Yes!

I was just commenting to the family about this commercial.

That pigeon is so OBVIOUSLY a letterboxer.

Either there is a letterboxer behind the scenes, or they just stumbled upon it.

The other bird is clearly not a letterboxer since he thinks that pointing up in response to that question actually means up. 🤦‍♀️ 😉

did anyone see the new Progressive Insurance commercial? Two birds taking. One says to the other "which way is north?" The second bird points up with its wing!

I saw it. Lol!

We saw it many times. I always say you are right!!

Here in the North East, I think the primary challenges are rather universal, and not specific to the area. Flooding, rotting stumps, falling snags, and trail rerouting all come to mind.

So when planting for the long term, avoid areas which might flood, reference long lived stumps like cedar instead of white pine or other fast rotting wood, same goes for snags, and try to avoid using trail blazes or even the color of the blazes for clues!

Even with common sense precautions, plan to maintain boxes by checking them every few years, or have arrangements in place to have someone check them.

LLAP

I liked it when you and DEF planted boxes in towns that didn’t have boxes in Western Massachusetts. North of Boston has some towns that need a box or more boxes.

Good old Lawn Guyland. I have not been back for over 30 yrs (having grown up on the Levittown/Wantagh borderlands), as my elderly parents moved to PA (kind of followed me) in the early 1990s.

There are places that if I would have been a letterboxer 'back home' would have been magnets to plant. Massapequa Preserve, Bethpage Park come to mind for some eastern Nassau County areas for potential. Hempstead Lake along the Southern State Parkway seemed like a cool place. Of course Belmont Park, with the "woolie boolies" we needed avoid as campers, is another nice spot.

There is a letterboxing community there, with a lot of active planters (Willow and the Wolfensteins bubble to the surface of my memory).

What part of the Guyland did you grow up in? :-)

Le Bug
Formerly of the area east of Wantagh Avenue and north of the Southern State Parkway

my cousin is coming to visit (Memphis) in June. looking for a fun adventure. can anyone suggest Indiana locations? (think Indianapolis is farther north than we would be willing to drive. unless you said some fantastic!)

looking for something like our Stone Mountain park trip a few years ago. had tons of LBs and lots of other fun things to do. we like a little of everything. hiking, museums & attractions (we drove into Atlanta for a day) zip lines, tubing... so really indoor and outdoor. thanks!

We plant in Western Mass in summer when staying at our camper, and many new boxes are planned for 2024. One of our goals is to plant one cemetery box in every town/city in Western Mass. We made great progress in 2023!

We will look at communities north of Boston and see what can be done. Thanks for your suggestion.

Since 2018, I pretty much letterbox with my fiance Nic. He is not a letterboxer or a clue solver, but he likes to walk (as long as it isn't cold outside). He also claims to enjoy spending time with me.... yeah, I don't get it either. Some of you may have noticed him sitting and reading a book at events.

I also letterbox a few times a year or more with my cousin who introduced me to letterboxing many years ago. Sometimes her husband, son, and her brother/my cousin, go, too.

When I lived in North Carolina for a couple of years, I letterboxed often with several there. Getting back to the events there gives me the opportunity to see friends!

this is one thing that actually got some excitement out of my husband... we are prepared with 10 pairs... and we are all taking the day off from work to head north to see the last stop on its North America tour :)

Hi, anyone interested in a low-key, outdoor, socially distanced meet-up to stamp the U-haul series (my event stamp series)? Hubby and I still wear masks, because I had a recent kidney transplant.

I am planning a road trip through South Utah, SW Colorado, NW New Mexico and North Arizona this summer (dates and locations uncertain) and thought it would be fun to let the U-haul series hit the road, much like a U-haul truck does.

It's that time of year again.... a total solar eclipse will be passing through North America in a couple of weeks and if you want to watch the build-up (and post-totality), you'll need a safe way to view the eclipse. The entire contiguous United States will at least see a partial eclipse, which also requires a safe way to view the eclipse. So if you haven't acquired your eclipse glasses, now's the time to do it!

To make sure everyone gets their orders in time for the eclipse, I'll be taking the eclipse glasses out of the AQ Marketplace in about a week so this is your last chance! If you do order them, I'd highly recommend paying electronically at this point since they won't be shipped until payment is received, and if your check gets lost in the mail, you may not end up with eclipse glasses at all. Although technically, as long as the payment arrives before March 28th or so, we'll still send them.

Happy eclipse watching, everyone!

-- Ryan

Letterboxing takes us all to so many places we may never have visited otherwise. What are some of the most unexpected or surprising locations you've been to while planting or searching for letterboxes?

Most recently, the road trip from Maine to North Carolina and back with mudflinginfools took us to so many places we would probably never have been. One of the most memorable was making a short side trip, so mudflinginfools could plant a letterbox at the smallest, still in use, covered bridge in Maryland. We even drove through it and back.

I was quite happy with what you planted at this unique location. It’s my only find in North Dakota and a very interesting memorial. Thanks again.

Today's question manifests from the curiosity of Angel Winks, and is perfectly timed, since many of us may be thinking about our summer weekends and vacation time.

What is a place, in the state or province you live, that you would recommend to others as a letterboxing destination or vacation? (Not just letterboxing, but food, accommodations, sights to explore, etc)

I live in Maine and Maine as a whole is a great letterboxing destination!! We have large pockets of concentrated letterboxes all over the state, Southern Maine, Midcoast Maine, Acadia and Downeast, the lakes and foothills of Central and Western Maine. If I were to recommend a trip in Maine, I would recommend Maine's Route 1 road trip from Fort Kent to Kittery. The entire route!!!

