Loon Lake Resort box

We just spent a lovely weekend camping at the most beautiful place! You should check it out for yourself sometime. The lake was warm and the kids had a blast swimming and splashing in it. Camping was a treat and when we realized we had forgotten to bring the syrup to go with our morning pancakes, we hopped on up to the lodge's little country store and bought a bottle (big enough to ensure 11 people had plenty of syrup for those pancakes!) for a surprisingly decent price.



Local deer frequented the area around the lodge as there was deer feed placed in various places like the charming little decorative well and the hollow of an old stump for them to enjoy. The first morning of our trip, we were ecstatic to find the deer wandering through our camp nonchalantly as if it were completely normal.


He even took a snack right from my husband's hand (which, for all of you who are presently freaking out about us feeding wildlife and such, we normally would NEVER do, but it was very obvious these animals were quite used to such behavior and our feeding them was in no way going to harm them or quite honestly make any impact whatsoever in their lives... we merely took advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity.)




Sitting around the fire, I could not help but carve a stamp to commemorate such a wonderful adventure and thus this box was born. The first of you to find it might also find a little guest nestled snugly inside the box. (Everyone loves a HH, right?)

Well, on to the hunt..........

To get to Loon Lake Lodge--

From Reedsport/101:
Exit 101 at Hwy 38 and go east along the Umpqua River. About 13 miles from Reedsport, there will be a Loon Lake sign directing a RIGHT turn on Loon Lake Road. Go nine miles to Loon Lake Lodge & RV Resort.

From Interstate 5:
Exit I-5 at Hwy 38 (about 12 miles south of Cottage Grove, or 36 miles north of Roseburg) and go west about 20 miles through the town of Elkton. Stay on Hwy 38 and go about 22 miles until you cross a large bridge. After the bridge, there will be a Loon Lake sign directing a LEFT turn on Loon Lake Road. Go nine miles to Loon Lake Lodge & RV Resort.(Note: the lodge is located past the BLM campgrounds).

To get to the box --

Park at the lodge store on the right side of the road. Across the road and back the way you came you will find Group Campsite 71. Count about 20 paces up the driveway from the Group campsite 71 sign. On your left will be a moss covered tree near the driveway. To the right of that will be a bank of ferns. Between these you will find a large moss-covered stump. If you search the lower part of this stump and look for a hollow place you will find your prize buried under forest litter.

Happy hunting and, as always, be careful out there.

You're Invited...

Ahhh...the weather's perfect.

Sun is shining warm on my face and

I can smell the sweet grass of a recently mown lawn.

What should we do today?

Let's go on a picnic!

Quick, pack your things. Don't forget the sunscreen. Bring your favorite dish and we'll add it to the basket. Who could resist on a day like today?

Mmmm...anyone hungry?

Sign up for this postal and recieve a picnic in the mail. You can add a stamp to the potluck or just share in the bounty. Turn around should be 3-5 days. As always, HH are welcome and there should be plenty of room for friends to stamp in.

Maybe you could have a little mini meet of your own and invite your friends for a real picnic. You could all stamp in...enjoy the sun...play frisbee......or whatever you like. Maybe it's a picnic for one. Take your lunch and this box somewhere beautiful and relax with a good book...a sketch pad...or maybe a nice long nap.

ROAD TRIP!!!

Ahhhhhh...school's out and I am off on a much belated trip to Ashland, Oregon with my sister tomorrow. As my birthday gift to her this past May I bought tickets to The Taming of the Shrew. She has never been to Ashland before and I have been wanting to take her ever since I went the first time. I'm excited to see how she likes it. First, we will be stopping on our way out of town to have tea at Ruthie B's. I really miss visiting there when it was in the quaint old house with the "white room" upstairs and the garden outside, but I adore Ruthie B's. The whole idea of mixing antiques and the aromas of tea and scones.....why it's perfect. For me, it will be a silent tribute to our mom who passed away in January. She loved tea and had it every single day for as far back as I can remember. I wish she could be there with us. My spirit will be sad and missing her while smiling at our sister-time.

