Half-Canadian

I'm going crazy trying to scroll through an 8-page bookmark list (not one of mine). I can only get as far as page 3 without it "sticking", but most of the times I've tried it just stalls on the first page. I've tried reloading, closing and reopening the page, changing the number displayed per page, clicking on the forward arrow, clicking on a page number....nothing.

Congratulations from Scooter and Scooter's mom... Scooter also sends her appreciation for the goodie box yesterday!

The Spokane Comfort Inn is in the news -- Link

I was going to add something to this comment but I think I will keep my mouth shut, eh?

I don't think a single Canadian would be offended -- if anything they should be at least very grateful for what you are doing, or even better come and help out themselves! I held a CITO event last year in January -- it was cold and sleety but we kept everyone warm with coffee and hot cider and Timbits and we collected a mountain of trash. It was a great event and I know yours will be, too. H-C

For anyone considering staying at the Crossland Hotel: 1. I've stayed there a few times. It's clean and comfortable but very basic accommodations, similar to Motel 6. If you sign up for the "Suite Savings", Link they will email you a coupon good for $10.00 off your stay. They do have high speed wireless, but it's a $5.00 fee for the length of your stay. 2. Each room has a stovetop, mini fridge, microwave, plates, cutlery, a few pots and pans. If you want to cook your own breakfast or just keep drinks cold, it's a nice feature. 3. You can request their weekly email of specials around the country. The past few weeks' email has listed their weekend rates for the Spokane Crossland at $31.99 instead of $39.99. These emails only come out a few days before each weekend based on room availability, so it's best to make a regular reservation which you can cancel at the last minute if the lower price is offered that weekend. 4. They do accept pets but they assess a $25.00 per night fee for dogs. 5. It's at a convenient location in the Spokane Valley, and there's a drive-through Starbucks about 2 blocks away

Hey, Mrs. B! I understand your comments about hiding caches -- I love hiding them, too! And I've probably got a few too many to maintain adequately, but that's a topic for another day. I still think some of my most favourites of all the caches I've ever found were your Sweet 16 series. Those (the ones I could find, anyway ) were some of the most creative caches, and the containers were small and simple or in some cases even just a film canister. Not every cache has to contain an elaborate array of baubles and trinkets...in fact I think most of us who have found more than our first few caches enjoy the hunt far more than what's in the cache. I love the caches that make me laugh, and yours usually do that really well! Oh, and by the way, I have absolutely no need of a baby backpack, thank God! Your pal, H-C

The Comfort Inn on Division has offered a group rate of $61.00 per night, which is about a $20.00 discount off their posted cheapest rate. You will have to phone that location directly to book a room and mention the Spokane Cache Machine group. I think quite a few of us have now booked rooms there, since it's only a few minutes away from the Saturday night dinner location. I don't have personal experience staying at this location. The location in the Valley has rooms for $59.00 per night and is now back in the Choice Hotels program. I've stayed there a few times and haven't had any problems or complaints with the rooms or service.

I have a big box of craft stuff -- styrofoam shapes, feathers, construction paper, stick-on eyes, pipe cleaners, etc. for events. If there are going to be a lot of kids and not much for them to do, I'll bring that to my events and set up a spot for them to spread all that out on a table and make their own "travel bugs" that they can take home. Keeps them busy for quite awhile.

What an accomplishment! Congratulations, Jon!

Wow, it's hard to narrow down favourites in those two places... Lopez, I think my #1 is GCK4GB Shipwrecked! The kids will love it and it's a fascinating spot. #2 would be GCN6WH Watmough My Love, a beautiful little bay and beach at the south end of the island. Also, the Lopez Island History series are all quick and fun, but give you a great tour of the island. I haven't done many on San Juan Island, but GCG6C5 Mausoleum would be one not to miss.

Me, too!

I just phoned the number you provided and got the front desk at the Quality Inn Oakwood. I then called the Comfort Inn North (509) 467-7111, but they had no record of a group reservation in our name for either April 27 or 28. Can you reconfirm your information, please.

I spoke to the manager at the Spokane Valley Comfort Inn this morning regarding their status with Choice Hotels. She was unaware of the situation, and said she would phone me back after she had things straightened out. She just called back and said that they were correcting some "paperwork issues" with Choice Hotels and would be back in their system later today, so no worries about an April reservation. I had already made a new reservation at the Comfort Inn North location last night, but hadn't cancelled the one for the Spokane Valley. I think I'll keep both reservations active until the date gets closer to make sure what she said was correct, and then cancel one of them. I don't want to miss out on the points for that stay, but this new reservation was $40.00 more for the two nights, so I'd rather keep the original reservation and save the money if I can, even if the location isn't as close to the event dinner.

