It was a little over a year ago when we received a homeschool flyer in the mail that introduced our family to letterboxing. I was already interested in learning about geo-caching, but we didn't have a GPS. Letterboxing seemed like the perfect activity until we got one. I had no idea what kind of Pandora's box I was opening!!
I still remember how excited we were when we followed the clues to our first box, “Knot in Paris”. There was actually a box that someone had hidden exactly where they said it would be! And lots of people walked right past it never knowing about this treasure. That was exciting.
We were at a park we'd visited before within 15 minutes of our home. Yet, this box had taken us down a trail we had never been on. Knowing the distance to the box also gave me the courage to go ahead with my 4 children.
Of course, this became the infamous loop mistake. I did not consult my map ahead of time and I was sure that loops were always better completed rather than backtracked. Turns out, I was wrong. We ended up hiking a good four to five miles right on top of the mountain and back down. Everyone was amazingly cheerful. We ate wild blueberries and kept our eyes open for bears. In spite of this, my children loved letterboxing and we've gone on to find many more!!
We've canoed down an alligator infested river, hiked to beautiful waterfalls, visited historic graveyards, explored museums, immersed ourselves in historic cities and met many wonderful people all in search of our little secret boxes! We all know more about SC than we ever knew before we began letterboxing. We have learned so many different reasons to love where we live so we could share our place with you, just as you all have shared with us.
Having cake day on AQ has just been a chance to reflect on all the amazing places letterboxing has taken us this year. Here's to many more years of letterboxing adventures!!
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