Big Four Ice Caves

This was a wonderful weekend, we did not get a LOT done around the house.. we did get the garage cleaned up and ready for finishing up the dust collection.. and we did get the closet redone in the back room so I can get some stuff organized back there. Other than that we did nothing but relax and have fun. We went out on the bike on Saturday and headed to La Conner for some Awesome fish and chips, we walked around and did some shopping.. just a nice time together. Saturday night we had a late dinner at the Olive Garden and just some more nice time to sit and visit and home for some snuggle time while watching some tv. I love these weekends we just spend time reconnecting with each other :)

Lots of caches right here on the island.. but we are going to save those for another day

Sunday we decided to go do some geo caching, which I am so happy to be getting back into. We headed up Mountain Loop Highway which is one of our favorite places to go for a drive, or hiking or camping... it is so beautiful out there and we have had a lot of fun there. Yesterday we added one more awesome day to list of ones we have had out there. We started out just getting some quick and easy caches in some short interactive walks at a couple of places.

I did find the biggest Wish Rock I have ever seen :)

After some of these trails and caches we decided to head up to the ice caves... it just a mile hike up and a mile back... well if you stay on the trails it is just a mile each way. We are not well known for staying on the trail... always just want to see what is around the corner. So off we go. Figure by the time we went after a couple of caches up at the top and one in the middle.. that we added another mile or so to our walk :)

Such beautiful colors out here today and it was not too warm or too cold.. just perfect!

Had to take a little trail to the left so we could pick up a cache at the corner there :)

Under the new (since we were there) bridge caching before we cross it and head up and the trail.. will have to go back for this one as we did not find it. :(

There is a cache in there we will head back for too... never good to get all of them in one area... this way we have to go back here someday :) Hard to tell in the picture.. but this is big enough for Dave and I to both climb around inside of.

Almost out of the woods.

This is safe viewing distant... those little holes down there are the entrance to the caves themselves.. and are about 20 feet tall... but there are signs saying it is not safe and things can fall on you.. there are signs here and at the base before you even start.. also there are signs reminding you that there is no cell service.. has not been for miles. Just last year a little girl was killed and mom hurt when they were down near the mouths of the caves... then I read that the dad was trying to get something done about the safety.. or get the trails closed... I just do not understand why people make bad choices and then think it is not their fault... Be careful and read the warnings and pay attention to them.. it is not safe or smart to ignore them.. and if you do and something happens.. man up and be responsible for your own choices. I am horribly sorry for their loss... I am also sorry for all of the places and things that we as people can not do or see because some people made bad choices and it causes places to be closed.

With this all being said.. we did go a bit closer.... we did not go into the caves... and we did not (even though one picture looks like it) place ourselves under the edges of the cave either. We did walk on the snow/ice but only on the outside where it touches the ground and is an inch deep. I do have to say.. it is very tempting... then again.. it is just not worth it.

This is as close as we got... it looks like Dave is right in there but he really is not... this was a shorter cave and was so cool you could see the waterfall behind it.. this was the hard one for me not to go into.. it was just so amazing.

This trail is full of so many beautiful colors and textures and lots of water and fun stuff. Was a wonderful hike.. easy trail... will do it again .. in the spring for sure.. I bet there is a lot more snow up there in the spring.

Link to Big Four Ice Caves Here

Link to Geocaching Here

RV Show ~ Friends ~ GeoCaching

Today was an awesome day. Friends came over this morning and we headed off to Seattle to the RV show. Our plan is to someday build a motor home using a Peterbilt truck so even though we would not be buying an RV from the shop it is nice to check out the new ideas and see what we might want to work into ours when we build it and what we do not want in ours. The one below is something like what we want.. I would like a few more windows is all :) In your review mirror it is going to be big and truck like... moose pusher and big loud horn. From the side it will be abit more Motor home like, not too much though.

This year we did not see much that was new. I did notice a different lay out for the beds in the trailers... a door on each side of the bed with a flip around tv from the living room to the bedroom... also noticed a bunch with doors right from the outside into the bathroom.. a second door besides the main one.. which would be great for when we are dirt biking or geocaching ... can come in dirty and get all washed up before going into the main part of the RV. Wont work in the one we are planning.. but it is a nice idea. Did see a fifth wheel that was pretty nice... had the living room up stairs where the bedroom is in most of them. With all the slides out it was huge. It was the KeyStone Montana and had everything.. if i was looking for a fifth wheel and was looking for something to park in and not to road trip in.. this might be what I would want.

