Gargoyles Enjoying the Great Outdoors, the People

What good is a letterboxing event without people?  No good, I say.  So here are my pictures of some of the people who were my companions for the Memorial Day weekend.

Below, Blue Delft and Idlemoon enjoying breakfast. Our first night camping was very cold and the sun was welcome to warm us up.

 The GarBar was THE place to hang out.

 Super Hedge Hoggie enjoyed the comfort of one of the swings to review the clues.

 Our hostess, WebCatcher explains the details to Idlemoon, Blue Cruzsader, Red Cruzsader and Blue Delft.

 Blue Delft stamps in to one of the almost 200 boxes that we collected this weekend.

 Idlemoon looks comfy cozy as she stamps in.

 Boxes were everywhere, including this little dock overlooking the river.

 My many thanks to Idlemoon who became our blood hound, searching out boxes and bringing them back to us as we relaxed and just enjoyed stamping in.

 Idlemoon discovers yet another hidey hole with Blue Delft.

 Time to relax.

 New acquaintances, Lilkodamas and her daughter, Blue Roo, exchange personal travelers with Red Cruzsader.

 Nothing was safe, boxes were everywhere and we had to check every little nook and cranny.

 Raffle prizes were given out and Nate the Great, Blue Delft's son, chose the gargoyle cake pop as his prize.  Idlemoon stamps yet another in her logbook.

 Bue and Red Cruzsader waiting to see if their raffle ticket earned them a prize.

 Hubbub of activity.  In the left background, the Cruzsaders chat with the FrogQueen duo.  Chicken Little in the foreground with her back to us and her daughters seated.  Mystical Lil Hopper in the orange shirt behind Chicken Little.  CTEagleEye chats with Night0wl and Super Rod to the right.

 Red Cruzsader searching for crayfish.

 My place in the rear as we looked for boxes on the island.  I am following the Cruzsaders who wore matching shirts the whole weekend except in different colors.  What a great couple.

 At the pond on the island, Leatherbottom and DEPPsperado discuss their finds while Mr. CTEagleEye takes pictures.  Night0wl steps off the picnic table while Super Rod surveys the pond.

 Irish Ref, Blue Delft, Sewsewbizzy and Idlemoon in discussion.

 Nate the Great played hard and fell asleep in this unlikely position.

 Blue Delft at the GarBar.

We had a wonderful time at this event, there was not a down side to anything.  The setting was idyllic, the weather was picture perfect, there were tons of new boxes to find, lots of new carvers in my collection, many new letterboxers to meet and several old friends to hang out with.  Thank you, Castlekeepers, for many new and wonderful memories.

Gargoyles Enjoying the Great Outdoors, the Gardens

As I had mentioned previously, there were so many details in the landscaping which kept up the theme of the home that I couldn't begin to mention them all.  However, one thing that I did take several photos of are the fairy gardens and gargolyes that were tucked everywhere and almost all of them had a letterbox with them.  Here are a few.

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 Red Cruzsader ended up becoming the happy owner of this Star Wars themed garden.

 I ended up with the strawberry jar as the prize for my winning raffle ticket.  I placed it with my own little garden gnome.

Gargoyles Enjoying the Great Outdoors, Castlekeepers Home

I had been pondering attending the Gargoyle Preserve event for quite a while but originally had to put the idea aside since there were other family plans in the works.  When those plans fell through, I happily signed up for the event and now have so many wonderful memories that I am glad that I did.  I made my way towards West Virginia on a beautiful Friday afternoon, hoping to reach the preserve before dark.  Ironically, when I stopped at a rest stop for what I knew would be my last real bathroom use for the weekend, I ran into Idlemoon and Blue Delft, who had actually left an hour earlier than I did and from York which is an hour closer to the preserve than Reading.  My luck at using the turnpike and other roads which are 65 mph paid off as they had to use the tedious start and stop driving Rt. 30, to get to where we met.  It turned out to be to my advantage to run into them because we were able to pick up two new boxes there that I might have passed by.  We parted ways temporarily as I had to stop to eat before I continued on the last leg of the journey.  I eventually entered the state of West Virginia and made a stop for a letterbox at this sign. 

 

I made one more stop for a box before heading to the preserve and enoyed this view of bovine wooly bums.

 

 I managed to make it to the preserve before the sunset and met our host, Gargoyle Bob, who directed me to my home away from home for the weekend.  Idlemoon and Blue Delft had arrived before me and were busy setting up their campsite while their boys kept busy with the chess board that they had brought.

As I began to look around, I quickly decided that this was an absolutely beautiful setting for an event and an even more beautiful spot for a home.

 

I began to notice the event theme was more than just an event theme here, it was a way of life as little touches of gargoyles, fairies and gnomes were apparent everywhere.

  

We had been warned by WebCatcher aka Mrs. Castlekeeper that there would be chickens roaming the campsites the next morning, and sure enough, there were.  These were not the usual white chickens with red combs though and they were great models for photos.

 

 I am an early riser and I was up and about before most of the other people, enjoying the views and getting acquainted with the layout of the land.  This gorgeous view is what the Castlekeepers see from the big windows in the front of their home.

 And this lovely gargoyle is what I saw from the window of my temporary home.

 Our message board was in place and already sported instructions for our searches.  Our poor hosts had been up all night placing last minute boxes and took some time to enjoy some much needed sleep but we were definitely not going to wonder what to do while they rested. 

 

Beautiful views were within our site the entire weekend.  Below are a few.

 

 

 

 

 This view may not have been as beautiful but it certainly was a source of fascination for many of us, especially the mini boxers.  This and the last two pictures above were on the island across the river.