I arrived at Astro D's house around 9:00am and after a little visit we headed out. We had a nice, relaxing drive and made our first stop at the PlayLot.
I was looking for Oppenheimer. Astro D carved a stamp that depicted New Mexico for GreenJello who is planting a series called Hello from the United States. In return for that stamp GreenJello sent Astro D a stamp to plant in New Mexico and that stamp was Oppenheimer. It was just a short walk down the trail but it was in a beautiful spot overlooking a canyon. I sat and stamped in and enjoyed the beautiful morning. The stamp was a wonderful carving and Astro D found the perfect spot for it. It was a great way to start the day. From here we headed to The Black Hole to find The Black Hole. 
This was only a few blocks from the Oppenheimer box. We parked in front of The Black Hole followed the clues, counted the rocks and found the box. We took it back to the car to stamp in. It was a great little stamp of two little bombs (I am assuming that it was Fat Man and Little Boy). After stamping in and rehiding the box Astro D and I headed into The Black Hole and looked around. There was so much stuff and we had no idea what most of it had been used for. After looking around for about 45 minutes or so we ended up buying some paper rolls and it was time to leave. We needed to get to the Salvage Sale to check in and get in line before noon.The Salvage Sale was pretty interesting. You check in at the office and get a bid number. Then you stand in line at the gate until they open. Someone goes over the rules and at noon they open it up. Everyone hurries in (you aren't allowed to run and push - part of the rules) and heads to whatever area they are interested in. If you find something you like you mark it "Sold" and put your initials next to the price. It was fun watching everyone search for their prize. The most surprising thing was the prices. Office chairs go for 50¢ - that is amazing even if they are used. Astro D didn't find what she was looking for but we still had fun. So we headed back into town for a bite to eat. We stopped at Ruby K's Bagel Cafe. We had sandwiches and visited - it was nice and relaxing.
Time to continue our day. We headed down NM 4 to a pullout overlooking the Valles Caldera.
What a beautiful area. We were looking for a letterbox by The3DT's called Big Valley. It took me a little while to find the box. I looked in the right place the first time but didn't see the box so I started searching under other trees. I finally went to the first tree again and searched better and found the box. It was camoflauged well and the bush it was under was very stickery (pretty sure I just made up this word). We brought it back to the car to stamp in. The stamp was a great little carving of a volcano. We rehid the box and then I took a few pictures. Astro D noticed some little specks in the distance and she was pretty sure they were elk. So we ended up driving to the Visitor's Center to get some info. The people there were so nice. They gave us a lot of info about the area and even got us a pair of binoculars so we could see the elk - Astro D was right.We had one more stop before heading back to Santa Fe.
There is a box at Bandelier. It was placed by either the ferretbusters or Kokopellitravelers (AQ list one and LbNA list the other). Anyway the box is called New Mexico Petroglyphs #2 and I hate to say it but it wasn't at all exciting. It was a store bought stamp hidden in the picnic area. You weren't even close to any petroglyphs. It was a little underwhelming way to end the day. So after we stamped in and rehid the box we went to the Visitor's Center to get some 'squished pennies'. When I told Astro D that I wanted to get these she said she had been looking at those as well. It was too funny that we both recently were thinking about these and stopped here to get some. I also got a patch and stamped the National Park Passport Stamp.It was time to head home. We had a great day in Los Alamos and we had fun letterboxing. Thanks to all who placed boxes for us to find.
1 comment :
It makes me feel good to know that someone with as many finds as you liked my stamp. (I'm rather new to carving and not very confident about it)
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