September 2006

Clues to the Seattle’s Child/Puget Sound Parent Letterbox

Location: Gene Coulon Memorial Park, Renton. For more information on the park, including directions, click here. There are at least two more letterboxes in the park, so if the beaches, boats and playground don't keep you busy, there's still lots to do. The route to this letterbox is stroller and wheelchair accessible until the very end.

When entering, park in the "South Beach" lot. Take a little time to walk around - there's a lot going on in this area. When you're ready to get hunting, find the big colorful playground right by the parking lot. That's where our story begins.

Kate's Last Leaf

Kate was playing on the jungle gym when she spotted something important by the water. She'd been collecting leaves all summer, but she hadn't managed to get an oak leaf. Lo and behold, right at the edge of the lake were three big oaks. The one all the way to the left had one leaf left clinging to it, and she had to have it for her collection.

Standing at the top of the twisty red slide (the one facing the lake), she watched it drop from its branch and blow away on the breeze. She raced down the slide and took off after it.

The leaf danced on the wind, blowing toward the island in front of her. She ran down the sidewalk toward the bridge. The ducks in the water beneath looked at her and wondered what the hurry was.

Pretty soon, the boardwalk forked. The left fork led to a nice wooded area and a beach, but she knew the leaf didn't go that way. She'd been hunting leaves for months now, and she'd developed a kind of sixth sense about these things.

The right fork went deeper into the trees and brush, going along the water that lapped at the rocks by the shore. A few steps further, and the path emerged into the sunshine. The boardwalk ended here, stopping at a big platform that allowed a great view of the lake. There was a bench there too, so she sat down to think. There were boats zipping across the water, seagulls dipping down looking for food, and docks and houses and trees for miles. So many people and things, but she didn't see her oak leaf.

Oh well. The oak trees would still be there in the spring. She rested her chin in her hands and watched a sailboat way in the middle of the lake.

But wait! She heard a tiny rustling sound coming from beneath the boardwalk. It was coming from the corner diagonally across from her, the one that pointed at the lake!

She stepped off the boardwalk and onto the dirt trail, walking down to the water's edge so that she was looking right at the corner of the platform. She noticed a little cubbyhole under it. Hidden behind a round, striped rock was her leaf.

To celebrate finishing her collection, she left a letterbox there. Be careful when finding it - the park is a busy one, and lots of people like to walk out to the island. Be discreet when finding it and when hiding it again.

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