December 27 Bucks County

On the Tuesday after Christmas, I decided to head to the Doylestown area and on the way, stopped to pick up the Songs of the Seasons series by Warcat. Keep in mind that I am NOT a big fan of Christmas (Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!) but I am so glad that I had the chance to find these boxes and visit this little bit of enchanted wonderland. I arrived at daybreak and fortunately, I was the only one any where around. I had heard from other boxers that they had some difficulty being stealthy while finding the boxes because there were so many visitors to the Byers Choice grounds. As I meandered my way around the grounds, enjoying the whimsical statuary scattered here and there, I admit to a bit of worrying about the possibility of some security cameras filming me and wondering just what the heck I was doing there but I didn't let that stop me. The clues to this series were certainly appropriate, the location was absolutely perfect and even the store bought stamps were enchanting. Thanks, Warcat!
The pictures above are of some of the statuary on the Byers Choice grounds - the Children on a Log and the Headless Man. Below is one of the many "deer" who are make their home around the grounds.

After my visit to Chalfont, I continued on to Doylestown and made my second unsuccessful attempt to find the Alma Mater box at Delaware Valley College. Once again I was alone on the grounds since the school was out for Christmas break but it didn't help me to locate the crucial PawPaw tree. Oh well, maybe the third time will be the charm.


Next stop was the Mercer Hunt
at Font Hill. I have to say that my first sight of this estate literally took my breath away. A castle in Doylestown, how neat is that! I got out and poked around the estate for awhile before starting on my search for the Green Star and the Crimson Cat. The paths were really neat and even on the dreary winter day were pretty well occupied. My biggest disappointment was locating the stone cottage in the woods and finding it covered with graffiti. I can never understand the need to destroy history with a can of spray paint. I successfully found my two boxes and later found out that I just missed meeting the planter on the trail by a matter of an hour or two.

Then I moved on to find my first Emma box by Clueless, The Jane Austen Series: Emma This was in a nondescript little park but it was highlighted by being next to a covered bridge. Since it is a semi-mystery box I can't give away any clues or post any pictures but I can talk about my find there. I, who never, ever, find Hitchhikers (except my own) found a traveler box which debuted on Labor Day 2002 in Connecticutt. It is called the Peter J. McGuire Travelling box and was placed by Bruce and Aili. The clues to this box were included in the Emma box with the directions to find the box and take it and the clue book and hide it near another box. This box had already visited Reading once so I will take it with me and try to move it along a bit further.

Last but not least for the day was looking for Indigo Vulture's Lost Cat Series. I am happy to report that all of Indigo Vultures cats are safe and sound in spite of the fact that the park was a quagmire of mud. This was a fun and fairly easy series to end my day on an upbeat note. Thanks, Myke.