A Southern Letterboxing Christmas

Making our way to Lafayette, LA to visit my family for Christmas.
December 21 - 29, 2006

The Photo Album Is Ready

Hey everyone, we are back in Santa Fe and enjoying all the snow. I have lived in Santa Fe for 17 years now and this is the most snow we have had since I moved here. Later we are going cross country skiing. But I took the opportunity of being snowed in to organize the photos from our trip and get them into a photo album. They are now ready for what I hope is your viewing pleasure. Click on the photo to be taken to the album.

Home at Last

Well, we spent the night in Santa Rosa and got some much needed sleep. We were lucky to find a hotel room - we tried three places before we found a vacancy. We woke up about 7:00 am, had some breakfast and hung around the hotel. After listening to the news and talking with several people it became clear that I-40 might not open today. So Thomas made some calls and we found an alternate route that could get us home, we decided to try it. We loaded the car and headed out to Hwy 54 towards Vaughn. From there we could take Hwy 285 up to Clines Corners and then to Santa Fe. The roads were icy and snowpacked with very little traffic. The drive was slow and tedious but Thomas did a great job of getting us home safely. It took us about double the time it normally would have but that's okay. We are in our own home tonight and that makes us very happy. As it continues to snow we realize we could have been stranded a lot longer. Anyway, our Christmas trip to Louisiana was great but as always we are happy to be home. I am working on a photo album and hopefully it will be posted soon.

Stranded!

This morning started off great. We awoke, packed the car, picked up my friend Eddie and were on our way. Unfortunately we would encounter problems later on. The drive from Lafayette to Dallas was relatively uneventful. We stopped for a quick breakfast but that was it. By noon we were in Dallas. We dropped off Eddie at his place and decided to head out. We had heard that there was possible bad weather headed to New Mexico. We made good time. Not much traffic. We stopped in Amarillo for dinner and then headed out again. Outside of Amarillo the rain started. The roads were fine. In Santa Rosa, NM we stopped at the first exit and filled up with gas. We returned to the interstate and the road was blocked at the next exit. We were detoured into Santa Rosa and all exits to I-40 headed West were blocked. Thomas stopped and asked a DOT employee what the problem was - the roads here seemed fine. We were told that the Clines Corner area was bad and there were jack-knifed trucks on the interstate and that the roads were icy and dangerous. They had decided to close I-40 from Albuquerque to Santa Rosa. So we are stranded here until tomorrow. We went to three hotels before we found a room. We will get some rest and see if we can make it to Santa Fe in the morning. Hopefully we won't be stranded for too long.

One Last Night in Louisiana

Early this morning we packed up the car to head out from New Orleans. But before we left we decided to try one more time for a box we had trouble locating the day before. We headed out to get that pesky little Creole Crawdaddy planted by daelphinus. Arriving at the area we looked around and thought about where we had searched the day before and started from there. Fifteen minutes later I found that little crawfish. What a joy! Now we could leave New Orleans and make our way back to Lafayette.

One little bit of commentary - New Orleans isn't the same since Hurricane Katrina. Some businesses are not open and there is still a lot of empty and damaged homes. But they are trying to rebulid. The New Orleans Saints have been doing well this season and that has brought a lot of people into the city for games. They are also planning a good sized Mardi Gras celebration for this coming year - bigger than last year. I visited this past May and in six months they have done a tremendous job. So please visit New Orleans. It is an incredible town with so much character and history - I hope it continues to prosper.

A little ways out of town we stopped to have a little breakfast and then we headed in to Baton Rouge. Our first stop was the LSU campus. We had learned that most of the boxes in Baton Rouge were missing but there was at least one still alive. So we found the area and pretty quickly located the box, we stamped in and then decided to go and visit Mike V (the LSU mascot). We found the stadium and Mike's home (a much more elaborate and comfortable home than the one I visited years ago). Mike was just laying about relaxing, what an incredibly beautiful animal. We took some pictures and just watched Mike for a while. After our visit with Mike we headed to the State Capitol building. There was a possibilty of two boxes in the area. We searched for one that was found recently but we were unable to locate it. A little disappointed but not enough to stop us from trying to find the other box. Another miss for us. So after a two box no find we decided to call it a day in the Louisiana capital and return to Lafayette.

We needed to drop off the key to the apartment in New Orleans to my Aunt in Lafayette. We stopped at her house, returned the key and had a quick visit. We returned to my sister's house and began getting things ready for our departure in the morning. This didn't take very long and so we spent about an hour just sitting and visiting with my sister and her family until dinner time. My godson and his wife wanted to go with us to dinner at my all time favorite pizza place - Pizza Village. This is a place I have been going to since high school, I have never found another pizza joint that can match them. So every trip to Lafayette involves one outing to Pizza Village and I always get the same thing - a Dupe Special (hamburger, pepperoni and shrimp) - yummo!

Well, dinner turned into a family affair, my two sisters and their families joined us. We had a great evening and some great food.

Well, we have gotten everything ready for the morning and I guess I better get to sleep - I'll probably wait until we get home to post again.

