Homerdoodle 2021

This past weekend Boxing Turtle, Daddy's Favorite Princess, Lil Ewok and I attended the Homerdoodle event.  We left home at 8:30 Friday morning and drove up to Moonshine, Ill.  The princess and I had stopped here a few years ago with friends.  There were 2 boxes here but they have both gone missing.  We enjoyed some Moonburgers, got t-shirts, and planted a box.  

Then we headed to Casey.  The princess and I had been here before but they have added several new things since then.  And there were a few new letterboxes to find too.  We planted the first boxes here.  One of them has been marked missing and I checked on it while we were here.

Then we headed north to St Joseph.  We found 1 and planted 1.  I as hopping to get more boxes here but we were running out of time.  I had promised the kids that we would only box until dinner time and then the kids could swim at the hotel.  

We had dinner at the Cracker Barrel and got a box there.  We checked into the hotel and the kids swam for about 30 minutes.  They were pretty tired, we went back to the room, and I logged my finds and posted the clues for the 2 boxes I planted. 

Saturday, we got up, had breakfast at the hotel, and set off for Homer.  We checked in and hit the trails.  I wish someone would have remined us to use bug spray.  The mosquitos were horrible.  After walking the first trail, my younger two said they would spend the rest of the day in the car.  But we did get them out again and they enjoyed the nature center.  

We boxed until 5.  I told the kids we would have dinner on the way home.  We stopped in Paris and had pizza.  We got another box while we were close.  Then I drove until we got to Vincennes and Boxing Turtle drove the rest of the way.  He has his permit and needs night hours.  We got home about 9:30 pm.

For the two days, we found 146 boxes and 3 hitchhikers.  It was very different from a normal letterboxing event but we had a good time once we got the bug spray on.  

Fall Break boxing in Louisville

My kids are on fall break for a few days this week.  Yesterday, Daddy's Favorite Princess and I went to Louisville to look for the new Who Killed Colonel Sanders boxes.  I have been thinking about hiding a Clue series myself and wanted to find these boxes.   We left home at 7, stopped at McDonalds, and stopped to find a box at a rest area on the way.

We arrived in Louisville around 9:30 our time and found the first few boxes rather easily.  With the route that I chose to get us around the city, in a way I thought was most efficient, we discovered who the killer was, what the weapon was, and the room quickly.  The series has 21 boxes and we found 18.  Most of the time, when we box in Louisville, we visit cemeteries.  We really enjoyed all the places that these boxes took us.  

I planted a box while we were there and we left 2 hitchhikers and found none :(  I really like hitchhikers and rarely find them.  I will keep making them because I enjoy them.  I have an idea for a large series of hitchhikers that I can use my scraps to carve.  

Altogether, we looked for 23 and found 20.  I was worried that we would not be able to find them all in one day but we actually made it home before dark.  The weather was great, even though we drove home in rain.  

It's Fall Y'all and some boxing

 

It's Fall Y'all: Autumn

This is my card for jlsd0218's "It's Fall Y'all" LTC swap.  My card is called, "Autumn."  For this tracker, you were supposed to use some sort of embellishment.  As you can see, I used eyelets.  I bought them a long time ago but I don't know if I ever used them.

THIS was the inspiration for my card.  I considered carving a tree blowing in the wind but couldn't find just the right image.  

For the background, I used my Geli Plate.  I have been having problems with my plate lately.  Can they dry out or go bad?  I bought new paint at the end of last year and thought it may be the problem.  So I got new paint and it worked better.  I'm very happy with how the cards turned out.

Haubstadt, Ind

I went letterboxing last Saturday and had a great time.  The weather was beautiful and I found all 7 boxes that I looked for.  

I started off in Haubstadt looking for a box that someone planted passing thru. I also explored a nearby park.  Next month is my 10 year letterbox anniversary and I have been thinking about planting a ten box series.   I checked out a park that used to have a few trails.  Now it is a disc golf course.  I think I will plant there anyway if I can get my butt in gear and carve the stamps. 

Owensboro, Ky

Then I went to Owensboro, Ky.  Big jump, I know.  There is a new boxer there and she has planted a bunch of boxes.  I went over back in July and got some of the boxes.  This time I got all of them but one that is inside a library.  

