Camping at Spring Mill

Kids playing stilts in the village

This weekend my family and I camped at Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell, Indiana.  It is hard to believe that we haven't been here in 5 years!

We came up Friday night stopping to get supper on the way.  Spring Mill is about 2 hours from home.  We set up in the dark and it was cold.  We made a small fire knowing that we needed to save the wood for meals on Saturday and Sunday.

Selfie with hubby

Saturday morning we got up, ate breakfast, and headed down to the pioneer village.  I was surprised to see that most of the buildings were open and there were a few reenactors so late in the year.  We spent a few hours exploring the village.

When we were done at the village we went back to the campground for lunch.  We were just having sandwiches because we needed to get out and look for letterboxes.

Boxing 

We have 2 boxes in the park and someone marked both of them as missing.  We checked on them this weekend and they were both right where they were supped to be.  We did update the clues and included pictures to help future finders get the boxes.

We looked for 3 boxes too.  The first one was in a pouch and the logbook was completely soaked.  We struggled to find the second one because there were so many rocks that looked the same.  But we did find it.  The last box was in a stump near a shelter house.  I believe that the stump was almost entirely rotted away and we could not find the box.  The previous boxer could not find it either. 

Stressful paddle boat ride

Don't tell, but we planted a box while we were there but I won't post the clues until next month. 

Sunday morning we got up, had breakfast, and started to tear down our camp.  It sprinkled on and off and at times there were really bad wind gusts blowing our stuff everywhere.  

We took our time breaking camp and had lunch at the campground.  When we were letterboxing on Saturday, we noticed that they now rent paddle boats, canoes, row boats, etc.  On our way out of the park we stopped and rented some boats.  Bantha Rider and Boxing Turtle took a canoe and the rest of us were in a paddle boat.  It was really hard getting around with the large gusts of wind.  

When we were done with the boat ride, we left the park and started looking for ice cream. 

For the weekend, we looked for 3 letterboxes and found 2.  Did maintenance on 2 of our boxes and planted another.  On the way home from the park I got some ideas for other boxes.  Maybe I can plant up this way for the next PAL Day. 

Embossing Powder Test

Some of my kids were out of school on Friday for Parent/Teacher Conferences, two of my kids had dentist appointments, and I took the day off.  One of the many things I did was tested my embossing powders.  I like embossing my cards and I guess I have a problem because I just keep buying embossing powder.

I started off testing white.  I have 3 brands of white embossing powder- Zing, Ranger, and Reflections.  You can't see it in this picture but the Reflections bottle has a note on it that it is "Better than Zing".  Why didn't throw the Zing away when I made this discovery?  Why did I buy another white when I knew I had one that I liked?  I like both Ranger and Reflections and if I had to choose between the two I would pick Ranger.  It just seems to fill in better.

The next test was clear embossing power and you can see I have 4 of these-Hampton Art, Ranger, Reflections, and Zing.  Hampton Art was the first embossing powder I ever purchased.  I was not 100% happy with any of my clear embossing powders but maybe the problem is the ink pad I used?  The ink was Brilliance Graphite Black Pigment Ink.  I can't pick a favorite of this group. 

The last set of tests was black.  Again, I have 3 brands-Zing, Ranger, and  Recollections.  These all were about the same.  I would say Recollections was my least favorite in this group. 

I probably should have ran the test with a stamp that had finer lines.  I think that would have made a big difference.  At one time I bought an anti-static powder bag.  You rub it across the card before you start embossing and it helps the powder to only stick where you put the ink.  But I can't find it. 

Based on this test I have no favorite brand of embossing powder.  Hopefully I can stop buying it when I see it on sale :)

Day trip to St Louis

My kids Fall Break was Friday, yesterday, and today.  For over a year I have been talking about taking my kids to the City Museum in St Louis.  The last time we went Lil Ewok was just a month old and he is now 6.  My oldest is 16 and I thought if we don't do it soon, the big kids will be to big.  Even though my high school age Girl Scout troop went and loved it.

I asked for yesterday off at work and a week ago I started doing my homework on what boxes I wanted to get in St Louis.  There is a Harry Potter series in a library that I though the kids would enjoy.  I get online to check their hours and discover they will be closed Columbus Day (the day we planned on going).  I checked the City Museum and due to their Winter Hours they would be closed too.  I checked on the Magic House and Grants Farm and they were all going to be closed.

I decided we would just letterbox and go in the arch.  The last time we went in the arch, the princess was a baby.  The kids would have been 6, 3, and a few months old.  I printed off clues for rest areas boxes there and back, Forest Park, and some graffiti ones near the arch.

As we are driving over the princess says she wants to go to an art museum.  I tell her there is a sculpture park with a few boxes and she got real excited.  I didn't have printed clues so we used my phone.  I prefer printed clues.

We got two rest area boxes on the way and went to Laumeier Sculpture Park.   The kids enjoyed goofing off here.  We looked for 3 boxes and found 2.  We left and ate lunch nearby.  I tried to talk the kids into going back after lunch to get 2 more but they didn't want to go.  It was pretty hot and the place was big.  As we were leaving we stopped in the office and discussed some of the sculptures from the clues that we didn't look for and I think we could have found the boxes easier after talking to the woman. Oh well.

Our tickets for the arch were at 4:50 pm.  We were the last trip up for the day.  As we get close to the arch I can tell that we are way to early for our tour.  We decide to look for the graffiti boxes near the painted flood wall.  The boxes were a little tricky to find but the kids enjoyed the graffiti wall.

When we were finished we went back to the arch and took a million pictures.  We were really tired from all the walking at the sculpture park and the high temps.  We didn't really pay attention to the stuff in the museum.  We got some goodies in the gift shop and sat down for a few minutes until our boarding time.  The kids loved it!  When we were done we went back to the bottom, the littles played in the fountain, we took more pictures, and headed back to the car.

Bantha Rider is in the process of getting his drivers license and drove us to St Louis and back.  He didn't like the stress of driving in the big city and all the signs we need to look for.

On the way home we stopped for ice cream and got another rest area box in the dark.  The sculpture park is so big, I wish I would have brought a box to plant.  An idea for next time.  We found 7 of the 8 boxes we looked for and left a hitchhiker.