Saturday Adventure!

Last Saturday morning, I arrived at Blue Butterfly's house. We had plans to go to Stinky Monkey's basketball game, then spend the afternoon letterboxing. When I got to her house, she said, "After we go to Tyler, how about if we go out to Mexia?"

So I said, "Let's go!"

We enjoyed watching our little monkey play a game of basketball, then we headed to Tyler to nab the BOX OF THE MONTH. The January stamp is a beautifully carved stamp by Celestini.
After replacing the box, we ate lunch, then headed to Mexia.

We finally made it to Fort Parker State Park and the first thing on our list was to check out the shelters, since that's where we will be staying next month for TALE. We were very pleased with our findings, but then it was down to the business of finding a few letterboxes.

We made our way to the designated area, hiked across the bridge, and began following the trail. Unfortunately, we didn't read the first set of instructions very carefully and ended up hiking across to the other side of the trail. (DUH...read all of the directions before tromping through the woods!) This turned out to be ok, though, we just found the boxes by going backwards on the trail. Lucky for us, we found all that we were looking for. The bonus was...no one else was on the trail that day! We had it all to ourselves!



Boxes We Found Today:

January BOM in Tyler
Cynthia Ann Parker
AZ Armadillo
Sitting Pretty

January Weekend-Sunday

Sunday morning came, and we had an agenda....TO LETTERBOX!

First, we headed to Glenwood Cemetery. I had driven through Houston in October and managed to stop here to catch a couple of boxes, but there were several more than I hadn't gotten. Blue Butterfly still needed some of these, too. We found some Boots Tex, Lone Star Quilter, and Silver Eagle boxes in Glenwood, then we headed over to Forest Park Cemetery.



Forest Park is a HUGE cemetery. Luckily, the planters gave great directions for us to get around this place. We had the honor of visiting Sam Hopkins' grave, where admirers leave guitar picks in tribute to him. We also found two other great tribute boxes by Silver Eagle and Dewberry.



Leaving here, we ate a snack in the car on the way back to Memorial Park. Now, before I tell you that we visited a few boxes, keep in mind that we live 3-4 hours from Memorial Park. Blue Butterfly, PS Guru, and I had stopped here on a Sunday afternoon in October. PS Guru rode his bicycle on the paved trails while BB and I boxed. We passed a distinctive trio of hikers on that day.....and really thought nothing of it. On this particular day, we ran into that SAME trio of hikers AGAIN!! BB looked at me, and I said, "We come to Memorial Park way too often, if we are running into the same people on the trail!" Her response was, " I was thinking the same thing!"

We managed to find three boxes at Memorial Park that afternoon, but it was finally time for us to head out. One of us had to work on Monday morning. (ME!) All in all, I'd say we had a pretty good weekend!

Boxes Stamped Into Today:

The Post Man
Risk Game-Cannon Card
Red Adair
Angel Band (Blue Butterfly only)
Band Stand
Sam Hopkins
King of the Wildcatters
LB Capitol
Bones
GTT (Blue Butterfly only)

January Weekend-Saturday

As previously mentioned, Blue Butterfly and I really konked out on Friday night after we got back to the hotel. I think I slept for about 11 or so hours. We had plans to meet the Boxhounds in Edna, in order to attend the Texas Circus. The train had rolled in that morning, so we were meeting them around 11:30 to join the fun. We relaxed at the hotel, then left around 10 to head west. We made it to Edna in time to meet up with the Boxhounds and see some of the sights of the Texas Circus. We were amazed by a dancing horse, jugglers, and their newest act, A SIX FOOT MAN EATING CHICKEN! That giant was the scariest of all.

After departing the Boxhounds, we ate a local lunch, then headed out to the local state park to go after a couple of boxes. When we got to the trail head, we saw the Boxhounds who said they were unable to find the two boxes on that trail. We decided to go ahead and try anyway. We got to the area of the first box, and came up empty handed. We decided not to try the second box since the 'hounds had been unsuccessful, too.

