How We Spent a Rainy Saturday

One of the profile questions on Atlas Quest that I always thought was kind of silly is "How might a letterboxer spend a rainy day?"  I always thought it was silly because there is only one answer that I can think of - a letterboxer goes letterboxing!  Several years ago, when Tyler State Park was first becoming the local Connecticut of Pennsylvania letterboxing, I spent two days boxing there in total downpours.  It was a perfect opportunity to box in a busy, popular park and armed with the proper equipment, a large umbrella to cover me and the box while stamping in and a rain poncho to protect my bag while walking, I was able to mark a large number of boxes off of my to do list.

So this rainy Saturday, much to his delight, I told African Wild that we were going to go play in the rain.  We made a stop first at one of my boxes to give my little guy the opportunity to stamp in.  He was totally mesmerized with the location because it is a very unexpected sight behind a very busy area.

 

But he found the box with a little coaching from me and took advantage of a lull in the rain to stamp in without an umbrella.

 We next headed to one of my favorite local parks, Hibernia, as the rain resumed and umbrellas were the current fashion statement.

 African Wild was good at walking on the slightly muddy trails and finding the boxes but he was not really interested in getting his hands dirty to pull the muddy boxes out of their hidey holes.  So he emerged from this series with the typical inky hands but I had the muddy ones.

Hibernia Park is the home of the annual Fiddlers Festival and African Wild wanted to try out the stage for himself.

 

While using my walking stick as a fiddle, he presented me with an interesting show.  I had never heard the ABC's on a fiddle before!

My Dilemma

I have a letterboxing dilemma, actually two dilemmas but the first one was helped by spell check, and I would appreciate feedback on the second.  I hate maintaining my boxes but I have done a few recently as I have taken African Wild to visit and stamp in to my own boxes.  As part of my "duty" in maintenance, I took pictures of all of the signatures in the logbook.  My dilemma is, would it be ethical to add those pictures with the personal stamps and notes to my little blog here or are they meant for my eyes only - well, my eyes and the eyes of those who find the boxes?

What to Do With a Free Morning

We had nothing on the agenda for Tuesday morning so I took the opportunity to search for a few nearby boxes including two which I had unsuccessfully attempted last November.  I have a strong fascination with alligators and was delighted to find this friendly version at one of the parks.

 

This sign confused me a bit though.  I am not sure how one would molest an alligator.

  

We headed to the Sanford Zoo for a driveby box hidden there. I had never visited this zoo and I had been disappointed when we had my grandchildren here last month because we had not had time to visit.   Although this box did not take us into the zoo itself, I loved what I saw of the grounds and definitely will be sure to take the kids next time they come here with us.

 Typical of Florida weather, we can be enjoying brilliant sunshine one minute and torrential downpours the next.  The sun had been shining at the previous box just 5 miles away and till we got to the zoo, I got drenched just by opening the car door to pick up this driveby which shared its hidey hole with several little lizards.  Fortunately, there was a really nice pavilion close by so I could stamp in without transferring the mud from the box into the car.

 Bill waited patiently and comfortable dry in the car.

 A visit to another local park, Gemini Springs, about two miles from our home gave me the opportunity to check out the springs which were bubbling away.

 I added a picture to my butterfly collection with this soldier butterfly.

No pictures for the last box I tried for.  There is a library box in Sanford that I thought I could capture quickly but when I got to the library, the corner that the box was located was occupied by two obviously bored unemployed people.  One was snoring loudly and his companion was flipping idly through magazines and even though I chose a book and sat there reading for about twenty minutes, it was obvious that they were not going anywhere.  I guess I will get that one when I come back in November.  I was able to capture five new boxes this day, two drivebys and three which were probably less than a mile each, so that was five more than I expected to get.

This is Why I Letterbox -Cassadaga Florida

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It is so hard to fit everything into our schedule when we come to Florida but I did want to get a couple of boxes while we were here.  I have to be very choosy about which boxes to search because Bill is a noxer who gets impatient and bored if there is not a good reason to search for a box.  The box that we were after this day, Cassadaga Crane by Sloppylegs, was the perfect box for both Bill and me.  Our Florida home is about ten miles from Cassadaga and I have seen the signs pointing to the town many times in our travels around the area but I had no idea what a neat little town it is.  So, this box is going to be the first box that I will call my "This is Why I Letterbox" box. There have been so many boxes in my 2000+ finds that have been more than just a find because they take me to really neat places which I would never have visited without the box.  From now on, I will be naming these boxes so that anyone who might read this blog will be encouraged to visit them also because they are very special.  Their appeal might be in the location or style of the box, the area that it takes you to or the quality of the clues, but they will be special for one reason or another to me.

  But back to Cassadaga.  This town is known for all of the psychics who live here.  When we drove down the road, there was one house after the other which had signs in front of them listing their psychic abilities.  At the end of the town is a Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp founded in 1894.  We entered the bookshop below and were greeted by a really friendly woman who explained the features of the town and encouraged us to visit with some of the "readers".  Well, I am not a big believer in psychic powers but I loved this gift shop and ended up spending quite a bit of money here.  Even Bill was busy exploring all of the neat store offerings.  The next time my sister Karen aka Sepia Slipper comes here with me, I will definitely take her with me to explore every nook and cranny of the area. 

  

One of the corners of the store housed these healing stones and rocks with detailed explanations about what powers they possess.

 Oh, yes, there is a letterbox nearby also!  We headed for the little park which was down the road a block or two and saw three sandhill cranes upon entering the parking area.  I am not sure what it is with these birds, but I have seen them often upon entering parks in Florida and they don't seem in the least bit timid.

  

We started to follow the clues and got distracted by this little orange grove in the middle of the park.

 Looks like orange season is going to arrive soon.

 We were the only people in the park on this Labor Day holiday except for three young men in the parking lot pavilion who seemed to be intent on seeing who could drink the most beer. This is really sad because the park is really very pretty and well kept.  Maybe the letterbox which I am holding below will be the ticket for enticing more local people to visit.

 I have to mention one thing about this box that was very special to me.  I am a postcard collector and the clues to the box say to grab a postcard.  I didn't read the clues properly and assumed that I was being encouraged to get a postcard at the gift shop, which I did.  However, in the box itself was a group of postcards and we were encouraged to take one along and, of course, I did!  I chose one from nearby Lake Helen, a site that we intend to visit this week while we are in Florida.

After I completed my box duties, Bill decided that we should walk the little loop which goes through the woods.

 We enjoyed our walk through a Florida woods, much different from our Pennsylvania woods, and laughed at ourselves for jumping every time we heard a rustle in those woods.  I think we have heard too many stories of alligators lately, including the one last week about the woman in southern Florida who had her leg amputated because an alligator attacked her in her yard.  Just part of the charm of  Florida!

 Bill enjoyed the view of the lake from the very nice deck.  I wonder if the wire fence surrounding the deck is to keep the alligators off the deck.

.  We were first finders on an easy find box which has been out for about two months.   We totally enjoyed our whole boxing experience this day and hope that others give this box a try

Florida Bound

Heading to Florida with a two inch thick pack of printed clues. 

Hope to letterbox if the rain

and the heat 

and the alligators 

and the snakes aren't too bad!