We are staying in the Bard's Inn (Best Western, I think) right across the street from everything in Ashland. The last couple of times I visited I stayed in the Plaza Inn and Suites on Ashland Creek. That's my favorite place to go. They are famous for their late night pbj's and chocolate chip cookies till midnight. It was fun to come back to the hotel after a performance, change into pj's and head down for a little midnight snack. I hope our stay at the Bard's is at least decent.

Well, since she has no idea what letterboxing is about I thought I would drag her along on a few hunts for boxes. I think I will also do a little check on my box in Lithia Park as well. I thought it would be a good one for her to hunt for a little fun too. I am even bringing carving supplies so she can carve her own stamp if she wants. I think she will become addicted just like me. It would be a great thing to share with her and a way to spend some good quality time together too.

I suppose I should get to bed at some point soon. Just gotta repack the letterboxing bag one more time to make double sure I got everything I could possibly need.

Buddies update

We've created a separate blog just for our buddies. Check it out at:
http://boxingbuddytravels.blogspot.com/

Boxing Buddies

Well, with my feelers out all the time on this topic, I have come across a wonderfully fun idea from jacks (who is a long-time boxer)......Boxing Buddies. These are little stuffed animals (or stuffed whatevers) that carry their own stamp and logbooks. They will travel through the mail to a host family who has offered to take them on a letterboxing trip with them. The host family will take pictures of the buddy along the trail to document its travels and include the pictures in the buddy's logbook along with whatever stamp from the hunted box and any exchanges the buddy made while on it's adventure.

Right after I learned about this, Fin and I were in Ben Franklin's Craft store and they were having a half off sale on some of their beanie babies. Perfect timing! We picked out a couple to make buddies out of and are steadily working on a plan for their stamps. This should be quite fun. I can't wait to see the logbook of one of our buddies. I thought about setting up another blog for each buddy, but that seems overwhelming. I may just include them in this blog as it is part of letterboxing. We'll see. I'll give it some more thought and make a decision soon. In the mean time, keep your eyes peeled for boxing buddies.

The Whitetail Box

Location:
Elijah Bristow State ParkPleasant Hill, OR (United States)
Clue Last Updated:
April 21, 2007

"Elijah Bristow State Park is located on the Willamette River, and is easily to
reach via State Highway 58 southeast of the Eugene. The park was named for one
of the first pioneer settlers in Lane County and is comprised of 847 acres of
scattered meadows, woodlands and wetlands. Elijah Bristow has more than 10 miles
of trail for hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. Part of the trail system
includes a portion of the Eugene to Pacific Crest trail." -from State Parks
website

Driving Directions from Eugene/Springfield area:
Head south on I-5 toward Roseburg. Take exit 188A Oakridge/Klamath Falls and head for OR-58. Travel approximately 9 miles on Hwy 58 and look for the Elijah Bristow State Park sign. Turn left on Rattlesnake Rd., right on Wheeler Rd and continue about 1 mile until you see the entrance sign. Follow the road all the way back and park near the restrooms.

To the box:
This lovely little doe was first spotted near group picnic area A. From there she walked gingerly around the edge of the meadow pausing to munch on the sweet grasses. She must have been thirsty after such a snack as she headed toward the river via a trail just past three gravel mounds on the left. Follow this trail to where it converges with the river trail. Look to your right and head toward the picnic table on the river side. Here you will find a beautiful spot where she was seen at water's edge enjoying a cool drink. Then back to the trail. Head to your right on the river trail. Following the trail a ways she is no where to be found. Up ahead, look for the sign giving horses the right of way. Hearing something in the brush, you turn back the way you came and count 43 paces. On your left there should be a tree with a sapling on its hip. This little Whitetail is hiding beneath a blanket of moss slightly behind and to the right of this tree's base. You should make the time to explore the rest of the trails in the park. It is a beautiful place.

