THE CARTERSVILLE EXCURSION

        After a very busy weekend, Heather and I had a appointment with a log cabin builder as we are interested in finding some property for a potential retirement location. The meeting went well but nothing caught our eye. After the meeting Heather and I decided to go find some letterboxes so we stop and got some lunch in Cartersville, Georgia and ate a a place call Jefferson's Pub and Grill. When we got to the truck after eating we noticed that there was a thing call Friendship Plaza directly in front of where we parked so we walked through the little area and found a monument that paid respects to the local first responders in the local community to thank them for all they do. It was a beautiful and tasteful monument to thank the guys that do so much but don't always get the respect they deserve. After we left the monument we decided to go to our first letter box which was located at Oak Hill Cemetery in Cartersville. Here we where trying to find 2 letter boxes the first one was named "The Good Shepard." The box was fairly easy to find but the stamp was very nice, the craving was very detailed and must have taken some time to crave. Once we found the first one we walked around to look at headstones and viewed some of the dates on the head stones around the box 

locations. Once we got back to the truck we started towards our second box of the day which was located at the highest point in the cemetery. We spent a few minutes trying to locate the location. Once we found that location we had really no trouble finding the box named "Saint George." This box was planted by the same person as the first box and the stamp was again very well done.  This cemetery is very well maintained and very historic. After we found the second box, we decided to find another box located at another cemetery in Cartersville. This cemetery was called "Friendship Cemetery," and was located about 3 miles from the other cemetery. Heather and I made the drive to this location and walked up a hill to this dated cemetery that was bought by the founder of this church back in the 1800's. This cemetery was developed to bury church members back in its inception. We made our way as we read the clues and had no real trouble finding the box named "Friendship Cemetery," but a awesome location. This box was planted by the same person that planted our previous two boxes, and once again a very well done stamp. On our way back to the truck we found the sign about the cemetery and stopped to read the sign. The coolest thing about this find is that the first service conducted by this church happened on February 26, 1843. How weird!! After this find, we made our way to what we hoped would be a relaxing walk to a box series named "I Started Early....I Took My Dog....." This was a park named Sam Smith Park located on the outskirts of Cartersville on our way home. This park was in fact exactly what we hoped it would be, quite and

peaceful. The series was cute, five stamps of different dogs going from smaller to largerer breeds. This series would be ideal for a family hunt, the boxes were hidden in good locations but virtually right off of the trail. In our opinion this was a well done series and the stamps were very well carved. Heather and I spent roughly 45 minutes completing the series on a very nice day in February. The high temperature today got to 70 degrees. It was great day to end the weekend, 8 boxes in one day. Thanks as always to my wonderful wife for making these letter boxing days amazing. I Love You!!!

We Helped the Doctor, Did the Grapevine, and Crossedthe Red Bridge

Yesterday was a day full of appointments as Heather had to go have a biopsy performed on her throat and I had physical therapy. As things would have it our youngest daughter Ariel was kind enough to accompany us to Heather's appointment in case Heather could not drive after the biopsy. After Heather's appointment she felt like getting a bite to eat so we stopped at a KFC and decided to go find a letterbox on the way home. We made another attempt at "Rock Box: Blackbird" that we tried a couple of days ago, still not luck. From there we made our way to a neighborhood called Deer Run to try to find the first stamp in a series of 5 names "Help the Doctor." We recovered the first stamp but we will have to make another day of it to find the remaining 4. We made another stop on the way home to find 2 more boxes that were real close together as the clues read anyway. The first box we attempted was named "The Grapevine", the location of the box was nothing special but it brought to a neighborhood I had never been to which was really nice. However, the stamp was well done. The second box we looked for was in fact only .01 miles away from the first box, that box was named "The Red Bridge." The box is off of a main road but in a very relaxing environment which makes you forget about the traffic driving just to the front of you. After that box Heather was not feeling all that well so we made our way back home to let her get some rest. All I can say is my wife is a very strong willed woman and we had to force her to go home. Heather, I Love You!

