We got up, showered, got dressed, packed and put everything in the car. We had a good breakfast in Rebecca's Dining Room at The Lodge. Now that we had filled our bellies we were off to our first stop of the day. Leaving Cloudcroft we headed south to Sunspot, NM. Here we visited the Sunspot Astronomy & Visitors Center and Apache Point Observatory. We didn't get to go into anything - the visitor's center wasn't open until 10:00am. We took a walk around the property and read some informational signs and then left Sunspot to head to Capitan. Smokey was calling.
The drive from Sunspot to Capitan was great. Back roads through the mountains with very little traffic. What a way to spend a Sunday morning. Arriving in Capitan we visited the Smokey Bear Historical Park. I was a little skeptical about finding Silver Eagle's Smokey Bear Microbox as there was a note in the clues that it may be missing. After walking through the museum and looking at all the displays - Thomas and I talked with the ranger on duty. Thomas' grandmother (Ruth Bush Jones) played a part in the Smokey Bear story. She worked for the Forest Service in Albuquerque and gave lots of support to get the Smokey Museum going. Thomas has a few items from this time at home and you could tell he was excited about talking about his grandmother. The ranger showed us a book (Smokey Bear 20252: A Biography) and Thomas found his grandmother mentioned in it. Kind of neat! Out in back of the museum we found Smokey's grave and proceeded to look for the microbox. Not a difficult find - the box was exactly where it was supposed to be. It was covered in CamoTape and was hidden under pine needles and a rock. It was a great little stamp of Smokey's face. We stamped in and rehid the box. Now time for a little lunch - we ate at Smokey Bear Cafe - good food.Following lunch we decided to search for another Smokey Bear box. I was in possession of the clues for a box not listed on Atlas Quest or LbNA. The box was mentioned in the letterboxing basement talklist but without the clues. Apparently I did some sleuthing on the internet and found the clues (don't ask me where - I can't remember - all I know is I had them with me). It's a mystery box so I can't tell you where we went but I can tell you I found the box, full of water with a wet logbook and stamp. I dried off the stamp and the inside of the box. I added a new logbook and triple bagged everything. I kept the wet logbook and decided I would try and contact the placer. After stamping in and cleaning up the box I rehid it in the exact same place. The area where the box is hidden is incredible - we had a nice little hike and we are looking forward to returning to this area in the near future.
From here we headed to Roswell. After checking in to the hotel and getting a bite to eat we headed out looking for Cold Front's newest box - The Roswell Crash: Random Weirdness Series #1. It took us a little work to figure out the clues, but it was worth it. There are two sides to the stamp - one image for each side of the controversy - you get to pick the side that you favor to stamp. I'm not telling which side I agree with! Once done with rehiding the box we took a little driving tour of Roswell. Thomas lived here for a while and he felt a little nostalgic and wanted to visit some of the places he remembered.
It has been another full and enjoyable day! Tomorrow promises to be the same. Thomas has work here in Roswell so I am on my own to letterbox and sightsee.
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