A while ago, I got a message that one of my boxes in Owensboro was missing.  The area had flooded and the box washed away.  We went on a field trip to an orchard just 2 miles away and I had to check while we were so close.  I found the box!  It was in a pile of flood debris.  It was in bad shape so I cleaned it up and rehid it in a better place last weekend.  

I was great to be out boxing again.   I love this weather and all the awesome stamps :)

Life Update & Some Boxing

Hi.  I'm still alive :)  I haven't made a blog post in a while.  I had a little bit of free

Western Ky Botanical Garden

time and decided to send out an update. 

So, I was a stay at home mom for 13 years.  Then I worked part time at a day care for 2.5 years.  When the corona virus hit, people stopped sending their kids to the day care.  I thought I would be off for 2 weeks.  But after 6 weeks of not working and hearing almost nothing from the day care, I started looking for a job at an essential business.   

I now work full time at Rural King, where I am on my feet for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.  During the first 2 weeks, I could barley walk when I got home in the evenings.  My husband cooked supper those first 2 weeks because I was so exhausted.  I have very little time or energy for letterboxing.  

Elmwood Cemetery

Any LTC swap that I didn't finish before I started working at "The King", I dropped from.  Some of them I was very excited about and had images on rubber, ready to carve.  I just didn't have the energy to do it.  My Etsy shop has been on and off  this whole time.  I get an order or 2 and I am ok.  But then I get a ton, overwhelmed, and behind and close it up for a bit.  

I am already off on weekends so I was off today for Independence Day.  And I spend most of the day letterboxing.  I got 4 boxes in Evansville, 9 in Owensboro, 1 cootie, and I planted one.  It was so nice to got out and box.  

Things should get better.  My husband has decided that we should home school our kids this fall.  So I will quit my job or drastically cut my hours and I'll be home with my kids.  I'll be able to carve stamps and make cards while the kids do school
work.  

That is it for now.  I know I'm behind on a few blog posts for cards.  Maybe I can type them up this evening.  Hope you are all doing well :)

PS-Blogger has changed the website and it may take me a while to figure it out. 

Boxing & Cheering in Lafayette

Last weekend my daughter and I went to a Lutheran basketball tournament in Lafayette, Indiana.  My daughter cheered and I had to letterbox. 

The kids were supposed to leave school at 11 am and my daughter had already made arrangements to ride with a friend.  So I dropped my kids off at school, ran home to get something I forgot, went thru a fast food drive thru, and left town.

Terre Haute is about 2 hours north of Evansville (where we live) and I have been wanting to box there for a long time.  I went to college there and have only driven thru a few times.  I looked for 12 boxes and found 6. 

Next, I went to Indy.  I wanted to grab a few boxes on the west side as I was passing thru.  I went get a box at a high school and wasted a lot of time looking because I didn't want to count the steps.  I thought I would just look in trees that fit the description.  But in the end, I walked the steps like the clue said.  Then I went for a box at the local Girl Scout office. You had to ask for it and they had no idea where it was.  The woman called around and asked every person she could find.  I probably spent 20-30 there and walked away with no stamp in my book.

My goal was to arrive in Lafayette at 4 but arrived at 5.  I actually beat the car my daughter was in.  We went out to dinner, the cheer girls did their nails, and we went to bed. 

We got up the next morning and we had to cheer at 8:45.  The boys lost and we didn't play again until 3:30.  My daughter went back to the hotel with friends and I went letterboxing.  I looked for 9 boxes, found 4, and planted one.  It looks like no one lives in Lafayette, people plant when passing thru, and they are not maintained. 

My daughter cheered at the second game and we lost again.  We went back to the hotel, then to a Lutheran service, some 3 point & free throw contests in the gym, and the kids stayed at the school for a dance.  Then they came back to the hotel and someone ordered pizza.  We hung out in the lobby for a while, then went back to our room, and watched a movie.

They next day we didn't cheer until 12:30.  We slept in and went out for breakfast instead of eating at the hotel.  Check out time was noon so we got our stuff together and went back to the school.  The boys won their last game.  It was really nice to leave with a win. 

We went thru a fast food drive thru and got on the road.  It was snowing/raining and we didn't stop for the other boxes I wanted to get on the way out of town.  We made many stops on the way home-wreck on the interstate, rest area potty stop, get gas and more food, etc. 

