Actual Letterboxing...how 'bout that?

an actual letterbox  - cool, eh?

Here in the PNW it has been a cold, wet, snowy, dreary, grey and dismal winter.  And long...did I mention that it was long?  Even without considering that my personal life was thrown into a Vitamix, it was just a yucky winter period.  But, guess what?  The sun still exists!!

No, really.  I saw it myself just last Wednesday.  And it was absolutely lovely.  Warm and bright; just letting it hit my face was equivalent to slipping into a lovely hot tub after a long day of hard labor.  Aaaaahhhhhh.  And, what does one choose to do when the sun is actually shining?  Well, letterbox, of course!

the capitol building in Olympia

We all packed up into the mom-mobile and hit the road.  Being still raw from recent events, we opted for drive-bys.  We were not disappointed, to be sure!  In my hiatus from traditional boxing, there has been some incredible boxes planted.  (Can I just say a great big THANK YOU to all you who plant drive-by letterboxes?  They were great carves and so worthy of our time to get them!)

Padawan and T-4-Turtle on a mission with the clues...

I have to admit, confess really, that we are no longer the hard-nosed, staunch letterboxers we used to be.  Not that I don't still consider myself a letterboxer, I absolutely do.  However, the three mile hike to get the box just doesn't attract me these days (or my kids, that's for sure!!).  I'm not rabid to get as many boxes in one day as I was in years past...I know, this almost boarders on blasphemy.  What I do enjoy is getting the rather non-complicated plants with wonderful carves that take me to beautiful places around our area.  No frustration, just enjoyment.  We love to combine our letterboxing excursions with photography...very satisfying, to be sure.

So, we got five...yeah five!!...letterboxes on Wednesday.  They took us down to Olympia for an awesome Box of the Month, into Maytown to enjoy Millersylvania State Park (which is graced with those tiny, little daisies every where you step) and then into the valley lorded over by the majestic Mount Rainier.  We ended up in Tacoma looking for blooming rhodies and walking along the shore of Puget Sound.  What a way to enjoy that ever elusive thing called sunshine.

my letterboxing kids aren't little anymore...