Back with Beauty and History in our Heads!

Well - it was a whirlwind trip but one we'll remember for years! We attended 3 gatherings in 9 days - two of them in our honor. Met a lot of great letterboxers from the Pacific Northwest as well as finding boxes in 2 states - Oregon & Washington and planting 8 letterboxes in Oregon too. The beauty of the state of Oregon and the history of its land and some of those early boxes made this a very interesting trip.

While at times we pushed our limits, we saw much of what central Oregon has to offer in the way of differing landscapes and boxes: the Lava Lands National Park and the High Desert Museum; Mt. Hood and the cowboy town of Sisters; Hog's great desert hideway and the Metolius River; the beautiful canyons of the Deschutes River and the simplicity of Sauvie Island; magpies, banana slugs, and lizards; Funhog boxes and the early Der Mad Stamper Columbia River Gorge Waterfalls Series and a few very special WOM's, letterboxing with Funhog, Don & Gwen and Deanne & Dave! I remarked one night as we all were around the table in a Redmond restaurant early on in the week - "None of us would have known each other if it hadn't been for letterboxing." But this wonderful hobby/pastime/obsession has allowed Sue and I to meet some very special people!

More to come in the next few days! Even a few surprises like our new "Postcards from Oregon" and the Doors of McMenamins. And of course the commentary! What would a pinecone trip be without the diary-like story of what we did! Special thanks to Deanne, the Lazy Letterboxer (not!) and Dave, the Letterboxing Ham, for being wonderful travel partners during our 9 days away. Sue & I had more laughs and fun than you can imagine.

And this trip never would have happened with the help of our porcine friend - Funhog, who acted as travel agent, host and all around best friend! Early on, the Hog ran us pretty hard but we are now ever so thankful for without that little push of the curly-tailed one, our trip would have not been so complete and wide-ranging! And the four of us are pleased to have survived Camp Funhog! Thanks, Hog, for giving us the most precious thing anyone could - your precious time that you so willingly spent with us!