J&BBooks' Letterboxing Adventures

J&BBooks are a husband and wife team in Southeastern Michigan who want to share their letterboxing stories and pictures with everybody! Enjoy! Currently: P(10), F(300), X(28)

Name:
Location: Southeastern Michigan

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

The Great Eastern Sweep has been postponed *sniff*

Given the recent through-the-roof gas prices, J and I have decided to forego our great letterboxing trip east to CT and MA. Instead, we have decided to turn our eyes westward. Well, west to Kalamazoo, Muskegeon and Grand Rapids at least. From a letterboxing perspective, these have been the places we've looked at and said "Gee, wouldn't it be nice if Ann Arbor were like that?" This will be the first chance that we have gotten to really get out and get a bunch of boxes in each spot.

We don't have any definite plans for boxes yet, but definitely plan on checking out some of Azobox and SpringChick's boxes while out there. We've enjoyed their Around the World series so much! Of course, a Michigan-based vacation may mean the conclusion of that series for us ... stay tuned ;)

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Potato Creek Pictures


Yes, I am rather slow at getting my pictures actually off of the camera.. so here are a few pictures from our trip a few weeks ago. At the top is me and B looking pretty darn cute :-), next is B and our pals J&S at a grape arbor that we visited on one of the boxes, then, of course, J&S looking pleased with themselves after discovering how much fun boxing is... In the last pic, which was the last box of the day, we all pause at the "arch" as recommended by the clues!

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Our little box, all grown up

Yup, it's true. Our little "A Rose By Any Other Name" letterbox has been found, by not one, but two letterboxers. It appears our worries about the clues (i.e., being impossible to follow) were unfounded. And in a nice bit of cosmic symmetry, Thumb was the first to find Rose. We think this is nice, because we found Thumb's Flying Saucer box on Friday (see below). We weren't the first on it, but we were pretty darn close. ;-)

In other letterboxing news, we were incredibly jealous when we saw Armadillo Jo's new series of six called South Bend History/Mystery Tour in South Bend. Why? Because the friends we visited in South Bend earlier this month have moved away, so no convenient excuses exist for trekking down to get these boxes! And they look fun, too. I guess the only consolation is that we are in the midst of planning the eastern seaboard trip -- where we will get a TON of cool series!

Sunday, August 21, 2005

More adventures in world travels...

B and I found another 2 boxes in the Around the World in 80 Days series this afternoon. We are getting excited; we have found 10 of the 15. Hopefully, in just a week or two more, we will have finished our 'round the world trek! Though, we will miss it; we have been having so much fun with this series. Today was particularly satisfying, since we went back to get a box that we couldn't locate the first time we looked (we noticed from the logbook that several others had the same problem) and which we were dreading a bit. Instead, it took us a grand total of about 2 minutes to find it~ woo hoo! :-)

Friday, August 19, 2005

Close Encounters...

B and I headed out after work tonight to the new Flying Saucer box in Ann Arbor. It is set in a park that starts behind Cobblestone Barn (where we actually considered having our wedding reception, until B put his foot down!) and winds through Buhr park... and beyond. The "mothership" clue was clever, the walk long and fun, and the reward at the end was a cute little hand-carved stamp. I love hand-carved stamps, and always consider it a treat when we get them.

Meanwhile, we are still waiting and wondering if anybody has found out little hand-carved stamp! ;-)

In other J&BBooks news, we are eagerly counting down the days until our trip out east in September. We plan on doing a lot of boxing; hopefully, in OH, PA, NY, CT, and MA. We also are planning on meeting up with our pals J & S, who we introduced to letterboxing in Indiana a few weeks ago. They have taken to it like ducks to water, and we are so excited to have pals to go 'boxing with!

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Two bits of news

The first, of course, is that we finally planted our first box last night. HURRAY! Now, we are eagerly awaiting the first find and comments. Were the clues good? Bad? Impossible to follow? Should J give up stamp carving all together? :-)

The second bit of news is that, over the weekend, B carved us a new personal stamp. It is still the same design, but our original stamp had deteriorated rapidly in just two short months. I don't recommend pink rubber erasers. The last few finds we made, you could hardly even see our stamp! Oh well, the new one looks beautiful and I am majorly impressed.

Monday, August 15, 2005

An entire weekend without letterboxing!

Sad, but true. I think this is the first weekend since we started in June that we haven't managed to get in at least one box. Sometimes, though, the rest of your life interrupts your boxing adventure plans! We are hoping to make up for it by planting our own box tonight, and maybe snagging the new Ann Arbor box that was planted last week, and (even though we have out of town guests staying with us next weekend) we are hoping to be able to grab a few more in the 80 Days series. So, big plans -- hopefully they will work out!

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Underwater letterboxing

I just discovered Bindle Babe's new letterbox, Haunted Shipwreck , which is underwater. Yes, you have to go diving to get to this one. I am in awe... and a little jealous, because there is no chance I will ever get it. J and long exposures underwater don't mix. Snorkeling is about the most I can handle! Maybe somebody will place a box that can be reached by snorkelers...? More my style!

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Catching up...


One of the best parks we have visted while letterboxing was Sterling State Park in Monroe, Michigan. It is the only MI State Park on Lake Erie. We actually did not even see the Lake while in the park, because we were so wrapped up in its other wonderful feature, which are the marshes. There are several that are just a stone's throw away from the Lake, and they are lovely. We walked around one, near dusk on a Friday evening, and saw a swan, great blue heron, nesting raptors of some sort, a crane, and several rabbits. It was quiet, still, slightly muggy... everything you would expect of a Michigan marsh in the summer. So, here is one of my pictures of the swan on the marsh, which also serves as my screensaver at work. Enjoy! (And, of course, there is a box in the park, too!)

Monday, August 08, 2005

Boxing in South Bend

B and I picked up an insane amount of boxes over the weekend! (See our Boxes Found link, to the left, for the entire list.) We really enjoyed boxing in Indiana; these were our first "out of state" boxes. On Saturday, we explored St. Patrick's County Park and managed to get all of the boxes in the park. Our fave, by far, was the Porcupine box... which was apparently carved by a 10-year old. Very impressive! We also loved walking over the State line into Michigan. On Sunday, we headed out to Potato Creek State Park. The trails, stamps, and clues for all of the boxes were wonderful! Unfortunately, we spent a good hour looking for the 2nd box in the "Michigan Hurricane" series but were completely unable to find it. We sadly concluded that it is missing, but only after poking into every tree/log within shouting distance of the trail! We are nothing, if not persistant.

So, our biggest triumph of the weekend was, surprisingly, not any of the letterboxing. It was the conversion of two ordinary people into avid letterboxers! We were staying with friends in Indiana, and brought them along with us on Saturday. B and I had a long talk beforehand about how we only needed to get one box and how we didn't want to bore our friends... all needlessly, apparently. They completely fell in love with 'boxing. By the end of the weekend, they had bought stamps, inks, notebooks, and were planning future letterboxing adventures! We can't wait to go 'boxing with them again. Welcome, little ant and grass! :-)

Friday, August 05, 2005

Our First Post



Check in to read about our letterboxing adventures in the great lakes region and beyond!
This is B a few weeks ago after a triumphant discovery in the Around the World in 80 Days Series.