Can I take him home? I promise I will feed him and play with him every day!

Heading back towards Houston on 59, we stopped in several cities to find a box or two. We played hangman, found a HUGE dinosaur, tromped along trails, and took a trip to Bountiful. We had a great day of letterboxing and FUN!


Boxes we found on this day:

Hangman 5
Hangman 4
Pearl of the Prairie
The Trip to Bountiful

Blue Butterfly and Lucy Locket in El Campo

January Weekend-Friday

Blue Butterfly and I didn't get to take our Christmas time letterboxing trip this year, so we took it last weekend instead. Yes, the time was delayed, but that meant more daylight for us! Blue Butterfly met me around 7:30 at my place, then we headed south toward Houston. We finally made it to the Houston Arboretum and got to work!

First, I wanted to check on my Mario box. This was one of the games boxes that I'd planted at Dewberry's GAMES event in November 2009. Unfortunately, we came up empty handed. BOO! We were off again to find one of Silver Eagle's Risk Game characters. I'd found this one previously, but Blue Butterfly needed to stamp in. She stamped in, we added a few dry note cards, then we were on our way!

We stopped by one more old favorite, then we headed over to the mountain bike trails. There was a sign posted that the mountain bike trails were closed, and after zero consideration, we forged ahead. After all, these boxes must be found!!! We found several boxes that afternoon and especially enjoyed the STRATEGO series.

After a long day of boxing and traveling, it was time for us to head to the hotel and crash out. And we really did. :-)

Blue Butterfly stamping in!

Stamps we attempted or found on Friday:

Mario-MISSING
Batter's Box
Risk Game-Horseman Card
Bugs In a Box
Stratego Series: Flag, Spy, Lieutenant, Logo (4 out of 5 boxes were still available....one missing)
Risk Game-Soldier Card ( Blue Butterfly only)

Oh, I should mention that for the first time, I accidentally left my signature stamp at a box. When I looked for it at the next box, I couldn't find it. Luckily, we were able to go back to the previous box and Blue Butterfly spotted my sig stamp in the area where we'd sat to stamp in! YAY!!

Last Day of Christmas Break....

On January 2, I left Blue Butterfly's house and took a detour through Tyler to find a couple of letterboxes. I started off at Oakwood Cemetery where I found a box by JB Kokopelli and one of Boots Tex's Governor Series.

After leaving the cemetery, I ventured over to the Rose Garden where I found STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES by Lone Star Quilter. I had a wonderful afternoon and enjoyed my last day of Christmas break!!!

New Year's Day Letterboxing

I always enjoy letterboxing on New Year's Day when possible. There is usually very little traffic and few people on the trails on this day. We went after two boxes: DISCOVERY WELL in Joinerville (this would be a new stamp for me) and GRANDMA'S COKE FLOAT in Henderson. We had a great time at both places! Afterwards, we went to a park where the boys could ride bikes and roller skate while Baby Sister played on the playground.

Stinky Monkey, Baby Sister, and Roarin' Lion at the Discovery Well monument.

The crew at GRANDMA'S COKE FLOAT

Exchanges on New Year's Eve

The junior letterboxers wanted to have each others' stamps in their own books. So, I decided to have a mini-exchange party with them on New Year's eve.

Wednesday Afternoon Drive-By

Wednesday afternoon, it was time for my junior boxing buddies to go back to their home. However, I knew of a quick drive by and when I asked if they wanted to find another stamp, the answer was YES!

We stopped by the location of the B & B CAFE letterbox. It was cold and the wind was blowing, so we used the car as a shelter. We had a great three days of fun!

Tuesday Letterboxing

After spending the morning watching Cinderella and The Polar Express, it was warm enough for us to get outside! We went first to find a local GOVERNER SERIES box. After replacing that box, we found a local WOM box.

