Letterboxing -- Just another nerdy hobby enjoyed by Quinn

Last weekend, rather than poring through Native American artifacts at Hovenweep and Mesa Verde (as we had planned) we spent the weekend as shut-ins while Lauralee and Emma got better. By the time Monday rolled around, they were feeling better, and I still had the day off, so we decided to actually step foot outside and feel the warmth of the Earth's sun.



It was a perfect premise to indulge me in my latest nerdy hobby: letterboxing. We wanted to get outside, and Lauralee was too sick to argue with me. Letterboxing is essentially treasure hunting for adults. Somebody hides a small container in a public place and leaves clues for how to find it. The containers have a small book where you leave a stamp indicating that you found the letterbox. There's also a stamp for you to apply in your own book. For details, go to http://www.letterboxing.org/.



There are unfortunately no letterboxes in Woods Cross, and only 3 in Bountiful. We set out to find all the Bountiful letterboxes on Monday. Our first stop was at Rocket Park. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the letterbox, but Emma had a great time playing on the playground. She is getting quite brave. She will go down all the slides by herself and usually signs "more" when she gets to the bottom. She also enjoys jumping off of things (playground equipment, stairs, coffee tables, beds) into our arms.















Our next stop was Mueller Park canyon. The letterbox was hidden about a mile up the first trail, so we ended up with a nice little hike. Emma enjoyed the rocky terrain in her stroller, but I felt bad making Lauralee hike so far while she was just getting over her cold.






Looking at my clues. The letterbox is hidden in this rock wall. How many times have I hiked past this wall without knowing there was something hidden there?

Success.

Emma enjoying the view.

Our last stop was at the Bountiful City Cemetery. This letterbox was hidden by a family who had lost a child, and all of the clues involved finding the grave markers of other children who had passed away. It was actually quite touching to see all of these families who had lost children -- many families had lost multiple children. It was really driven home to have Emma there with us, running around happy as can be. What a blessing she is to us.

The final letterbox was hidden by a family in the flower pot of the their child's grave marker. The stamp they had made was a little child with a halo. It was a really neat experience.

All in all it was a fun day, and I'm looking forward to more letterboxing. They are hidden throughout the state (throughout the country, in fact). We've decided to try to do this on Saturdays during the summer when we don't have anything else going on. It will get us outside and hopefully we'll get to see some neat places in the state as well. Our next adventures will take us to Farmington, and to Wheeler Farm.

Quinn