Dog Days at Double Lake

Thanks to Boots Tex, Lone Star Quilter, and Dewberry for another great event!

SoccerChik, Meekah and I drove to Cold Spring on a beautiful Sunday morning and arrived at Janet's Red Barn around 9:00 for some of Boots Tex's world-famous cinnamon rolls. Their reputation is well-deserved, and we quickly gobbled up a couple of those huge, gooey confections, chased down by a glass of milk. After that we had the fun of seeing old friends, and making some new friends during exchanges.

Then it was off to Double Lake Recreation Area to quickly hide a couple of boxes prior to the event. We discovered a beautiful, well-marked trail system and chose some spots along the Lone Star Hiking Trail for our letterboxes.

We headed back to the pavilion in time for the Dog Days event. As usual, Dewberry went DOGgone wild! There was a series of 14 dog stamps hidden in the area surrounding the pavilion, and we found 13 of them while the Hot DOGS were grilling, but never could find the last stamp. We enjoyed eating and sharing “war stories” with our fellow Texas Letterboxers, and finding some clever “in plain site” boxes. It rained for a little while, so we enjoyed each other’s company a little longer.

After the rain stopped, we headed out to the trails with Pug Momma, JBKokopelli and her puggle JR. Meekah and JR had a great time romping and playing together… they were well matched in energy and temperament. We found another 8 fabulous DOG-themed letterboxes hidden along the trails, and enjoyed seeing the DOGwoods in bloom.

Unfortunately, SoccerChik and I were both a little under the weather, so we called it a day relatively early and headed home. Regardless, we had a great time at and can’t wait to return to Double Lake to find the rest of the letterboxes hidden there.

Happy Easter!

I have a confession to make. SoccerChik and I woke up this morning, took our showers, and decided we didn't feel like going to church today. This is the first time we've missed Easter Sunday services in many, many years, but sometimes you just need a break. This is also the first year SoccerChik didn't have an Easter basket and she was a little bummed by that. (Note to self - next year, make the basket!)

And since she's a little too old for an Easter Egg Hunt, we did the next best thing. We went hunting tupperware in the woods! You'd have thought that we would have had enough letterboxing yesterday, but no. So we put the dog on a leash and headed back to Memorial Park.

If possible, today was even more beautiful than yesterday. It was a little cooler and that made for a nice hike. The first stop we made was back to the place where I thought we had lost SoccerChik's sig stamp yesterday, and sure enough there it was! ::Happy Dance:: Now I don't have to recarve it, and she wouldn't need to use her thumbprint today.

One thing we discovered during the course of the day... having Meekah with us made it harder to be discreet. Several times we were down-trail from the box stamping in, and people stopped to visit with the dog. What breed of dog is she? Boxer. How old is she? 5 months. She sure does have a lot of energy. Yes, much more than I do. She is a beautiful dog; are you going to breed her? Nope. Is that one of those head-halter things? Yes, it allows us to take her for a walk instead of the other way around. She sure is well-behaved. Thanks. (She was tired by this point - our goal had been met. :D )

All together we found a total of 12 boxes and one hitchhiker. It would be difficult to say which was our favorite, because they were all beautifully carved stamps and creative clues. We really enjoyed the Cola-Wars series by Will's World. Our winner? SoccerChik would say Choice B, but I would have to say Choice C. But that's just us. Our favorite location of the day was Dewberry's LLawnmower LLookout. It was so surprising, and if not for her box we'd have never found this particular spot. Thanks to all those carvers and planters who made our Easter so enjoyable!

Visit with Lisascenic

Today SoccerChik and I had the pleasure of meeting and letterboxing with Lisascenic. Lisa was in town for a conference, but we made plans to meet before she left to go home.

After running late due to oversleeping and the ever-present construction on Houston freeways, we picked Lisa up at her hotel at 8:30. I recognized her immediately from her blog, and after loading her luggage into the car, we headed for breakfast. She probably wondered what she had gotten herself into when I immediately handed her printouts from MapQuest and told her she had to help me navigate. Even after growing up in Houston, I still get lost downtown without good directions. So with Lisa navigating, and SoccerChik carrying on a running monologue from the backseat, we headed to The Breakfast Club.