Sweet Summer Letterbox

This popular park is a beautiful spot to play in the summer. We spent lots of time here as it used to be literally out our back door. We enjoyed watching many baseball games and played our fair share of frisbee and football here. It also provided lots of room for a couple of our kiddos to practice their brand new bike riding skills, but our favorite thing to do here is grab a bucket and head for the blackberry patches on the eastern side of the park. We spent lots of warm summer evenings with berry juice dripping down our chins and sore, briar-pricked fingers...but we had blackberry pies and cobblers and berries to sprinkle on our hand cranked vanilla ice cream or over our pancakes to savor! We have long since moved from that house, but we still love to visit this little park.

To the box:

This box is hidden in Guy Lee Park in Springfield. This 8 acre gem can be found at 890 Darlene Avenue. From the Guy Lee Park sign take the paved path to the left that goes by the school playground (also a very fun place to be). Pass the visitor's bench and head around to the home team's bench. There is a water fountain near the end of here. Skipping the bushes behind the home team's bleachers (because everyone there also enjoys a blackberry or two and those bushes are usually less bountiful to choose from), follow the park boundary S.E. toward another patch. In baseball season your next destination is marked at 271 ft. but just in case it isn't, you can find it if you find the two trees that are different than the rest. From the 2nd such ree, take about 15 kid-sized steps toward the berry bushes and search in the tall grass at your feet.

*first finder will get my favorite blackberry recipe!*

Cooties...

Did you know you can catch cooties on the end of a pencil?.....or in your own pocket? How about the hood of your favorite hoody? My kids caught them from school...from a TEACHER, no less!!
Yep, it's true. Cooties have invaded the Miller house. Ok, let me explain before you all ban your kids from any contact with us. While checking out some boards about what to expect at a letterboxing meet which we attended October 28th in Corvallis, I ran across a whole thread of entries about cooties. Naturally, I read them all and was hooked.
Cooties, it turns out, are miniature letterboxes that are passed from one LBer to another by stealthily placing the package into the unsuspecting person's purse, pocket, hood, open backpack....etc. Some cooties are glued to a clip and simply clipped on somewhere not likely to be noticed right away. They come in all shapes and mostly mini sizes in a variety of clever containers. Some of the most ingenious ones I read about were hidden in a container shaped like a soda can and put in a cooler with other sodas, some were carved into the eraser of a pencil, some are disguised in film containers, and some were simply tossed into the back seat through an open car door while the cars owner was changing their shoes only to be found when the car returned home and was unloaded from the meet.
Well, armed with my new knowledge of this sneaky little assault I grabbed my partner in cootie-crime, Emily, and we immediately went to work. In no time at all Emily had carved an ant about 1/4 inch by 1/8 inch and we made a tiny little logbook (some cooties have logbooks and some don't) and we put the whole thing into an old bead container about 1 inch square that I had among my craft things. We called it "Ants in Your Pants" and plotted who we were going to give it to the next day at the meet.
We successfully handed off our own cootie and in the course of the day had collected, logged into and redispursed a few more. While at the meet, we ran into one of Eli's teachers, Ms. Yunkin, from Guy Lee whom we had NO idea was a letterboxer. We were delighted to find out that she knew of another teacher, Mrs. Aldridge, who was also an LBer!! Cool.
The kids went to school on Monday and found out that someone had cootied Mrs. Aldridge! When Mrs. Aldridge wondered aloud to Ms. Yunkin how she was going to get rid of the cootie, Ms. Yunkin gave us up as LBers and Emily was consequently cootied! Wow. Then, as if she hadn't caused any trouble at all herself, Ms. Yunkin cootied Brielle!!
So, there you have it people. If you are a letterboxer and we find you out you may just find a little prize waiting for you somewhere. If you aren't a letterboxer, what are you waiting for? Get in on this fun stuff, man. You are missing out! Call me. I will hook you up.
Mel
*who is determined to convert the entire world to letterboxing and who will worry about creating the resultant 12 step program later*
::spic, spark, singe...::
too...many...ideas.......brain....hurts.............