I just checked at Hotels.com, and indeed the North location is $13 more. But for those of you saving up points in the "ChoiceHotels" program, you might want to know that the Valley location is no longer a Choice Hotel (I just talked to one of the Choice reps on the phone, who couldn't book me there because of that). I booked the Super 8 since it was the cheapest of the three (I'm just taking it on faith that it's decent...I don't have personal experience with any of them). GeekGirl is correct -- apparently the Spokane Valley location parted company with the Choice Hotel group...today. I just talked to one of their customer service reps who said it was "very unlikely" that the reward points would be given for stays previously booked at that location since they were no longer a Comfort Inn The other Comfort Inn location on North Division does have rooms available, more expensive but they do apparently feature french toast along with waffles for breakfast and it's only about a mile from the event dinner.

Hey, don't forget Scooter the Wonder Dog! She's got her own queen-size bed for this trip. The rooms at Comfort Inn North are almost $20.00 more per night than the Valley location. I've stayed at the Valley Comfort Inn 2 or 3 times and have always enjoyed my stay there. Parking isn't the greatest, but otherwise it's clean and comfortable, and Scooter is always given a warm welcome there!

Travis events MrGigabyte's Bellingham CM Longview H-C's Bellingham CM Everett That's all I can think of. Others? I just remembered another one I attended: Freedom From Work Cache-A-Thon by Wander Lost

Here ya go!

I think that's an excellent choice, Lisa -- that will solve what is always the most vexing part of a cache machine. Here's another suggestion -- maybe those who would like to end the day with some "adult beverages" can set up another event at 11:00 p.m. after the night caching is over at a pub somewhere? Or if the reviewers won't do two events, at least pick out a location and time, and post the coords to the event page, for a wrap-up at a local watering hole in the wee hours

That requirement no longer seems to be the case. My last event, held in Mount Vernon in January, was at a Chinese Buffet and had about 140 show up. There was also a Christmas event held recently in Wenatchee at a buffet which worked well. The current requirements for approving an event appear to be that it is OK to hold an event at a dinner location where you must pay for your meal, but not at a location that has a cover charge or other fee for admission.

I just called Old Country Buffet. Their location on Division is the only one big enough to handle the group, and they have a banquet room for 110 that is still available, though the manager was surprised it hadn't been booked as it is otherwise fully spoken for in April. He also said they could seat the rest of our group adjacent to the banquet room with no problem. The Spokane Valley location is too small. Buffets are nice, since everyone can help themselves and don't have a long wait for the kitchen after they place their orders, and the price is reasonable -- $11.39 for dinner, drinks and desserts on Saturday night. I'd suggest you call ASAP if you want to book this location...call Mike (509) 467-3440

OHH Lizzy its not about the numbers. You just put out 13 wonderful caches. All of your caching time has been put into quality containers, great hiding spots, and great swag and a neat series. I know that it took a loooong time to put all that together. Also managing the Washington County Challenge has got to be eating up your caching time as well. And lets just publicly admit that the last run of caches I did was just park and grabs and not very exciting but served their purpose to get me out of the house while I have limited time lately. While you traditionally do really neat caches. So I say Congrats to Lizzy on her wonderful contributions to Geocaching in the N 48!!!! Here, here! A big congratulations and thanks to both of you! We're glad you're both in 48 North Country!!

Hi Bernard, I've had one experience with Lake Pleasant RV Park, and it was not a pleasant one. I was on my way home to Vancouver BC a year or so ago and was looking for a place to stay pvernight with my fairly late-model pickup camper which is clean and in good shape. I knew of this RV Park, and pulled in there and went into the office inquiring about an overnight spot. The manager peered out the window at my rig, sniffed, and said they didn't have room for "a rig like mine". I had to drive through the entire park on their one-way road to get out, and realized that virtually everyone there was a permanent resident, very few overnighters. I'd suggest that you check out Kayak Point County Park, which is about the same distance into downtown Seattle as Lake Pleasant, but a much nicer facility for tourists. It's right on the beach, in a modern, well-equipped woodsy campground setting. I don't know about wifi, but it's a great spot to camp! H-C

I've stayed there before, and have already booked a room there for the CM. It's a nice clean newer hotel, close to the freeway, and pretty reasonable rates. The date of the cache machine happens to fall within the end of the Choice Hotels triple bonus points promotion, too

PP has a good point! When I made up the route for the Bellingham CM, I knew that many of those attending would have already done lots of the caches on the route, which is why I intentionally put many more caches on the route than could be finished in one day, even by the most rabid cachers. That allowed people to filter out the caches they had done but still have the benefit of a logically-sequenced route to follow that brought them back to the starting point at dinnertime. Those that hadn't cached in Bellingham finished about half of the route on Saturday, and many of them stayed over and finished the rest of the route on Sunday.