New Places

Letterboxing always seems to take me places I never knew existed.  Like today-who knew there was a museum dedicated to toothpick art?  Unfortunately, this place is closed on weekdays, so we couldn't go inside, but we did find the nearby letterbox.

Next stop-another cool little park we didn't know about-such a cool little place.  I'll have to remember it when the weather cools off some!

Mustangs, Stone Cows, and Hippos

After picking up a letterbox at the Mustangs of Las Colinas, the boys and I headed out to get a few more.

The second box we sought was Stone Cows.  There were 5 or so statues of cows at this location.  This letterbox was waterlogged!  Note to self-do not plant a letterbox in a pill bottle.  Really neat carve, though.

There was also the statue of Ben Carpenter at this same site, which happened to be the first clue for the next letterbox-Cowboy.

To find the actual letterbox for this one, we had to drive down the road to a hiking trail and enjoy a neat view of the river.

Next we went on to find Box #234.  This was in a neat little park that was in the center median of a residential area.

Next stop, Box #123, where we were almost discovered.  Therefore, this was the only picture I took!

After that, we went to look for Hippo Fantasia.  This was at Jaycee Park in Irving, which I wish was closer to our house.  There were ducks to feed, stone hippos in the water, a neat flower garden, and a nice tribute to fallen officers.  This letterbox was also a neat carve, but soaking wet-and again-it was in a pill bottle.

Letterbox #7 for today was Cemetery Cross:  Easter, located in Sowers Cemetery.  The clue referenced an "impressive monument".  In a cemetery full of nothing but your average size head stones, this monument was quickly noticed!

Our last stop for the evening was Cemetery Cross:  Christmas.  It was actually located on the property of DFW Airport, but you can't get to the actual cemetery since it is behind a chain link fence.  This was as close as I could get to the historical marker.  We quickly found our last letterbox of the day here.  It is rare that we search for multiple letterboxes all on the same day, and find every one of them.  

Mustangs of Las Colinas

Since I had taken part of the day off work to drop off my hubby at the airport, and since we were in the area already, I wanted to take the boys to see the Mustangs of Las Colinas.  I had heard about them for several years-a little larger than life-size statues of wild mustangs running through a stream-but never took the time to visit them.  A few years back I had visited Pioneer Plaza in downtown Dallas-what seemed like endless cattle (statues) crossing a stream, and going over a hill-and that was simply amazing.  I was awaiting the same amount of "awe" Pioneer Plaza produced.


Unfortunately, the "awe" never showed up.  It was more of a, "That's it?" followed by a "I paid $2.50 for parking for this?"  It was neat, just not what I was expecting.  After that we went inside to see the museum-but it was closed since today was a Monday.  Bummer!


Fortunately, the whole experience was redeemed by the fact that we could at least pick up a nearby letterbox.  And, we did get some neat pictures.  I'm glad I visited since I have wanted to see them for so long, but it is certainly not something that I need to experience again.

Haiti Bound

Today the boys and I said good bye to my hubby for 2 weeks.  He picked me up from work early and then we all ate lunch together before heading to the airport.  He is headed to Haiti for a missions trip with Mercy Chefs.  He has been for the last several years-last year I explained more about what he does with Mercy Chefs while he is there.  We will miss him, but trust that he will have a good time, and accomplish a lot while there.

My Youngest is Baptized

During Youth Camp, our campers had an opportunity to be baptized.  I am very proud that my youngest made the decision to do this!  And what a great opportunity for my hubby to do the "dunking"!  Here are some pictures from that:

The officials at the camp recommended that as a profession of their faith, all those be re-baptized at their home church.  We did that today-and my hubby got to do the honors again!


Here are the pics I took:

East Buffet Chinese Cuisine & Sushi

After church today, we stopped for lunch at East Buffet Chinese Cuisine & Sushi.  My hubby and I love Chinese food-but there are few Chinese restaurants that we are impressed by in our area.  This restaurant is relatively new, so we figured we should give it a try.


Overall, I was very impressed.  Despite not arriving until after 2:00-way after the lunch crowd was gone, the food on the buffet was still hot and fresh.  The egg rolls were tasty-something that I have noticed is harder and harder to find.  I did not over-indulge today-my stomach was hurting before we arrived due to drinking way too much caffeine. I did try the sweet and sour chicken (perfect, by the way) and the fried rice and lo mein (also very tasty).  At the moment, whatever veggie I tried has slipped from my memory, but I assure it was great, as well-I ate everything on my plate.


My second trip up I chose a slice of watermelon, a small piece of cheesecake, and some chocolate pudding.  Much to my surprise-and approval-each of these items were cold.  There is a tendency at buffets for the cold items to be served more room temperature.  Next time I visit, I won't order the water-it has that "dirt" taste that most Midlothian restaurants tend to have in their water-but I won't hold that against the restaurant.


The odd thing to me was the fortunes.  My oldest son's read, "Everyone has ambition."  Not much of a fortune.  Here are mine and my husbands:

This is a restaurant we will be back to.  I'll just hope they start buying their fortune cookies from a different place!

Stephen F Austin Oak Tree

SPOILER ALERT:
At one point last week, I had about 15 spare minutes, so I went to pick up a letterbox.  Here was my photo-journey through the clues:


Also in the park is the Chautauqua Auditorium, an unusual octagonal 2500-seat open-air auditorium, which was built in 1902 to accommodate the throngs of people attending the annual Chautauqua Assemblies.

the box can be found in the little garden area between the Chautauqua Auditorium and the smaller octagonal building behind it.

 It was at this point that I got a little distracted away from the clues towards this tree...

How cool is that!...

Behind the garden area is a plaque for the Leta Mae Cunningham Hight Pavilion and Plaza.

Standing with your back to that sign and facing the Chautauqua Auditorium, turn left and walk to the steps.

Find the step with the bricks that say Whiteselle Corsicana.

Stand on that step and facing the garden reach right inside the brick wall under the ground cover and you will find the box