We be Tripp'in!

This may be the most bizarre post I have ever inflicted upon you.

I have some how managed to capture just how silly Ellie and I are together in this short video and a few photos.

I'm about to get Psychedelic on you all. Buckle Up!

LetterBoxing, fireworks & Friends

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend. We had a blast!!!
It was a busy one this year but we found time to have some local fun!

We got together with our friends Kjeld & Melissa. They welcomed their daughter Kira into the world 3 weeks ago. She was a bit snoozey but awake or asleep she is super cute! She's got great parents and will be well taken care of and well photographed!
It's always great visiting them.



Along with our visit to Marshfield we got a visit from our neighbor Steve. He swung over to invite us to his annual July 4th BBQ. We offered him a brew and he couldn't pass it up so he hung out on the deck and chilled out for a bit. We talked war, design and other neighborly things. Unfortunately with our weekend plans we weren't able to attend the par-tah.

With fireworks going off just about everywhere we didn't set out to watch. Every year we are able to see multiple shows from our bedroom windows.

The absolute highlight of the weekend was out Letterboxing experience.

Letterboxing is an outdoor activity that combines elements of art and puzzle solving. Letterboxers hide small, weatherproof boxes in publicly-accessible places (like parks) and distribute clues to finding the box in printed catalogs, on one of several web sites, or by word of mouth. Individual letterboxes usually contain a logbook and a rubber stamp. Finders make an imprint of the letterbox's stamp on their personal logbook, and leave an impression of their personal stamp on the letterbox's logbook — as proof of having found the box. Many letterboxers keep careful track of their "find count".

J discovered this on-line community www.letterboxing.org. Here you can look up where letterboxes have been hidden in your location. We found many in RI and a handful in our immediate area. So we headed out to a place in Cumberland RI called the Monastery. Formerly a Monastery for Monks it is now a public park with a library, a playground and walking trails. The trails are the very same trails the monks used to meditate on slow walks.

We set out to find "The Bear's Claw". Our instructions were clear. We were to take the walking path and follow the puzzled directions and if we were successful we would find the hidden Bear Claw. This was an adventure that Ellie was very excited for. She had on her 4rth of July hat and t-shirt she and Mom had previously painted. Oh, and she also had her binoculars to spy the Bear's Claw.

We were Treasure Hunters!
Ellie lead the way as Johanna read the directions. We were instructed to be cautious and not to let onto what we were doing for fear of non letterboxer seekers may remove and steal the contents.

Ellie would periodically halt the group (J & I) and ask us to be quiet. She would then peer through her binoculars to look ahead and then let us know "It's all clear!" We gave Ellie the Treasure Hunter name "Bird's Eye". Johanna was "Lady J - the navigator" and I don't think I got a nickname.

We approached our final clue. To read a plaque about 9 soldiers who were buried on this very spot. Then searched a nearby tree to find the letter box under 2 rocks and covered by wet leaves. In it we found the Bear's Claw which is the stamp of the team who hide it. Also was a passport sized book filled with other finder's who found the letterbox who dated, noted and stamped a page to record their presence.


We pulled out our stamp (A sand dollar) and pressed it into the small book to record being the ninth finder of this box. We also needed a team name. We threw out some silly one's and decided on The Forrest Fairies.... being the only man the ladies out ruled me 2-1...

As we read on we discovered a second part to the Bear's Claw. Further on this walking path was a second letterbox by the same team. We decided as brave treasure hunters to search it out!

This one seemed much trickier. As nature's land mark's might not be what they once were.
We couldn't find it... However in our search we found 3 beautiful treasure's.

As J and Ellie were looking to see if we might be close I looked further up the path and saw an reddish shape. I walked closer to get less than 10 yards away and realized it was a deer. I quickly spun to quietly alert J & Elle. They quietly approached the deer who was slightly off the path. She peered at us and seemed unfazed by our presence.

Then Ellie whispers... "There's two babies". Sure enough this mother deer was with her 2 fawns. Unbelievably close to us. They must be very comfortable with visitors of the Monastery grounds.



As I snapped a few pics one fawn came upon me through the brush.... it must not have known I was there. She paused, looked at me and sprang away. This sent the other fawn sprinting after... Mother soon followed. I timed each get-away with photo.

This was an amazing afternoon of adventure, intrigue and surprises. This has and will create many fun days for us to explore R.I. I'd encourage anyone to visit the links above and find letterboxes in their local areas or places they will be visiting. It makes a simple hike turn into a fun hunt!