Junior sleuths society

Veteran's Day 2008.

Lauren headed to Cambridge with three friends (on the subway! by themselves! huge rite of passage right there) to go to the Harvard Natural History Museum as part of a big Biology project.

Greg was at work, talking on his phone and doing what he does at work, where he is usually found on Tuesdays. (His company doesn't take those kind of holidays off. Moment of silence for absent G.)

That left the three of us (Maddy, Sam and me) for the day. I took a break from homework & projects in the morning and we decided to go letterboxing.

It's no secret that Sam loves everything to do with sleuthing and puzzles and mysteries so he loves it when we go on a letterboxing adventure. Plus it gets us out in the fresh air at the same time...just right for a day off from school. We hadn't been for a year or two (I know I've posted about letterboxing before but somehow can't find it in my archives) so we clicked here for a refresher.

[You could really make this two days of activities: the first day you could make your stamp notebook and even carve your own stamp from a rubber eraser. The next day you could follow the clues to the treasure. I'm just saying.]

Letterboxing is basically a treasure hunt arranged by kind and interested strangers. At each site, they bury a box with a notebook (for you to sign or stamp with your own stamp), a stamp (to stamp your own notebook like a passport book), and an inkpad. On the website, you can search for a location near you and download the clues to find the buried box. We chose the one in Sleepy Hollow cemetery in Concord.

Thank you, veterans.

There were clues like "go to Author's Ridge"
"you will pass a sphere on the right and a hollow stump on the right"

"walk 20 paces"

"...behind the tree you will see a partly buried rock.
The box is under the rock."

The thrill of discovery!

I was kind of concerned about the ethics of bringing Louie
to a cemetery
(would he want to dig anything up?)
but he was very well behaved

The stamp: "the earth laughs in flowers [Ralph Waldo Emerson]"

It was a good day.
{Let me know if you try this...I'd love to hear about
other sleuthing adventures}
p.s.
Lauren successfully navigated the city and the subway
and finished her assignment.
She came back spilling with stories of getting a bit lost
(she did some sleuthing of her own after all)
and loving the glass flowers
and the stuffed llama.