USA - photo report of a cacher trip 2018

USA Round Trip 2018 -Cacher-Reisen is traveling in the north-west of the United States. Target are special icons like HQ, Stash, Ape…. But also the “old caches” from the first laying months are on the program….We will come through some states!

Our travel report of the USA trip 2018

Today is day 1 of the North-West USA round trip with Cacher-Reisen.de
Thus our start and departure day.

It was exhausting, Seattle is not right next to Cologne. 38 cachers got up early and went to the airport. Getting to know each other, checking in and off we went from Frankfurt to Newark (next to New York). Everyone was allowed to enter the USA and, despite a 2.5-hour stay, we finally went to the second boarding in a continuous run.

After some waiting, which we embellished with a new virtual at the airport, the bus took us to our hotel for the next three nights. Another one-hour event to get to know local cachers and a short supermarket (yes, 24/7 is standard here) and now we all fall into bed tired.

Tomorrow after breakfast we go to Canada!

 

 

Canada-Day

Today is day 2 of our Northwest USA round trip with Cacher-Reisen.de

After a - by American standards - quite reasonable breakfast in the hotel, the bus picked us up for our tour to Vancouver/Canada. It was a comfortable ride to the border crossing. When entering Canada, everything went very smoothly, all participants who wanted it got a stamp in their passport.

A short time later we could also see the typical Vancouver skyline and had a wonderful time in the even more beautiful city.

Our stay in Vancouver ended with an event and we went back to the United States of America. It was often heard on the bus “I'll be back to Vancouver again”.

Tomorrow after breakfast we're off to the USA Mega and Seattle!

Day of the mega

Today is day 3 under North-West-USA round trip with Cacher-Reisen.de

After breakfast, the group of us let our trusted bus driver drive us to the mega-event Geocoin Festival in Issaquah. From then on everyone had time to visit the coin stands, have nice conversations, swarm out to cache or play the Labcaches around the site.

Later we started our way back to Seattle in small groups.

Seattle Exploration

It's still day 3 of our Northwest USA round trip with Cacher-Reisen.de

We spent the first part of the day on the Geocoin-Mega, the second in Seattle, Washington State.
Small groups quickly formed, mostly wandering from virtual to virtual and also logging one or the other Tradi in between. A coffee or a salad was usually found along the way. And don't forget, if you're already in the USA: 1-2 benchmarks also wanted to be searched, found and logged.
Later, most of the cachers met in the restaurant near the hotel. An eventful day came to an end! Tomorrow our bus tour through the north-west of the United States starts. It will certainly be exhausting, but also an adventure...

Day 4 of our Northwest USA tour with Cacher-Reisen.de
The day on which our bus tour through the Northwest of the USA to the first Cache-Lege months starts. We knew it would be exhausting....

After breakfast we boarded our Beeline Company coach, which we equipped with a TB.

The first old cache that awaited us was the GC16. All of the group walked with “up” and the cache from June 2000 was already logged.

We continued to the Original Stash where we spent some time taking photos and selfies. Unfortunately, we searched in vain for the corresponding box from October 2000.... Here we have to think of an alternative...

After the comfortable photo shoot at the stash, undls called the demanding GC12 and GC17. Already in the light of the flashlight, the group made our way back to the bus and shortly before midnight we reached our hotel in Redmond/Oregon.

Tomorrow we're going from Redmond to the desert...

Prepared bus

 

Start of the bus tour to the old caches

Day 5 of our Northwest USA tour with Cacher-Reisen.de

Today we first went to the supermarket to stock up for the trip. We could have spent all of our hours at the Walmart. The Halloween department alone! But we wanted to continue to our destination for the day.

First we got the multi-purpose bike at the canyon near Redmond, enjoyed the impressive canyon and took amazing photos. Of course, we did not ignore the traditions and challenges in the vicinity.

Then we went to the “Old” cache from December 2001. The desert begins behind Redmond….. It is still steppe with a layer of trees, but the landscape already changes on the few meters that the GC2D02 lies behind Redmond. We visit the funnily named "Used Cows for sale" tradi before continuing on to the casino town of Winnemucca. And no, we didn't buy a used cow....
The landscape changes again on our route. The series disappear, leaving mountains of sand, sandy deserts and dried-up, small bushes behind. The image of the endlessly long road without any traffic worth mentioning will accompany us for many miles. We reach the Nevada border in a small town and a short time later Winnemucca.
Our hotel for the night canceled us yesterday. They had a fire last Friday and are unable to accommodate guests. But we were taken care of, the hotel “Winners!” awaited us. Hotel, casino and restaurant all in one - it was a pleasure to stay here!
Of course we went again after our arrival to get the nearby Virtual and some Tradis. A super delicious dinner in the casino restaurant and a drink at the bar - on the house - rounded off the successful day.
Tomorrow we're going on the ET - Highway!

