Hi everyone! (and Mom, and Mark in Georgia, so I don't have to repeat myself)

Whew! I'm home now & recovering from a long travel day yesterday. At the end of our layover in Denver, we headed to the gate and found that our flight had been cancelled. The Reno airport had closed due to freezing fog, which has been persisting all the while we've been gone. So we took the flight to Sacramento and rented a car to drive home. We got here at about 1:30 this morning, which felt like 4:30, because our bodies & brains were on east coast time. Late this morning I drove to Reno to return the rental car and pick up my car, which was parked at the Reno airport. I tried to get Tara's Lonely Lb, but first I went to the wrong park (I didn't have the clues with me, duh) and then there was more than a foot of snow covering everything. I've never seen that much snow in Reno. So I'll have to get it next time.

Our buying trip went very well--we spent 5 days shopping till we dropped, well, at least placing orders for our nursery and holiday store. When we got to Atlanta, the weather was balmy, but by Sunday morning when we left the hotel to go to the market, it was 20 degrees out. With higher humidity than we are used to, and a little wind, it was COLD! And stayed that way till we left. Tuesday morning we rented a car and drove out to Stone Mountain Park, the site of the southeast gathering in August, and here is a rundown of my finds there:

Duck Duck (stamp by Amanda)
Extreme Box (great location)
Eagle's Home
Stone Mountain Squeeezebox (placed by the Squeeeezeboxers of Devon England and the Dartmoor 100 Club)
Sun Over Stone
Whiskers
Another Stone Mountain Letterbox
Shamu
Hop To It (stamp by Amanda)
Gone With the Wind (stamp by Amanda)
Georgia Goodness
Best Buds
Stone Mountain Mystery (cool location and stamp)

These were all found on Tuesday, and involved hiking up the big piece of granite or along the wooded trails, or, later in the day, visiting some of the cool cultural & historical spots at the park. There's a beautiful covered wooden bridge and a grist mill in a very picturesque setting. The spokes of the waterwheel were encased in ice. I went to the Carillon trail as it got dark, but i was frozen and exhausted so I decided to call it a day.

Wednesday morning I went back to the Carillon trail, which was five minutes from our room at the inn, and my fingers about froze while I was stamping in at the first box. So I broke the rules a little and took both boxes back to my room to do all the stamping. It took ten minutes of pain before my fingers would work! but twenty minutes later when I went out to replant the boxes, it had warmed up enough to function a little more comfortably. I went and got Ryan's box, then ran out of time and had to forego the Georgia Vacation box. We took the scenic route back to the city, which passed right by the Fox Theater, which made me happy, as I had tried on Monday in brutal cold to get that box, but duh, it was Martin Luther King Day and the office was closed. The box is in the care of the receptionist. A beautiful old theater and a beautiful stamp. So Wednesday's finds were:

Carillon
Robert E. Lee (both great stamps and locations)
Ryan's Stone Mountain Letterbox (my F 100!)
The Fox Theater

I placed two hitchhikers (not mine) and found one very cool one with a handmade accordian logbook, and found one other box about which I can say nothing (and which had my favorite stamp!). Gatherings are good for other boxers, too, as they leave several boxes in one general location, and out-of-town visitors can have a blast without travelling all over the state. So thank you all Stone Mountain placers, and especially huge thanks to Mark, without whose help I wouldn't have had such great success. Unfortunately I didn't get to arrange an exchange, but I've told him he will just have to come to the Gold Rush Romp.

I have to say, my favorite stamps are the ones that really relate to the places where they're located, and Gardening Granny & PawPaw's Carillon twofer was such a joy in this respect. These two boxes were their first ones planted and they are awesome! I wish they were in California, so I could sooner see what other treasures they come up with. I am also really looking forward to the Romp, because the theme is so great for fun stamps and boxes. I hope we can find enough good (safe) hiding places.

Oh, to answer Black Cavalier's question (I think it was his), I found my first box Sept. 16, 2004. See what happens when you get obsessed/posessed? (No exorcism necessary, thank you!) And again, I say thank you to all the planters, and the ones who have been in it since there were only 14 boxes in California, cause it's your boxes I'm finding! And those planted by the rest of us you've inspired. (I think Mimulus deserves a special P award!)

Well, I've gotta go, I'm starting to crash. I'm happy to be home. We really did have great travel luck, all things considered. (There was construction going on at our hotel, and some people arrived to find their reservations unavailable and themselves moved to hotels far away! The day after we arrived, a plane slid off the runway at the Atlanta airport and shut things down there for quite awhile. Oh, and when we re-routed to Sac, our luggage made it there too!)

Happy Boxing!

artTrekker


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Search presents - Jib Jab's 'Second Term'

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]