Wenatchee Cache Machine

March 16, 2005

Thanks for the heads up on Rivers Edge. I'll check its status just before I post the final route (March 27).

On the draft route, if a cache has an icon that's not a typical traditional cache icon, multi cache icon, or unknown icon, it's a cache that I'll be taking a close look at before the final.

For example, a red cross (King Granite, Jude's Oasis, Flustrations) is a note to myself that the cache may be missing or badly damaged. A black-and-yellow frown (Blue on Blue) means that the cache is disabled. A do-not-enter means that the cache must stay off the route for some reason.

The red moon indicates a night cache, Kiss Youth Goodbye. The boat means the cache is accessible by boat only. The car indicates parking coordinates for the nearby cache (Cash Mirror - I hope this one gets opened in time!).

I plan on having Jude's Oasis up next week, the area got trashed by the local renegades. I have been waiting for the area to get fixed back up. I have heard rumor that Just Another Ammo Can has gone astray, I will check it out.

1.8k · March 16, 2005

You changed the route format from landscape to portrait. Any reason?

I accidentally forgot to click the "landscape" button, but once I looked at it, saw that the maps seemed to be a little more focused. Fewer turns per page = more detail per map.

I've not decided the on the page orientation of the final. Which do you prefer?

7.3k · March 16, 2005

Saturday's confirmed at El Abuelo (thanks, Robinego!). We've got reservations for 75 people, at $12.50 each, plus drinks.

Any idea whether there are any vegetarian options at El Abuelo? It appeared that there are chicken, beef, and seafood options... can't seem to Google the answer to this one.

I guess from what I have heard, since there are so many people attending the event, we will have a buffet with three different entree options, and beans and rice. Not sure what those three options are, though.

I know the restaurant has no meat options, cause the other night I had a cheese enchilada with rice and beans. It was very good. Anyway, I am hoping for a vegetarian option, too. I do eat meat on occasion, but prefer not to. Patudles also prefers vegetarian.

March 17, 2005

I just book the La Quinta as well and will be there with my son Geoslugger. Look forward to meeting up with everyone again. headed over friday afternoon. 2 for dinner both nights.

March 18, 2005

Mr. & Mrs. K and Honey Puppy along with CacheNDache have reserved rooms at the Coast.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

March 21, 2005

Is anyone else getting excited? Heck Yes I am!!!!! :rolleyes:

March 21, 2005

Is anyone else getting excited? Heck Yes I am!!!!!

Yes, yes we are, I have been looking at all the caches we can get on our way up there. Mappoint says it is eight hours but with caching along the way, I bet it will take at least 11 to get there.

March 21, 2005

Checked on "Just Another Ammo Can" today. It is indeed still there.

March 21, 2005

What if someone wanted to get up at a more reasonable hour, have a nice breakfast then take the route at a more leisurely pace and meet up with the hard core cachers for dinner. Would that be allowed?

Ed

Normally gets up at 5 AM however that's when he's getting paid.

1.8k · March 21, 2005

Getting up at a reasonable hour?!? What?!?

That reminds me of day 2 of the Portland Cache Machine. I think there were only about six of us leaving the parking lot on time that morning. The other (more sensible) cachers were sleeping in.

Sure. Go ahead. Sleep in. But you'll be missing one of the best parts. Caching with a flashlight as the sun rises is one of my favorite parts, and I bet ya that Wenatchee has some real purtty sunrises.

1.8k · March 21, 2005

Checked on "Just Another Ammo Can" today. It is indeed still there.

YEE-HAW that suckers going down!

Thanks so much for checking on that one for us.

Pepper

March 22, 2005

But you'll be missing one of the best parts. Caching with a flashlight as the sun rises is one of my favorite parts,

And don't forget explaining to the PO-lees what you and thirty of your friends with 18 vehicles are doing in a residential culdesac in the dark with flashlights at 0500.

1.8k · March 22, 2005

Yeah, that was a blast in Portland -- the lady standing out in her driveway with her jaw slack, her mouth open, but no words coming out. Heh.

It looks like we won't be hitting residential areas until maybe 0650ish (GCKZYG Appleyard).

("Honest, officer, we're not a sleeper cell looking for boxes of ammo. We're sleepy selves looking for ammo boxes.")

March 22, 2005

But you'll be missing one of the best parts. Caching with a flashlight as the sun rises is one of my favorite parts,

And don't forget explaining to the PO-lees what you and thirty of your friends with 18 vehicles are doing in a residential culdesac in the dark with flashlights at 0500.