I love Cracker Barrel.  When I saw there was a box there I had to stop even though it was raining.  We got another restaurant box close by.  We still had almost 3 hours of driving to get home but it was nice to find some easy boxes at the end of our trip. 

I found 13 boxes, planted 1, and left a few hitchhikers.  This basketball tournament has been going on for over 40 years.  I hope my daughter continues to cheer because I am already thinking of next year :) 

Happy New Year

Kids and I electioneering at the mall

Hello 2020.  I usually do a blog post recapping the previous year and talk about what the new year holds.

Surprisingly, 2019 was a great find year for me.  I say "surprisingly" because my husband ran for city council and it consumed 9 months of the year.  I felt like it was the only thing I did in 2019.  But it was actually my highest find year ever!  I found 315 boxes in 2019 and the last one was my 1500th letterbox, woo hoo!  My second highest year was 2015 with 225 boxes.

I totally credit all those finds to attending some amazing events.  In May, Daddy's Favorite Princess, my boxing buddy, and I attended A Walk in the Park at Shakamak SP in Indiana.  In June, Daddy's Favorite Princess, Boxing Turtle, and I attended the Big Top on the Prairie event in Ohio.  On the way home from this event we boxed in Spring Grove Cemetery and found many boxes.  In November, Boxing Turtle and I attended the Four Seasons event in Chandler, In.

In my last year recap post, I said that in 2019 I would be planting boxes that went with silly holidays.  My plan was to hide one a month.  I planted 25 of these boxes and a hitchhiker too.  Most of these were planted in my county but I did spread the love to Ky & Oh.

Events!

I made an average number of LTCs in 2019 (28).  Again, I expected this number to be lower with my husband running for city council.  I know there were swaps that I wanted to join but didn't because the timing was bad.  Sadly, there were a few that I dropped from because I knew I wouldn't finish on time.

All in all, 2019 was a good year.  I don't really make letterboxing goals.  I don't have any plans for this year and my planting will probably be down.  I am running out of ideas and hiding places.  I hope to get back to the Homerdoodle event in Il.  My 10th letterboxing anniversary will be in October and I have thought about hosting an event to celebrate.  But we will have to see how the year goes.

Unfortunately, my boxing buddy fell late in 2019 and she is not able to get out much.  She going to have to have her knees replaced.  The dr that she has chosen is so backed up that her surgery won't be until summer.  If you could say a prayer for her, I'd really appreciate it. 

I hope you all have a great 2020!

 

Four Seasons Day Event

Yesterday, my son Boxing Turtle and I attend the Four Seasons Day Event in Chandler, In.  Chandler is about 30 minutes from our house and the event started at 10 am.  I thought I was going to get to sleep in but the kids were up bright and early.

For this event, they divided up their little town into four sections and each section was a season.  We started off in Spring and got the Summer boxes too.

Then we went back for lunch and stamped a few table top boxes.  After lunch we found Fall and Winter.  We missed one of the Spring boxes but talked to some folks at lunch who said it is now in the right spot.  We found all 36 of the event boxes.

When we were done we went back for a snack and stamped more table tops.  I had wanted to exchange with a few folks but they were all out boxing when I was ready to stamp.

The weather was nice and we had a good time.  Boxing Turtle is a funny navigator, reading too much of the clue at a time, which had us driving in circles because I couldn't remember what he said.  We took a selfie in each season but forgot to take any pics in the church.

Shakamak & Event Stamps

Shakamak State Park 

About 2 weeks ago, my boxing buddy and I went back to Shakamak State Park.  We attended an event there in May but only found half the boxes.

I dropped the kids off at school, got gas, picked up G-MA, and we headed north to the park.  Shakamak is about 2 hours away.  We had talked about going back a few times but had to wait for good weather.  We ended up finding 33 of the 37 boxes we looked for.  I left a hitchhiker and G-MA gave me a few that she had.

