Alexandria Pub Crawl Report

Finally, we've found some time to write our Pub Crawl experience from June 23!

Pinecone Pints: Stargazermomma, Woody, Steve & Katie
(Sue missing; Mark behind camera!)


We arrived at our Alexandria, VA hotel mid afternoon on the 23rd; just in time to unpack, freshen up from the 6+ hour drive from CT and get our boxing things together. Sue & I were joined by our youngest son, Steve and his girlfriend, Katie, who were traveling with us on this vacation. Our detour was the Pub Crawl; our destination was VA Beach from Sunday, June 24 through Sunday, July 1. Steve & Katie came along with us on the crawl as semi-interested tagalongs!


Since we wanted to pull a "reverse Ivy" (see the story below,) only our hosts, BullDawg & Shell, knew we were coming. As we waited for the shuttlebus for the Old Town section of Alexandria - the location of the crawl - Irene from Hikers & Hounds drove up in a minivan, riding shotgun. The look on her face when she spotted us was priceless!



Irene's friend Rita, Irene of Hikers & Hounds, The Castle Keepers



Scarab - Is that a clue sticking out of that messenger bag?


Arriving at Pat Troy's in Old Town, we ventured to the open air patio where participants were to meet. Immediately we were spotted by Poison Ivy, TeamGreendragon and a few others. After hi's and hugs and introductions of Steve & Katie, we settled in a corner table and began exchanging. It was wonderful to meet BullDawg, who was deep in the thick of things. We got to meet and exchange with Wink & Tarheel, Infinity (snagged her traveler as well,) and many others.




Sue, daelphinus and new baby


One of the unexpected highlights was to finally meet Daelphinus/Dvn2Chkr, whom we have corresponded with many times over the years. In fact, her pinecone contribution to the Pepe Pinecones as arranged by Funhog is now our VT house box. She told me later that she recognized Sue from pictures on our blog and we finally got a chance to talk for a while and meet her newborn daughter and family. Donna/Tempus Fugit is another fav of ours and we were happy to see her as well.




Tempus Fugit & Night Owl


We were then told by the organizers that the 4 of us would be teamed with Stargazermomma and Woody. And we needed a team name so "Pinecone Pints" seemed appropriate enough for this alcohol-based hunt! Teams were called and released. When our turn came, we were handed a folder which contained clues and were warned "Read everything!" Every team had a different beginning pub destination and then it was up to you as to what strategy you wanted to use to visit the other 5 pubs. Of the 6 pubs we would visit in search of elusive boxes, 1 was not even aware that boxers would be participating in this hunt so extreme stealth was needed. Besides the 6 pub locations, there were other boxes on the way to various places.


As we made our way to our first bar, we were able to snag one of the outside boxes from an "envelope" clue that was found in our packet. This clever clue brought us to a Star Wars decorated mail box, where the box was located underneath the mailbox; held in place by a magnet within the box. Crowded streets called for stealth since we wanted this box to be available for other teams as well - or did we? Rehiding the box, I bent down to tie my sneaker and refastened the box to the underside of the mailbox.



Our first pub stop, King Street Blues



Some of the pig memorabilia inside the Kings Street Blues pub


Our initial deemed destination was King Street Blues. The clues brought us to a table in the downstairs bar (restaurant upstairs) that had balloons suspended from an antique-looking treasure chest. Keeping the treasure chest secure was a small, 3 digit padlock! In order to get the stamp hidden inside, we'd have to decode the clue and convert it to 3 numbers. Luckily, this was a bar whose owner knew about the crawl! After almost an hour, several of the non-boxing clients were helping us and offering encouragement. It was both a great and frustrating way to begin this event!





Whimsical detail of the building front at King Street Blues


Finally, we got the padlock unlocked and stamped the contents in both our personal logbooks and the official crawl logbook from which our count would come in determining the winning team. The team that found the most boxes would share the huge treasure chest of goodies which held the primo prize of an wonderfully preserved edition of that original Smithsonian Magazine that contained the historic article on letterboxing that helped motivate the early boxers to begin to organize letterboxing in the US.


The afternoon and early evening flew by as we walked all over Old Town in Alexandria in search of boxes that were cleverly clued and very well hid. At one point, we had to locate a box that was hidden on the central square of Old Town complete with fountains and benchs where muggles rested in the shade. Then, we spotted the box in a pile of rocks in the clues (the stamp ended up being glued to the bottom of one of the rocks in the pile!) but noticed 2 men that were enjoying the day seated nearby. Stargazer Momma, using her high school Spanish, engaged the 2 men as she acted as a lost tourist, while the others in our group blocked their view and I retrieved and rehid the rock/stamp! It was a great group effort.



Sue, Stargazermomma & Woody pose after finding the Bunny Man tribute box


One of our most favorite boxes, merely due to the history, was the Mid-Atlantic legend box about the Bunny Man, who haunted this tunnel in PA. This original box was a classic one done by the Jolly G Man, who has since left letterboxing and was an actual FBI employee. I had the distinct honor of emailing him several times early in our boxing career, just before he left. This box was in honor of that historic box and, like the original, was hidden in a tunnel.



Stargazermomma plays it up for the wedding guests.
Hope we looked like tourists!


Another funny encounter was a box that was hidden on the grounds of the church where George Washington's funeral service was held. Easy enough, we thought! After asking directions from a resident, we approached the church, only to find a wedding ceremony just processing out of the church. As the guests milled about the front of the church awaiting the happy couple, we made like tourists, looking at the historic plaque, knowing that the box was hidden somewhere in the front of the church - in plain view of the wedding guests.



Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Revolutionary War


So we decided to walk along the church, which had a small graveyard which held the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Revolutionary War. This was a case where, stalling for time, we discovered a true gem which we might have missed had there been no wedding at all! After the brief respite in the small graveyard, we proceeded to the front of the church as the guest boarded the buses that whisked them away for their celebration and we found and stamped the box!



Alexandria Brownstones



Is this a clue? :-)



Wink Goes Wild!
Many pints later, Wink sports one of the prizes, a new pair of underpants, worn over his hiking pants.


This was a wonderful event - very well planned. We can't even imagine the hours of work of preparation that BullDawg and Shell put in as well as the wonderful carvings of boxers from around the world (Yorkshire Tortoise - you told me you couldn't carve! That stamp was great!!) It was an event we'll try to attend next January, when Hikers & Hounds takes over the hosting duties for her version of the Pub Crawl: Pennsyltucky Stagger on January 12, 2008. Irene told us that this one will be more low key and centered around trivia. We are so there!



Sue & Poison Ivy share a moment at the "day after breakfast"
He made that hat which became an official Pub Crawl souvenir



Great to meet Bulldawg!


Thanks to BullDawg and Shell for providing one of the most exciting, educational and fun days we've had in a long time. And thanks to Stargazer Momma and Woody for joining our team. It was great to see all of our friends from that area - it was a blast. And who know - maybe the Northeast needs to begin its own tradition of Pub Crawls!

If that happens - we've learned from the best!



Later that week, rested and tan in VA Beach!