Finally...Our Veggie Tales Arrive!

A couple years ago a client told me about a hobby she'd heard about called Letterboxing. Since then, I've gotten several members of our family involved and we've had a great time doing it.

What is Letterboxing?

Letterboxing is an intriguing mix of treasure hunting, art, navigation, and exploring interesting, scenic, and sometimes remote places. It takes the ancient custom of placing a rock on a cairn upon reaching the summit of a mountain to an artform. It started when a gentleman simply left his calling card in a bottle by a remote pool on the moors of Dartmoor, in England.

Here's the basic idea: Someone hides a waterproof box somewhere (in a beautiful, interesting, or remote location) containing at least a logbook and a carved rubber stamp, and perhaps other goodies. The hider then usually writes directions to the box (called "clues" or "the map"), which can be straightforward, cryptic, or any degree in between. Often the clues involve map coordinates or compass bearings from landmarks, but they don't have to. Selecting a location and writing the clues is one aspect of the art.

Once the clues are written, hunters in possession of the clues attempt to find the box. When the hunter successfully deciphers the clue and finds the box, he stamps the logbook in the box with his personal stamp, and stamps his personal logbook with the box's stamp. The box's logbook keeps a record of all its visitors, and the hunters keep a record of all the boxes they have found, in their personal logbooks. (For more info, check out http://www.atlasquest.com/ or http://www.letterboxing.org/)

Throughout the year, many "Letterboxers" participate in Postal Rings, which is where a group of people sign up for a "theme" ring, then they each make a stamp and logbook. These items are then mailed to each person on the list. PJ and I signed up for a Veggie Tales ring and after MANY months (of course, there were several participants for this one), we finally got the last stamps we were waiting for. Here PJ is coloring a stamp we received so that he can stamp it into his logbook. Ask him to see his logbook some time, he has LOTS of stamps.