A walk down memory ... trail.

 I am nursing the bright idea of reviving the first letterbox I planted, oh so long ago. So, I dug out my first letterboxing logbook and fell down the rabbit hole. 

F-1 for the So. Hill Hendersons

This was our first find. No worries spoiling this box for potential finders - it was planted by folks that no longer box - besides, the box is long since gone missing and has been retired or forgotten. But the memory is alive and well on these pages and in my mind. 

And this was our first plant. I chose a place where I spent so much time as a child - South Beach on the Washington Coast. Appropriately named 'Grayland' and 'Westport,' you really can't get much further west in the lower 48. Grayland is known for razor clam digging and growing cranberries for the Ocean Spray company. Westport, just a little bit north of Grayland, is a small charter fishing town with a picturesque harbor. Both towns survive on tourism, but most of the folks that have lived there for decades do not like tourists - a bit of a cognitive dissonance going on there, unfortunately. But, new blood is trickling into Westport, or at least it was prior to the pandemic. Hopefully, with things opening back up a bit, they will be able to have some of the sweet little street fairs and their Pirate Daze that bring in quite a few people and dollars. As for Grayland? Well, the antique store opened back up, and there is rather new restaurant in the abandoned location of the beloved SeaStar Restaurant, so that's a good thing. I would hate to see these towns die, truly. 

The best thing about these places is that they are on the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Sandy and rugged, often rainy and windy, visiting the ocean beaches here is an adventure in itself. Once known as "Washington's Famous Drive On Beaches," you'd better have a towing company phone number tucked in your pocket if you want to drive on what is still considered a state highway. 

I have walked too many miles to count on those beaches. I clammed my heart out with my family when I was a young person, we crabbed for Dungeness from the Nelson pier in Tokeland, and my dad and grandfather caught ocean perch off the rocks holding back the erosion on Washaway Beach. Even still, when I visit there are many, many ghosts. It seems only right that it was the place to plant my first letterbox.

Those two boxes lasted for a bit, then they both went missing. I recarved and replaced. They went missing again. I recarved and replaced again. By the third time they went missing, I let them go and retired them. I had moved on to finding and planting many more boxes, as well as getting involved with postal rings. 

The So. Hill Hendersons - MoMonkey (aka Cowgirl), HkrTrkr (Alex), T-for-Turtle, Molly (the dog), and me. I never had a trail name for myself until Inky Jedi, which didn't really stick very well. Oh yes, and Speeder, my car. MoMonkey (my daughter) became quite the carver herself, and I only carved that first sig-stamp for her (the one with the sun). She was actually instrumental in getting me back into 'boxing and carving again. She wanted to carve some stamps for a project, and asked me to dig out our tools that were in storage. Digging through that old stuff made me want to get back in!

One thing that really stood out to me as I was rolling along memory 'trail,' was that those early boxes we were finding had very rudimentary carvings. Really, for the first year or two of letterboxing, stamps were carved quickly, many times noted in the clues that they were carved 'on-site,' and were nothing more than an outline of the outstanding feature of the area. And we were thrilled with every one! I remember at my first event, I caught sight of stamp of the Narrows Bridge in another person's logbook, and I was on fire to go get that stamp! It didn't matter that it wasn't the best stamp material or even clean carving. These stamps were treasures to find, and everyone loved it. 

As time progressed, it seemed like as I got better at carving, the quality of the carving of planted letterbox stamps in the area improved, as well. You can see above our first stamps (in green), and a few of the updated sig-stamps (in brown). I even carved a special sig-stamp when we reached 100 finds - it was really something! Now 'boxers have thousands - I cannot even relate to that. We are still under 1,000 finds - and I am OK with that! And now, when we find a box, so often we are thrilled with the carving skill of the planter or the clever image they chose for the location - or both!

As these things go, MoMonkey and HkrTrkr don't box with me anymore - they have moved on to houses and careers in the city. But T-for-Turtle - who will turn 23 in August and has chosen to live with us - still does sometimes. Really, he just likes to travel with us, when he is not working, which is a real treat. And, 'us' is me under the SHH moniker, and Obimaster, and Samsonite (formerly Triple T and Padawan), who also lives with us. We truly are a motley crew! Myself and Obimaster comprise the Lazy Bxrz. It seemed like the only appropriate trailname, since my preferred box to find is a drive-by in an awesome place I have never been before. Yeah, that's pretty lazy alright!

I am definitely planning on reviving those old Grayland and Westport boxes, with modified clues and hopefully better hiding spots. I have a couple more ideas in mind for the 'cranberry coast' of Washington, as well. Now, I just need the time to carve!