Today SoccerChik, Element and I went back to Burroughs Park with our new boxing friend Runsforchocolate. The weather was beautiful and it looked like a great day for boxing.
Scratch that last comment. It was a great day for mosquitoes. In my almost-45 years, I have NEVER seen so many mosquitoes in one place! As soon as we stepped out of the car, we all bathed ourselves in Deep Woods Off. We decided to hit the trails we missed at the Great Book Adventure, and began with Trail #3 - A Tale of Two Letterboxers. Okay, make that four letterboxers and about 5 million mosquitoes. We soon had to stop, spray our hands with Off, then rub it onto our faces and ears. Okay now? Nope! The little blood-suckers started biting the part in my hair! Spray more off onto my hands, and rub it onto my part. I even swalled one when I took a breath! Nevertheless, our determined little band of boxers trudged on! After 2-1/2 hours we found five of the six boxes, and runsforchocolate's "Literary Ace". Oh yeah, and more mosquitoes. We never found the last box, and finally conceded that one to the bugs.
Hopping back into our cars, we headed off to Los Cuco's, runsforchocolates favorite Mexican Restaurant. I am now a convert, as the salsa and queso were out of this world! We enjoyed visiting and exchanging stamps, then headed back to the overflow parking lot to find runsforchocolates "My Kryptonite" box, honoring that awesome salsa! Hugging and scratching, we parted company with a promise to meet again soon.
After gassing up the car for the drive home, SoccerChick and Element couldn't believe we were going to leave the last book trail undone. So we headed back to Burroughs and started Walk 4: The Periled Path. We enjoyed this one alot, especially since the mosquitoes didn't seem to be nearly as bad. Personally, I think they were full from breakfasting on us! All the boxes were wonderful, and the Edgar Allen Poe stamp was kind of creepy, but our favorite was Camp Fire Lady's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" box, that had images on both sides of the stamp.
I also managed to hide two boxes, the "Thanksgiving in Plymouth" series with a box for Pilgrims and one for Indians. The boxes and the clues turned out really cute! Amazingly, after these past few weekend of intensive boxing my PFE count now stands a P10-F93-E23... WOW!
Now that we had finished the entire "library" of books and planted a couple of our own, we headed back to our side of town... still scratching!
Saturday, November 4, 2006
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Terrors At Telge
Today SoccerChik and I went to Telge Park to search for the Halloween-themed letterboxes. She invited a couple of friends -- her best friend MY and her boyfriend JW. She told her best friend, "You have to learn how this works, because in a couple of years when we leave for college you have to be my letterboxing partner." Not sure if MY quite got it or enjoyed it, but she was still a good sport. We also decided that letterboxing is the de facto test of a boyfriend. If he can keep up with us, then he might have a chance. To his credit, JW seemed to have fun and was a quick learner on how to be stealthy and how to re-hide well. I'm not sure if those are traits you want your teenage daughter's boyfriend to have, but he'll make a great letterboxer.
For the first two boxes we found, you had to leave the developed area of the park, cross a bridge along Telge Road, then go into the woods. Easy finds, and a good warm-up. We went back to the main part of the park and began our search for hidden tupperware! Near the restrooms, we came across a woman who was trying (unsuccessfully) to catch one of her dogs that had gotten loose. JW managed to catch the wayward pup, and we talked to her for a few minutes. She told us that she had seen rather large wolves the night before, down by the creek. Wow! I didn't know there were wolves in Houston!
We found three more boxes, including Frye Team's "A True Goblin", which sadly contained 2 inches of water, with the logbook completely ruined. I removed the logbook and took it home, hoping that I could dry it out and save the entries. After that we broke for lunch at a nearby McDonalds before returning to the park. Although there were two boxes we couldn't find, we did manage to find another three boxes, including Mother of Five's fantastic Haunted Hotel that had 4 micro boxes nearby, which contained the "guests". Very cool box! We headed back to the playground area, and the kids declared themselves worn out.