That pretty much covered it for what we saw... there was not much there this year and only a small handful of motor homes.. most of them used.

On the way home we stopped at Five Guys burgers , Friends had not eaten there yet and we love it... now they do too :) I love being able to pick each thing I want and the fries are so good and you get way too many of them. Not a healthy place to eat but then that is why it is so good! I wish they did milk shakes there.. that would be the cherry on top.

We had been telling them about geocaching so decided to stop at a few on the way home... we are working on getting them hooked on it too... then we drag them around with us. They helped us look for one that we have been trying to get for almost a year now... have made 5 or 6 visits and still have not found it... wait until I tell them we now have a hint from the cache owner for it! After we got home tonight I happened to notice the time for the Cache Event tonight was 6 to 8 and since it was only 6 and we live 10 minutes from it.. we logged in and let them know we were on our way... off to The Station in Stanwood we went.. wow.. it was super packed full of cachers! We for there just in time to get our name into the bucket for the drawing.. and then we won.. we got a small cache box full of goodies and ready to be placed. We have not placed a cache yet but are hoping to get a travel bug and use this as a bribe with our friends to get them to help us find a place to hide it :) This event was great and we were able to put a lot faces with the names we keep seeing in the logs. Also got the hint for the cache we have not been able to find since it was the owner of it that was holding the event. I am hoping to be able to plan some day hikes soon for some caches we have yet to find.

GeoCaching ~ We Are Back!

Had a very lazy morning... got up late... made some waffles and was having a cup of coffee and Dave noticed that 17 caches just published... and the furthest from home was 8 miles.. the closest was just right up the road.. That was all it took.. we were back..grabbed up some loot and a couple of pens.. pulled on our hiking boots. Load up the Gps's and we were out the door on a mission.

First one we went after was the corner store we love to visit... a total easy find... grabbed the cache checked the log and no names were on it... well now ours is... First to Find.. Heck of a way to get back into caching.. and the caches are all done by RDR one of the best around. We love finding his caches...a lot of them we end up having to visit more than once before we find them.. there is one we have visited at least a half a dozen times and still have no clue. We are pretty sure we Know every place it is not hidden.. even though we know when we find it that chances will be high we have seen it and touched it many times and just did not "find" it.

Off to the second cache.. I am pretty sure I know where this one is before we get out of the car... yes that is a big mistake... when I assume where it is then I close my mind to all the other places it might be. Which is what happened... we are looking.. and looking and it is not where I think it should be so I am looking even harder.. and then a car pulls up.. and it is RDR... totally awesome to get to meet him... he asks if we have found it yet.. We say no.. he ask what the name of the cache is... we tell him.. and he gives us this look... Dave gets it.. turns around and he sees it right away.. I am still stubborn and thinking I know where it is so am still looking there.... then I see it.. not where I thought it would be.. and can not believe I did not see it earlier.. I had totally touched it and looked right at it. Second to find on this one.

Tried a couple more but had no luck on those.. did not really give them too much serious time.. they had already been logged so we just did a quick peek... on our way for more first to find... down to one of our favorite parks.. there are a couple of new ones here... a truck is pulling in so we are walking fast.... find it but it has sort of fallen apart.. the cache itself has fallen out of the camo... so we get it out and are looking at the log... cache was just published this morning.. but the log has been signed a few times.. over the last year.. nothing today.. so we are taking a first to find.. and another cacher shows up.. and he agrees... first to find for him too.. sharing this one :) We put it all back together how it should be and head off for the other first to find... it is in the park more.. means some hiking and with the winds blowing like they are.. we hiked fast... found the cache and signed the log and started back out... I stopped to take a couple of pictures and a video because the wind was so cool.. then the branches started falling down around us and we decided it was time to just get out of the trees.

Found four caches today.. ftf on three of them :) We did not go after all of them since we want to start going out on a regular basis again... this leaves some more to go after in the next few weeks :) Being out in the woods and hiking on the trails felt so good.. I have missed being out there a lot and it is time we are out there again! This island has so many awesome trails.. and within 50 miles of here there are millions of trails ( most of them with lots of caches ) that we need to explore!