ATVRacer and I did this two years ago, we drove up to Fort Kent, overnighted and started our road trip. We broke it up into 2 hour sections of drive time, in other words, each night we would stop in a town approximately two hours from where we started that morning. This gave us plenty of time to letterbox and explore different sights each day and we would actually be on the road around 6-7 hours a day. It took us 9 days from start to finish, because we actually broke up the drive from Portland, where we both work, north to Fort Kent into two days, stopping halfway in Orono. On top of that, we took the Dork Dog Duo and had dog-friendly accommodations and restaurants each night. I did a lot of planning and made reservations for each night about 2-3 months ahead of the trip, just to make sure we would have a bed and we would know where we were stopping. This was also the trip we planted the Maine's Route 1 - Library series, so I was also planning all the libraries we would be stopping to plant at. A trip to remember for sure!!

Something to think about if you're planning to attend L&B XXX in 2028! But, the truth is you can't go wrong letterboxing in Maine!

I highly recommend all of western Massachusetts along the NY border!

In the SW corner, the Stockbridge/Lenox area has lots of shops, historical places, Tanglewood, the Norman Rockwell Museum, plus tons of beautiful hikes to find boxes. Bash Bish Falls is the highest waterfall in MA.

In the NW corner, the Williamstown/North Adams area has beautiful Mount Greylock, which is the MA highpoint and has a number of boxes on gorgeous hikes, some with waterfalls. You can drive right up to the top, which has a tower and amazing views. My husband and I were there after dark on July 4 one year, and we could see clusters of fireworks going off in different towns--all silent, because of the distance from us. It was so cool! Besides Mount Greylock, there's a long, paved rail trail with some very scenic views, Mass MOCA (a modern art museum), and restaurants and more historic places in the area.

Yumgirl and I meet up to box in western MA and always find beautiful spots to hike and explore!

Great suggestion! I have done parts of that drive, but mostly from Kittery, through Ogunquit (Perkins Cove and Marginal Way) to Kennebunkport, detouring to the Cliff Walk at York Harbor Beach and Nubble Lighthouse at Cape Neddick. Beautiful scenery, especially in Autumn, and lobster.

I live in Texas, so I would recommend coming in Winter or early Spring. One drive that is particularly nice that time of year is along the Gulf Coast from just north of Corpus Christi to Port Isabel, just east of Brownsville. You can possibly see whooping cranes at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge or by taking a boat tour in Rockport, then head south to The Big Tree by Goose Island State Park. It is one of the largest live oak trees in the U.S. and is over 1000 years old. Continue on to Aransas Pass and across the bay to Port Aransas on the free ferry, then down the peninsula to Padre Island National Seashore. This area is far enough south of the Mississippi River to have clear water and fairly white sand. Then continue into Corpus Christi and south to the southern portion of Padre Island in Port Isabel. You can visit parts of Spacex Starbase in Boca Chica and depending on Spacex launch schedules you might even get to see a rocket launch from further away. I'm still hoping to see one myself.
The area is very popular during Spring Break so I would avoid that time. It is also popular with many northerners who come live in South TX each winter and are known as "Winter Texans". If you are tired of shoveling snow next winter, it might be worth a trip!

I am loving this thread. I hope others pop in with more places to enjoy for both letterboxing and more.

I will suggest west and northern Michigan, traveling north along Lake Michigan (US-31 to M-22 and north from there!). There are lots of letterboxes to be had on scenic trails, but there are also beaches, quaint towns, local eateries, and great shopping. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is a highlight, as well as visiting Traverse City and all it has to offer. Continuing north along either of the peninsulas brings wineries, gorgeous scenery and trails, and more cute towns. Seriously...one of the most scenic places to visit.

Our first event was a Spring Clock Change event in San Jose California (2014). I remember being a bit overwhelmed, but everyone was so nice and friendly. Grumpy Grinch shared one of his signature poems, which was a highlight of the event.

There were a few boxes planted outside of the restaurant, so we planned to grab those first. We parked right next to the first and started stamping in the car. That’s when two people showed up. Our instincts said to hold back and act nonchalant, but my wife ended up hopping out of the car and asked which direction was North. It turned out to be Lost Sailor and Wendy, two trail names that had been very familiar to us. It was an awesome treat to meet them in person.

Hi, does anyone know where I can purchase patches for: Idaho, North Carolina, 1,000 finds, 2,000 finds, 3,000 finds? Thanks, Vintage Disney

I have a north carolina designed but not produced yet.
I have Idaho.
https://www.atlasquest.com/gallery/view-album.php?albumId=4651

Great! I will order 2 Idaho patches thru the mail from you. Let me know when North Carolina is done! Thanks, Vintage Disney, Jennifer

my daughter flew into Dallas on Wednesday and was picked up by friends in Plano. Today, they headed out driving north into Oklahoma, and then ended up going west to Hot Springs, Arkansas. They were able to see the totality without clouds. They traveled two lane roads to avoid traffic. She is flying home in a couple of days.

We watched it in our backyard and saw very close to totality. Close enough for me.

my daughter flew into Dallas on Wednesday and was picked up by friends in Plano. Today, they headed out driving north into Oklahoma, and then ended up going west to Hot Springs, Arkansas. They were able to see the totality without clouds. They traveled two lane roads to avoid traffic. She is flying home in a couple of days.

We watched it in our backyard and saw very close to totality. Close enough for me