I realized that there was still one more box back across the bridge that I hadn't looked for at the beginning of our day. The kids decided that they'd rather hang out in the car and listen to music, but die-hard that I am, I just HAD to find that last box! I took off by myself, crossed the bridge, and reached the edge of the woods. I began following the clues... "Take 155 steps from this point. You should be at the beginning of an incline. Go 90 steps up and down to the base of another hill. 38 more steps will take you up the hill. To your right you should see a pine tree with a large animal hole at its base and the swamp behind." Yup, that sure is a large animal hole; wonder what kind of critter lives there. I continued with the clues... "To your left should be a small and a medium pine tree right next to the tree. Continue 55 more steps." As I start counting steps I see another very large animal hole at the base of a tree on my left. Now what had that lady said about wolves? Come to think of it, it's starting to get a little dark here in the woods. A twig snaps somewhere close by and I about jump out of my skin, wondering if a middle-aged fat woman could still climb a tree! Don't think I've ever found a box, stamped in, rehidden box, and hiked 1/4 mile so fast in my life!
And that is my tale of Terrors at Telge!
Oh, one small PS to this story. After a nice dinner, I took the teens to Phobia (5 haunted houses, for the price of one!) One of the haunts is "The Haunted Woods". Not sure if I'll get those kids out letterboxing again anytime soon.
For the first two boxes we found, you had to leave the developed area of the park, cross a bridge along Telge Road, then go into the woods. Easy finds, and a good warm-up. We went back to the main part of the park and began our search for hidden tupperware! Near the restrooms, we came across a woman who was trying (unsuccessfully) to catch one of her dogs that had gotten loose. JW managed to catch the wayward pup, and we talked to her for a few minutes. She told us that she had seen rather large wolves the night before, down by the creek. Wow! I didn't know there were wolves in Houston!
We found three more boxes, including Frye Team's "A True Goblin", which sadly contained 2 inches of water, with the logbook completely ruined. I removed the logbook and took it home, hoping that I could dry it out and save the entries. After that we broke for lunch at a nearby McDonalds before returning to the park. Although there were two boxes we couldn't find, we did manage to find another three boxes, including Mother of Five's fantastic Haunted Hotel that had 4 micro boxes nearby, which contained the "guests". Very cool box! We headed back to the playground area, and the kids declared themselves worn out.
I realized that there was still one more box back across the bridge that I hadn't looked for at the beginning of our day. The kids decided that they'd rather hang out in the car and listen to music, but die-hard that I am, I just HAD to find that last box! I took off by myself, crossed the bridge, and reached the edge of the woods. I began following the clues... "Take 155 steps from this point. You should be at the beginning of an incline. Go 90 steps up and down to the base of another hill. 38 more steps will take you up the hill. To your right you should see a pine tree with a large animal hole at its base and the swamp behind." Yup, that sure is a large animal hole; wonder what kind of critter lives there. I continued with the clues... "To your left should be a small and a medium pine tree right next to the tree. Continue 55 more steps." As I start counting steps I see another very large animal hole at the base of a tree on my left. Now what had that lady said about wolves? Come to think of it, it's starting to get a little dark here in the woods. A twig snaps somewhere close by and I about jump out of my skin, wondering if a middle-aged fat woman could still climb a tree! Don't think I've ever found a box, stamped in, rehidden box, and hiked 1/4 mile so fast in my life!
And that is my tale of Terrors at Telge!
Oh, one small PS to this story. After a nice dinner, I took the teens to Phobia (5 haunted houses, for the price of one!) One of the haunts is "The Haunted Woods". Not sure if I'll get those kids out letterboxing again anytime soon.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
You Find Some... You Lose Some
Today was a fun letterboxing day. Soccerchick & I spent the afternoon checking on our planted boxes, and finding a few. We confirmed that the Texas State Symbols #4 - State Insect box was indeed missing. The likely culprit? ME! I think my lack of experience led to a poor choice in hiding location. The box was probably washed away by Houston's heavy rains or discovered by muggles.
Then we went to Morton Cemetery in Richmond to look for Silver Eagle's "Mother of Texas" letterbox. Can't believe she actually agreed to go to a cemetery with me, but we had been to this cemetery years ago when Soccerchik was doing a history project on (you guessed it!) The Mother of Texas, Jane Long, so I guess she was cool with it. We thought this would be a fun find since we had some "history" with the subject. And although we found the location easily enough, the box was missing. In it's place, we found another box, apparently planted by students of Garcia Middle School. There was a cute gator stamp (their mascot) but no logbook, only a piece of scrap paper that had been used by previous finders to stamp in. We stamped in and returned the box to the hiding place, but felt it was bad sportsmanship to hide the box in the exact location of the missing Mother of Texas.