Yes, officer, we are just looking for stash in the woods. Yes, in plastic bags in little plastic boxes. Yes, all 30 of us are looking for the same thing. Sorry officer, we have 60 more stashes to find. Oh I mean caches.

March 22, 2005

It was touch-and-go there for awhile, but (as I logged on the cache site) with an impressive display of responsibility-juggling and tight scheduling, we will be able to make it. We'll be staying at the La Quinta.

Not having been able to attend a cache machine before, we're hoping some of you can provide words of wisdom regarding children and cache machines. We have three kids, ages 5 through 11. In other people's experiences, is this something the kids can enjoy or do they get burned out early on?

It's so difficult to find time off for caching, so this Cache Machine will accomplish a number of goals: 1) get to find new caches in a location we don't get to very often, 2) get to finally meet some fellow cachers in person, 3) get to boost our cache count numbers to a more "respectable" level for the length of time we've been Geocachers (maybe we will get to stop saying "it's not the count, it's the quality that matters." soon).

Looking forward to meeting everybody!

Menagerie

Edit: Mrs. Menagerie says I have to add goal #4) "Quality family time" on the four hour drive there and back, the whole reason we got into Geocaching.

Edited March 22, 2005 by Menagerie

March 22, 2005

We have seen families successfullly do cache machines, both with younger kids and older ones. Young ones can get burned out at the fast pace so bring lots of snacks, a place to nap and you can always leave one adult, at the car while the other adult and older children run to the cache site and back. I have also seen lots of caches at playgrounds. My best suggestion is to align yourselves with other families with children and go at what ever pace works for you guys. You don't have to do the whole lot in one day if it means a family war. Do what is fun. Enjoy.

Edited March 22, 2005 by Riddlers

March 22, 2005

It looks like we won't be hitting residential areas until maybe 0650ish (GCKZYG Appleyard).

Appleyard isn't really what I'd call residential. It will be pretty funny seeing 20 cars try to park there at once though. Maybe better park at the fire station just down the hill or the lot just past it and huff it up to the cache. I can't picture more than 4 or 5 cars at once at the cache location. It is a wide spot in the road.

edited for spelling. xy....

Edited March 22, 2005 by xy,xx,xy,xy,xy,xy

1.8k · March 22, 2005

In other people's experiences, is this something the kids can enjoy or do they get burned out early on?

It really depends on the kid. I've hesitated to bring my nine-year-old, although she almost went to the Gig Harbor Cache Machine event. I think she'd have fun for the first couple of hours, then get burned out.

RomulusNR and NomadRaven frequently bring Liagara (slightly older than my daughter) and Ethan (younger), and their energy level seems to stay high for most of the morning, dips down, then is up again for a few hours after lunch. Their staying power surprises me every time.

The Yakima insurance-mobile guy whose name I feel really bad for not being able to come up with now brings his boys (young teen, I think), and they seem to be up for the whole day.

You said "WE have three kids", so it sounds like there'll be more than one of you taking care of the kids. When they burn out, one of you can go get the cache, while the other waits in the car, then swap at the next one. How you log these... that's between you and your conscience.

If I were to bring my daughter, I'd go in with the assumption that I'd go for a few hours, trying to stay with the pack, then skip a few and maybe go get breakfast, then catch up to the pack, cache some more, take a long break for lunch, catch up with the pack, cache some more, then quit for the night, go back to the hotel, then go to dinner. I'd let her set the pace, because the goal of caching with her would be for us to have fun, not just for me to have fun.

(Caching with three kids... that'd be three times the challenge.)

1.8k · March 22, 2005

I can't picture more than 4 or 5 cars at once at the cache location. It is a wide spot in the road.

You'd be surprised. When the Yakima machine went through the Yakima River Canyon, I was convinced that there'd be nowhere to park. We wedged about seven vehicles into a two vehicle turnout under Popcorn And A Movie :grin:

1.3k · March 22, 2005

In other people's experiences, is this something the kids can enjoy or do they get burned out early on?

It all depends on your kids. We have two boys ages 3 & 8. We took the 8 year old along with us on the Olympia Cache Machine a year ago. Maybe not the best example, but he did okay. We just knew that we wouldn't be staying up with the main crowd but we did run into smaller groups now and then. We also accepted the fact that we wouldn't complete all the caches on the route, at least not that day.

Bring them along with the attitude of let's just have fun, when it stops being fun stop for a while.

March 22, 2005

yeoleimposter had three teenagers and boy could they find a cache. They had more energy and staying power than many of us old folks. There is always the posiblity that one adult could jump on board with someone else and the other take the kids back to the motel for a swim and meet up later. That is why cell phones and family radios work so good.

