June 23, 2022 · Seattle, Washington
When our Alaska cruise came back into Seattle on June 23, we headed straight to Geocaching Headquarters. bapierson and LEGOexplorer were with me, and so were our suitcases.
We arrived early for the visit, which gave us time to find a few caches nearby. We must have been a sight wheeling our luggage around Fremont while we looked. I’m used to carrying geocaching gear, but a rolling suitcase was a new addition to the kit.
Finally, the HQ cache
I’d been looking for geocaches since 2009, so I was happy to finally visit the place where the game is run. We signed Geocaching Headquarters (GCK25B) and took photographs at the visitor center. My log calls it my honorary 20,000th. I wanted a memorable place to mark reaching that number, and this one seemed to fit.
After our visit, the HQ staff held our suitcases while we finished the HQ GeoTour. That was a big help. We’d already proved we could go geocaching with suitcases. I was perfectly happy to leave that particular achievement at one day.
Finishing the HQ GeoTour
HQ put together a nine-cache walking tour of Fremont called The Geocacher’s Guide to the Center of Our Universe. There was a printable passport to guide you around the neighborhood. The hides gave us a reason to look a little closer at the bridges, public art, and places we might have walked right past.
Fremont has a concrete troll under the Aurora Bridge. It’s been there since 1990, clutching a Volkswagen Beetle. HQGT: Troll Droppings (GC20Y24) gave us a reason to stop, and the photos make a pretty good case for stopping even without a geocache.
There was more under the bridge at HQGT: Beneath Aurora (GC49HR7). A three-stage Multi-Cache, HQGT: De Libertas Quirkas (GC4GW89), used clues at a rocket and a statue. The HQGT: Geo Post Office (GC3Z3PE) was a Letterbox Hybrid where geocachers could help postcards on their way. The tour took us to Fremont Library (GC1F79P), too.
Another stop, Late for the Interurban (GC7B9AY), brought us to the bronze tribute to local television characters J.P. Patches and Gertrude. The statue’s title plays off an earlier Fremont sculpture, Waiting for the Interurban. Between the troll and the clowns, Fremont was doing a fine job of living up to its reputation for being a little peculiar.
Elsewhere that day we logged the Virtuals at Gas Works Park (GC7B665) and Pike Place Market (GC7B9XN), and got a couple more finds at Sea-Tac.
We had just spent a week seeing places from a ship. On that last day, a geocache sent us into a neighborhood we could get to know on foot. It was a good way to finish the vacation, and I still appreciate the people at HQ who made the walking a little easier.
Field Notes
- Adventure: June 23, 2022, after the Alaska cruise
- Companions: bapierson and LEGOexplorer
- Location: Seattle and Sea-Tac, Washington
- 12 Washington finds in the My Finds archive that day
- Honorary 20,000th: Geocaching Headquarters (GCK25B)
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