D.e.n.i.e.d.

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH! 'Nuff said!

The Stash

Dumb, I know.  But it makes me snicker every time.

The Bog

The bog was gorgeous.  The color was bursting and the sun was warm and bright.  A perfect day for a hike.  The Caped Coder came along and brought Mip.  Was with my posse of E man, TNT, and Hot Lava.

At one point the nerf football landed in the bog. TNT hopped in and did a dolphin dive out.

All of that military action obviously paid off because the moves were very impressive and not even a toe got wet.

In addition to the usual Cape characters, we made some other friends as well including the ghost Phineas.  We very much enjoyed meeting him.

Overall a perfect start to our Easter weekend getaway.

Snow day

What better to do on a snow day than organize your letterboxing backpack?!  I've been meaning to do this for ages.  Here goes.  Dumped out all leaves, pine needles, and dirt.  Retired clues for boxes I've already found.  Gathered together and logged into all the hitchhikers I've been dragging around.   And since I have so many right now, I planned a hostel to plant in the Spring.  Double checked that Hot Lava's stamp is indeed missing - and it is.  :(  Reorganized the pens in a more accessible pen holder.  Pitched old icky ink pads, put a few new fresh ones in the bag.  Added some baggies.  Ball for the dog.  Hand sanitizer and handi wipes for you-never-know-what. New logbook for Baseball Buddy.  And made an LB to-do list.

Hunting in an Unusual Place

I was looking soooo forward to getting out on Thanksgiving day for a wonderful hike with the bonus of discovering the unusual Cape characters. I had been speculating about what some of them might be for days.  We packed up the extended group, dogs and all, while the turkey was roasting.

The large pickups with gun racks and NRA stickers parked by the entrance was our first indication.  We were a big and not quiet group so even when we saw the hunting sign for coyote, small game, and deer archery we thought we were too obvious to be mistaken.  Not to mention that we figured the hunters wouldn't be so close to the trail.

We made it with no problem to the first box and just as we were retrieving it we heard gunshots very loud and very close.

That was it.  We had to call it a day. We did find a nice HH as a consolation prize. ...sigh...  It looked like such a nice trail and what a beautiful day.  Alas, we'll be back.  When hunting season is over.

The Rebel Base

The Caped Coder, Mip, Zip, Hot Lava, and I went to find the Rebel Base at our favorite place, Nixon Park.  We found Luke Skywalker but Darth Vader had apparently been abducted.

I was lucky enough to find a Woozy, though.  Beware!

Bearberry Hill

Finally! After years of trying to work it into our schedule, today the family was agreeable to tackling the Bearberry Hill hike.

The vistas were amazing.  A nice reward for hiking the sometimes sandy windy and hilly trail.

We took a little side trail to the beach with beautiful cliffs and sprawling sand.  Hot Lava and TNT cooled off in the waves.

We finally made it to the bog house.  No sight of anyone.  We wondered who the bike belonged to...

Picked up a hitch hiker along the way, adding to the perfection of the day.

I highly recommend this hike!  I think it will have   to fit into my favorite top 10 of all time!

Yum

Thanks to Yumgirl who recently planted a wind tamer right in town, an easy stop in between the Cottage Street Bakery (dirt bombs) and the Nauset Surf Shop (a new pair of Toms).

I had been here a time or two before but it was such a beautiful day and nice to stop by again and enjoy the beauty of this vantage point.  Yumgirl also left behind a couple of yummy goodies for us first finders as well as a really cool flea.

Pond Wizard

Since I had so many hitch hikers, I decided to create a place where these transients could rest before moving on.  This is my first HHH and I'm anxious to see how it goes.  I thought the area was cool because it sits up on the hill and it looks like evidence of great battles all around, as if the Wizard has been providing protection from interlopers.

BTW, if you are familiar with E man's Merlin, this Wizard came from the same inspiration.

Hoppy Easter 2012

Today I created a burrow for an Easter adventure.  We've created several Thanksgiving memories, it seemed fitting that we should create some Easter ones too.  Mip created one as well.

Hitch Hiker Heyday

Before heading out to find the raccoon, the Caped Coder and I got to chatting about hitch hikers and how each of us was carrying several, which is unusual.  I know I'll be heading to the Cape over Easter so I'm holding onto a few to drop off there.  Anyway, we decided to check out what each other had and ended up swapping a few.  I think hitch hikers are super fun - such a great treat when you find one. We are pleased to say that currently the following hitch hikers are being well looked after for now.  Pretty soon they will all be dropped off at destinations unknown.  State Abbreviation: PA, State Abbreviation: NJ, Felix the Cat, Looking for Adventure, Two for the Road, HG2, and Dos, which picked up a super duper fun and creepy STD known as Genital Warts.  Perhaps one of these gems will show up in one of your finds soon!

Today's Cruzsade

With another beautiful 50 degree winter day, my letterboxing minions and I set out on a Cruzsade.  Fortunately we came prepared with boots because the mud was deep.  The Button came too.  We had a great time on the way to Goblin City.  The big pile of rocks was a big hit.

We also stopped by the Hostile Hostel.  I just love these things.  This one in particular has the most fantastic host carving and a large assortment of hitch hikers from which to choose. Definitely worth the trip.  I counted at least 16 of them in the box.  I left one and took a couple, figured it would be good to get them back into circulation. 