March 22, 2005

Thanks to all for the input regarding children. I think we'll try to keep up with the pack as long as possible. With that in mind, we'll probably bring a portable DVD player, snacks and pillows. Our kids are real gung ho some days, not so on others. We'll just have to see which version of them shows up on the the day of the machine. If we have to slow down at some point, so be it.

1.3k · March 22, 2005

There is always the posiblity that one adult could jump on board with someone else and the other take the kids back to the motel for a swim and meet up later. That is why cell phones and family radios work so good.

That's a great suggestion. I'm sure there will be at least one extra seat in the group. The lunch break would be a great time to decide if the kids are good for the rest of the day or if everyone would be happier if they were back at the hotel.

March 22, 2005

In other people's experiences, is this something the kids can enjoy or do they get burned out early on?

Having brought my kids (10 and 6 as of Sunday) to a few cache machines, I'd say the best way to ensure success is to be honest with them and warn them in advance. I tell them straight up that we're going to be getting up at 5 a.m., eating Cliff bars in the car for breakfast, and looking for ~50 geocaches without trading at any of them. In exchange, they get to play on the monkey bars at any of the parks where I can maintain visual contact from the cache site (or sometimes if I'm just around the corner, within earshot)... but they have to hop back in the car when I say it's time.

Ethan (6) is usually the only member of the family that doesn't end up tired and sore. Liagra (10) usually likes to socialize with everybody. They've ended up having a pretty good time and always react positively when I mention another cache machine is coming up. Their physical stamina outlasts mine every time.

Definitely limit their water consumption in the early part of the day, though. Bathroom breaks can be few and far between. :grin: Liagra downed a 20-ounce water bottle at 6 a.m. during one of the cache machines, and we ended up on the "Bathroom Machine" route instead...

1.8k · March 22, 2005

The Yakima insurance-mobile guy whose name I feel really bad for not being able to come up with now...

yeoleimposter had three teenagers and boy could they find a cache...

Yeah, him. <blush> :grin:

March 23, 2005

Just a reminder, I have access to a 14 yr old (boy), 2-16 yr olds and a 17 yr old (girls) if you feel the need to go sans children for any length of time. I can vouch for all 4 of them. They can be watched at my house, hotel or travel along and keep the kids entertained where ever we are. DONT FORGET THE SWIM SUITS! I am still hearing about the time I forgot them when we hit a hotel one time, and that was at least 5 years ago. :grin:

-R-

March 23, 2005

I just brought up a pq of the area and found six caches on the event that are temp or perm. not available. Am I missing something?

March 23, 2005

This 17 yr old doesnt get burned out, how could you? I mean just the thought of getting 60 + caches a day, that gets the blood flowin!!!!! Especially with George, he has more energy than me sometimes, we keep eachother goin!!! We practice for these things to by letting the intown caches build up a little bit then, doing a GEORGE TENNISKID YAKIMA 1/2 DAY CACHE MACHINE (lol the name needs work) I couldnt think of anything else i'd rather be doing that being out in the good ole outdoors, especially WENATCHEE

~D

1.8k · March 23, 2005

I just brought up a pq of the area and found six caches on the event that are temp or perm. not available. Am I missing something?

Yup - these are still drafts. I'll do one last check and will hopefully have the final route (with no disabled caches) posted on Sunday evening.

March 23, 2005

I'm yearning to go - not sure I have the goodwill to sway the family ties right now.

Either way, is there a pool for the time of the first law enforcement encounter? Not saying anything about Wenatchee, but quickly moving bands of strangers are bound to be the Neighborhood Watch event of the month!

If I don't make it this time, I'll look for the next chance to meet some of you. Good hunting!

March 24, 2005

Either way, is there a pool for the time of the first law enforcement encounter? Not saying anything about Wenatchee, but quickly moving bands of strangers are bound to be the Neighborhood Watch event of the month!

Good point. I'll whisper the planned goings on into a few ears so the event will not be a *total* surprise. That's a small towns blessing and curse. People know you and people know you! :tired:

March 24, 2005

We do have a 10 mile long multi-cache called neighborhood watch. The whole thing is residential. Made a bunch of us smile.

March 26, 2005

So do any of the locals know of a good lunch bathroom stop around the middle of the day? Close to the caches at that time of day? Or are we out in the mountains at lunch time?

Edited March 26, 2005 by Riddlers

March 26, 2005

So do any of the locals know of a good lunch bathroom stop around the middle of the day?

Lunch bathroom stop? Isn't this a cache machine? We don't stop for nothing.

