Annual December Trip--Part One

Mt. Bonnell

Blue Butterfly and I arrived in Austin at the Bell Motel late Friday night. We were greeted here by the wonderful "staff" of the hotel. They greeted us with specially made cookies, so we chatted over cookies and tea, then headed off to bed.

BB and I woke up early on Saturday morning. We devised a plan, then headed off! Our first stop was Zilker Park. We made our way to the Austin Science and Nature Center (one section of Zilker) to find a few boxes there. We started off by finding one of Boots Tex's governors. After paying our respects to the governor, it was game time! We were thrilled to be the first finders of Chutes and Ladders by Silver Eagle. His game series is proving to be a lot of fun before you even get to the box!!

We looked at our next clue and realized we'd missed part of the instructions. We were supposed to pay attention to the owl exhibit and make some notes before getting on the trail, so we backtracked to the trail head and made the necessary notes. After this, we easily found the box called Oct. 09. Now, it was time for us to climb a "few" steps to get A View From the Top. We got to the top, enjoyed the view of downtown from the peaceful serenity of the park, then found the box. On our way back down, we ran into Cancan, Anna Bee, and CW Sun Seeker. We chatted for a bit and made lunch plans.

Our next stop was to find the Little Women: Beth LB. This one was easy to find and a bench was provided for us to sit on. Before we were done with the box, the trio found us again! We made our way back towards the original trail, then took seperate paths.

At this point, BB and I decided to leave the nature center and head to a different part of the park. We wanted to find Oh, Tannenbaum LB because it was a limited time box AND because we'd heard rave reviews. We made our way over to the pool area and found the trail head. We were led down to a stream and found the main box. While I was digging out the main box, BB found the ornament boxes. We were delighted to find and stamp into this one! It was a lot of fun.





At this point, we knew if we wanted to meet Cancan and the gang at 1:00, we'd better get to moving. We drove to a sandwich shop and grabbed sandwiches, then made it out to Mt. Bonnell. Unfortunately, we didn't get there until 1:30 and there was no sign of them. So, we pulled out our lunch and had a lovely lunch at the top of the mountain. There is a letterbox here, but it was too crowded for us to attempt it. :-( We took our time here and took pictures, then headed back down the mountain. It was at that point that BB remembered---we were supposed to meet at 12:30, not 1:00. Oh dear!





Our next stop was at The Oasis where Baby Bear has a box hidden. Unfortunately, it looks like there is new construction in the area where the box might be. We weren't able to go after this one inconspicuously. So, we decided to head off to another park to find the Let's Have A Picnic Series. This series is on a trail in a leashless dog park. There are seven boxes in this series, but we stamped into only five. We had fun crossing the creek several times on the rocks and stones. By the time we stamped into the last box, it was getting late and we really didn't want to get stuck in the dark, so we hurried back to the trail head.





It was time for us to head to the Hula Hut for the big event. When we arrived, we found Bell Motel, Whiz Gee, Pacifickle, and a few others already there. We had a great time that night eating, stamping, and visiting! Thanks to Cancan for hosting this event for us. We were so excited to meet CW Sunseeker, who came from out of state.



After leaving the Hula Hut, we went back to the Bell Motel, where CW Sunseeker and her four legged letterboxing partner Jasmine joined us. Again, our lovely hosts provided us with late night snacks and great conversation before we went to sleep for the evening.

Blue Butterfly