Troupe de Parris

Pemaquid Point

2005-10-28T16:09:00.000-05:00

Well, the Troupe de Parris finally got out on the trail again! We traveled up to Maine to participate in my grandmother's funeral service. Granny's ashes were commited to the ocean just off of Pemaquid Point on Sunday October 16, 2005.

The weather did not cooperate during the time we were there. It seemed that whenever there was a lull in family activity, it was raining. Finally on our last night there, we went out to the Point to search for The Angel Gabriel in the dark and rain. I think it would have been easier to find in the light of day, but it was found. We took it back to my parents' suite at the Carriage House of the Pemaquid Point Hotel. It was a great opportunity to introduce my extended family to Letterboxing. In the warm dry rooms we were able to pass around our journal as well as the journal from the Gabriel. The stamps and comments were enjoyed by all.

After we all stamped in, we packed it all back up with the addition of the Hitchhiker Hopper that we picked up in the Sea Turtle box in Kure Beach. Then it was back out into the rain to replace the Angel Gabriel in its hiding place.

As it turned out, the weather was beautiful on the morning we were to depart. We just had to go check out the Pemaquid Point Light during the day. It was well worth it. I took a few pictures which will be posted in the near future.

Sea Turtle

2005-08-22T21:07:00.000-05:00

Later in our visit at the coast, we embarked on our second letterbox hunt. This one was classified as a "drive-by"(requiring little or no hiking). Given the title of the letterbox, we thought it would be an appropriate way to finish up our trip to the NC Aquarium at Ft. Fisher. The Troupe was again accompanied by Tom and Helena Schutte.

But first, here are some pictures from of the girls at the aquarium:

Holly and Helena eye-to-eye with some gators.

Crabby Rowan!

Crabby Holly!

Rowan Megan and Holly are leaning back in an inverted bubble port in the side of a 2-story salt-water aquarium. You can sort of see some fish in the background.

So anyway, after enjoying all the fishy stuff, we drove by the public beach access parking lot indicated in the clues for the Sea Turtle letterbox and Bruce jumped out to grab the box. It was raining and the kids were all tired from the aquarium, so we figured we'd just have everyone "stamp in" in the car. Just as we had the added fun of avoiding muggles in our first hunt, Sea Turtle had some hidden fun in store as well. In this box, we found the customary guest book, and very nice hand-carved stamp of a sea turtle. In addition, we found what is know as a "hitchhiker". A hitchhiker is a miniture version of a letterbox with the exception that it doesn't have its own box. When you find a hitchhiker in a box, you're supposed to take it with you and plant it in another box on your next hunt. The one we found in Sea Turtle was a cute little bunny named Hopper. Hopper is carved out of a standard pink rubber eraser. He will surely be hopping on his way very soon.

Our first letterbox hunt

2005-08-22T11:04:00.000-05:00

During our recent visit to the Schutte house (the real one not the blog), we ventured out on our first letterbox hunt. Since Bruce and I are UNC-Wilmington alumni, I thought it appropriate that our first hunt should be the Seahawk Refuge letterbox. The starting point was listed as the visitors' parking lot located right next to my old haunt, Kenan Hall. Troupe de Parris were accompanied by guest letterboxers, Tom and Helena. I must say, a good time was had by all. Some of the clues were riddle-like in nature and the girls really enjoyed figuring out which way to go next. I think the grown-ups enjoyed their walk down memory lane as well. It was fun showing our daughters the different buildings where we spent so much time all those years ago.

Here are some pics of our trip to Seahawk Refuge:

The three young hunters at the starting point.

And here they are at the Bronze Seahawk (sorry about cutting off the seahawk's head). Our next step was to follow the seahawk's gaze, which, if you could see it, you'd know was to the left.

Eventually we found this bridge.... From which we were supposed to gaze across the pond to find the next landmark.

Here we are gazing ;-)

After chillin' for a few minutes to avoid attracting the attention of passing "muggles" (people outside of the letterboxing community) we made our way around the pond to the hiding place of the Seahawk Refuge Letterbox.

Concealed in the detritus in the base of this tree, we found the box containing a visitors log and a hand-carved stamp depicting the UNCW Seahawks logo. It is my understanding that posting a picture of someone else's stamp on the internet is bad form, so if you want to see the Seahawk Refuge stamp, you'll have to find it yourself :-D

After stamping the seahawk into our logbook, we each took turns stamping our personal stamps into the guest book. When that was done, the Seahawk Refuge stamp and guestbook were repackaged to protect them from the elements and stealthily hidden in the same place that we found it.

With the stamping done the girls took some time to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature!

Welcome One and All

2005-08-21T15:39:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my first attempt at publishing a blog. At the behest of my good friend Tom, I'm endeavoring to share our new family hobby with those who may not have heard about it before.

The activity known as Letterboxing started about 150 years ago in Dartmoor, England. Here's a link with information about Letterboxing history. The hobby emigrated to North America relatively recently after the publication of an article about Dartmoor Letterboxing in the Smithsonian Magazine in April 1998. Although the greatest proportion of letterboxes in the world are still in Dartmoor (estimates between 10 and 40 thousand), letterboxes can be found worldwide. The letterbox population in North America now exceeds 5000.

My favorite sources of information about Letterboxing are Letterboxing North America and Atlas Quest. Both pages have "letterbox finders" , but Atlas Quest has a trip planning feature that finds all letterboxes along a designated route (usually an interstate highway).