We Will Always Have Paris

Letterboxing: "Animals in Harpers Ferry"

(For information on the hobby of letterboxing, please see my first letterboxing post by clicking here).

Now that it is Spring and the weather is (marginally) improving, we took the new baby on her first letterboxing adventure last weekend.  We've been to Harpers Ferry, WV a dozen times, but we had never ventured out of the "Lower Town" area.  This series of letterboxes allowed us to see a whole new section of Harpers Ferry.  Baby G. was able to splash in a waterfall, spot heron, find cocoons, count turtles and so much more.  CraftChix girls:  When you're in Harpers Ferry for our May crop, you should venture out for a couple of hours to enjoy these three boxes (AND I FOUND ALL THREE!).

The clues for the "Animals in Harpers Ferry" series can be found here.

Take a look:

   

 

 

 

 

If you're a National Parks passport holder, there are 3 stamps at the start of the letterboxing trail and 2 more down in lower town.  Baby G. was able to add 3 new stamps to her passport and we bought Baby A. her first passport.

Great fun!  If you have young kids or have never been letterboxing before, this would be a great day trip for you.  Enjoy!

Letterboxing In The Rain

It was a beautiful weekend...  Not too hot.  Not too cold.  Very green & sporadic rain.  I love this kind of weather.  Hubby, Baby & I took advantage of the weather to take a hike in Shepherdstown, WV and seek out the "It's Getting Steamy" letterbox.  My favorite part of letterboxing is discovering parks & trails I would never know about, but for this hobby.  I live fairly close to Shepherdstown and we go there frequently for their Sunday Farmer's Market.  It is a wonderful "walking" town -- lots of cute houses with fantastic gardens.  However, I had never heard of Rumsey Park until following my letterboxing clues.

Man, I live in a beautiful part of the country.  Take that Carrie!

 

Finally!  I found the letterbox before Hubby!

Making our mark in the logbook.

For more information about letterboxing, click here.

I'm thinking about teaching another Letterboxing 101 class.  If you're in the MD/VA/DC area & interested, e-mail me & let me know.  During the class, you'll carve your own rubber stamp, make your own logbook and actually head out to find a letterbox!

Balls Bluff & Goose Creek Letterboxing

I held my Letterboxing 101 class this past Saturday with 7 students (our 8th had to bow out - we missed you Beth!) clutching their tool kits, brown bag lunches and tennis shoes.  We carved our stamps, bound our letterboxing journals, then headed out to the wilderness in search of letterboxes.

Our first stop...  Balls Bluff Park in Leesburg, VA.

Left to right:  Larcy, Amy, Dianna, Marlynn, Darlene, Jenny & Leiann.

Armed with their first set of clues, the group started down the walking path at the park.  Now, letterboxing is a hobby that requires of bit of discretion.  All subterfuge, however, is lost when eight women are laughing and shouting "Did you find it?", "(shriek) TURTLE!", or "Dianna, where are you?".  Fortunately, the park was pretty empty, so we didn't draw too much attention to ourselves.

Yeah.....  that would be our Type A personalities Jenny & Amy leading the charge.

We haven't even made it to the first box yet & we're already lost.

The first box was a bust.  It just plain wasn't there and I'M SURE we were in the right place.  It happens.  Boxes are destroyed or thrown away by people who think they are trash.  No big deal... onto the next box:

The three that found it!!

After stamping our newly carved stamps and taking a breather (as well as patting ourselves on the backs), the women moved on to the third/final box in the park.    The box was planted back in 2003 and the clues were just too hard to follow.  Leaves had fallen & obscured the paths, old trails were no longer in existence and we kept getting ourselves turned around.  After twenty minutes or so, we just gave up.

Final score:  1 for 3 at Balls Bluff.

The class was officially over, but several of us decided to follow up on a second set of clues:  Goose Creek. 

Unfortunately, we were 0 for 2 at Goose Creek.  Both boxes were missing, but we all thoroughly enjoyed the mile long hike. 

I can't say enough about these women.  Most started as students (years ago at Artfully Scribed, Rubber Chicken & Cami's Paperie) and all have become dear friends.  Some are scrapbooking friends, some are "cabin trip" friends, some are e-mail friends and some are best friends.  It was wonderful to get out of the classroom and do something new.

I have another class coming up on Saturday, October 27th.  Want to come play?  E-mail me to sign up!  Anybody can do it.  One of my upcoming students will be 9 months pregnant (I salute you Cenia!).  If she can do it, anybody can!