Our next stop was in Rosenberg, where we successfully found Baby Bear's "Bully Box". An easy drive-by location and cute stamp.
Then we went to Seabourne Park in Rosenberg and found Birds of a Feather's wonderful "Rosenberg" letterbox. Her clues contained some interesting history of the railroads that remain an important part of this city's culture. And although we only live 20 minutes away, we weren't aware of this park's existence until today. The wetlands preserve was an interesting place to visit. We saw several species of birds... cranes, sandpipers, and a lone hawk. Soccerchik was facinated to discover that the "green slime" covering the water was actually millions of tiny lily pads. We watched a cute little frog jump across the lily pads, leaving a trail over the water. Luckily there was no one around when we located the letterbox, as I had to stretch out full-length on the ground to retrieve it from it's hiding spot. NOT a pretty sight. LOL! The stamp was wonderfully done and we enjoyed looking at the stamps from the box's previous visitors.
You have to love a hobby that makes a 16-year old tell her friends that she can't go to the mall because she's spending the day having fun with her mom!
Then we went to Morton Cemetery in Richmond to look for Silver Eagle's "Mother of Texas" letterbox. Can't believe she actually agreed to go to a cemetery with me, but we had been to this cemetery years ago when Soccerchik was doing a history project on (you guessed it!) The Mother of Texas, Jane Long, so I guess she was cool with it. We thought this would be a fun find since we had some "history" with the subject. And although we found the location easily enough, the box was missing. In it's place, we found another box, apparently planted by students of Garcia Middle School. There was a cute gator stamp (their mascot) but no logbook, only a piece of scrap paper that had been used by previous finders to stamp in. We stamped in and returned the box to the hiding place, but felt it was bad sportsmanship to hide the box in the exact location of the missing Mother of Texas.
Our next stop was in Rosenberg, where we successfully found Baby Bear's "Bully Box". An easy drive-by location and cute stamp.
Then we went to Seabourne Park in Rosenberg and found Birds of a Feather's wonderful "Rosenberg" letterbox. Her clues contained some interesting history of the railroads that remain an important part of this city's culture. And although we only live 20 minutes away, we weren't aware of this park's existence until today. The wetlands preserve was an interesting place to visit. We saw several species of birds... cranes, sandpipers, and a lone hawk. Soccerchik was facinated to discover that the "green slime" covering the water was actually millions of tiny lily pads. We watched a cute little frog jump across the lily pads, leaving a trail over the water. Luckily there was no one around when we located the letterbox, as I had to stretch out full-length on the ground to retrieve it from it's hiding spot. NOT a pretty sight. LOL! The stamp was wonderfully done and we enjoyed looking at the stamps from the box's previous visitors.
You have to love a hobby that makes a 16-year old tell her friends that she can't go to the mall because she's spending the day having fun with her mom!
Monday, September 11, 2006
Boxing Galveston with MeMa of 7
Mom and I went to Galveston today and had a wonderful time! We went to The Strand, which mom really enjoyed. That area hadn't been developed when she moved back east. We stopped by the visitors center and did a little shopping. Looked for "Tribute to England Series #7" box, but it was missing. We found the "State Tall Ship" micro box in the rain, laughing while trying to find a dry spot to stamp in. The Elyssa was closed, but we ducked into the gift shop and bought a cool touristy map of Galveston. We went to a shop on the Strand and bough umbrellas, but when we came out, the rain had stopped. Typical Gulf Coast weather! Then we walked to the harbor and had a nice lunch and watched the ships sail by. After lunch we found "Celtic Cross" at the Galveston Cemetery. Glad to have mom with me, cause SoccerChik won't go with me to letterbox in a cemetery; says it creeps her out too much. After that we drove down Seawall Boulevard, which mom says hasn't changed much in the last 20 years, then headed back home to pick up SoccerChik from school. It was a really nice girls day out.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Planting Boxes
SoccerChik is still on vacation with her dad, so I went out today alone. But I finally got a few boxes planted that I've been carrying around in my car for months! The mosquitoes were horrible. I know I looked like a woman possessed as I constantly swatted at the swarms. I'll be lucky if I don't end up with West Nile virus after today. Ah, the trials of the trail!
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