National Take a Hike Day

Happy National Take a Hike Day!  I planted a box to celebrate last month when we camped at Spring Mill State Park, but just listed it today.  I have 2 boxes at the park and was able to look for 3 more while we were there.

I carved my stamp and liked it so much I had to make a set of cards.  These are about the same as the last time I used Distress Oxides but I did change it up a little bit.

This time around I rubbed the oxides on my craft mat, sprayed them with water,  I rubbed my card thru one color, dried it, rubbed thru another color, dried the card, etc.  It definitely took longer this way but I was able to get white spots on the card that I would not have gotten had I rubbed the card thru all the colors at once. 

I stamped my stamp and embossed it with brown embossing powder, punched the corners, and glued it to brown scrapbook paper.  Because these were just for fun, I only made ten cards.  I am very happy with how they turned out :)

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. 

Mother's Day 2013

We go camping every year for Mother's Day.  I went on my first camping trip when I was a month old because I was born in April and we camping in May for Mother's Day.

 This year we were at Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell, Ind.  We planted a box there last June and checked on it and we planted a box there this weekend.  It was a beautiful weekend to be camping.  It rained just a little on Saturday but we had fun in the village, hiking, and the kids loved playing in the creek at the campground.

Spillway on trail 5.

There were lots of wildflowers blooming this weekend.

The mill in the pioneer village.

This water flows from a cave and is very cold!  

View of the mill from the garden.

Cemetery in the park.