Love Those Movies Event

 

My main reason for being in Florida on this particular week was to attend Eeyoremama and Tiggermama's Love Those Movies event being held in St. Augustine.  The gathering was being held in Anastasia State Park right next to the St. Augustine Lighthouse.   After a very dismal and cold couple of days, this day turned out to be picture perfect.

 My friends, Idlemoon, Super Rod and Blue Delft flew down from Pennsylvania and Maryland to attend the event.

 When we go to events, we like to find as many boxes as possible, since the stamps made especially for events usually are very special.  We quickly started out searching for Minions along the beach.

 After capturing all the Minions, we made our way back to the pavilion in time for the raffle drawing.  I was lucky enough to win several new stamp pads and a pack of parchment paper.  I do parchment paper transfers for my own stamps, using kitchen parchment paper, so I am very happy to attempt a transfer using the office variety.  I had priced it out myself a few weeks ago and it was just a little out of my price range so this was a big win for me.

 

 

 As we headed for another set of boxes, I captured these little kids fishing. 

 We met up with LCab on our way to another series and she posed with Idlemoon and blue Delft at the end of the long, long boardwalk above.

 One of the big advantages to boxing in Florida is that almost wherever you go, there is a beach.  Idlemoon decided to take the scenic route back from this box.

Although I was too busy boxing to take too many pictures, I had a wonderful time.  Eeyoremama has announced that the next one will be held in two years, when I am RETIRED and can stay as long as I want to.  Even better, it is being held at a park even closer to our condo.  Can't wait to attend Love Those Amusement Parks!

You Can't Go to Florida and Not Find a Kirbert Box

 Our house is in the wrong part of Florida to be able to enjoy many Kirbert boxes but a visit to St. Augustine provided me a perfect opportunity to add one more to my collection.  The clues mention that the box is in a very unique park and it certainly was one of the most unusual I have been in. The park celebrates Allen Nease, a Floridian pioneer in reforestation, and a sign on the house states that it may soon be listed on the National Historic Register.

 The garage in the back of the house is open to allow picnickers a place to relax and enjoy a lunch.

 

The back yard houses a butterfly garden and a lovely grove of trees.

 But...the best part of this visit was the little walkway across the street from the house which leads to the beach...and the box.

 

 I was happy to see that scattered on the dunes were many prickly pear cacti and that many of them were ready to burst into bloom.

 Thank you, Kirbert, for a quirky little box in a very interesting area.

I Always Wanted to Go To Switzerland

After several days of beautiful sunshine and doing some fun things with Bill, it was time for another letterboxing dedicated day.  I decided to go to Switzerland.  There were boxes to be found in Switzerland but I really don't know if there was much else there. I was just intrigued with the name and the fact that I had always wanted to go to Switzerland.  Of course, the day that I wanted to go had a 70% chance of rain.  I decided to head out long before sunrise to  make the 70 mile drive.  The roads were very dark and the rain was coming down very hard so I stopped at a Walmart and purchased a rain poncho, determined to continue with my plans.   Of course, what other park name could there be in Switzerland except Alpine Groves.

 

I thought it was interesting that this little cardinal who was pecking away on the ground didn't seem the least bit intimidated by me and posed very prettily for a picture.

 This view of the St. Johns river shows just how miserable the day was but I was counting my blessings that it was raining and not snowing.  After all, I WAS in Switzerland!

 I think I am getting used to signs like this one but I still feel a little thrill when I run into one.

 

The rain discourage me from pulling my camera out of my pocket too many times and I was extremely thankful that most of the boxes that I found did not contain logbooks which would slow down the stamping in process.  I ended up with quite a few boxes in this park and, of course, just as I was leaving, the rain let up and there were signs that the sun was going to be pushing its way through before too long.

There is More to Letterboxing than Stamps!

 I was back in Florida and this time, in order to box as much as I wanted, I decided to rent a car.   Bill says he doesn't mind when I use his car but it always makes me feel guilty that he is stuck at home when I am out having fun.  And this visit, I planned my fun without having him along and trying to trick him into letting me find boxes.  So, I took a picture of my chariot for the week and just want to say that I will never desire buying a Toyota Yaris.  Enough said.

 I headed first for Buck Lake to find a mystery box that had eluded me last time I tried to find it.  There are so many little places like this to hide boxes in and previously, I had always been kind of afraid to wander around them alone because of my fear of alligators and snakes.  But with experience comes more confidence with walking through these conservation areas.  I have to admit that my confidence took a little hit when I saw this poster below.  I am  used to being wary of ticks and mosquitoes and I am a little nervous about running into the wild hogs which are common in Florida but I never knew there was a disease that came with the hogs.

 Fortunately, I found my box with ease this time and headed over to another area which had presented a problem during my last visit.  I was on Merritt Island to do a seven box series in November.  I found the first box but the clues said to cross a boardwalk and I couldn't see a boardwalk.  It had rained heavily the week before and the area was flooded.  This time the boardwalk was very evident and I was happy to proceed across it.

 

I guess most people would think this is gross but I was intrigued by this pile of scat which was on the boardwalk.  I could tell by looking at it that the depositor was a fruit and seed eater by the pretty colored seeds popping through.  I ended up buying a scat identifier at a local park and think that this belongs to nothing more exotic than a raccoon.  But it looked pretty and sparkly with the sun shining on it.

I soon came across another interesting site.  The stamps in the boxes were all wrapped in long strips of cotton fabric and had been placed almost a year earlier.  Right in the middle of the path between two of the boxes, was a small piece of the fabric, looking like it was brand new.  How and why it got there is a mystery. 

 When I had crossed the boardwalk a little earlier, a man who was coming in the opposite direction had warned me that there was a family of wild pigs on the trail ahead.  He assured me that they were too small to  hurt me and that I should just make a lot of noise and they would run.  I never did run into the pigs but I did see signs of their rooting for bugs in these upturned piles of debris.

 I had finished my planned boxes for this day and was heading for home when I saw these huge kites flying over the treeline ahead of me.  I could tell they were near the bridge over the Indian River and I was excited to see them closer.  As I approached, I realized that they were not kites at all but that they were attached to people!  Kitesurfers!  I quickly pulled into a little park which was really only a strip of beach and got out to watch the beauty and grace of these kites.  I had just lived another one of those "if it hadn't been for letterboxing" moments and was thrilled with the experience.

 

 

  A windsurfer worked his way along the shoreline.

 As I turned to get back into my car, the ever familiar site of the NASA building popped up right behind me.

I still don't know which pleased me the most this day, finding the mystery box second time around, completing the series which had eluded me a few months earlier or seeing the beauty on the water.  All I do know is that when Bill asked me how my day had been and I was explaining all three scenarios to him, only another letterboxer could have understood my happiness. 

What Does the Desk Say?

I had read an article in our local newspaper where the journalist analyzed his desk and explained the significance of many of the pieces of memorabilia on it.  After reading the article, I took a good look at my desk and all I could think of was that my desk says that I am a letterboxer!