This blog chronicles my letterboxing adventures. It includes posts that share my travels that are letterboxing related, the letterboxes I have found and planted as well as the people I have met along the way. There are also photos included to help give a complete picture of the fun I had.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Boise Boxing - Day 3

Well I still had a few clues for boxes in Boise so I decided that I would spend the morning letterboxing while Thomas was at his conference. I left the hotel around 9:00am and headed toward the first box. I walked about four blocks and arrived at the Boise Weekly offices. Here I was looking for The Big Kahuna by Ravenclaw. I walked in and asked for the box by name and the woman that I talked with seemed to be confused about the box. So I explained what I was talking about and then she started to remember. Then she said she wasn't sure what happened to it but she said she would go and ask around and look for it. Ten minutes later she came back without the box - she said she wasn't sure what happened to it. So I thanked her and continued on. I walked another four blocks to look for Date Night and the second box in the series Hit and Run Now Showing all by Blackvelvetrav near The Flicks. Following the clues I quickly found Date Night and I took it to a nearby bench to stamp in. But before stamping in I decided to see if I could find Godzilla of Snacks (Box #2 in the Hit and Run series). Thankfully the box was only about 20 feet from the bench I was sitting on - so I quickly grabbed it and used the bench to stamp in to both boxes. After getting these back in to place I walked another two blocks to lookk for Box #3 in the Hit and Run series. I followed the clues and found what I thought was the billboard mentioned and then found the electrical boxes but unfortunately I didn't find the box. Not sure if I was in the right place or not but didn't see any other billboards so I assumed the box was gone and decided to move on. I walked another eight blocks to look for Box #1 in the Hit and Run series. I found the hotel I needed and looked around for the hiding spot. I felt very conspicuous and uncomfortable but I quickly checked for the box but didn't see it. I decided it wasn't worth it since I was in plain view of some windows and I couldn't tell if anyone was behind them watching me. So I moved on to the next box. Another five blocks later I arrived at Ben & Jerry's and followed the clues to Box #4 in the Hit and Run series. This time I easily found the box and found a spot to sit and stamp in. Once this box was back in place I only had clues for one more box in the downtown area. Five blocks later I was at The Chocolat Bar to find Chocolate Covered Lover by Blackvelvetrav. I went in and asked for the box at the counter. They actually knew what I was talking about. So I took the box to a table and stamped. When I was done I returned the box and then bought some delicious pieces of chocolate. I walked another four blocks and arrived back at the hotel. I found four boxes out of seven - I guess that is okay.

Back at the hotel I decided to take a break and get out of the heat. Well it wasn't that hot (about 85 degrees) but with the humidity I was pretty wet and felt uncomfortable. The room was nice and cool so I drank a bunch of water and had a little lunch. I relaxed for about 50 minutes and then decided to go and look for one more letterbox.

For this I decided to drive - it was about three and a half miles from the hotel and I didn't think I could handle the heat and humidity for that distance. I drove to 13th and Shoreline and parked near the Greenbelt. With my letterboxing stuff and the clues I followed the trail looking for Ravenclaw's ID Boxing Event (a series of three boxes). A short 2/10ths of a mile later I arrived at the location for the first box but unfortunately there were two people  sitting on the bench right near where the box was suppose to be. I decided to continue on to the second box and come back to this one later. So I backtracked about 100 feet or so and crossed a foot bridge over the Boise River to Ann Morrison Park. I followed the clues to the second box and found the landmarks but unfortunately I didn't find the box. I am pretty sure I was in the right place but I checked again and still didn't find the box. Time to head to the third box. Not too far down the trail I found the bridge over the drainage  and located the other landmarks. But again I was foiled - no box. I searched all over the area and around the rocks but came up empty handed. So I headed back to the first box but I wasn't optimistic about finding it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to look for it because the same people were still there. I decided to call it a day and count my losses. Once in the car I thought about maybe going to look for a box I couldn't find the other day but decided I was too hot and tired so I just returned to the hotel.

Thinking about my time letterboxing in Boise I felt a little disappointed about my experience. I was able to go to a couple of nice parks and saw a couple of interesting things but unfortunately it doesn't seem to me that the boxes in the area have very good luck. I looked for 25 boxes but only found 10 of those. Maybe it was just me and I missed the boxes and they are there but I feel I followed the clues pretty well. The other thing was that I had written on the Idaho board and was hoping to meet up with some of the boxers in the area but no one responded. And when I logged in finds and sent notes no one replied back. It would have been nice to talk with boxers in the area to find out more about the area and boxes. Don't get me wrong I did enjoy my time letterboxing here and I did find some really nice boxes. Maybe next time I can meet up with some locals.

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