WA State Parks Centennial GeoTour Stats

f you have read our blog for any length of time you know we are geocachers and we are participating in the Washington State Parks Centennial GeoTour both as cache owners and geocachers.  We have found 20 State Park Centennial Geocaches. We decided from the beginning we would do our best to find 50 of the 103 geocaches. It has been a wonderful adventure this summer.

Below was listed on the Washington State Geocaching Association (WSGA) page on Aug 22nd.

Here are a few statistics on the WA State Parks Centennial GeoTour as of Aug. 20 (74 days into the GeoTour, which started June 7) - thanks, rambudo and Ranger Tina.

Visitation:

• 3,408 people have logged at least one GeoTour cache.
• 3,137 have found/visited from one to 50 GeoTour caches.
• 261 people have found/visited more than 50 GeoTour geocaches.

There are 103 caches in 102 parks.

• Total Finds: 13,712
• Total DNFs: 76 (primarily missing caches)

Cachers who have found/own all 103 caches: 4 - Mr. Gadget #2, rambudo, rocketglider, lamoracke

Most Favorite Points:
38: Rosario Beach - Deception Pass
30: Fort Worden
23: Kanaskat-Palmer
19: Potholes
19: Wenatchee Confluence

Most Found:526: Iron Horse - Hyak (thank you, APE event!)
240: Lake Sammamish
239: Fort Casey
237: Saltwater
231: Saint Edward

Least Found:44: Mount Pilchuck
47: Lime Kiln Point
50: Fields Spring
53: Curlew Lake
55: Spencer Spit

For more information on the Washington State Centennial GeoTour.

Project Life Tuesday - Week 30 and 31

I am linking up with The Mom Creative Project Life Tuesday once again on a Wednesday.

Week 30 was a little slower than most.  My hubby at the beginning of the week was in Havre, MT.  He contributed the sunset picture.  The end of the week had us at Nonna and Pappy's house.  We also visited 3 state parks in our Centennial State Park Geocache quest.

Week 31 was a dozy for us.  Most of the sweet sweet action happened at the end of the week.  My Parents came at the end of the week from Colorado.  We celebrated my Mom's 70th birthday with a surprise visit from my Aunt and Uncle from Arizona. We had a full house. My Mom I think suspected something but was surprised. Then the very next day we celebrated my son's 15th birthday. The main thing my son wanted to do was go out to eat at Bob's Burger and Brew so we did that. We had ice cream at a local dairy too. It was busy in all the right ways.

supplies
Project Life Cobalt Edition - journal card wk 30
Recollections Journal Card wk 30 and wk 31
Photo Protector Project Life design G
Digital Element - Circle around 15 - Queen of Quirk
Digital Element -Good Times - Ali Edwards

Just Some Linky Love

 

Do you ever end up on a blog and don't even know how you got there.  This happened to me the other day.  This post Game Changer touched me. 

Teacher Tom and Teaching Values. I think this is the reminder I needed.  Love me some Teacher Tom!

Hands Free Mom on School Year Hopes. This one might make you cry.

This made me cry- I'll be There (Autism Post)

I have been actively following the local trial of two parents charged in the death of their adopted daughter Hanna.  This is a good summary of the trial so far. It is horrible how they treated their adopted daughter. Light of Day is also following the trial as well.

Geocaching Block Party

Yesterday we went to the CENTER OF THE KNOWN UNIVERSE also known as Fremont, Washington for the annual Geocaching Block Party held on International Geocaching Day. There was even a geotour just to explore the Fremont Neighborhood. Fremont is where Groundspeak aka Geocaching.com is located.  We did a lot of exploring.  It was fun to be out and about with a lot of different cachers.  We met some cachers visiting from New York. Last time, I checked there were over 1,800 who logged they attended making this a mega event as well.

Outside the Plaza where the Block Party was held

Cody with Signal Geocaching Mascot

Cody inside a travel bug

One of the special caches was located near the Fremont Troll.

One of the caches led us to Lenin

Charlie holding Lenin's hand

It was a great day to be a geocacher! After the event, we went out and found a few more caches to round out our day to include a puzzle cache at a Casino parking lot, earthcache outside of Arlington, and virtual of some Camano Island art.

Mini Advetures with the Adventure Crew

The Adventure crew has been reunited minus Miss Smarty Pants.( Darn 16 year old kids and their J-O-B-S! ) The rest of us spent some time on Monday at Tennant Lake.   The boy part of our crew ran off some energy as we walked the long way over to Hovander Park and back to Tennant Lake.

sea of lily pads
Tennant Lake

Striking a Pose
Tennant Lake
Mr Bones

Artichoke in Bloom
Hovander Homestead Garden

Tuesday, we headed to Point Whitehorn.  We made it all the way to the beach and enjoyed lunch basking in the sun.  We found these rocks with messages on them. 

The kids found a tree to teeter totter on.  The kids had a good time climbing on the driftwood. There was also a beautiful heron standing on a rock.

 

The day wasn't complete without a trip to the C Shop for ice cream. There are some fabulous places for mini adventures in Whatcom County.

Project Life Tuesday

The summer is flying by.  I am still a little behind.  That is OK.  That is the best part of Project Life is it can be whatever you need to be and I know it won't take me long to catch back up.

This layout has no photos of my kids though Charlie contributed a minecraft drawing.  The journaling next to the photo of my husband in tree discusses the lengths he will go to find a geocache including falling out of a tree.  The picture was taken before the fall.  Other than being a little scraped up only his ninja pride was hurt. I also saw the movie, "The Heat", for the second time and laughed just as hard the second time.  So, I included a quote. 

Materials
Project Life: Cobalt Edition - journaling cards
Design G Photo Pocket Pages
The Heat Quote made in Photoshop Elements

I am linking up with The Mom Creative Project Life Tuesday.

Celebrating 15 and 70!

This past week and weekend we celebrated my Mom's 70th Birthday with a surprise visit from her sister and husband from Arizona.  I love it when a plan comes together. I think my Mom was genuinely surprised.

My Mom partying it up

 

Aunt P and My Mom

We also celebrated my son's 15th Birthday.  It has been busy busy.  He simply wanted to go out to eat and have ice cream.  We headed to our favorite ice cream place for after dinner ice cream. I can't believe I have a 15 year old.

Birthday Ice Cream
Cody and Charlie