After finishing up with these two boxes, we played at the park for about an hour, then headed back to my house for lunch.

Stinky Monkey, Baby Sister, and Roarin' Lion

Monday Afternoon

I was able to pick up Roarin' Lion, Stinky Monkey, and Baby Sister to take them with me for a few days. On the way to Navarro County, we stopped in Athens at the East TX Arboretum. There is a Children's Story Series here, and I thought it would be the perfect place to spend an afternoon.

Roarin' Lion, Baby Sister, and Stinky Monkey at the first box of the day!

We found the appropriate trail entry, and made our way to THIS LITTLE PIGGY. This was the perfect stamp for Baby Sister's first find! Her favorite color is pink, and the pink piggy delighted her! The boys enjoyed stamping in, then standing on the bridge and seeing what was in the water. After stamping in, we continued along the trail to find LITTLE MISS MUFFET, HUSH-A-BYE BABY, and BIG BAD WOLF.

After the fourth box, I decided it was time for us to pack it up and head back to the car. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that we were on an inner loop at that time instead of the main loop. We went all the way around an extra loop before getting back to the main trail, then the trail head. Luckily, we were no worse for the wear and have an interesting story to tell!

I spotted this little fairy princess in the woods....

Monday Morning

Monday morning was the official first day of my winter break! I woke up from Blue Butterfly's house and headed out to letterbox. I have a new logbook and it's high time I added some images to it!

I'd recently seen that the Texas Pioneers are in the process of placing their HOLIDAY TRAIL OF LIGHTS Series and there is one in Kilgore. This was my first stop. After following the instructions, I easily found this delightful box...and I was the first finder!

After leaving the cemetery, I headed over to the World's Richest Acre. I came up empty handed on this one, but I enjoyed learning about the history of this park and the oil boom that happened in Kilgore.

The World's Richest Acre. These derricks are decorated with lights at Christmas time.

I headed back to Henderson, and went to The Depot Museum. There are three letterboxes on this property, but I only had time to find two of them. I stamped into THE DEPOT MUSEUM and SYRUP FESTIVAL. By the time I stamped into those two boxes, it was time for me to head out to pick up Roarin' Lion, Stinky Monkey, and Baby Sister. I couldn't keep them waiting!!

A look inside the outhouse. The corn cobs add a nice touch to the display.

My Secret Santa is Better Than Yours....

For the first time ever, I participated in the Secret Santa exchange at my school. I decided that it might be fun to try and sneak around to leave a present for a colleague...you know...in and out without being noticed....? We filled out a questionnaire concerning our hobbies and favorite things.

Favorite Color: Purple
Animals: one cat
Scents you enjoy: Vanilla, Cinnamon
Hobbies: hiking & camping (You can't expect me to put letterboxing...these people already think I'm nuts.)
The last question was : Magazines you enjoy reading

Well, I'm not really a periodical kind of person. I get most of what I need from watching the news and reading articles on the internet. So, on a whim, my answer was--- April 1998 Smithsonian. If you can find this, you will be my hero.

For the first four days, I got very nice gifts. I even managed to deliver my gifts without being caught by the receiver. Thursday afternoon was the big reveal.

We all met together for the reveal. Unfortunately, my Santa wasn't there due to a death in her family. Luckily, she made arrangements for my gift to be delivered to me at the party. I opened the gift....and there it was.....a magazine....hmmm? It was upside down. I had no clue what this was. I turned it over and saw the word SMITHSONIAN across the top. WHAT?? I looked for the date...April 1998 ....WHAT? Yep. My wonderful Secret Santa had found the magazine that I've been wanting for....how many years?? Not only that, but she knows about my letterboxing activities and she guessed that the article I was after was the THEY LIVE AND BREATHE article.....she had a sticky tab on the page. I was able to turn right to it. Talk about a happy camper!!! I was just sitting there at my table in the reveal party....about to burst.

