Santa's Playground letterbox series (2 boxes)
J.B. Williams Park
Glastonbury, CT
placed December 10, 2001
by the Varrell family

Easy, one hour round trip

Directions: Route 2E, exit 9. Left onto Neipsic Road. J.B. Williams
Park is 0.6 miles on left.

Santa and his friends like to romp at J.B. Williams Park when they need a
break from the stress of planning Christmas surprises for children around
the world. Santa always stops at the rock to read the plaque about J.B.
Williams and remember the fine soap and toiletries his factory produced.
Santa remembers what good gifts these were in the late 1800s.

Santa passes around the pole gate to begin his rest and relaxation. He
recites the months of the year, one with every step of his left foot,
then turns left (30 degrees) to follow the road less traveled, since he's
not generally a man to take common travel routes. He enjoys walking on
the pine needle softness for his tired feet, having long since worn out
the insoles in his black boots. He soon comes to a fork and bears right.
He follows this trail as it bends to the right at an old granite
hitching post, no longer used because the reindeer play freely here.
Soon he comes to a subtle fork and bears left, then right to join the
main path as it heads deeper into the quiet of the woods.

He travels up the gradual incline to the top of the hill, where he takes
a rest on the bench. Ol' Santa needs a breather; all those cookies and
mugs of cocoa haven't exactly done his physique a lot of good. He looks
around the clearing to see if there are any reindeer games going on there
today, and wanders to the fire circle at 250 degrees. Just beyond this
is a reindeer path with a rooty start, leading into the forest of baby
Christmas trees. He follows this path until he sees a broken tree 5 feet
off the trail to the right. It's an 8 foot tall stump with big broken
limbs laying horizontally and a woodpecker hole near the top. Settled in
for a long winter's nap, he finds Santa's Playground letterbox #1 here, a
stamp showing one of these beautiful pine trees in its holiday finery.

Continuing southward on the deer path, sometimes bushwhacking, sometimes
not, Santa heads southward. (When you live at the North Pole, you have no
option but to travel south, and Santa finds this suits him well.)
Eventually he walks down the hill and joins the main trail again. He
turns left (southeast), then right toward the upper pond. Traveling
clockwise around the pond, he enjoys watching the babbling brook tumbling
down its rock-lined path. If the four pond poles at the drainage pipe
are 12:00, then Santa walks between two trees at 11:00 onto a trail with
a rocky start.

He follows this generally southwest, stepping over rocks and roots along
the way. This trail is vaguely blazed red, and Santa is used to being
guided by something red, so he decides to continue this way. He passes
the lower pond, which is on his right, making a mental note that the
green skating shack could use a little sprucing up for the elves who come
here for ice skating in the winter, fishing in the summer. Past the
pond, he turns south toward the pavilion. He joins in on a game of
horseshoes with his navigational team, but their aim is too good for the
likes of Santa. He pumps some water to help dust a little ashes and soot
off his suit, then heads for the southwest corner of the pavilion.
Moving in the direction of the fence corner, with each step of his left
foot he calls off the name of another one of his reindeer, then turns to
the right (290 degrees) and does it again. Under a rock at the base of a
tree here is Santa's Playground letterbox #2. This stamp is of Santa's
kitten, Snowball, who pops out of the pavilion chimney and invites Santa
to play with her on the playground. Santa stamps in, then heads down to
swing on the swings, making note of the elf-sized picnic table nearby.

Tired, relaxed, and happy, Santa and Snowball continue down past the
playground and onto the main trail, heading left toward the road. They
bear right at the fork just before the fence and cross a small bridge,
then pass the brick caretaker's building, coming out into a clearing and
turning left toward the pole gate and the waiting sleigh.
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