 

E.T.Highway and more

Day 6 of our Northwest USA tour with Cacher-Reisen.de

This morning we were able to convince our favorite bus driver Dave to drive us to the virtual “Veteran Park” a little bit outside. But of course only after a great breakfast and a warm farewell at the hotel. We will definitely come back here next year!

After a really very disciplined quick stop at the veterans' park, we then went on Route 50 in the direction of the ET - Highway. Of course we can't collect it as a bus group, but we would like to walk a bit away from number 1111 to the old cache from December 2000.
In total we signed 70 cans on the ET Highway and the cache from the laying month of December 2000 logged. 

Arrived in Ely, Nevada, we moved into our rooms in the historic Hotel Nevada from 1929. An experience, we felt like we were in Texas or in the Wild West....
Typical American diner at Denny's and a walk to the MPCommander event .
Great day with many impressions.
Tomorrow we continue to Nephi. The path brings us to an old cache from November 2000.

 

Ely to Nephi - from the state of Nevada to Utah

Day 7 of our Northwest USA tour with Cacher-Reisen.de

The program started with the GCA8 from November 2000. Wah Wah Stash is the funny-sounding name of the cache. Last year our great bus driver drove us right to the cache. This year we were lucky enough to have received a really big bus. Plenty of space for luggage and for geocachers - but unfortunately also less maneuverable than a smaller vehicle. So it was not possible to drive to the cache. This fact gave us a beautiful, level (????) walk. Anyone could walk the 4 km or so at their own pace. And what sounds like a walk here is at around 2000mN.N. Something completely different!!!! The air is getting thin... After lots of great photos of the surrounding mountain world, we reached a former entrance to a mine and with it the cache... After some time for photos and the cache, we headed back to the bus.

Checking in at our hotel Best Western Paradise Inn took a while, but we felt right at home in the room. Bags put down and off we went towards dinner and towards the event at Def Old Mill. This small downtown park is beautiful at night and is also home to a multinational.
3 local cachers also came to the event and proudly showed us their patches. These are available for every district in Utah if you have found at least 3 caches there. Not many US geocachers meet this challenge. As always, everyone visibly enjoyed the contact with the vlogger.
Tomorrow the group will be heading to Pocatello via Salt Lake City.

Potters Pond und Salt Lake City

Day 8 of our Northwest USA tour with Cacher-Reisen.de

Today we had a pretty busy day. First it should go to Potters Pond. Then via Salt Lake City with a short stop in the direction of Pocatello for the overnight stay.

At the special request of a special participant, we first went to an elevated cache. With 2988 m it would certainly be the highest cache in the statistics for one or the other trip participant. Since the round had also been done last year, it quickly became clear that we would stop at GC1XWTR. The world's best bus driver Dave also remembered the place well from last year. However, there was a surprise: as we screwed our way up the mountain curve by curve towards Potters Pond, the landscape turned a little white and it snowed thick flakes from the sky. Snow in early October! We hadn't expected that here at this point (later on the trip yes....). We had a snowball fight at the said cache before the logbook was signed and we went down a few meters towards Potters Pond. This place is simply unique and one of the travel highlights of the tour guide... Since you can experience soooo much here in this place, there is an extra contribution....

After wheezing up the small slope to the cache (Warning, that's ironic! It was probably quite exhausting....) we went for a swim (at least for some participants) and there were also burnt cans. But yes, that was still at Potters Pond….

From there we drove towards Salt Lake City, where we made quite a precision landing to our event. Here, too, some local cachers were waiting for us – but actually they were waiting for the vlogger…. But we all had very nice conversations, had a little supervised caching before we went back to the bus after 1.5 hours. But no, there was something in between: You rarely have the opportunity in life to celebrate your birthday for 32 hours. However, since it was already midnight at 4:00 p.m. local time in Germany, we could confidently serenade our birthday boy. After lots of hugs and congratulations, we got on the bus to continue to Pocatello.

