Stamp me a Letter

It's getting close to my birthday, and the festivities have begun. Yesterday, my girlfriend Jennifer treated hubby and I to share in her new hobby, Letterboxing, and to partake in a picnic after we had a nice hike.

Letterboxing is like a treasure hunt using clues to find a hidden box. Once you find the box, you get to stamp your book with the stamp inside the box, and leave your own stamp in the book provided.

Jennifer had a couple clues for boxes hidden in the Auburn and Cool area, so off we headed. We stopped first in Auburn to find one that is hidden in old Auburn and even with the clues we had, we couldn't find it at first. Just when you think you have it and you're looking in the right spot, you can't find it, but once you look in another way at the same spot, there it is! You've found your box!



Here's the hubby digging around for our box and Jen sits frustrated trying to find it.



After we found the Auburn letterbox, we headed up Hwy 49 for a nice drive to a State park near Cool. Jen had clues for another letterbox there. The clues led us on a trail for a nice little hike. We started off looking for the box, but after exhausting all of our options and still not finding it, we decided to keep going and enjoy our hike. It was a beautiful day and we took advantage of it.





After our hike we were ready for our picnic lunch then head home. It ended up being a really fun day even though we didn't find the 2nd letterbox and Tate and I were hooked!

Today we started the day wanting to be lazy and not do too much, but as I was dinking around on the internet I started doing some research on letterboxing and found some in the downtown area. Given it was such a nice day, I suggested we take our bikes downtown and ride around finding these letterboxes. I discovered I had a 40% off coupon for Michael's and since we needed some stamps we packed up the bikes and headed on our way.

After picking out our stamps and our ink pads we headed downtown to start our adventure. We parked at New Roma bakery for some 50% off treats, then got on the bikes and started the hunt.

First stop was 24th & E where we found our first letterbox:


We then headed to the Capitol to take a quick bathroom break and have our snack. We enjoyed sitting in the park for a little bit, then headed off in search of our second letterbox for the day. It was hidden in Capitol park and we tried not to look too crazy hunting around for it. Once we finally found it after riding all around the park, we walked to some nearby benches to do our stamping.



After doing our deed, and replacing the box making sure it was nice and hidden once more, we headed to the West side of the Capitol for our final letterbox for the day. We didn't have too much trouble following the clues for this one and Tate ended up finding it very quickly. I think he really got the hang of it and what to look for.



We stamped our books and were on our way. A quick ride back to the car and we were ready to go home. Of course, Tate couldn't quite go right away, he spotted a yard sale and decided he had to see what was there. I unpacked all of our stuff from the bikes and got them into the car to wait for Tate. After a few minutes he came back carrying two fishing rods and two guitars that had been stripped down. All for $10 he exclaimed, so packing up his goodies, off we headed back home for a nice quiet evening.

End of the story is that we have discovered a wonderful new hobby that is not only free, but gets us out of the house and we can even ride our bikes doing. Thanks to Jen for showing us what fun there is to be had with letterboxing!

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