 

Nothing like a Little Mystery

    
 Today, Heather agreed to get me out of the house on day 15 following my surgery. So when she got home from work we loaded up and headed to Woodstock, Georgia with the hopes of finding a letterbox named "Nancy Drew: The Hidden Staircase." We made our way to the address on the clue which brought us to a church named Little River United Methodist Church. The church is surround by a cemetery on two sides and is very well maintained. This cemetery is home to many of the churches congregation dating back to 1830's with markers dating back to 1800. The church was originally in a different location but moved to its present location in 1854. If you want to get more information on the history of the church you can visit this link http://www.littleriverumc.info/littleriverumc-page02-history.html. We followed the clues and made our way to the box after some guess work. The box was hidden in a very dated but quaint spot behind the church in a grove of trees.

After finding the Nancy Drew: The Hidden Staircase Box we set off to downtown Woodstock to hopefully find another box named "Rock Box: Blackbird." The address brought us to Woodstock City Park that also has a memorial to veterans foreign wars. The monument and design of the park is very tastefully done and quite even for being on a fairly busy street. To no avail, we search but had no luck in uncovering the hiding spot of the Blackbird as I believe the fall of darkness had something to do with it. I sent a message to the owner since there has been obvious construction in the area that may have compromised the box. Nevertheless we will make another attempt at Blackbird tomorrow. It was another memoriable evening with my amazing wife Heather!!

"Wonderland" at RED Top Mountain, Georgia

On 18 Feb 12, our oldest daughter Tiffany, her boyfriend Andrew, and our youngest daughter Ariel were out finding letterboxes most of the morning, while Heather and I were doing our normal Saturday routine of house cleaning and grocery shopping. They contacted Heather and I to see if we would like to join them for a letterbox hunt. Heather printed one of the clues from LBNA which was hidden at Red Top Mountain, Georgia. This clue is a series of boxes called "Wonderland." Heather and I finished up what we were doing while they headed to our house for our letterbox adventure. Once they arrived we decided to head out an grab a bite to eat at the local Steak and Shake. This turned out to be a bad idea since we sat down to eat at roughly 2:30pm and did not get our food for roughly 45 minutes. We arrived at Red Top Mountain's Iron Hill Trail were the clues had us starting. The park closes at dark so we had roughly an hour and a half to be out of there by park rules. Keep in mind that it is an over cast afternoon with certain rain heading our way. The Iron Hill Trail is roughly a four mile loop trail, so in my mind I thought we had plenty of time to get out and possibly find all three boxes. The boxes are labeled as "The White Rabbit, The Mad Hatter, and The Cheshire Cat," in that order by the clues. As we (Heather, Tiffany, Ariel, Andrew, and myself) all start down the trail the mist starts falling, none of us have any rain gear what so ever. The temperature is in the low 50's as we started our adventure. As we started trying to find the location of the White Cat the rain continued to fall gradually harder. Roughly 45 minutes into the hunt we found the location of the White Rabbit, and we rejoiced in our find. As the stamping and writing was completed, 3 of the 5 hunters (Tiffany, Andrew, and myself)decided that we had time to push on and find one more before the rain would certainly start pouring on us. While the other two hunters (Heather and Ariel), the reasonable minds in the group; told us to stop, go back to the car, and go home before we got soaking wet and cold. As Democracy would have it the majority ruled and we pressed on to find at least one more box. We start walking once again further down the trail trying follow the clues given and making absolute assumptions based on no reasonable explanation. We manged to get off of the main trail and walked down numerous other trails to find old campsites in which the next box was located. We walked and hunted until the sun light started to disappear, all of us were soaked to the bone by this time. The group was cold and wet, wishing we had listened to the reasonable heads in the first place. Finally the decision was made to head back to the car, as we started heading back in the mist of darkness the rain continued to fall, tempers and fear started to get the best of the group. As things would have it we took a much longer route back to the car than anticipated, for we started this hunt without a map. As blame and finger pointing started as did the fear of wildlife in the area. The Indians were restless as the thought of black bear, coyotes, mountain lions, and bobcats could potentially you us as food. One hour plus into our walk back to the car, my family was cold and wet; we were lucky to encounter the headlights of a vehicle approaching us from the rear. It was in fact the park ranger who had noticed our car still parked in the gravel parking area and came to find us. He pulled along side of us and I told him that I was a bad judge of time and thought that we had plenty of time to get back to the car before dark. He nodded, smiled and told us to get in the back of the truck and he would get us to the car. We were only .3 miles from the vehicle but being cold and wet would have made the walk seem further. So I must say thanks to the park ranger for getting my family and I out of the weather sooner than we thought we were going too. Once back to the car, Heather cranked up the engine and turned on the heat to get everyone warmed up. I couldn't drive at the time because of shoulder surgery so my lovely wife has been doing all of the driving. On the ride back, the anger and frustration the took place on the trail was soon over come with sarcasm and laughter. I can tell you this, as a step-father I could not be any prouder of the family I have so fortunately inherited. Thank each of you for creating another unforgettable moment in my life with each of you. This truly is a "Wonderland" for me!!