Pocatello to Pendleton - Virtual route

Day 9 of our Northwest USA tour with Cacher-Reisen.de

Today we started in Pocatello. At the end of the day we wanted to arrive in Pendleton.
First things first after breakfast and a visit to Walmart to stock up on supplies, we went straight to the GC5C. This "old cache" should get us the point for September 2000. The tour guide had made a slight mistake here and instead of the promised "slight increase", the participants were of the opinion that this was rather a very sporty way up and down and up again and so on.... Nevertheless, the GC5C was found well and so this gap in the series of finding months from the year 2000 was also filled.
In order to brighten up the onward journey a little, we had chosen some virtual ones along the route. At one of the virtuals, we came across an older bridge and read about a woman who first crossed the river below in 1853. At the next stop, the whole group formed up to be photographed by a webcam and later a Snoopy figure had to be photographed while driving past (extra so allowed!).
But then we continued straight on to our next accommodation .
As soon as we arrived in Pendleton, we noticed that this little town has a special flair. Here you could still meet real cowboys and politics is still made here at the bar.

 

APE-Cache

Day 10 of our Northwest USA tour with Cacher-Reisen.de

And then today the time has come! It should go to Cache Mission 9: APE Cache! Even for those who already owned the APE icon from Brazil, the excitement grew during the morning.

We arrived punctually with the bus at 12 o'clock to our event in front of the parking lot of the Tunnel of Light. Some local cachers were waiting for us, and they even waited for us with gifts! We really enjoyed the event before we made our way through the tunnel.

Unfortunately, since the un-original stash cache could not be found, we had to rely on the GC79 to cover the month of October 2000. Behind the tunnel of light, even before you reach the APE square, there was an easy way here and so the Jasmer Challenge - at least for the year 2000 - was completed for all participants of the trip!!! Cheered briefly and walked a few more meters to pay a visit to the APE cache

Traditionally, we also managed to take a group photo here before we made our way down through a fairytale landscape to the pick-up car park. Beautiful area here! The way back was also embellished with 2 Tradis, one of which has at least a considerable can.

Overall, we had planned a good 3.5 hours for the Mission 9, which we also savored quite carefully. The week-long bus tour with the world's best driver, Dave Holtengreven, ended with our arrival at our hotel in Seattle.

It was a fun evening at the nearby Indian restaurant and the conversations about where in the world "old caches" can still be found were amusing and informative.

The group should continue tomorrow at the headquarters, after all, there is also a special icon here...

HQ-Tag

Day 11 of our Northwest USA tour with Cacher-Reisen.de

Today the group went to the heart of Geocaching.com. We wanted to visit the headquarters, of course buy the unique icon there and get an individual tour of the offices.

As usual, it started at 8 a.m. and our way led us to the bus stop. The skeptics doubted that we could ride the bus together and might prefer to switch to Uber. But as usual in the USA: very relaxed and uncomplicated, we got on the bus with some locals, occupied all the seats and were driven very comfortably to the door of the HQ. The only thing is that you need the right fare......

The passes for the HQ tour were picked up quickly and everyone had time to do the geo tour around the HQ, i.e. to visit the individual caches and stamp their card. We then met again punctually at the agreed time for the visit to the headquarters. We were warmly welcomed, the rules were explained and then we split into the first or second tour. It was interesting to get to know the different areas of the company and also to greet some employees. Our guest gift, made up of Haribo and children's chocolate, was again well received. Afterwards we spent a comfortable time in the anteroom of the HQ. There is a lot to experience here….

The rest of the day was free to complete the HQ geotour, visit our event at the brewery, and have free time in Seattle.

Everyone found their job there…. In the evening we met again for our last evening at the Indian and read the trip in our conversations again in our heads... Unfortunately, tomorrow is the day of departure.

 

home trip

Day 12 of our Northwest USA tour with Cacher-Reisen.de

After 12 days together in the USA, the day of the journey home had come for the group of cachers. Our favorite driver Dave drove us to the airport again and from there we started at a very humane time. So humane that for the first time we didn't start at 8 a.m. but at 9 a.m. from the hotel......

In the meantime, all participants have arrived safely at home and hopefully have many good memories of the trip.
The travel woman is touring a little through the USA and is doing a preliminary round to California for a new tour! One can be curious, but then it will be 2020!

We hope that you enjoyed our short travel reports and that you also felt like traveling. We know the USA is a beautiful country, the cities are huge, but even those who don't like big cities will get their money's worth with the crazy nature!
By the way, the same tour will also be offered in October 2019. Have a look www.cacher-reisen.de over!