Real life treasure hunting

Okay, so there is usually no real treasure involved, but it is a lot of fun! I'm talking about letterboxing :)

Letterboxing is an intriguing mix of treasure hunting, art, navigation, and exploring interesting, scenic, and sometimes remote places. ---Letterboxing North America

Shane and his family started letterboxing a few years ago in Tennessee, and Shane and I were excited to get to go again here in Maryland! It is a very easy and fun hobby, and if you have never tried it, you should definitely give it a shot! 

First, you need a notebook, a rubber stamp (lots of people carve their own, but we just bought one from Michael's), and an ink pad. Now comes the fun part! The clues! We get most of our clues from Letterboxing North America. They will give you a place to start out, like the name of a park, and from there you follow your clues to find the letterbox. A letterbox is a small, waterproof box that contains another notebook and a rubber stamp. Stamp your book with their stamp, and stamp their book with yours. It's nice to leave them a little note too! That way, you have a log of all the boxes you have visited, and they get to see how many people have deciphered their clues and found their box. Pretty cool, huh? It is a fun way to get to explore nature, and find some new places you have never been before! 

Here are some pictures from when Shane and I went letterboxing this Tuesday...

Letterbox #1--"Life's Little Adventure"

We found some pretty daffodils, and a cool creek, but no letterbox :(

 The clues mentioned a heavily carved tree.

 Was it this one?

Or was it this one? 

You can't tell from the pictures, but this tree's carvings were really old. Most of them had dates from the 70s. 

Charlie definitely had to stop for a drink.

We really weren't well prepared for this "little adventure." We went on a whim after work. I forgot to change my shoes, and had to hike a mile of rocky mountain bike trail in my Sperrys!

That letterbox was placed back in 2007, and there were way too many dead leaves on the ground to do too much digging. Oh well, maybe we can find it this summer!

Letterbox #2--"Maryland Black Eyed Susan"

This one was a much easier find

Yay! 

This box was located near this really cool old building foundation.

Here are a few more pictures from this weekend. We didn't go letterboxing then, but we did drive up to Pennsylvania to check out Codorus State Park. 

We saw people taking pictures of their kids sitting in this tree, so I had to make Charlie do it too. 

 There wasn't much to do at this state park, and it was pretty windy out! We only stayed about 10 minutes, then went to Cracker Barrel. That alone was worth the 45 minute drive, can you believe that is the closest one to us?!

Are we home yet?

I love the look on his face in this one. Isn't it funny how dogs enjoy the littlest things?

And last but not least, proof that there are rednecks everywhere.

I encourage everyone to get out of the house and enjoy the pretty weather. Go find a letterbox!