Letterboxing

I wonder how many of you are aware of a hobby known as letterboxing. I was oblivious to it's existence until July when Family Fun magazine ran a small blurb about it. It involved choosing a signature stamp (something to represent you as an individual or a family), printing off clues to a box in your area and strapping on your walking shoes. Intrigued, I checked out the website at www.letterboxing.org (imagine that- an entire site dedicated to this topic floating around cyberspace and I never knew anything about it!) and learned everything I ever needed to about the origin of this hobby, the rules of play, how to carve my own stamps and on and on.....
Well, the more I read, the more I wanted to try this thing out. I carved our first signature stamp, "family time", as this was to be our new family hobby. I printed out clues to several boxes in the Eugene/Springfield area (because I love options and it turns out there are s e v e r a l) and off we went armed with water bottles, hiking sticks and ink. We searched over and over for our first box and found no sign of it. (Were we doing this right? Did we just miss it? Let's go back to the beginning and try again...) Though we didn't find a letterbox, we did discover a great place to skip rocks across the river. We spent about an hour teaching the kids the right grip, which rocks are better for skipping, the rock-skipping stance.....and most importantly, how to be flexible when things don't work out the way we expect them to. That was a great day and after rock skipping we tried another clue and actually found our first letterbox.......AND our first Hitchhiker stamp (a fantastic bonus)!! Awesome. God provided the opportunity for us to show our kids what can happen if you persevere.
So, it's been almost 4 months since our first LB (letterbox) adventure. Since then we have introduced this hobby/sport to some of our good friends (now known as Joy4Life on the letterboxing trail), a best friend (Candy) and a neighbor (horse girl). Given time, I hope to get everyone addicted to this wonderful treasure hunting adventure even if I have to carve all the stamps myself! We are steadily filling up our logbook with creative stamps and filling our hearts with memories with each other.......like the time we marathon-letterboxed with Joy4Life hiking all over this huge park. (The kids weren't very interested in boxing for a week or so afterward!) ...or like last Saturday when we found a tiny little green frog about 1/2 inch long while hunting a box in Armitage Park. After everyone marvelled at how small it was, we put it back where we found it and Emily was so concerned that we had accidently hurt it somehow that she stayed with it until it finally hopped away....... We are completely addicted to letterboxing and love to spend time doing it together. I hope this will be a tool to keep us bonding even through the upcoming teenage years when it often becomes the norm for siblings to avoid each other like the plague.
As a whole, letterboxers seem to be almost a secret society. I've never overheard anyone talking about it in the grocery store or doctor's office. You would never know it, but they are probably all around you. Planting boxes, writing clues, carving stamp after stamp.....if you are interested and want to join this elusive group, just check out the sites I listed at the end of this blog. Joining is absolutely free and you will find many seasoned veteran letterboxers who are willing to help out a "newbie". Heck, I'll help ya out too!!
You know it's a good thing when your 3yr old wakes up and wants to know "Are we going letterboxing now?" !
For more info. on this hobby see:
www.letterboxing.org
www.atlasquest.com
or come visit us and we will happily drag you all over creation and back hunting clues!
Happy Hunting,
AMEEBZ (that's our trail name)

Fall

Ahh, the crisp fall air...the sweet smell of apple cider...freshly sharpened pencils and new notebooks........I think these could be some of my favorite things.
I love summer and every last ounce of sunshine I can squeeze out of it, but then comes the slow settling of all things wild. The moment when you first notice the gentle nip in the evening air which makes you think of your favorite sweater, thoughts of warm hot chocolate and curling up with a good book. I so appreciate this calming season. God must have known I needed it placed just before the sometimes harrying holidays. A softening of the rough and rugged summer air. A reflective time to sit and revisit great memories we made that year. It seems the world expels a collective sigh before resigning to winter and its all too often chaotic holiday season.
Pardon me as I take another deep breath of that particular sleepiness the trees seem bound to...as I watch the sway of another crimson leaf as it floats effortlessly to the earth.....as I brew a pot of Earl Grey tea and gather my favorite sweater about me again...............and beseech autumn to linger a bit longer.