You see today was rubberpeace's birthday and also her AQ anniversary (5 years of letterboxing). They arrive at my house at around 9:00am and then it was south to Albuquerque. We had lots to talk about . . . Astro D's house remodel, rubberpeace's upcoming trip to Colorado Springs and my recent trip to Alaska, so the trip down to Albuquerque went quick.We had decided to head to the Old Town area first to find a few boxes and then have lunch and after that we would decide what we wanted to do. So we drove to and parked near the New Mexico Museum of Natural History.
The first box we looked for was one that I had already found, so I just tagged along as Astro D and rubberpeace followed the clues to find Wronghat's Spike letterbox. They sat on a nearby bench and stamped in while I walked around taking pictures. Then we went in search for Twinville Trekkers' Beatles Series #21 "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" letterbox. ***Here is a confession - I used the computer and google maps street view to find the location of this box to minimize our walking.*** Anyways, we made our way to the spot and followed the last few clues to find the box. Once that box was in our hands we went to some nearby picnic tables to stamp in. When all three of us were done rubberpeace replaced the box while I took a few pictures and then we returned to the car and headed to Old Town. It wasn't too hard to find a parking spot but it was a little walk to the plaza. Upon arriving at the plaza rubberpeace and Astro D searched for and found Wronghat's Old Town letterbox (I already had this one) and we found a nice shady spot to sit while they stamped in. I ended up taking a picture for some tourist (they asked if I would take a picture of them at the gazebo there in Old Town). 
Once the letterbox was back in its hiding spot we all headed down the street to the 'Little by Little' plaza to find Flight of Fancy by Vegaspua'a. We had to take some pictures and look around to kill a little time because there was a little tour going on. After about 10 minutes they headed out and left us all by ourselves to search for the box. We had a little problem locating the box at first until Astro D noticed another rock and she found the box. We found a bench in the shade and stamped in. We got the box back under its rock and decided it was time for lunch.For lunch rubberpeace had stated she wanted to go to Church Street Cafe, which was fine with Astro D and I since we had eaten there before and liked it. We had a great lunch and visit and a break from the heat outside. After a leisurely meal we headed for one last letterbox in Old Town and dessert. We walked a short distance to the next location and found all the landmarks but we were having trouble locating the box. We sat at a table (in the shade) and read the clues, checked the compass and tried again. Still no luck. Then as I was walking around I noticed something that I thought could be the answer to finding the box. I ended up moving a rock and digging a little and I found the box. Which turned out to be a wet and rusted tin. We took it back to a table and after a little work I got it open. The stamp was wet and sticky so Astro D took it and cleaned it off and dried it. Thankfully the logbook was dry. We all stamped in and made sure the stamp and logbook were clean and dry. Then we made a decision and we hoped the planter would be okay with it. We put the stamp in a small baggie, the logbook in another small baggie and then both of those into a larger baggie. And then just to be sure we put all of that into another baggie. When I went to rehide the box the area was swarming with muggles. So rubberpeace and I sat next to the hiding spot and Astro D took our picture and while this was going on I was reaching down and hiding the box. Now that we had taken care of Celestini by Celestini we went for some dessert.
We ended up getting chocolate and then heading for the car. Let me tell you that the chocolate was melting before we reached the car.Our next stop was in downtown at the New Mexico Holocaust and Intolerance Museum. None of us felt like actually visiting the museum so we just went in search of the box - Twinville Trekkers' Beatles Series #20 "Give Peace a Chance". It was a pretty easy find and we ended up stamping in the car because it was so hot. We put the box back in place and then headed to Roosevelt Park to find Wronghat's Jillion Gyrations.
I love this park. It is so green and full of trees, there is a disc golf course and a playground - it is just a really nice place to hang out. We found the box and sat under a tree to stamp in. We got everything done and got the box back in its hiding spot and headed back to the car. We had time for one more box before heading back to Santa Fe. We opted for the closest box and that was All Quiet by Wronghat. I had already found this one but both rubberpeace and Astro D needed to find it. So we headed to Fairview Memorial Park Cemetery and followed the clues to the box. They used the car to stamp in and then rehid the box.We made the drive back to Santa Fe and when we got to my house rubberpeace showed me how to do her 'map fold'. This is an origami type fold that is used to take a large piece of paper and make it into a more manageable size that can be open to view the whole picture. After that they left to go home. We had a great day of letterboxing and it was a nice way to celebrate rubberpeace's birthday and letterboxing anniversary and I hope she had a great day.
No comments :
Post a Comment