Wherigo home to Reno

Good morning Holden! You're such a cute doggy, yes you are!

Okay, time to get up. As the long hike today was cancelled, everyone (except poor Tammy, back out with the boys to the soccer games) took the time to sleep in and catch up on rest before going at it again. We were running so slow, Dave texted Scott and changed our meet up time.

Pile back into the truck, joined by the Dominator, and headed out to Manito Park. Scott had told me yesterday that this place used to be a zoo before the Depression, now it's a beautiful park with lots of flower gardens. We parked at the Duck Pond and watched the various ducks and geese fly around and be chased away by the kids on the grass. I always think of that scene with the pigeons in Final Destination 2 whenever I see someone doing that... morbid mind that I have!

While my Wherigo player isn't the best, I am able to use it, somewhat. So I fired up the cartridge and we began the wander around the park. WOW, this place is amazing. So large, you could spend all day wandering and never get tired of it. I loved the Duncan Garden and the Japanese Garden was fantastic. Course, today was senior pictures, so we had numerous groups of girls with photographers wandering around with us. Each stage asked a simple question of you and once answered, gave you the next location. Very straight forward and clean, I'm going to base my Wherigo off this one, once I find a place for the final. Anyway! Took a detour off the cartridge to head over to the Japanese Garden where the guys all got a great laugh out of me scratching my head in puzzlement over a cache placement. Eventually I got it, but not before I think they busted a gut trying to hold in the amusement. But I did have some fun with the camera again. Koi are so pretty!

Found another cache before making our way back on track to the Wherigo. Uh oh, battery dying! I've gone this far, NOOOO. But yep, it crashed on me and I wasn't able to save my location. So the guys took me to the stages and I took a ton of pictures to answer the questions when I got the thing working again (darnit, I want that completion code!) and was able to make my mark on the final while watching Dave and his son play baseball with a stick and tennis ball I'd found. Holden was making a great catcher, short stop, outfielder, and thief. LOL

Back to the truck to head for lunch. I saw Zips again and figured why eat at the same places I have here when I can eat someplace new. We grabbed food from the drive thru and headed to a park for a picnic. On the way we passed through a construction zone where they had completely torn the street up all the way (to my amazement) down to the cobblestone! That was neat to see! We watched some girl's playing in the water toys at the park while talking, reliving the weekend, and me all bummed out I was down to my last hour. Did get another cache while there in the park, but still, my last one in Spokane (for now).

Gave Scotty a big hug goodbye, told him to tell Christy thanks and goodbye, and jumped back into the truck. It was off to the airport and my time here was done. I bid farewell to Dave, thanked him and Tammy for their hospitality ((I don't care if that's how you roll, I will pay you back.)) and went in to make my way through the TSA checkpoint.

This has been an amazing weekend. I'm really lucky to have four awesome friends up here, and have now met a few more new friends. This will not be my only trip up here, that's for sure. That's what I love about geocaching, I've met some of the most remarkable people through this sport. We always say geocaching takes us places we never would have known about, but it also introduces you to people you never would have known. There's no way that my path would have crossed with those of Scott, Chris, Dave, or Tammy - but I am incredibly grateful that it has!

And yes Dave, I know I overdo it on the sunshine and rainbows stuff, but I am glad to know you guys. You treated me far better than just "well taken care of", you guys really went out of your way this weekend. Thank you.

More pictures from the weekend: 2010 Spokane Trip