Western Event Stamp

Teacup and mudflinginfools are hosting a western event and asked for stamps.  I carved these three and I'll be sending an older stamp.  They asked that we wait until after October 1st to send them.  I need to get them packaged up and in the mail before they get burred and I totally forget :)

Boxing in Ohio

Prairie Props

This weekend we had a great time boxing in Ohio.  We went to Greenville for the 4th time and attended the Big Top on the Prairie event.  The event started at 9am (an hour earlier than last time) so Boxing Turtle, Daddy's Favorite Princess, and I got up at 3am.  The kids slept most of the way while I drove in the dark and rain.  We stopped once to potty and get breakfast.

We actually arrived at the event about 15 minutes early but there were a lot of other people already there.  We checked in and hit the trails.  They were calling for rain and we wanted to get boxes before it hit.

Boxing in the rain

It was a circus themed event and the the trails were for the three rings of the circus.  We did the first two rings.  The first one had a lot of mosquitoes but I don't think it was as bad as the Story Time on the Prairie year.  I'm pretty sure it was much worse that year!

After the first two rings of the circus we headed inside for lunch.  We were early so we stamped some of the inside boxes.  One of them, they had taken a box if wooden circus toys (kinda like a kids puzzle) and made stamps of the toys.  It was such a fun idea.  They also had people dressed up and walking around with stamps.  But we were focused on other stuff and didn't realize that you had to talk to them before noon to get the stamps.

Greenville Cemetery

After lunch was the raffle.  We didn't want to miss the raffle but wanted to get the last ring of the circus outside before the rain hit.  We left Boxing Turtle inside and the Princess and I went outside.  We probably got 5 boxes before it started to sprinkle.  We got them as fast as we could and went back inside where they were still calling names for the raffle.  The Princess won a fancy hair clip.

At this point we were finished with all of the official boxes for the event and started doing some exchanges.  Because of the rain, the room was pretty crowded.  Boxing Turtle was getting bored so we left to look for boxes in town.  We planted a box in the city park and found some in a local cemetery & GyspyLadybugs house.  We also stopped at a local ice cream place and looked for a box but could not find it.  Another boxer pulled up while we were looking so we all looked together.

Wet Spring Grove boxing

We headed south to Dayton where we would be staying the night.  We checked into the hotel, got dinner at the Cracker Barrel, and went to a nearby cemetery to look for 3 boxes.  We got the first one, struggling a bit because we are not used to using a compass.  We went to get the second one and it started pouring down rain.  We stopped and went back to the hotel.  We showered, logged finds, and watched some tv.

Spring Grove Cemetery

The next morning we got up, had breakfast, checked out, and went back to the nearby cemetery.  The found the second box were were looking for the night before and went looking for the third box.  They had a tornado recently in Dayton and the far corner of the cemetery had damage.  We believe the stone we were looking for had been knocked over on the box.

After that, we got a box on the way out of town by Safari Man and fill up with gas.  Next stop, Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.  I was very excited to box here.  I had heard so many good things about it and there were so many boxes to find.  We planned on spending a lot of time here and printed off 50 clues.  But it did not go well.  It rained, I got frustrated, and the kids were grumpy.  We only found 4 of the first 10 we looked for.

Spring Grove Cemetery

Then it stopped raining and our boxing got better.  We ending up finding 15 of 26 and 3 Hitchhikers.  Of course we had to plant a box here too. We also saw many animals while boxing-a fox, 4 turkeys, a baby skunk, chipmunks, squirrels, ducks, geese, and a hawk.  My original plan was to stay until 4 so that we were not getting home real late.  But at the end we got on a roll and stayed until almost 6.

Our grand total for the weekend (drum roll please) was 131 traditional boxes, 5 Hitchhikers, and some exchanges & table tops!  I took a quick look at my stats for 2019, I have 221 finds.  My next highest year was 2015 with 225 boxes.  Unless all my local boxers fall off the face of the earth, this year will be my highest finds yet <3

Walk in the Park Event

Lily pad selfie before stamping the lily pad box

We had a great time at the Inaugural Walk in the Park event.  This is supposed to be an annual event at different state parks around Indiana.  G-MA picked up me and Daddy's Favorite Princess at 7 am and we made the 2 hour drive north to Shakamak State Park.

It had been a long time since I had been here.  The first part of the morning was wet but the trails were beautiful.  There were dogwood trees blooming everywhere along with wildflowers.  We also saw a few areas with lily pads.

