Making the Best of It

On March 11 my husband's mother passed away. This was something we had been expecting for the past two years, ever since she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Last September I had printed off clues for letterboxes in the area for just such an occasion. Going back for the funeral was an adventure in itself. We left early Wednesday morning, arriving at our hotel at about 6:30pm. We picked a hotel in the middle of nowhere, hubby not liking the city much, so we went ahead and ate there. I won't go into details, but from Thursday morning until the funeral things were a whirlwind -- family coming in from all directions, etc. Hubby forgot his suit so we made two separate trips into town to try to come up with something decent that didn't cost a fortune. Come Sunday, we were ready for some relaxation, so we headed out to go letterboxing. We went to Moon Lake Park, had a nice walk, found some wintergreen, and also the box hidden there. Interestingly enough, as we looked through the log book we found that two years earlier another boxer had sought out this box while he was home for a funeral too. After this we decided to try the Moconoqua Loop Trail boxes. There were three listed on this one. the clues weren't very clear, and the trail markings weren't clear either. We weren't sure which trail was the "beginning." We started on one end, but after awhile the clues just didn't fit with anything so we back tracked and started on the other trail. This one was practically mountain climbing. We looked and looked, but couldn't find the first box. When it started looking like the clues for the second box, we started looking for it, and found it without too much trouble. We went on to look for the third, but couldn't find it either. It started to snow, we probably only had an hour of day light left, so we gave up. We have to come back in July to close out accounts, so we'll have another chance.

We spent another day there, then headed back. We stopped at Hershey Park, but it was late in the day so we didn't hunt for the three boxes hidden there. The zoo was our priority. We spent the night at some friends' house, and then next day finished our trip home. We found two more boxes on the way -- the one at Sideling Hill and the one at the WV welcome rest area just across the border from Maryland.

Next time we go, hubby wants to plant several boxes in State Game Land 206 -- he grew up right on the border of this game land and spent most of his free time there. Lots of memories, and he wants to share them first with us, then with other letterboxers.

Valentine Letterboxing

Hubby had to go out of town for a conference with the National Guard the weekend after Valentine's Day. There was a banquet, so I was expected to go too. Not that I was upset over having an excuse to go out of town with hubby and have the weekend paid for ;) On our way home Sunday we finally went out to the WVU Arboretum where there were several micro boxes hidden. There were two that we couldn't find. The area was kind of damp and muddy. Just as we were finding the last two boxes, it started to drizzle. On the last box, it held the logbook for the whole series, so this one took a little longer to stamp into. Hubby pulled up his jacket over his head and then leaned over me to give me some shelter from the rain. I was okay with stamping in the rain, but it was a sweet gesture. He then commented that the view was lovely out there, and I absent-mindedly agreed, intent on my stamping, but something in his voice called me to look up and I realized he wasn't talking about the outdoors! I had forgotten I was wearing a low and loose top ;) All around, it was a nice weekend -- after the banquet. Up til then hubby was busy. We didn't have anything to do on Sunday, so we got to sleep in and actually enjoy being at a hotel. Nice breakfast at the hotel. We had a leisure drive home after the trip to the arboretum.