A Day in New Orleans

Well, I promised to keep you posted and here I am. We started the day with my most favorite thing in New Orleans - cafe au lait and beignets at Cafe du Monde. As it was a chilly morning, the coffee helped to get us started. We checked on my New Orleans boxes and I am happy to say that all is well. Nothing to do in the way of maintenance - what a relief after my problems with the two boxes in Lafayette. So now it is time to find some letterboxes. Since I was at Lafayette Cemetery checking on my Six Feet Above letterbox I decided to try to find a box that I had seen posted recently. It was a box that had been planted a while ago and the placer didn't get a chance to log it in - the clues said she wasn't sure about the clues anymore. She gave what clues she could remember and it was enough for me to find the box. It is alive and well - so if you find yourself in New Orleans and near Lafayette Cemetery take the time to find Six Feet Above and Lafayette Cemetery Angel.

Oh, I forgot to tell you that Thomas and I had decided to walk to Lafayette Cemetery from the French Quarter. After finishing up at the cemetery we wanted to get to Audubon Park. We thought it would be fun to ride the streetcar up St. Charles Ave. to the park. So we walked a while until we found a streetcar stop and asked someone when the streetcars came by. We found out that they aren't running up St. Charles at this time. Lines and rails need repair. So we decided to walk?!?!?!? We could always use the exercise! Well, we made it to the park and I have to say we enjoyed our walk. The houses along St. Charles are spectacular and it is such a beautiful street.

Once we reached the park we organized the clues and began our search. We found three boxes and attempted two others. The ones we attempted and couldn't find may have been moved or missing according to the placers that I contacted. The three we found in the park were great. We found Nawlins (placed by GirlGuides), Long Live New Orleans (by Wes & Roxi) and La Nouvelle Orleans Letterbox by dvn2r ckr, mrB & trkr). Our searching for boxes took us all over Audubon Park. It was a great day. We decided to head back to the Quarter - so we started walking, again. We didn't get very far when we decided to get a taxi back to the apartment. It was the best decision of the day. Thomas checked his pedometer and we found that we had logged about 12 miles - I am extremely glad we decided to use the taxi.

After a quick stop at the apartment to get cleaned up, we headed out to find something to eat. I wanted seafood and Thomas obiliged me. We found a nice quiet restaurant and enjoyed a great meal. Crawfish Pie, blackened Catfish and Crawfish Etouffee, Red Beans and Rice, Bread Pudding and Pecan Pie. And some amazing chicory coffee. We are now resting and tomorrow we will make our way back to Lafayette.

Merry Christmas!

Well, I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! And I hope everyone had a great day.

We haven't done any letterboxing since I last posted. Yesterday was a lay around and do nothing day - mainly because it rained all day here in Lafayette. It was actually kind of nice having all that water - being from Santa Fe I almost always welcome a good rain. I also got to watch the New Orleans Saints play a good game. I don't get to see them much in Santa Fe - they are not usually shown on TV there unless they are playing the Cowboys, Broncos or Cardinals. They have a good team this year and will be in the playoffs - I think this is good for New Orleans. The Superdome was remodeled for this season and I think the winning year brought a much needed boost to the spirit of New Orleans. It was also good to see my brother-in-law so enthused about the Saints. He has been a die-hard fan through thick and thin - he deserves to have them be a winning team. I'll be cheering them on during the playoffs, that's for sure.

My sister cooked a big pot of chicken and sausage gumbo on Saturday. Talk about good on a chilly and rainy day. I am being so spoiled I may never leave. Then last night we got together with my Dad's family. My grandparents are no longer with us but there are eight siblings to arrange the Christmas Eve get-together. There were fun & games, music, gift exchanges, conversations and great food. Around 11:00 pm we returned home and called it a night. I have to say it was a most enjoyable day.

This morning we slept in (if you call 7:30 am sleeping in) until my sister's kids woke us all up to let us know Santa had come by the house that night. We had some coffee and enjoyed the kids enjoying their gifts. At about 11:00 am we made our way to my Dad's for lunch. We sat around visiting until about 1:00 pm and then we ate, and ate, and ate, and ate. Fried turkey, beef roast, glazed ham, candied yams, shrimp casserole, rice dressing as well as rice and gravy, bread and corn macque choux. And then dessert: an assortment of cookies, fruit salad, fudge and brownies. After all this all I could think about was a nap - of course that didn't happen - the kids were all too excited. We watched football and exchanged gifts and visited with friends that dropped by. At about 5:00 pm we went to my Aunt's house to pick up a key to her apartment in New Orleans. She lives in Lafayette but has an apartment in New Orleans that the family uses on weekends. She loaned it to Thomas and I for a couple of nights. As I finish this post we are about 30 minutes from The Big Easy. Hopefully we can find a few boxes there tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

Letterboxing Our Way to a Cajun Christmas

We started out at four o'clock in the morning on Thursday - our destination - Lafayette, Louisiana. My family is there and every Christmas Eve my Dad's family gets together for a Christmas Eve celebration. There are about 75 people spanning three generations. It is a good time for everyone to get together and catch up on things.