My Opening BLOG

      
       Since this is my first blog I will open by saying thank you to Lion's Mane (my brother Mark) for introducing me to letter boxing. Mark introduced me by taking me out on a letterbox hunt in Lafayette, Louisiana as we met there for Christmas one year. Ever since then I have always wanted to use letter boxing to get out and see new places that I probably would not have otherwise seen. As things would have it the military keeps me pretty busy and never really got real active in letter boxing. However, in May of 2009, I met my wonderful wife Heather; which also liked the concept of letter boxing and we thought it would be an awesome pastime for us to take up. Heather and I started letter boxing and found roughly 10 or so boxes in the beginning. We had a great time and saw some pretty nice and unforgettable places. Then again the demanding job as a soldier would get us off track and we would not touch letter boxing again till now. Heather and I have 3 amazing adult children and 6 awesome grandchildren, and our oldest daughter Tiffany and her boyfriend Andrew found and interest in letter boxing as well. Our youngest daughter Ariel, also likes letter boxing but only at certain times. Our son Tony and our Daughter-in-Law Lindsey, also lead the busy life as a military family and haven't had the opportunity to experience letter boxing. I would also like to introduce our grandchildren as well, our 2 oldest are our grand daughters; Maybri and Kyleigh. Our grandsons from oldest to youngest are Atlas, Truitt, Andrew, and Troy. So, as this BLOG evolves, I hope it becomes long and full of pictures as Heather and I hope to make our letter boxing adventure a FAMILY pastime!!

   "A GRAND DAUGHTER'S SLEEP OVER"

     On Friday, 17 Feb 12; Heather and I had a sleep-over with the grand daughters. Our agenda for the girls started with a secret box hunt (letter box) in Kennesaw, Georgia. The box is one that Heather and I had found together before, it is located at the Kennesaw City Cemetery and is named "The General by Roadsideguide." We choose a box that we had found because the grand daughters are 3 years old and we had to give them kid friendly clues. Heather and I loaded them up into their car seats and started towards Kennesaw City Cemetery. Once we arrived and got them out of the car, we gave them their first clue. Their first clue was to find the big stone with two flags sticking out of it. The second clue was to find the metal bench. The third clue was to find the cement bench. The fourth clue was to find the orange tape in the shape of a box. The fifth clue was to take 10 steps forward and face to the left. The sixth clue was to find two trees that look like a "v" at the bottom. The seventh clue was to find the rock at the base of the tree. It was so much fun to watch them getting so excited and run from clue to clue. Those girls are so adorable. Heather is the photographer in the family but she is an amazing grandmother to our grand children. Next time Heather you will be the one in the pictures. Thank you Maybri and Kyleigh for spending your Friday night with Nina and Papa!!!!!