Learn about Geocaching here I can not say enough good about it. You can do it pretty much for free... you just need a gps. It is great for kids and grandparents and everyone in between or all together. It gets you outside, doing stuff. I can not believe how much I have learned about where I live and the places I have visited because of caching. Any questions feel free to ask me :)

All pictures today were taken on Four Springs 50-acre nature preserve on Camano Island. Even though I had driven past the signs to this for many years.. it was because of caching that we headed back into this and found a beautiful park with lots of trails to explore. I was so excited to be out caching again I did not take many photos as I left the camera at home and I only grabbed the cell for the ones in the park :(

~Michelle

Emmy's Sugar Frog

I love frogs... .. used to have a collection.. but.. there are only so many things one can collect. While we were out geocaching we saw this beautiful frog attached to a travel tag so we just had to take it and check it out. Turns out it it is Emmy's sugar frog and has a sweet tooth.. it wants to hop around from cache to cache... having it's photo taken while having a dessert :) When we read that.. we knew we had found the right travel bug (frog) for us to move along.

Last night I decided to make some cookies and I remembered that Emmy's sugar frog was visiting us and I thought he might enjoy making some cookies... from what I had heard I knew he would enjoy eating some cookies. So I gathered up all the supplies on the counter and set him there to watch. Right away he hoped into action and was making sure everything was mixed well.

Then we had to get it all patted down in the pan and nice and even. (yes we ALL washed before helping)

I did make the mistake of opening the chocolate up so it would be ready when the cookies were done baking.. lol came out to find this.

here the cookies are... out of the oven and ready for chocolate... from the look on Frogs face I am not sure I was moving fast enough.

Wouldn't you know it... he went right for the one with chocolate on it.

Emmy's frog also helped make some brownies

And some blue berry muffins while visiting.

We had a lot of fun with this frog and had thought we found the perfect cache to drop it in.. one that belonged to a little girl named Emmy.. but.. we had no luck getting in touch with the owner.. and then we noticed that the cache seemed to not have any activity so we decided to keep looking... found a well maintained cache close to home on the perfect trail for a frog so last night while out hiking/caching with the kids we left it there to continue on it's journey. We look forward to watching and seeing where this special, fun frog will go next :)

~Michelle

recipe for these cookies (in thumb print version) is on my other blog, Coffee, Tea and Recipes. Only difference would be instead of making into little balls.. just spread in a pan and bake until edges are brown.

recipe for the brownies and the muffins can be found in Chelle's Kitchen too :)

Key to Every Mystery

Yesterday we were out geocaching yesterday... I know.. big suprise :) We found a couple of fun caches.. and a nice place to leave a travel bug ( key to every mystery) that has been traveling around with us for a few weeks now.

The Key to every mystery was released to travel on Sunday, August 24th 2008 .. from... Limburg, Belguim. It has traveled around to many different places going a total of 7,791 miles. The goal of this travel bug is to travel around and have it's photo taken while traveling. We love road trips and going fun places and have had fun taking this with us... it went to many of the same places as the skunk'd coin that I wrote about last week.

Here is our adventure with the Key :)

We picked this key up locally while geocaching with my parents who were visiting for a week. It was in a cache in a little park type place by a gas station/deli/wine tasting room. Which we had never been to before but now have been to several times... great snacks and a nice clean restroom :) The cache had a mother hen and her babies standing guard :)
The next weekend we visited Sequim, which is a favorite place of ours to visit... there is a bed and breakfast there where you get to sleep in your own caboose and then in the morning have a fancy breakfast in the dining car :) We did some caching at the John Wayne Marina and spent some time just relaxing and watching the ships coming and going :)

Lots of hiking and bike riding trails in Sequim too... and a lot of railroad history. Olympic Discovery Trail has great trails and a LOT of caches on it.
The next weekend we went up Mountain loop highway.. and did some hiking with the kids... headed up to Bear Lake for a picnic lunch and had hoped to be a FTF (first to find) a cache that is up there... but we were no luckier than the people before us had been.

We took the key to our local beach when the tide was way out.. we spent some time tide pooling and exploring that day... then off to find a good cache to place the key in to be found by it next traveling friends.

We look forward to watching the keys journey with other people as it travels around.

