2012-09-15 47 -122

Location

The front yard of a house in Kent.

Participants

Plans

Drive there on Saturday at 4pm, then continue to South Hill for a strategy game night.

I could bike down, but having to be in the U-district till 2pm means that 4 would be cutting it close. Is 4:30 too late for your schedule? Alternatively I could bus/bike and certainly be there by 4. -- OtherJack 15:24, 14 September 2012 (EDT)

4:30 works. I'm stopping briefly before the hash at Ikea, and will look for you there. Any other south-end geohashers want to join us?!?? --Thomcat 10:47, 15 September 2012 (EDT)

I'll probably just proceed straight to the hash, no Ikea. See you there. -- OtherJack 13:33, 15 September 2012 (EDT)

Expedition

Arrived Ikea -- Thomcat @47.4433,-122.2245 15:47, 15 September 2012 (PDT)

...and about 45 minutes after that post (4:33pm) we arrived in front of the hash house, within about 30 seconds of each other. My bike ride was beautiful and straightforward, except for climbing up East Hill in Kent at the very end, which was heinously steep (Google indicates a 500-foot stretch of 16% grade, and a lot more than that in the 12% ballpark.) Thom promptly produced some Swedish candy from the Ikea, which turned out to be a somewhat nicer version of Kit-kats. No one seemed to be home at the house, so Thom went ahead and wandered onto their lawn, which was not watered or anything. This gave me moral cover to do the same, and within a few seconds we had the hashpoint. I forgot to take a GPS shot though - I hope you remembered Thom?

After brief conversation back at the vehicles, Thom drove on to his game night and I headed home via 140th Ave SE, Ezell's chicken, the Cedar River trail (excellent, I'll have to come back sometime!) and the west shore of Lake Washington. Not a bad day.

-- OtherJack 03:10, 16 September 2012 (EDT)

After Ikea (a quick in-out, thank you ma'am) I loaded my flatpack Besta and headed for the geohash. Jack was to be there at 4:30, and I swear I hit every red light in 6km. That aside, we arrived, chatted, and scouted the hashpoint successfully. Geohash droid reported "on the spot" as I uploaded the picture of Jack, coordinates on the image.

I found the sawed-off post of what was once a fence at the front of the lawn. To this I tacked the Active Geohasher notice. (To whoever is visiting this page, hi!). Leaving the hash site, I went to check out the other thing I spotted on the map - a lake park, complete with dock, and just a bit south. Turns out to be a dog park of sorts - lots of trails, lots of doggie-doo bag dispensers, and a lovely dock with many dragonflies. A few people with dogs off leash, which is fine with me - they were all well behaved. A nice place to have near your house - recommended!

Leaving Clark Lake Park I continued through Puyallup (hello, Fair traffic!) and on to my buddies house for game night. We played one game of Monsters Menace America with the younger kids (Godzilla won) and then two games of Seven Wonders. We tried out a new Cowboy game that looked a lot like the old Avalon Hill game Gunslinger, and chatted about games also, and then called it a night. All but half an Ikea Dark Chocolate bar had been consumed and a fun night had by all.

(Yes, I considered driving south to a 2am geohash in 46, -122, and then my sleep-deprived brain steered me home instead.) --Thomcat 11:07, 16 September 2012 (EDT)