Our first box of 2014 found!

     

Welcome letterbox fans to a brand new year of letterbox adventures! 


Due to cold temperatures and lots of snow Courtney and I had been unable to go and find Letterboxes for the months of January and February. Today, March 14th we finally had good enough weather to go and find ourselves the first box of 2014. Fittingly enough, the box we found was bidding the year 2013 a fond farewell.

      We started our day with Courtney arriving to pick me up, we meandered around town for a while finding a few new gift cards for our collections. Then our conversation turned to cemeteries and Courtney told me there are three cemeteries in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I had been to two of them but not the one on 26th Street. (Heck, I didn't even know it existed.) So we decided to make an epic cemetery run doing all three in one day! (That was fun times, :D I love me some cemeteries!)

      First up was the Memorial Gardens. We both have friends and or family buried there so we did stop by and say hello to our loved ones.

Great Aunt Veldeva & her husband John

We also checked out some of the other areas of the cemetery that we had neglected on previous visits. While we were there we couldn't help but notice the dominating wind. (Crazy windy!) We're expecting snow tomorrow and when snows coming a windy day usually preceded it and today was no exception. It blew and blew making our nose's run. Gave me a shiver or two. Yet we were troopers and enjoyed seeing many of the names and beautiful stones and markers. Courtney found the last name of King and I found Knight we joked we only needed to find the bishop and the rook. We didn't find them but we did find the last name of Pope and we figured that was close enough.

      We also saw what at first we thought was a small bird with many feathers who had meet an unfortunate end. A little further in our walk we found the body of a medium size bird and realized the other part had been its head. The bird had been decapitated and the murderer had left no trace behind. We immediately reported the murder. Detectives are baffled and if anyone has any information regarding this horrible tragedy we urge you to come forward. (Just kidding! Truth is we contacted no one and Courtney thought it was probably done by a cat.) (Looked like something a cat might do, but really it was a pretty big mess... feathers EVERYWHERE!) To add to our creepy dead bird we heard mysterious sounds like a crowd of people walking toward us turns out it was just a plastic bag caught in a tree blowing in the wind. (I didn't hear the bag, sorry! All I heard was you say you heard the scary bag.) We laughed it off but when Courtney was spooked by a tiny tumble weed rolling over to say hello to her we figured it was time to move on. (I wasn't spooked. I said it sounded like someone walking in the grass behind me and the tumbleweed was rolling on by in a hurry to get somewhere else.) We hopped in the car grabbed a much needed Kleenex and then decided it was time for lunch.

      We ate at Arby's. Which was super tasty. (Yea it is!) Refueled and refreshed we went to our second cemetery. The 26th Street cemetery. It's a cute little cemetery. (It's called Fairview Cemetery. It's back on 26th street.) Quaint trees and pretty little headstones. If you get the chance to visit you should go. Be aware that you get that great or not so great Country horse smell from the horses who live next door and deer frequent the cemetery leaving little presents everywhere so please watch your step. (Yea - no kidding, deer poo all over!!)

Horsie!! It's across the street.

We sat in the car for just a moment as Courtney checked her cellphone for the whereabouts of the letterbox hidden somewhere in this very cemetery. We've officially become high tech in our letterbox pursuits! Normally we look up the clue in our trust clue book hand written by Courtney. Today she opted for the check the app on her phone technique and presto we have instant instructions.(I got lazy, what? I have a quilt to quilt - I can't write that much too!)

      Despite the instant clue access we didn't go straight for the letterbox. Instead we took some time to look around and enjoy the cemetery. Seeing many of the quaint headstones. Courtney also found a bone. We asked around but none of the occupants in the vicinity laid claim the bone. So we decided the bone had to be an animal bone from some deceased beast. Still it was creepy to find at the base of a tree surrounded by graves.

It's a bone!!!!

      We enjoyed exploring the cemetery but the letterbox was haunting us with its clues. So we hoped in the car drove around a bit looking for block 12. We found it but only after we found block 21, 17, 8, and 13. Yes we get a little turned around sometimes but it's awful fun when we do! Found block 12 and began the search. The clue was cryptic, the letterbox was hidden exceptionally well. We searched the area and had a lot of hmmms and no that can't be right let's read the clue again, until at last we found the little letterbox. And if we can find it so can you! We sat in the car while we embarked on our letterbox stamping ritual. I got the honor of putting the box back. And we did our fist bump and said onto the next. We left going to our third and last cemetery.

The great pointing squirrel!!
Evergreen Cemetery

      Cemetery number three is the biggest and I can never remember the name of it but Courtney can so she will insert it here. (Evergreen Cemetery - largest one in Colorado Springs!)  This cemetery does have a letterbox which we found already. We decided to check out an area or two in the back where we hadn't been before. We saw many pretty stones and several fresh graves. Our sympathies go out to the family's of those new participants in the cemetery landscape. The new graves always tug a little more at my heart strings. At this cemetery Courtney issued me her extra camera so I too could take some pictures. Which I did. (Two cameras and a backup battery for each is the LEAST you require when going cemetery running.)

Dancing geese?

I also got some fantastic pictures of two geese just relaxing in the cemetery. I wouldn't have seen them if it wasn't for a hawk swooping down to bother them. They held their ground and there was no drama just two beautiful geese paying their respects to the deceased. I have to admit it was nice to see living creatures in the cemetery especially after the dead bird and the bone at the other two. We saw a squirrel scamper up a tree too. We also got lazy in our pursuit for headstone pictures we started to snap some from the comfort of the car which meant we were both really tired and it was time to head home. So that's just what we did.
(Also, I didn't want to run out of gas, and the cemetery is ALLLLLLLL the way across town from your house!)