Beautiful Park

We checked in at the cabin, dropped off our food & table tops, and hit the road.  Since it was sprinkling, we did the series of drive by boxes first.  We still had a little bit of time before lunch and stopped and grabbed 2 boxes of one series.

We went to the cabin for lunch and stamped a few table top boxes.  G-MA doesn't like this type of boxing so we didn't stay long.

Walk in the Park Event

There was one set of boxes on a paved path and we went after those next.  They were really cute camping themed stamps.  Some of the right/lefts were wrong but we still found all the boxes.  After that we went back to the car and took off on a trail in another direction.  It had some super cute alien stamps.  We even found a stamp planted in 2007!

At this point G-MA was pretty tired so we went back to the cabin.  We stamped some more table tops, exchanged, talked, and packed up our stuff.  On the way out I planted a box for Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you!).  We also stopped at a cemetery where I got a box from 2010 that G-MA already had.  We ate at Arby's on the way home and I took a nice warm shower after logging all my finds.

Silly camp store sign :) 

The event was great!  We ended up with 35 traditional boxes.  I heard that some people couldn't find one here or there but we found every box that we looked for.  We left some hitchhikers on the trail and took some new ones from a hostile.  I had a postal waiting for me in my mailbox when I got home :)

Louisville Twice

Cave Hill Cemetery on Presidents Day 

My boxing buddy, G-MA, and I have been talking about going to Louisville all year.  We made plans to go 3 times and each time we canceled due to rain.

I always plot the course for our trips and I realized that G-MA had been to Louisville without us.  I was looking at boxes in Cave Hill Cemetery and saw that she already had some.  I assumed that she had all the boxes there so Daddy's Favorite Princess and I went over on Presidents Day and got all the boxes at Cave Hill and a small cemetery next door. 

Cave Hill Cemetery on Easter Monday

When I got home and started logging the boxes I realized that G-MA didn't have all the boxes there.  Oops.  So, when we finally went together we had to go back to Cave Hill so we would both have all the boxes there.

Most of my kids were out of school on Monday, I took the day off, and G-MA, the princess and I went to Louisville.  We left at 8 am and traveled 2 hours. 

We started off in Cave Hill Cemetery and the small cemetery next door.  We performed maintenance on my box and went to lunch.  Then we slowly started heading south stopping at cemeteries and parks to get boxes. 

Calvary Cemetery  

After a while we decided to go downtown and look for just a few more boxes before heading home.  Downtown was very busy and we were not able to find the boxes we looked for there.  We stopped for ice cream and then looked for one more box on the riverfront.  The riverfront park was so busy we thought there was no way the box was still there.  But we were pleasantly surprised to find it.  It was a great way to end our trip.

When we were done there we headed back home.  There is a rest area box along the way that I need but the rest area is currently closed :(

We arrived home at 8pm.  Altogether G-MA found 15 while the princess and I found 23. We found and left a few hitchhikers on both trips and I planted a box on the second trip.   

Happy New Year!

The Princess and I spent the first day of 2019 letterboxing and geocaching.  On New Years Day we planted four boxes, one of them being our Secret Santa stamp.  We also looked for local GeoArt.  They were hybrid boxes planted by geocachers.  The art made a Batman symbol.  We got 26 the first day and I went out after the other 30 on the first Saturday of the year.  Of the 56 hybrid boxes only ten of them still had their stamps :(

Planting on 1/1/19

Also on that first Saturday, I went after some traditional letterboxes.  Two of them were planted on New Years Day.  When I was finished with the two new boxes and the 30 hybrids, I went after 5 boxes planted at Scales Lake by people attending the GLG.  Someone recently planted another box at Scales Lake.  I looked for it and couldn't find it.  I think I finally have found/looked for all the boxes at Scales Lake. 

At the end of year, I usually do a recap post.  My traditional plants in 2018 were pretty average.  If you don't count the boxes I planted for my event in 2016, the last 3 years I have planted 28 boxes each year.  Funny how that worked out.  My find count for 2018 was average.  My LTC plants and finds were down in 2018.  I started working in September 2017 and I have less time to make LTCs now.

