741. Montesano, Grays Harbor County (WA14)

I seemed to be beginning a good run of luck with courthouses now! Once I had gotten beyond the tragedy of Olympia, I got some great edifices in the middle of these smaller towns. I know that’s hardly new, but it is much enjoyed. Here, I wish I could have gotten a higher vantage point because I really like that tower. I can’t explain why. I just do.

I began heading over to my prospective cache location when something caught my eye. Were those nuclear plant cooling towers? Uh, yes, they were! I never ran into anything about a Washington nuclear plant in my research! There is one, but my route wouldn’t bring me within thirty miles of it. Unfortunately, I did not previously consult Atlas Obscura. It quickly revealed the story of the failed Satsop Nuclear Power Plant. And yes, I checked. There’s not a cache there.

There’s always a cemetery. It’s been my experience that cemeteries are usually either well away (beyond the outskirts of town) or near public buildings (especially schools, for some reason). This one was on an unexpected hill overlooking the town. However, the camouflaged jar in the stump was completely unsurprising. Inveni, inscripsi, reposui (though, more correctly in this case, invenimus, incripsimus, reposuimus). And then we droveimus offimus, headed for a decision in…