Letterboxing!!

Oh, I had a great day! A friend and I went LETTERBOXING! We discovered a total of nine (9) boxes today! I got the bug last night when I discovered a new box not too far away that had no recorded finds. My friend agreed we should go get it (discover it, stamp the logbook, and record the find). She and I took our individually designed and hand-carved stamps and our logbooks (and a few pads of ink) on our trek. We were too late to snag the bragging rights as first finders of the new box. However, the first finder left a special token/charm for the second finder. Awww! Touched. I might have to be more aggressive to finding new boxes and leaving consolation gifts to the second finder. (I mean that sincerely, although, I know you tried to read that with sarcasm!)

What's letterboxing, you ask? It is a globally popular pastime of planters and seekers (finders)! Information, rules of conduct, glossary of terms, and most importantly clues to the locations of the boxes, are found at http://www.atlasquest.com/ I understand that Letterboxers of North America (LBNA) also has listings, although I have only used that site on occasion and sometimes atlasquest clues are redirected to the LBNA listing for that box.
To begin this inexpensive (except for car fuel) hobby make a stamp using a bar eraser (like the pink erasers) or purchase your signature stamp at any craft store (can get a coll one for $1. You just have to look) Next, you need an inkpad (I recommend one from the stamping section of the craft store, as office supply inks often bleed through the page) and you need a logbook... any lined or unlined journal or even a spiral-bound set of index cards.
Then go to www.atlasquest.com read the code of conduct and, if you can agree to the rules, set up an account. Do a quick city search on your city to find location of boxes near you. Go treasure hunting! haha. The treasure is getting outdoors, doing a little walking, and finding pretty pictures to stamp into your logbook. Don't forget to stamp YOUR signature stamp into the box's log. Put the stamp and log back into their container and rehide where you found it. Go home and log in to atlasquest to record your find(s)!! (no spoilers! you can comment "Nice stamp!" but don't write "Oh! what a pretty butterfly!" because part of the treasure is the surprise of the design!)

This is a global hobby, and there are letterboxes everywhere you go! So now you can pack your stamp and journal with you whenever you are traveling, and you can look up box clues before you leave and you will have something inexpensive to do on your trip! Fun to show off stamps (more fun than some geocache stuff I have seen!)

Speaking of geocaching... Sometimes there are letterboxes in the same area. A letterbox is usually marked that it is a letterbox (on the inside), plus, it has a rubber stamp usually wrapped and placed in a plastic baggie together with a small notebook. Nothing else. So WHY would a geocacher think this is a GC box and take the stamp out? So, please put the stamp and logbook back. Oh, nothing else? Well, there is this thing called a hitchhiker, but I will let you discover that on your own!....