This is one of the things I miss most since we have begun the
regional groups -- hearing the gathering reports from places around
the country. So, I thought I would post a brief [ahem] recap of
Saturday's 3rd Annual Great Lakes Gathering here since all the
chatter about it has been strictly over at the Great Lakes list.

The gathering, which was held at Hudson-Mills Metropark in Dexter,
MI, was hosted by Team Rabbit who did an awesome job choosing the
location. The park was gorgeous with great open spaces, lush
forests, a babbling river and lots of trails -- one would never know
they were only minutes from the suburbia of Ann Arbor. The weather
cooperated and we enjoyed pleasant temps without the recent humidity
and on/off sun all day -- perfect letterboxing weather!

I don't know the actual head count, but there were over 50 people
signed up to attend and I think they majority of them were there.
It was nice to see some old friends (from the previous 2 GL
Gatherings) and to meet so many new people! Our special guests were
Mark & Sue Pepe all of the way from CT! And as if their presence
alone was not enough to send us all into fits of letterboxing
lunacy, Mark brought with him the Boch's Traveling Circus and also
did a presentation on his trip to Dartmoor last fall.

The Circus was fantastic! To everyone who contributed stamps, thank
you for sharing your creativity and talent with all of us! They
were all wonderful -- there were a few that just knocked my socks
off, they were so detailed and precisely cut! A wonderful bunch of
stamps! And for those who will be treated to upcoming performances
of the circus, a couple of new acts from MI have joined the troupe!

In addition to the plethora of brightly packaged Circus stamps,
there were several stamps contributed by 'boxers in our region for
the gathering, based on the theme Mo' Boxin' in Motown. There was
everything from classic Motown tunes and singers to sports teams to
landmarks to industry icons. My personal favorites were a 4-box
Detroit Landmarks series done by Team Rabbit (awesome carvings!) and
the Mo' Mustangs 7-box piece-together series resulting in what else -
- a Ford Mustang -- done by Dragon. There were also several WoM
boxes that had been secretly placed in creative places around the
gathering area and out on the trails (and I am sure I didn't get
them all). OldShoe and I stayed out on that side of the state all
weekend and went back to the park this morning to hunt down a few
boxes I didn't have time for on Saturday -- I think I still missed a
couple!

Mark Pepe's presentation on Dartmoor was a real treat -- I am
inspired and wanting to know where do I sign up? In addition there
were workshops on logbook-making and mystery letterbox clues. So
now we are all home sewing hand-made logbooks and figuring /
creating ciphers and cryptograms and logic puzzles.

Somewhere in between all of this fun, we found time to enjoy a
delicious assortment of potluck food, complete with Dragon's yummy
grilled garlic mushrooms (Dragon was kind of all about 'shrooms and
pi this year) and some additional social time over lunch.

Wow! Talk about overload and overwhelmed and overstimulated! It
was a busy and long day, but so much fun meeting so many new people
and enjoying the artistic contributions of so many both near and far.

Thanks especially to Team Rabbit for all of their hard work
organizing this event and making it such a huge success. Thanks to
all who attended and to everyone who contributed their time, their
skills and their creativity!

Until the next one...

SpringChick