For information about Letterboxing, read my first letterboxing post.

Letterboxing 101: The Journal

I've re-designed my own letterboxing journal in preparation for my upcoming Letterboxing 101 class:

We call ourselves the "Mangy Cats" because our handcarved logo stamp is the nappy black cat from the French Chat Noir poster.  He kind of looks like he has mange and was left out in the rain far too long.

I've filled the inside of the book with the letterbox stamps I've collected, photos, clues & little trinkets.  Too much fun!

My September Letterboxing 101 class is already sold out.  I'm thinking of scheduling another on Saturday, October 27th.  Interested??  If so, just drop me an e-mail and I can add you to the wait list.

When Was The Last Time You Waved At A Train?

My college roommate and her husband have been in town for a weekend of fair-going, sight-seeing, speed-scrabble-playing & lots of junk food eating.  After spending all day yesterday at Luckett's Fair (where it was hot enough that even I didn't want funnel cake), we spent today introducing them to the hobby of letterboxing.

Our day started out at two of the letterboxes we had previously visited -- Hubby and I loved them enough to return & bring our friends along. 

I'm really looking forward to teaching my Letterboxing 101 class on September 29th.  Watching people find their first letterbox is a blast! 

After a return home so that the cranky baby could take a nap (and I could beat everyone soundly in speed Scrabble), we left for Harper's Ferry, WV.  We had the clues for three different letterboxes in the historic area of Harper's Ferry.  Our first letterbox took us some time to find (click here for the clues).  When we found it, we were surprised to see just how small the box was!

Our next letterbox, Jedi #1, (click here for the clue) was in the same general vicinity, but involved quite a hike!!  We finally reached the top near Jefferson's Rock.  This was, by far,the hardest letterbox we've ever done.  A true hike up a mountainside, using 200 year-old rocky shale steps. But the view was spectacular!  Thomas Jefferson once said that this area was one of the most spectacular in nature.  He wasn't kidding. 

My 2 year-old daughter was a super trooper and did most of the hiking herself.  As a reward, she got to use the stamp when we finally found the box:

By the time we reached our FIFTH letterbox of the day, Screaming Jenny (click here for the clue), we were pretty exhausted.  This was probably my favorite box.  We had to walk across a bridge where a train was stopped, waiting for another train to come by.  We were able to walk up to the conductor to say hi & wave as he waved back to us.  My hubby summed it up when he asked, "When was the last time you waved at a train.  This is a great day!"  The train slowly chugged off as we found our letterbox in an abandoned canal lock.

5 letterboxes in one day.  I'm off to bed now, I'm just beat!

My September letterboxing class is sold out, but I'm thinking of holding another one in October.  I already have two on the wait list.  I need a few more & I'll put it on the calendar.  E-mail me if you're interested!

Letterboxing: Enjoy Your Journey & Bolivar Fight

Hubby, baby & I ventured out into the heat yesterday, in search of new & exciting letterboxes.  Our first stop:  Devil's Backbone park near Boonsboro, MD.  Click here to read the clues.

The park was beautiful...  geese, herons & a wonderful waterfall.  My 2 year-old daughter was enthralled.  One of the best parts of letterboxing is the fact that you get to see things you wouldn't see otherwise.  I would have never even known this park was here.  Unfortunately, the footbridge to get to the letterbox was gated off.  No luck on that one!

Our second letterbox, "Enjoy Your Journey", was located between Hagerstown, MD and Frederick, MD.  It was at this point that hubby and I realized that we'll never be able to go on the reality TV show "The Amazing Race".  I'd kill him.  We've always thought that "The Amazing Race" would be the ideal TV show for us.  Hubby speaks 5 languages, he can eat pretty much anything, I can keep a cool head in stressful situations, we've both travelled around the world....  Surely we'd win the million dollars.  Every season of Amazing Race, we armchair quarterback the entire show, telling eachother how we'd do it... and win!

Well... we're driving through MARYLAND (NOT MARAKKESH) yesterday, without a map & a set of fairly easy clues and we can't agree which exit to take.  I see the sign for Greenbriar State Park & point it out and HE DRIVES RIGHT BY.   So, I ask why he didn't get off and he says that I need to directly tell him to exit.  WHA?  If you know that we're looking for Greenbriar State Park AND I POINT IT OUT TO YOU, doesn't common sense tell you to take the exit?

