The Great Late Summer Adventure

Last week was filled with epic adventure and happy times. I was able to take a trip to Post Falls to visit my parents. I took loads of pictures along the way, so brace yourselves: this is gonna be an image-heavy post.

The first day, I arrived pretty late. I got to enjoy dinner with my folks, and then mom and I got to take a walk in a nearby pretty neighborhood as the day turned to evening. We got to see this lovely sunset as we went.

The next day, Mom and I had a BIG adventure. Mom had purchased a tennis racket on my last visit, but we weren't able to play - so she wanted to take it out for a (literal) swing this time. We laughed our behinds off as we tried to volley three times across the net. I had trouble keeping the ball out of the sprinkler puddles.

We brought our Geo Pals with us on our trip because there was a Geocache just across the street from the tennis court. The cache was a pretty easy find near the Centennial Trail.

Also nearby was the Post Falls Community Garden. Mom hadn't visited yet, so we decided to take a look.

The gentleman who oversaw the project, a neat guy named Art, happened to be walking his dogs as we were peering over the fence. He offered to give us a tour of the garden. So many gorgeous and yummy vegetables were ripening.

His wife was in charge of the flower plots. Tons of gorgeous varieties were in bloom.

I think her favorite color might have been purple, because that was mostly what I saw in the flower patches!

Mom then humored me with a project I'd been wanting to try. Cemeteries (and the idea of mortality in general) kind of shakes me up, so I want to get more comfortable with it. Why hold on to fears, right?

So we went to the store and picked up a bundle of carnations, headed to a nearby cemeteries, and placed flowers on the graves of people who died long ago. We figured that there would be nobody left to remember them, but they led lives just as well as anyone else, and therefore deserved recognition.

We found a father who outlived his two daughters and wife by 25 years, a baby who passed after one day of living, and Post Falls' founder, Frederick Post. It raised a lot of emotions and questions and thoughts, but eventually we moved on.

After that, we ventured into Coeur d'Alene for some lunch and more Geocaching. There were a bunch of caches on a bike trail, so we headed there. This one was near an old gate...

...another at a lonely tree...

...and a third hidden near some electrical city thing (?).

Mom has been growing tomatoes on the back deck, and her grape tomatoes are just ripening. They're DELICIOUS! There is more "meat" on them and less juice, and they're just more flavorful. I really want to grow some tomatoes next year ... maybe I can grow a couple of plants in a big tote box?

Midway into the trip I took a car ride down to the Moscow/Pullman area, just a couple hours south of Post Falls. I met my close friend Ethan at The Daily Grind in Pullman. I had the best time catching up and sipping a mocha! Later on he took me to Brused Books, his favorite used bookstore in Pullman. This is the kind of bookstore where you worry about toppling a bookcase if you move one book the wrong way. Everything is kind of piled everywhere, and it's fun to see what kind of treasure you can find in the chaos.

Then I headed across the border to Moscow where I met with Julie. We had a yummy lunch together at Mikey's Greek Gyros and then adventured around Moscow. We saw the Saturday farmer's market, Tie Dye Everything, the co-op, a coffee shop, and a couple of Julie's friends. It was really pleasant to get a peek into my sister's life!

The next day, my folks invited Kenny over and we shared a picnic lunch! Dad makes the most awesome BBQ hot dogs.

Last time I was up, Kenny, Dad, and I had each won a game of croquet. We decided it was time to have a grudge match and see who could break the tie. Kenny ended up schooling us both! He became poison before either of us, knocked Dad out quickly, and after a few rounds of cat-and-mouse, he pulled off an incredible long shot that hit me and won the game. It was a VERY well-deserved win!

After the picnic, Mom and I tried to find another Geocache that had been on Mom's to-find list for a LONG time. It was a puzzle that led to a spot on the edge of the cemetery. After a lot of poking around the fence line, we FINALLY found the very well-camouflaged cache! 

After that BIG find, we decided to keep our streak going and find another cache at the Arboretum in town. We searched for a long time before we finally found the micro hidden right in plain sight!

The next morning was my last in town, but we wanted to sneak one last cache in before I had to take off. Mom took me to find one at the park just down the street. It was a nano that I, with all my 5 feet and 3 inches, could barely see hidden up high! The log was so little that G.Pinks could wear it as a scarf.

I had to leave shortly after that. It's always difficult to leave after a great visit with my parents.

Thank you to Mom and Dad for letting me spend such a wonderful week with you!