~Michelle

This That and Nothing

Well it has been awhile since I posted... I seem to either blog a lot or not much at all... that is not totally true.. I have posted a couple of times to my kitchen blog...be sure to check out the cupcakes... and I find when I am downloading photos to flickr that I tend to add little blurbs with most of those... so then.. I am not sure what is left to blog about here. Today I am feeling the need to post something.. so am going to attempt to post a general update on what has been going on.. and I am going to try to do it without too much rambling.

My parents were here for a week.... they did not stay at the house.. but at this beautiful campground they are members are that is not too far... had the cutest little cabins... ( I should have been taking pictures ) and so I had a wonderful chance to spend sometime visiting with them.. they also had some lifetime friends staying with them for a couple of the nights.. they all came over for dinner and it was a wonderful visit. I do miss living closer to my family.. we are not that far really... 4 or so hours.. but with everyones schedules.. it can seem like it is across the world sometimes.

That leads into geocaching ... you can expect to see a lot more posting about this part of our lives... it is proving to be a LOT of fun. We did some with my parents... and we found another travel bug.. this one wants to travel the world and have lots of photos taken... so I am taking it around and taking photos of it... and then we will move it to another cache soon. We went out this weekend with our youngest son.. and had a blast.. even though.. it was pouring rain.. and we even ended up in the snow... it was still so much fun.. and we found 13 caches...and some where in/near old mines....

woohooo.. watch out mom and dad :) (they got us started in this) Heard my sister and her family have started getting into this too... should be fun :) I am also getting to know (online so far) lots of other people who do this.. I love that everyone can do it... old .. young... in shape.. not so in shape... rich.. poor... it is so much fun and gets everyone out from in front of the TV and out of the house. Please if you do not know about it check HERE to read more.. and feel free to ask me anything.. just starting really.. but will answer anything I can :)

I am still working on the weight loss Wednesdays.. just not blogging it.. at least at this time... I am still losing about a pound a week... still walking on the treadmill.. and trying to be careful about what we eat.... it is sort of boring... and just was not sure anyone really wanted to hear about on a weekly basis... but I am in this for a year... so... I will keep going... and... I am noticing changes... muscles where none were before... just small changes though... it goes on a lot quicker.. and easier than it comes off. Shoulders back.. tummy in.... get up and move... and drink that water!!

I am still walking on the beach.. almost every day.... trying not to post about that everyday either.. even though I could.. I love it that much... I reward myself with it.. walk on the treadmill... get to go walk on the beach... I am not sure what it is about it.. lots of things I am sure.. every single day is different there... every few hours it is different... the water comes in and changes everything... sometimes it takes all the rocks and leaves sand.. sometimes it leaves piles of rocks and drift wood... there are shells and agates and glass and odd bits and just so many treasures... and life... it is so alive... star fish... little fishes... crabs... clams.... birds... bugs... people... everything is so calming and exciting all at the same time at the beach. In face.. just saw that the orca network said there was a whale sighting near here.. so I am heading out to go see if I can see a whale... saw one the other day.. WOW... it is a sight... and a sound.. to hear them and see them is amazing. *fingers crossed I come back with photos*

Mt St Helen's

This last weekend we went for a road trip.... we headed out really early in the morning... going south... why south? Well we had a travel bug we found, while hiking last weekend, in a geocache. It needed to go south.. When we started looking at places to go that are south of us.. we knew it was going to be a long weekend with lots of things to do.
We wanted to explore Mt St Helens (mt that blew up in 1980's) and saw that on the way up the mountain there were so many caches.... we picked a few that we thought might be fun and headed out. So many things to explore... first stop was the Mt St Helens visitor center.. watched the movie and checked out the exhibits.. gave the kids a chance to learn a little history and find out what it was we would be exploring. We walked a little bit around the silver lake wetland haven trail, right there near the visitor center.. also found our first cache of the trip :)

We found a couple more caches as we headed up highway 504 towards Johnston Ridge Observatory (which we learned is still closed for the season)... we found a couple of tricky caches.. or at least we thought there were.. one was an old telephone receiver with a magnet stuck to it... and another was not so cool in what it was.. an old mint box.. but it had been painted and had thing taped to it so it looked like part of what it was stuck to. We also found our first nano cache this weekend.. wow it was tiny... we did our first earth cache...took our photo with a landmark and answered some questions about the area... it was a lot of fun. We did end up finding a nice cache on highway 503 to leave the travel bug in.. now we will watch to see where it goes *fingers crossed it heads to it's destination* Geo caching is a great way to get out as a family and really learn a lot of history and a lot about the area.