Our start was slow, cold and icy. Santa Fe and the northeast part of New Mexico received some snow on Tuesday and Wednesday which caused some driving difficulties on I-40 headed east. By the time we reached Amarillo we were already tired and a little stressed. The trees in Amarillo were all covered with ice - they looked like crystal trees. We stopped and had a little breakfast, rested, refilled our coffee mugs and got back on the road. Eventually (with a few added hours to our trip due to the icy roads) we made our way into Denton, TX. We made a quick stop at Denton Regional Medical Center to grab Beneficus Rex's Caduceus Letterbox. This was a nice stamp. By this time it was after five o'clock and we still needed to get to Dallas. With traffic it took us another hour and a half to reach my friend's house in Southeast Dallas. We rested and visited for a while and then the three of us met another friend at La Madelines for dinner. We had a nice enjoyable evening - a great dinner and some wonderful conversation, but we were tired - so we returned to my friend's house and went to sleep.

The next morning I made my way to White Rock Lake to check on my Lady of the Lake box. This has to be one of my more popular boxes and the journal was full. I had suspicions of this so I had made a new one and was ready to replace it. Man oh man was I excited to be able to take a full journal home from one of my boxes. I will really treasure this one. So I placed the new journal and returned to Eddie's house. Thomas, Eddie and I then loaded up the car and headed out. We decided to stop in Rusk, TX and do some boxing. I had looked up clues and after some thought and discussion we decided that we wanted to find a series of boxes that were hidden in cemeteries in Rusk, New Summerfield and Jacksonville. The boxes are from a series called A Tribute to Joan. This is a seven box series dedicated to a letterboxer who passed away in October 2006 from Ovarian Cancer. They were placed by jb kokpelli who was letterboxing buds with Joan. The series is a set of stamps of the Seven Dwarfs. What a great series - we had an incredible time visiting all these small, old cemeteries in out of the way places. Not only were we able to share our love of letterboxing with Joan and jb kokpelli, it gave us an incredible Christmas gift of being able to remember our own loved ones who have passed on. Thanks jb kokopelli and Joan for a most enjoyable day and for adding such a special memory to our lives. I especially loved Dopey and got a chance to say HI to Joan at the same time.

After finding these seven boxes we headed for Lafayette. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful and after dropping Eddie at his parents house we arrived at my sister's place. We visited for a short period and then called it a night.

This morning I had a few things planned. I needed to check on and do some maintenance to my four boxes planted in Lafayette. I had gotten some emails that a couple of the boxes may have gone missing so I had recarved the stamps and made new boxes. My two nieces and my nephew wanted to tag along with Thomas and I to check on the boxes - I thought this would be great.I also had received an Atlas Quest notification of three new boxes placed in New Iberia, LA. I copied the clues and we were off to spend the day letterboxing. Our first stop was Acadian Village - and I quickly checked on the boxes that I knew to be in place. After making sure everything was good on these two boxes we all headed to the area where the third box was suppose to be. Lo and behold the hiding spot was empty (oh no, my first missing box) - I have to say I was pretty disappointed. Well, I had a replacement box with me so we set out to find a new hiding spot. I started at a point from the original clues and looked for a suitable spot for the new box (I didn't want it in the same place as the one that went missing). I spotted a tree in the distance and thought it looked hopeful. So I walked over to this tree and thought this will be great. As I was looking around I found my missing box - just lying on the ground about a foot from the new hiding spot. I was so Happy!!!!! I decided to hide the new box in the new spot (it is the same image) and take the old box home and save it. It was great looking through the journal and seeing all the stamps of the finders. After hiding the new box we were ready to leave and go to our next destination. But Thomas comes towards us and there are four people with him. They are fellow letterboxers (The Weatherlys) and they had looked for my boxes yesterday and they were the placers of the new boxes in New Iberia. What a joy to meet other letterboxers out on the hunt. We talked for a while, exchanged stamps and said our goodbyes - what a great family.

We next headed to my Mighty Oak box (which also had been reported to me as missing). After confirming that it was indeed missing (I am very disappointed, as this was a very popular box and I was looking forward to seeing the journal) I found a new hiding spot and placed a new box with the same image. I will update the clues soon on both boxes that were replaced! Now that I had done the maintenance on all of my boxes it was time to find some boxes.

We arrived in New Iberia and started hunting. The Weatherlys have left three great boxes in Louisiana. We thoroughly enjoyed hunting for Fleur de Lis, 4 Peas in a Pod and Sunday. And we had fun visiting places that I had not been to in a long time. We had a great day of letterboxing and were a little tired - so we made our way back to my sister's house.

Tonight my sister cooked Crawfish and Crab Fettucine (man do I love being back home). My dad and nephew joined us for dinner and we had a great visit. It is now pretty late, everyone has either gone home or gone to bed except for me - I really wanted to get this post written tonight. But I think it is time to say goodnight and I will write more later. Oh, and Merry Christmas in case I don't post until after the 25th.