The Event Comes to an End

Today was the El Rancho de los Letterboxes event in Santa Fe, NM. We held the event at El Rancho de las Golondrinas. We had twenty-three people attend the event. And it turned out great. The weather was perfect - sunny and warm. And a added bonus - entrance to Las Golondrinas was free today. We hadn't expected that but the Smithsonian Museum sponsors free entrance to different places for their members on occasion. The staff at Las Golondrinas decided not only to make it free to Smithsonian members but to anyone coming to the museum today. I thought it was apropos for us to have the event today and get free admission due to the Smithsonian since it was the Smithsonian magazine article ("They Live and Breathe Letterboxing") that pretty much set off the letterboxing craze in America.

The event started with everyone gathering at the picnic shelter and getting the event stamp, making exchanges and answering questions for personal travelers. We talked and stamped and took pictures for a while and then people started to disperse. We hid twelve boxes for the event: Battlefield New Mexico, Descansos, El Camino, El Rancho de las Golondrinas, For Leonora, Hiding in Plain Sight, Inky Fingers, Ms. Forktail, Not Wonder Bread, O'K Jimson, Ox Cart and Water-powered Grist Mill. In addition we had two event stamps - the main event stamp, El Rancho de los Letterboxes and the stamp that we use when we have mini meets with people visiting Santa Fe, ¡Bienvenidos! 2009. The boxes from the event will be pulled from Las Golondrinas since the museum isn't open year round. One will stay at the museum but it will be hidden outside of the entrance so that it can be obtained year round. Most or all of the other boxes will be relocated to new hiding spots - so in two or three weeks check the clues again for updates.

I took a few pictures at the picnic shelter and then walked the trail to try and get some shots of people on the trail hunting and finding letterboxes. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. I know for me it was fun and relaxing and I really enjoyed the day. I love Las Golondrinas and walking around the grounds and being with other letterboxers out having fun on a beautiful New Mexico day was perfect. We hope everyone that attended had as good a time as we did and we hope that when we have future events we will see you again. And if you couldn't make it this year - maybe we will see you at the next one. Happy Letterboxing everyone!

I posted a photo album on Atlas Quest. If anyone who attended the event has some pictures they want to share you can add your pictures to the album - I made it a public album. Thanks for a great time!