The rest of Saturday was full of beautiful views of the mountains.. and small hikes in the woods to explore things like beautiful lakes.. we went as far up the mountain as we can but will have to head back after may to see the view from the top.. still please with our photos.. were able to get some with just a few clouds.. that is pretty good for Washington. It was nice to watch the kids as they saw how even 30 years after the eruption that you can still very clearly tell.. in places it looks like mars or something from star trek.

We then drove to Vancouver Washington, one because we have a hotel that we like to stay in there.. and two because we all wanted Red Robin for dinner.. well the hotel worked out ok.. but the restaurant was FULL..so we drove around and did not really find anything else we loved.. so we tried a burgerville.. it sucked. Will not eat there ever again.. just plan ick.. and over priced.

Sunday we got up and planned on heading up highway 503 to the south side of St Helens. It was warm and sunny and we decided since we were so close that we would slip over the border into Oregon and drive through Portland ... we all love it there. Dave found a parking spot near the Saturday market (yes they have it on Sunday too) so we got out and spent a little over an hour just walking around seeing the sights and smelling the smells... it was so much fun.. watched some break dancers from Portland City Rockers doing their thing. We then headed back to Washington and to Mt St Helens.

Highway 503 up the mountain is abit more laid back and less touristy than 504. The signs of the eruption are not from the 1980 eruption but from ones many of thousands of years ago... had a picnic lunch at yale park... it was so beautiful.. picnic table right on the water. Then up to the ape caves.... we were not all sure if we would like this or not.. you climb underground in some tunnels that were made from the lava flow a long time ago.. it is very very dark and wet in there.... we LOVED it. We did the bottom hike.. you go in and hike down 3/4 of a mile then hike back up... next time we want to go in and go the other way..do the harder hike up 1.5 miles.. it goes over some rock hills and you have to crawl for some of it and you climb out on a ladder...we will be going back to explore that.. we will be a little better prepared.. some extra lights.. and gloves.. and knee pads.

By the time we done and back to I-5 we had a long drive to get home... we arrived home about midnight and quickly everyone went off to get some sleep before the long Monday started. That is the only problem with adventures.. is reality sets in nice and hard come Monday morning.

Click here to view more photos of our weekend.

~Michelle

Wonderful Weekend

Bird Nest, originally uploaded by glass_identities.

Yesterday was good.. Dave and I are feeling a bit under the weather.. getting the cold from the oldest son... so we took it easy most the day.. then we went for a short walk on the beach at sunset.. and watched some movies.... today my oldest son moved into his own place... he is so excited.. and I am so happy for him... my other son was going to be helping him.. then staying the night there.. so they can head out and go camping for a few days.

We decided we needed to get out of the house for a few hours.. I needed to get some more sticks for a couple of orders of garden stakes... we needed some fresh air and some exercise.. also wanted to get some pictures taken and do a little road trip. I had signed us up on the geo caching website a couple of days ago.. we have talked about "going to do it" for a long time... today was the day.. we took some cards with the info to a couple of caches and off we went. We are already making plans on when we can go again and things to put in the boxes.

We went out on Mountain Loop Highway.. a road we go to play on often.. it does not really go anywhere but from one very small town ( Granite Falls) to another very small town (Darrington ) Lots of trails off this road... and a lot of train history. Today we walked on the Robe Trail.... we walked on the very old railroad... right to the tunnels... it was just amazing. I loved the kids asking questions and pointing out the old ties and hardware.

We then took a drive up Green Mountain Road... lots of beautiful views up there.. and waterfalls and even played in the snow :) Also a great place to get some sticks :) Came home on a back road... Felt like we were filming a commercial... swerving to miss the many frogs jumping across the road... I am sad to say we did not miss them all... we did miss the deer though... and the raccon... lol all the way out the mountains and we find all the wildlife on jorden road on the way home.

We stopped and had some dinner then headed home.... one of the things I love the most.. is how much the kids talk to us while we go on these adventures.. the questions they ask and the stuff they share... lot of great bonding. I did learn some things about sons friends that I did not need or want to know.. but.. it was an awesome weekend.

To see more photos of our trip today.. just click on the photo above to visit my flickr page.