1.5k · March 26, 2005

So do any of the locals know of a good lunch bathroom stop around the middle of the day? Close to the caches at that time of day? Or are we out in the mountains at lunch time?

ya see that tree over yonder?

March 26, 2005

So do any of the locals know of a good lunch bathroom stop around the middle of the day? Close to the caches at that time of day? Or are we out in the mountains at lunch time?

ya see that tree over yonder?

Okay, okay, ice chest packed and ready.

March 26, 2005

Ok, we are getting close and as I am watching the cache page, my eyes bug out more and more everytime I look at it. I come up with a total of 92 people at this time. Now, El Abuelos told me they could accomodate 75-100, but I recently heard from another source, only 75. I will nail this down with the proprietress as well as menu, price etc...on Monday (sleep is more important for the next 2 days and that's the first chance I will be able to get to it.) What I would like are those who will NOT be attending the dinner on Saturday to let me know, either PM or e-mail me.

I will also look into a decent sized "location of libations" for post dinner-night caching discussions/storytelling. If the locals have suggestions, I'm all ears. (no Nav, my house is NOT on the list... )

-R-

1.6k · March 26, 2005

It looks like 2 of us will be going.

March 26, 2005

Count on 2 for the Marauders for Friday and Saturday Dinners. Looking forward to it!

7.3k · March 26, 2005

It looks like we won't be hitting residential areas until maybe 0650ish (GCKZYG Appleyard).

Appleyard isn't really what I'd call residential. It will be pretty funny seeing 20 cars try to park there at once though. Maybe better park at the fire station just down the hill or the lot just past it and huff it up to the cache. I can't picture more than 4 or 5 cars at once at the cache location. It is a wide spot in the road.

edited for spelling. xy....

I'm not sure if parking at the fire station would work. It's a bit far away, on a curve, with a small shoulder. Not sure how safe it would be.

But if people look close, there are 3 different wide spots near each other, including the one that the cache is on. I hope that those shoulders will be enough.

1.6k · March 27, 2005

Only 6 more days!!!

I probably won't be able to make it to dinner Friday night because we'll be leaving Bothell at about 530.

March 27, 2005

Any suggestions on weather to expect? Down here in Oregon they are saying you guys in Wenatchee are getting snow.

7.3k · March 27, 2005

Any suggestions on weather to expect? Down here in Oregon they are saying you guys in Wenatchee are getting snow.

Not sure about snow. We did have a tiny bit last weekend, mixed with rain. It is spring, so weather is different every day. It has been colder for a few weeks, but for a few weeks before that, it was in the 70's during the day. Go figure. It rained a lot today.

I'd say pack for mostly colder weather, especially bring a rain jacket, cause the last two Saturdays it rained. But also bring some short sleeves, just in case it decides to be nice. :huh:

5.9k · March 27, 2005

Free WiFi locations:

Wenatchee

Godfathers Pizza - 1014 N Wenatchee Ave - 509-662-5255

The Wok-About Mongolian Grill - 110 North Wenatchee Avenue

The Coffee Cabin - 414 N. Miller Street - (509) 667-9227

Bison Bagels - 25 N. Wenatchee Ave. - (509) 665-6677

March 27, 2005

Leaving sometime on Thursday caching my way up. Will be just one for dinner on Friday and Saturday. Can't wait.

March 27, 2005

Any suggestions on weather to expect? Down here in Oregon they are saying you guys in Wenatchee are getting snow.

Weather.com is forecasting a high of 56º and partly cloudy for April 2nd.

1.8k · March 28, 2005

The final route (1400K PDF) is posted. Any changes to the route will be announced at dinner on Friday.

I read at KING5.com that Peshastin Pinnacles State Park is finally open again. I'm assuming that this means we'll be able to hunt for Cache Mirror, and if not, it'll still be a neat spot to go check out.

2.8k · March 28, 2005

Just a random thought/wish...I don't suppose someone has created (and wants to share) a GPX file with the caches/route? Don't make me do all that work... :blink: :blink:

March 28, 2005

I was thinking I would do a Wenatchee PQ of 200 caches and then weed the ones out that I don't need. If someone has already done that it sure would be much easier.

March 28, 2005

Allanon Posted: Mar 27 2005, 04:43 PM
Just a random thought/wish...I don't suppose someone has created (and wants to share) a GPX file with the caches/route? Don't make me do all that work...

I have a current GPX file for the cache machine but don't have web space to share on. The GPX file was extracted from GSAK and even contains the stop number in the user data column. If you would like a copy e-mail me and I will send you a copy.

Wenatchee Cache Machine

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