Thank you, secret Santa!!!! Now, I need to take you out and let you go on an adventure with me!

I will cherish this magazine for a VERY LONG time.

Maybe it's time I get a safe deposit box......

This is me with my April 1998 issue of Smithsonian Magazine :-D

THANKSGIVING DAY LETTERBOXING!

On Thanksgiving Day, after the dust had settled around the kitchen, Blue Butterfly and I packed our things and headed out to find some boxes! It was close to 4:00 p.m. by the time we got on the road, so we knew we didn't have a lot of daylight left. We headed out to Faulkner Park and found 3 boxes in the Hobo Trail series there. We were so thrilled to be letterboxing on Thanksgiving, it didn't bother us (too much) that we were FREEZING. Unfortunately, we didn't get the entire series, so we will be back!

Waco

There are a few "art cows" at the Art Center of Waco.

I had to work this morning in Waco, but made plans for some possible covert activities afterwards. I finally got off around 1:00, ate lunch, then headed out for some letterboxing. I stopped first for JBK's HOTM: Dr. Pepper box. I came up empty handed on that one. Then I headed over to the Mayborn Museum. There are two HOTM boxes behind the museum in their pioneer village. When I got there, however, I saw that the village is closed down due to construction. So, off I went again. I made my way to the Waco Art Museum. There are sculpture displays outside and oil paintings inside. I visited the inside of the museum first, then headed outside to find the box. After deciphering the clues, I found the box and enjoyed the weather as I stamped in. I looked at my list and saw there was a box near the suspension bridge, so I headed that direction. After I got there, I realized that the group that planted this box probably didn't find a very good hiding place. I found the designated area, but no box, just as I suspected. I hung around the park for a bit and eyed the river and the river trail. I happened to have my bicycle in my car, so I got it out and took a ride on the river. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed my afternoon!!!!

Eat, Play, LB Weekend-Day 3

I don't have a lot to report about the third day, because it is shrouded in secrecy. Blue Butterfly and I had FINALLY cracked a code of a puzzle letterbox, so we decided to get it on this beautiful Sunday. Let's just say, it was TOTALLY worth it and just thinking about finally stamping in puts a smile on my face!!

Eat, Play, LB Weekend-Day Two

On Saturday morning, I got up early and hopped on the computer looking for bike trails. I found a great bike trail that Blue Butterfly, PS Guru, and I decided we could try on Sunday. For now, we ate breakfast and then took a ride on the seawall. It was a beautiful ride!
We came back to the hotel to get ready for the event. We decided to head to the visitor's bureau to try and find a map of Galveston and some information on the Oak/Chainsaw sculptures that I'd found online. We had a time of that!! We went to three different places before we finally found it! This made us a little late for the event, but that was ok.

When we got there, the group was already busy stamping in. Blue Butterfly and I greeted folks, then ate lunch, then got to stampin'! Boots Tex had hidden a few HIPS boxes inside the candy jars and IRA had somehow managed to sneak in and hide one, too! The event stamp was lovely and very detailed, too. I don't know how Boots does it!


After some exchanges, Boots called a meeting for us to divvy up the assignments. Blue Butterfly and I agreed to check on three boxes, one of which was my own, and hide my new letterbox, TREATS ONLY, PLEASE. We headed off to Galveston SP to hunt down my Watering Can LB. We got to the designated area and searched, but we found nothing. We believe that the tree that it was hidden beside may be gone now, Post-Ike. We did manage to find Dawn's Glory's box that she had hidden this weekend, though.

Our next stop was to find one of LSQ's quilt blocks. We easily followed the directions to this lovely box and stamped in. I decided to hide my box on the same trail.

After leaving Galveston SP, we headed to Lafitte's Cove to look for a couple of older boxes there, as per our assignment. We found HIDING FROM PUTTY TAT and added a few index cards for future finders. We then headed around to find SYLVESTER. We had a hard time finding that one, as some bushes or vines have grown up considerably over the past few years and are now over six feet tall. Blue Butterfly made her way back there, but could not find the box.
It is my understanding that Dawn's Glory was able to find it on Sunday.

