Treasure Hunting!!

Have you ever seen the 1985 movie The Goonies? The one where the kids find the treasure map and head out on an adventure? I always wanted to be one of those kids......And for the past two years I have lived my dream!!! Well, sort of. I am a letterboxer!!!

Letterboxing gives you all of the "thrill of the hunt" fun that was present in the movie without any of the danger and kid quirkiness. Well, maybe some of the quirkiness depending on who you take letterboxing with you!!

Letterboxes are hidden all over the world and you can find their "clues" on various websites. My favorite is http://www.atlasquest.com/. Clues lead you to a box filled with a stamp and a logbook. Once found you put the stamp mark in your logbook and you place your signature stamp in the logbook that is hidden. Understand? Pretty easy and pretty much a great time! This is a picture of the letterboxing stuff - clue, stamp books, my stamp (in the shape of Ohio), Anna' stamp and the hidden stamp. My stamp is hand carved by my super talented husband!!!

Yesterday, we found "The Grabby Ghost of Promont" box in Milford, Ohio. The Promont is a beautiful Victorian house built in 1865. Tours are given and apparently there is a bit of a ghost story told about the house. So the stamp inside the letterbox was related to this story. Very cool.

Anna Leigh took all of the pics. My favorite is the one below of the front doors. Through the front doors you can see all the way through to the back wall of the house. An amazing stained glass window is on that back wall and Anna was able to capture it. Lots of fun!!!

The educational benefits of letterboxing have been super. Letterboxing allows us to visit interesting places in our own city that we may not even know about. It has also been great when traveling - finding new and fun places to visit some with historical significance. And following the clues given are great for critical thinking skills!! A great hobby with great benefits!!!!