Then, of course, there wasn't another exit for 5 miles.  5 long miles of me pointing out the fact that for someone who's so smart, he really is a moron and should be institutionalized.  And then we finally reach the next exit to turn around.  Lo and behold it is the correct exit for the letterbox.  And I feel stupid.  My hubby is nearly dancing with glee in the driver's seat and I'm left to quietly stare out of the window.

We parked, followed the clues & found the box.  Our daughter stamped the book herself!

We stopped for lunch and then headed over to Bolivar, West Virginia to look for another letterbox.  If you've never been to the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, it is worth the trip.  The entire area is seeped in Civil War History.  Our third letterbox attempt was at the site of the Battle of Bolivar.  The view of the Shenandoah Valley was breathtaking.  We walked along the path (a good walk if you're looking to get outdoors) and followed our clues.

A girl scout troop had been at the box an hour before (what a great idea for all of you troop leaders!).  We stamped our book & hiked back.  This was probably our favorite box of the day.

Four hours in the great outdoors, plus I got to stamp!  What's not to love?  It's supposed to be beautiful next weekend.  Why not letterbox?

Creepy Letterbox

Hubby, baby & I found another letterbox this weekend (for my previous article on letterboxing, click here).  This was part two of our previous letterbox and YOWZER, was it ever a fun one!  Here's the clue:

Walk the streets of the village of Clip
In which the invisible scissors snipped,
Zigzagging throughout the days and nights
After a stranger was refused Last Rites.
Rely on the numbers, but don’t be seen,
Discover your goal across from 19.

Come to the place where the dead abide,
Look for the Haysletts side-by-side.
In the crotch of an old maple tree
Pick up the rock and the box you will see!

The Village of Clip is current-day Middleway, WV.  When you go into town, the old houses are marked with the crescent moon sign of the ghost of the stranger.  We drove around for a good ten minutes looking for #19 (a historical marker).  It was 11:30 in the morning and we didn't see a single soul the entire time we were there.  CREEPY.  The entire town looked like a set location for M. Night Shyamalan ("The Village", "The Sixth Sense").  We wandered around an abandoned graveyard until I found the right headstones:

Wandering around a ghostly cemetery in the broad daylight is pretty unnerving.  Can you imagine doing this letterbox at night?  Hubby & I found the box (actually I FOUND THE BOX!!!), left our mark, then wandered the town until our creep curiosity was satisfied. 

For those of you wondering, NO, we did not dig up the letterbox in the cemetery.  It was safely nestled in a tree.  Get out there & find it for yourself!

Letterboxing: Rubber Stamping In The Great Outdoors

My hubby, our 23 month-old daughter and I spent a good chunk of the morning carrying my trusty Memories black dye ink pad and a rubber stamp through a forest of trees and ferns.  Yes, you read that right...  hiking with stamping supplies!

I first read about Letterboxing in a Smithsonian magazine article almost 10 years ago.  I'm a puzzle-solver by nature, and the combination of rubber stamping & clue-solving caught my attention.  Letterboxing is an intiguing mix of treasure hunting, art, navigation, and exploring interesting, scenic, and sometimes remote places.  Here's how it works: 

Someone hides a waterproof box somewhere (in a beautiful, interesting, or remote location) containing at least a logbook and a carved rubber stamp (my hubby carved our stamp).  The hider then writes directions to the box (called "clues" or "the map"), which can be straightforward or cryptic.  Often the clues involve map coordinates or compass bearings from landmarks. 

Once the clues are written, hunters in possession of the clues attempt to find the box.  The hunter must carry a pencil, her personal rubber stamp, an inkpad and her personal logbook.  When the hunter successfully deciphers the clue and finds the box, she stamps the logbook in the box with her personal stamp, and stamps her personal logbook with the box's stamp.  The box's logbook keeps a record of all its visitors, and the hunter's journal keeps a record of all the letterboxes the hunter has found.

This morning's letterbox hunt was in Middleway, West Virginia.  Check out the clue to see just how cool this hobby is!  The clues were easy to follow, the hike was wonderful and the scenery was breathtaking!

(The tree with four trunks)

If you're at all interested in trying this hobby, here are a handful of resources:

• Letterboxing North America
• A Yahoo! Group for new letterboxers
• Instructions on how to start finding letterboxes
• Instructions to make your own rubber stamp
• Clues for Washington D.C., Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and Delaware (that means you Nerissa!)

I also just discovered that there is a letterbox INSIDE Angela's Happy Stamper in Reston, VA!! Here's the clue if you want to make things easy on yourself!  Let me know if you're a letterboxer.  Maybe our paths will cross...