SF Mini-Meet
Bandaid and lil Bandaid were out from Connecticut this weekend and a mini-meet was arranged in San Francisco w/ them, LisaScenic & Robb, Doublesaj & Old Blue, Princess Lea & Sleepy Cat, and Zairabear & myself.
Z and I headed up around 9 am and spent some time looking for Alpha Bravo One's Edgewood Park, but we were at the wrong starting point for the directions, so had no luck. We even found a small power plant, but it was apparently the wrong one as well! We also got our first Anna and the Kids box - Siempre Adelante at a rest stop on 280. It's been in an Altoids tin and exposed to direct rain for just over a year now and the box was badly rusted. Also, the logbook had obviously gotten wet at some point as some of the stamps had washed away. It's seriously making me rethink Altoids tins for outdoors placements. Hmmm...
We then headed up to San Francisco itself to search for Princess Lea's The Message in the Haunted Mansion. We're pretty sure we found the location of the first box, but it was not there. This box has gone missing at least three times prior, so it wasn't too surprising. It's pretty close to the main trail and in the middle of a "play" field, so I'm sure it was removed as an "act of kindness" by a noxer.
Box two was really easy to find and is in a fairly secure spot IMO. Which is funny because later that evening Lea was saying that she thinks this is the least secure spot. In fact Z found it and told me that it wasn't even IN its hiding place anymore, but rather right next to it proving my favorite Ryan quote: "The biggest danger to letterboxes is letterboxers." I have a feeling this is another of those class experience differentials. Lea sees the graffiti near the spot and assumes that kids and "hoodlums" will be in the area and would love to destroy her box. Whereas I realize that most of the people who are in the park will never journey near this box's location and those that do already have something in mind that doesn't involve playing with tupperware!
No luck on Box Three. Lea thinks this is the most difficult box to get to, but I just think it's gone missing. We checked both sides of the trail pretty thoroughly and found several locations that matched the description, yet no box was to be found. Box four has a similar tale, with us believing we located the correct spot but it was sans box. On the trail for box five we got distracted by the great graffiti offered up on the old Presidio hospital and had more fun looking at and photographing it than looking for the box. It may or may not be where its supposed to be, but we were having other fun.
A bit tired we headed towards the hotel. I managed to find parking for only $10 under a giant mural of a sign that looked like a STOP sign, but said STAY instead (it was on a hotel). We located the hotel and I told Z to remember her surroundings as we headed towards the mall. Luckily we were right in time to see a cable car turn around! Z's never been on a cable car, so that's now been added to our list of required activities.
The San Francisco Shopping Centre is a 9-story mall with the world's only curved escalators. Prety cool visual (Z snapped a couple of pics). We planted Mallrats - Haagen-Dazs inside Haagen-Dazs as there were almost no public benches or tables. After I placed it the first time Z said it stood out like a sore thumb, so I colored it with one of my stamp markers right there at the table. Unfortunately these are very slow to dry on masking tape so my fingers ended up looking like I'd been squishing smurfs. We think one of the employees may have spotted it but we won't know for sure until someone goes looking for it. Either way this was definitely one of my tougher hides.
We met up with the crew back at the hotel and chowed at the Thai restaurant there. Z finally got to meet Sleepy Cat, I finally got to meet Lea and Lisa. Much merriment and exchange of personal stamps and travelers was enjoyed by all. After dinner the waiters brought out three special desert trays. When the covers were lifted they exposed postal letterboxes. Lea showed us a slideshow of her Dartmoor trip, Bandaid passed out Nutmeg Graters to remind us all of Connecticut, and an all around good time was had. At the end Diane (Doublesaj) pulled me aside to commend me on reinvigorating the South Bay boxing community. It felt great!
Another great boxing day, though it will have to be the last for a while as our recent exploits have completely drained my savings and no income is forthcoming :( Still worth it though :)
Tags: mini-meet, San Francisco, plant, Xchanges
posted by Aahz @ 19:39
0 comments
