Back at Memorial Park

Today is my last day in Houston and since I have been so busy I decided to make it an easy day and stay close to the hotel. That takes me back to Memorial Park. I had breakfast with Astro D and The Great Wuga Wuga and then they left for their drive back to Santa Fe. I went back to my room and gathered my things and headed to the park. Once in the parking lot I reviewed all the clues and arranged them by trails and made a plan in my head. Time to head out. I spent a total of seven hours walking around the park and found quite a few boxes. I hiked all the trails - green, red, yellow, blue, orange and purple. I also spent a little time at the Houston Arboretum. It was a beautiful day - not too hot or humid and not many bugs. When I am out looking for boxes I do check to see if they are missing or retired and I also check to see if there have been attempts. I do tend to read the comments as well to see what problems other boxers have had while searching for the box. With all that said I do bring along clues to boxes that may be missing - just in case. Now if I have to go way out of my way to look for an unknown box I may not do it - but if I am in the area I say "Why not look!" and then I try to see if I can find it. One of those boxes was Here There Be Dragons. There was an attempt logged in December 2011 but since I was on that trail anyway I decided to follow the clues and see if I could find it. The landmark of 'a log laying on the right side of the trail whose roots gape toward the trail like a dragons maw' was not there. But I had counted my steps (the clue estimated that it was about 160 steps down the trail) and since I didn't see the log I looked for the pine tree and smaller tree next to it. Well, a lot of trees fit that description. But I walked off trail at the spot I had stopped and began searching. It took me about five minutes but then I spotted some plastic next to a pine tree out in the open. It was the box. So I stamped in thankful that I took the time to look for it. I put it back next to the tree and made sure it was covered well. I really like when I find a box that was thought to be missing. That was the most exciting thing of the day. The rest of my finds were pretty straight forward. I ended up finding So Long and Thanks for the Boxes Houston (I had looked for this one two days ago and missed it, glad I gave it another try - have you noticed I don't really give up that easy), The Games Closet (2 boxes - Sorry and Trivial Pursuit), OZ: Billina, Risk Game - Cannon Card, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2 boxes - Cindy Lou Who & Max and The Book Cover), Blizzard of Oz, Here There Be Dragons, OZ: Haunted Apple Throwing Tree, Peanuts: A Charlie Brown Christmas 2 and LB Capital Microbox. I did look for other boxes that I didn't find - Bingo & Bingo Piece, Rich Uncle Pennybags, The Games Closet (Twister), The Lion The Witch & The Wardrobe, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (The Grinch), Grab a Cup, Foghorn Leghorn, Pumpkin Pi and Risk Game - Soldier Card. I am not saying that these boxes are missing - I am saying that I couldn't find them - there is a good possibility that they are right where they are suppose to be. I hope someone will come along soon and find them.

By 4:00pm I was tired and ready to call it a day. I walked back to the car and then drove to the hotel. Once back in the hotel I started packing. I took a break from the packing to take a shower and then log in my finds from the day. Then I returned to the packing and finished getting everything I didn't need for the night and the morning. I then took some time to work on logging things in and on the blog. But it is time to get some sleep and tomorrow I fly home. It was an amazing trip - but then again I always enjoy letterboxing in Texas.