Take Me Away!

I've been stressing out for the past couple of months, and last week I had a melt-down on hubby. So, we've decided to run away for a week. We'll be leaving Tuesday afternoon and hiding away in the woods. I am REALLY looking forward to it. There are two boxes I want to plant along the way, and one I need to check on -- it's had several visitors in the past month. I want to take lots of pictures in Marlinton and spend my winter carving to place boxes there next spring. Hubby is looking forward to the cooler weather and being able to use the pellet stove. I can't wait!

LaDiva

(As reported by MinPinLovers)

La Diva was joined by Boxing Buddy Mango Bear and WebKinz Exchange Mariachi and we've been busy! Exchanges were done all around and introductions to our MinPin Mickey were made :) We planted a series called New York Is Charming and replaced a box and log that had gone missing. Another letterboxer found the stamp and returned it to me!!! We're heading out this afternoon to do some boxing in Ballston Spa. Enjoying our visit. Pics below. MinPin Lovers
First picture is our MinPin Mickey with the gang protecting our street.Second is a picture of the group exchanging and lastly is the planting spot for the first box in the series.

My Fault?!

Well, last Saturday evening I got a call from my friends who I just introduced to letterboxing blaming me for them blowing almost $200 on new tires. They were just kidding, though. They started out Saturday morning to find some letterboxes on their own about an hour and a half away, and halfway there ended up on the side of the road with a flat tire. Someone stopped to help them (I assume they put the donut on the car) and they went to Walmart where they discovered another tire with wires poking out, so had to replace two rather than just one. Their air conditioning wasn't working, so they found about 2 boxes and called it a day. We are planning to head back out that way to help them look for the boxes they couldn't find when it gets a bit cooler.

Yesterday I was in the area of Hurricane, and there is a new box in a park there, so I swung by to find it. This was the first letterbox I looked for and found all by myself. I usually at least have hubby, if not ds as well, with me.

I had hoped we would get to go to the cabin this weekend, but hubby has to work and also next weekend. Two and a half weeks from now is hubby's birthday, and I can't figure out what to do for it that will be special. I have an idea for a perfect gift, but I really need a vacation and need to get away for a weekend at least. We have a new tent, so I'm hoping we can at least go camping somewhere (hopefully near some letterboxes...)

Immersion Weekend

Well, this past weekend was the time we had picked to help our friends develop this addiction called letterboxing. They came over Friday evening, we went out to eat and then went to find the Terra Salis letterbox. This is the first outdoor letterbox I planted, and they wanted the first letterbox they found to be one I had planted. The very first box I planted was in my mother's history library, but I had a store-bought stamp in that box, so I wanted them to find one of my boxes that had a hand-carved stamp. I had printed out the clues for the box and handed it to them as we entered the park. They said, "We actually have to find it?" to which I told them that I wasn't doing my job as a Lb trainer if I didn't take them out and make it do it themselves. I'm there to help correct whatever mistakes they might make. It took a little work, but they did find the box. We sat up talking quite awhile that evening. We got up (relatively) early the next morning, stopped for the Stone House box and continued on to Shoney's for breakfast. They had a little bit of a challenge on the Stone House box -- it required a compass. They weren't putting as much emphasis on the "follow a bearing of X" as they were the "pile of rocks" clue, so they started for a pile of rocks they could see, which was not exactly on the bearing that was given. I had to redirect them to the brush on that one.

From Shoney's we went on to Virginia's Chapel and planted a box. So, they got to experience the joys of walking around trying to find just the right spot, and then developing the clues to get them there. After this adventure we went on to Cathedral Falls (which is more appropriately a trickle right now) and had fun retrieving that box because half the county seemed to be there and the box was hidden in the open. We developed a "cluster maneuver" (you have to do strange things to keep a drill sergeant interested in this pasttime) in order to retrieve and later replace the box. We went on up the road and stopped off at The Mystery Hole -- a tourist trap, er, I mean -- roadside attraction that simply can't be missed. The scary part is that we were there about two months ago but the tour guide and ticket seller both remembered my son! I'm not sure that is a good thing.... From there we continued on to Hawk's Nest. This box had come up listed as missing, and we had found it once before, so we stopped to make sure it was actually missing -- and it was. We did take time to visit the overlook and do a little shopping in the gift shop. On up the road was another box, and after retrieving that stamp we rewarded ourselves with a stop at Dairy Queen. Yum....

Our trip continued into Fayetteville, under the New River Gorge Bridge, out to Thurmond, then we came home by way of Kincaid to plant the very first box I ever assembled, just hadn't placed yet. This one has a custom made stamp, due to the nature of the box -- which if you ever find it you will understand. We returned home, tired but pleased. They managed to come away with nine stamps and hopefully properly trained in the art of letterboxing :)