And one last stop at Anime Ice Cream on the way home.  There was no ice cream to be had but beautiful views and the smell of Spring in the air.  What was that groundhog thinking?!

Happy Cake Day to Me!

Yesterday marked my 5th year anniversary of finding my first letterbox.  Today marks my 5th year of being an Atlas Quest member. To commemorate the occasion, we were planning on heading out on some adventures yesterday but then the darkening sky opened up and it rained pretty hard, especially for having only a 20% chance of showers. 

The Caped Coder came through for me today and we headed out despite the cold, windy, and raw conditions.  Our first stop was unexpected.  Thanks to the heads up from idlemoom, we were able to score an amazing box.  It was so impressive, a really awesome carving, a specially appointed box, and a clever and thoughtful gift.  After wishing Fijne Verjaardag! to Blue Delft (and a Gelukkig Jaarfeest to me) we moved on to part two of our outing.

We enjoyed the big open space and the views of the horses.  Even they were wearing coats.  It was great to get out and stretch to grab the boxes.  But then it was so chilly that we ran back to the car just so we could stamp in without our fingers and ink pads freezing.

We gave thanks to the farmers and we met a horse named Belle.  We also came across the soul saver #2 and the empire strikes back.  All in all a very productive day. 


Special thanks to all who made my mini celebration possible and fruitful!  ;)

Missing: The Cure for Scurvey

I just got a message from Little Louie that the Cure for Scurvey's stamp is separated from its logbook and is missing. 

Apparently, it was last seen in West Virginia where it was picked up at a rest stop.  LL said that the logbook was wet in a baggie but the box it was in was not wet.  Strange...

Any information on the whereabouts of the stamp would be appreciated. Many thanks!  And shout out thanks to Little Louie for contacting me!

Peace

The Caped Coder hit me up for a lovely afternoon of seeking.  It was so beautiful to get out an enjoy the late summer sights and sounds.  We went on a peaceful walk at Lake Williams.  We brought along a posse of Mip, Zip, Hot Lava, and even Bert and Sassypants.  I was so impressed how fast the group hiked along.  We covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time.

As an added bonus, we found a lurking black cow. ;)

Mud!

With Spring Fever beginning to set in, we headed out to a nearby and relatively newly planted adventure at the Castle in the Sky. What a great outing! I even found a Vroom Vroom HH waiting for me!

It wasn't too warm or too cold and it was beautiful. But boy, oh boy (and in this case, oh boy) was it muddy! Definitely worth it though!

50 State Update

I am pleased to say that I have been able to actually get my hands on the logbook portion of my 50 State Challenge hitch hiker. It has made its rounds to Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. 12 states in all so far, only 38 to go! It has some very cool images in it and has been to some really remarkable places.

In a day or two, I will be sending the logbook on to a boxer who is caring for the stamp and cover of the HH. There is still plenty of room in the logbook so keep your eyes out for it, thanks for caring for it, and keep it moving on!

Shout out "THANKS!" to Fun Loving Frogs, Green Jello, and ro of jerr_n_ro. I *really really* appreciate your help in reuniting this hitch hiker and looking after it.

Seeking Help

I'm not really sure who reads this, if anyone, but I'm sending out a call for help. My favorite hitch hiker, the 50 State Challenge is in need of some critical maintenance. It has been split apart. It seems that the logbook is traveling separately from the cover and stamp. Ideally, I'd love to have all parts returned to me so I can get it back together properly. I'm happy to pay for postage home.

As far as I can tell, the logbook was last seen in Livermore, CA at My Purple Cupcake. Sorry for the spoiler, but at this point, I'm just trying to preserve this HH. The cover and stamp were last heard from in Utah by Green Jello. I haven't heard from her in a few weeks and I'm not sure what the status is at this point. But I would really love to revive this one, fix it up, and keep it going.

It has been traveling for the past three years and as far as I know, it has been to the following states: Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Wyoming, Utah, California.

Please look out for it if you're in CA or UT and please consider helping me out. Thanks and again, sorry for the spoiler.

Skitchin

Our first stop today brought us to Lake Redman (or was it Lake Williams - I never can quite tell where one starts and the other stops). It was appropriate that we brought the button since we were visiting all the dogs I've ever loved. I stamped in with one eye on the ice. It seemed pretty solid but I definitely didn't feel like saving anyone's life today.

There were some silver bells waiting for me in the box. I was so pleased for this Christmas goodie. So appropriate.

50 State Challenge

Back in January of 2008 I set free one of my most favorite hitch hikers. I put a twist on it, challenging finders to help it make its way to all 50 states. I released it in Pennsylvania and it quickly made its way to Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. Someone dropped me a note telling me they were taking it to Barbados. Perhaps they changed their mind when they realized that Barbados isn't one of the 50, or maybe they did take it and it quickly made its way back to the states.

After the east coast, the hitch hiker turned up in Arizona. But then I didn't hear from it for a while, until today, I got a note from Tater Sue that she found it near Yellowstone in Mammoth, Wyoming - one of my most favorite places on the earth! I am so excited that my HH has visited this beautiful! I can't wait to see where it turns up next!