We headed back to Kempner Park to report on the boxes that we'd checked on. We also made notes of those who had planted that day with the intent of hopefully finding them on Sunday.

The most special part of the day was when we ate dinner with Boots Tex, Will's World, and Lucky 13. We called PS Guru to join us, but he was about 8 miles from the hotel on his bicycle, so we had to go without him. We had a great time "talking shop" at The Original Mexican Cafe with this trio! We wish Lone Star Quilter could have made it to this event, but we understand that she had other obligations. I think a good time was had by all!!!

Stamps I earned on Saturday:
Don't Be a Barnacle Head
Happy Halloween
Lucky 13-Exchange
Will's World-New Sig Stamp
Karloff
Caw-Mosaic Butterfly PT
Open Space-New Sig Stamp
JMarie-Exchange
Lore-Exchange
XXX
NLW-Exchange
Mardi Gras Galveston
Cool Ghoul
The Storm of the Century
Eat...Play...Letterbox Event Stamp
Quilt Block-Ridley Turtle
Quilt Block-Angel Fish

Eat, Play, LB Weekend-Day One

On Friday, October 29, I took off from work to head down to Galveston for the Eat, Play, Letterbox Event. Of course, I wanted to find a few boxes on the way down, and Boots Tex gave me a suggestion of one of his boxes in New Waverly. Of course, I added that one to my list and headed south on Friday morning.

I made it to New Waverly and easily followed Boots' directions to the cemetery. I found a lovely display of butterflies at one particular grave. I visited Minnie Fisher's grave, then headed to find the box. I was proud to be the first finder of this box!


After rehiding Minnie, I moved south toward Houston. There were a few boxes in a cemetery that I wanted to find. After making my way to Washington street, I realized that I had been here before with Blue Butterfly. I was able to stamp into ANGEL BAND and GTT-TX GOVERNOR SERIES. There was one more that I wanted to find, but it was getting late and I knew that Houston traffic on Friday afternoon would be challenging at best.

I made my way down I45 to Galveston and met Blue Butterfly and PS Guru at our comfy hotel. There would be no more letterboxing for the day....it would have to wait until Saturday!

Poe and a Gun Fight

Last Sunday, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and head to Fort Worth. I had my eye on Oakwood Cemetery, where there were five boxes for me to find. I had the pleasure of stamping into three boxes for the EDGAR ALLEN POE SERIES by Black Widow and two boxes in the GUNFIGHT AT THE WHITE ELEPHANT SALOON series by Viewfinder. I absolutely enjoyed my afternoon of letterboxing and finding beautifully carved stamps!

Cradle of Texas

Blue Butterfly made a trip through Deep East Texas this weekend. We wanted to find some new boxes as well as do some box maintenance. I am proud to say that my CRADLE OF TEXAS box is still alive in San Augustine, TX. It is almost five years old! Thanks to all of the finders of this little box!!

East TX Letterboxing

On September 11, Blue Butterfly and I decided to take a drive through East Texas. She wanted to check on her box in Nacogdoches, and I wanted to check out mine in San Augustine. Of course, we would find some boxes along the way. Listed below are the boxes we stamped into on this wonderfully fun Saturday!

Winnie's Leg-San Augustine, TX
Historic Walking Tour-Nacogdoches, TXNo Man's Land-Shelbyville, TX
The Finest Bale of Cotton-Woods, TX
Country Legend-Mystery, TX
ASL Fingerspelling Series-B, Nacogdoches, TX
Millard's Crossing-Nacogdoches, TX
Regulator/Moderator War-Shelbyville, TX
Church Hill Battle-Shelbyville, TX

Blue Butterfly took this shot while I was finishing up with the last box of the day. Isn't it beautiful?