Letterboxing

While Gina and Carrie were here, they introduced me to letterboxing, a variation of geo-caching: where one person leaves a cached box for another person to find, following clues from a website.  We went looking for a couple and found one.

This plastic container was hidden, and Gina, who apparently has a real knack for finding these, dug it up.

Inside is a small booklet, where people have left their stamp.  Yes, each letterboxer has a unique stamp (some hand-carved).

Carrie stamping hers.

Then, she signed and dated the entry.

Inside the box is the stamp that belongs to the site: a hand-carved tree.  It's not wood that these are carved from, but a kind of modeling material just for this sort of thing.

We went to the second site.

 

Even though we had my garden trowel, and looked everywhere, there was no letterbox.  Gina and Carrie tried to find others on their trip, but it was about the same percentage of success.  I asked her who did these sorts of things, and she believed it was home-schoolers.  Having had a few of those students in my college class, I imagined them designing a stamp, making a book, figuring out a location all as part of some curriculum that we, in The Olden Days, would have considered a great summer activity--when we were out of school. Whatever the reason why it came to be there, I had a terrific time with lots of laughter as we tried to find these cached treasures.  

Now I just need to make a stamp and buy me a little book.