I don't set boxing goals.  I am looking forward to the Big Top on the Prairie event in Ohio.  I have already set money aside for the hotel room.  I also plan on attending an event at a nearby state park in May.  It will be hosted by the same boxers who put on the GLG last year.  My boxing buddy says we need to go box in Louisville.  That will help add some stamps to my logbook :)

As for planting boxes, I have a plan for 2019.  Last year I joined a LTC swap for silly holidays.  When I joined I made a card for a silly holiday on my birthday thinking I would hide it on my special day.  I then I got to thinking it would be fun to hide more silly holidays.  I plan to hide one silly holiday each month in 2019.

There has been talk on the AQ boards of a Power Plant Challenge.  If you plant at least ten permanent traditional boxes between Nov 1st and April 30th, you get a Power Plant Patch <3  If everything goes as planned, I will have 20 boxes planted by the end of April :)

I hope everyone has a safe, happy, and healthy new year :)

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. 

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.

Boxing in Illinois

2018 is the year of Illinois Bicentennial.  TeachJR posted an event asking people to celebrate by planting boxes.  I decided that I would do 3 and a bonus *spoilers*.  I carve my stamps, make the logbook, get the boxes together, and plant.  One week later I get a message that 2 of the boxes were missing.  I think this person is crazy, they have to be there.  So I drive an hour back to the park just to check and they were missing.

What do you do?  Retire? Re-carve? I decided to re-carve and add a box to the bunch.  I left 2 boxes on the trail, re-carved, returned to plant, and guess what happened?  One of the first boxes was gone!  I think the park is cursed!  What is with people?  Do they have nothing better to do in rural southern Illinois?  I'm not going back.  I'm done.  Get them while you can because I will not re-carve those.

Last box of the day selfie :)

Did I mention that G-MA and I drove over there today.  I picked her up about 1:30 and we drove an hour to the park.  I grab my bag of boxes and we take off to the trail.  As we walk up to the trail head a family is exiting the woods.  They mention that the mosquitoes are bad and we will need bug spray.

G-MA has some in her bag and we start spraying.  As we are standing there we are attacked by them!  It was worse than yesterday!  G-MA says she is not going.  I run off to plant the boxes that I have re-carved and discover that one of the others is missing :(  Unless someone else plants a few boxes in that park, I will not be back.  It has been nothing but trouble. >:(

My original boxes planted in Ill

When we are done, we head to Grayville.  There were 5 boxes that I needed and 6 that G-MA needed to find.  We start at a cemetery that has 2 new boxes.  We struggle with the planters description of the tree.  We even text someone for help.  I looked in one tree and G-MA looked in another.  We decided to switch and she looks in my tree and I look in her tree and we each find the box the other person was looking for!  It's a good thing we box together :)

We had no problems finding the rest and had an enjoyable ride back home.  For the weekend, we found 29 boxes and left a few hitchhikers.

Fourth trip to Scales Lake

Trail Selfie

Yesterday, G-MA, Daddy's Favorite Princess, and I went back to Scales Lake.  If you don't recall, it was the location of the 2018 GLG.  This was our 4th trip back to the park and we now have all the official boxes planted for the event.  I think there are a few other boxes planted by people who attended the event that we have not gotten.

G-MA and I drove separate to the park and arrived a little before 9 am.  We knew that the first trail we were walking would be long.  I parked my van at the end of the trail and G-MA drove us to the start of the trail.  The weather was beautiful and cool.  We debated if we should wear jackets or not.  We were looking for a Star Wars series and found all of the boxes but one.  There was a bonus, which was nice since we could not find a box.  We also found a geocache close to one of the boxes.  We looked for 16 and found 16.

After the Star Wars series we left for lunch.  We went to a local diner that had a letterbox outside but we had already found it.  Then we went back to the park and tried to figure out where to park the second car for an easy exit of the trails.  We ended up walking in and back out.

Cool fungi 

This time we searched for the Famous in Indiana series.  The temp had risen and the mosquitoes were out in full force.  We struggled to find many of the boxes.  Landmarks had changed in the short period of time and the wording of the clues was often an issue.  The stamp in the first box was missing and there was another box that we could not find.  We ended up with 8 out of 10 in this series.

While we were there I planted a box at a cemetery just outside the park.  This would have been my campsite stamp if I would have been able to camp.  But I was just too busy the weekend of the GLG and it was miserably hot.  After all the boxing we stopped to get ice cream to celebrate G-MAs 10th AQversary and her recent birthday.