This is a letterbox hybrid.
The cache is NOT at the posted coordinates, but they provide a good starting point.
Absolutely NO night caching permitted.
Lacey Woods Park is open sunrise to sunset.
Ellie the house wren has spent a long winter in the south and is finally returning home to Lacey Woods Park. Knowing that she might not remember exactly how to find her house, she took some notes before departing in the fall. Can you help Ellie find her way home using the notes below?
From my perch, I see children playing in front of me
and can hear bouncing balls behind me.
I’m afraid to venture too far to my left because there are loud noises there and things moving very fast.
Looking in the distance, I see lots of big, beautiful trees and hear my relatives calling to me.
If I fly above the white path and away from the scary noise, I will encounter a black path, which will head towards my home.
I fly above the trees scanning for my home, knowing that I am close but still have some distance to cover.
I continue to beat my wings above the trees, using the path as my guide even as it curves left and right.
Excited by some of the lovely homes around me, I know mine is getting closer.
I hear voices and not those of my relatives but those belonging to a different species.
Up ahead of me is a large open structure 
with many of these strange creatures moving about.
But I do not need to approach too close. I know my home is not there!
Instead, there is a path of a different type off to my right wing, and I happily follow this one a short distance.
Suddenly, I notice some reddish light and feel some warmth.
Sensing some danger, I stay to the right edge and cautiously pass a gathering area.
As I look behind me, I notice that there is a tempting path into the woods but know that my home is true and straight. From this smaller, narrower path, I beat my wings 15 times and find myself near a single tree and a brown path leading left.
Straight ahead of me is another single tree and just beyond it is where my great, great, great, great grandparents used to live.
Unfortunately, their home is no longer standing, and we can only visit a big crater in the ground where it once stood.
My family home is close to here but in a different direction.
I need to follow the path to the right.
Here, I encounter an intersection.
To the right is a felled tree, broken in half. To the left, another dirt path.
But wait, I’ve arrived. My home is here, in the holly to my left.
Please do not disassemble my home. Simply pull on the bottom to get to the goodies inside!
Lacey Woods Park is a 14-acre park located in Arlington County, VA. It is bounded by Washington Boulevard to the north, George Mason Blvd to the east, and N. Frederick St. to the west. Residences back up to the park to the south. There is parking available and access to the park on both Frederick St. and George Mason Blvd. A map of the park is available via Arlington County's website [note that this link takes you to a PDF file.]
The park offers numerous sporting and picnic facilities including a lighted basket ball court, picnic shelter, charcoal grills, a playground, a multi-use field primarily used for youth soccer, nature trails, wooded areas, open green space, and a fire ring.
Among the events hosted at Lacey Woods Park is its annual World Migratory Bird Day Festival, held on the second Saturday of May.
International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) was created in 1993 by visionaries at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. From 1995 to 2006, the program was under the direction of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Because of its consistent growth, these organizations sought a new home for the program. In 2007, IMBD found its “forever home” at Environment for the Americas (EFTA), a non-profit organization that connects people to bird conservation through education and research.
Over the years, EFTA has made changes and improvements to International Migratory Bird Day. It developed the concept of a single conservation theme to help highlight one topic that is important to migratory bird conservation. Over the years, these educational campaigns have been integrated into numerous programs and events, focusing on topics including the habitats birds need to survive, birds and the ecosystem services they provide, the impacts of climate change on birds, and the laws, acts, and conventions that protect birds, such as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Convention on Biodiversity.
EFTA also removed a specific date from the event. Although International Migratory Bird Day was celebrated only on the second Saturday in May, migratory birds leave and arrive at breeding and non-breeding states at different times, depending on many factors. They also stop at different sites across the Western Hemisphere to rest and refuel, providing opportunities to engage the public in learning about birds and their conservation. Today, EFTA maintains traditional event dates on the second Saturday in May and the second Saturday in October, while encouraging organizations and groups to host their activities when migratory birds are present.