We found the restaurant without any problems (Lisa was a good sport about navigating), and even at this early hour on a Saturday morning, found a line out the door. If you've never been to The Breakfast Klub, you must try it. The staff are friendly and helpful, the portions huge, and the food delicious! We looked for Daisy and Onslow, who had signed up for our mini-meet, but in spite of carrying in my backpack (a dead giveaway that we are letterboxers), we didn't see them or anyone who looked like they might be letterboxers. Daisy and Onslow - if you were there - we're sorry we missed you. We looked for you though, we really did! While we were there, Lisa presented me with "Possum in Armor", a letterbox she created for me to plant. She called it her hostess gift to me. Isn't that just the sweetest!!! It's an awesome box, and I can't wait to get it planted!

After breakfast, with Lisa once again navigating, we managed to find our way out of downtown without getting lost. This was a major accomplishment for me! Lisa was concerned that she would run out of room in her logbook, so we made a quick detour to Texas Art Supply before heading to Memorial Park.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect. It started out slightly cloudy and cool, but the clouds quickly burned off and the weather became warmer. We hit the trails and soon found our first letterbox of the day, "Diamonds Are Forever" by Will's World. The trails were pretty busy, so we had to wait a few minutes before we could safely retrieve the box. A nice carve with a cute play on words.

We continued on the trail and soon found two more boxes along a very pretty trail. After stamping in, we turned to retrace our steps and Lisa spotted something just off the trail. Another letterbox, completely exposed and visible to anyone who walked by! It was a mystery box too, and one I hadn't solved yet... but that didn't stop us from stamping in! ;) Since I didn't have the clues to this box with me, we weren't sure exactly where the box should have been, so we put it back where we had found it, but made sure that it was well hidden from view. Folks this was an amazing box, with a beautifully carved stamp and creative logbook, and it would have been a tragedy to lose it. Please, please, please be careful in replacing letterboxes exactly where you find them, and making sure that they are completely covered and hidden from view. (Getting off my soapbox now.)

Next, we found several fun and creative boxes by Bailey's Bunch. I always enjoy finding their boxes. The stamps are well carved, and always have an imaginative or surprising element. I really want to make time to go to Baytown and find more of their fun boxes. And though we had been lucky so far this day, we were unable to find the third of their boxes. It is blue-diamond rated, so I hope we were not looking in the right spot, rather than it being missing.

We spent a few minutes resting and exchanging stamps. I feel quite fortunate to have some of Lisascenic's awesome stamps gracing the pages of my logbook. I meant to ask her about her carving techniques (knives or gouge, transfer method, etc.), because her stamps have so many fine details and are simply beautiful. We had stamps, stamppads, pens and logbooks spread all over a certain log that we were using for a seat, and I think it was while we were at this spot that we lost SoccerChik's signature stamp. Hopefully Lisa picked it up by mistake and we can get it back, otherwise I'll need to carve her a new one before the gathering next weekend. ::Sigh::

We finished our letterbox hunt by stopping at one of my boxes, Royal Historian of Oz. I'm glad to report that we found the box in good condition and enjoyed looking through the logbook. It's not so much that I wanted Lisa to find one of my boxes, as it was an excuse to look for a certain letterbox of Dewberry's that I know is in the vicinity, but alas, no luck finding it today. Oh well, it gives me a reason to go back to Memorial Park another day.

By this time we were getting hot, thirsty and tired, so we headed back to the car. Lisa had been lugging her camera around all morning hoping to find some interesting birds or wildflowers to photograph. As we passed a boggy area, I pointed to our left and shouted "Bird! Bird!" It's a wonder it didn't fly off before she had a chance to take his picture. I'll be the first to admit that my skill at identifying species of flora and fauna is sorely lacking, but Lisa was able to immediately identify the bird as a species she's never seen before in person. And even now, even after she told us, I can't tell you what it was! All the same, I'm glad she had a chance to photograph it, and hope to see the pictures soon on her blog.

After returning to the car, we headed to the arboretum to cool off a little and get a drink of water. We looked for some wildflowers for her to photograph, but there weren't too many, so we returned to the picnic loop where there was a beautiful display of red vincas and bluebonnets. The flowers were beautiful and the color contrast was striking. I'm really sorry that I forgot my camera in the mad rush to leave the house this morning. Oh well, I'll have to enjoy the photos that Lisa took. She confessed that seeing them really made her miss living in Texas.

We took Lisa to the airport to catch her flight home, and felt like we were sending off an old friend. Don't you just love the fact that through letterboxing, complete strangers - regardless of similarities or differences we might otherwise have - become cherished friends after a day spent together on the trail?