First off, thank you LilDoc for answering my question regarding "if there could be admission costs associated with a location where a token may be found". The reason I asked was because one of the locations below charges a nomimal fee to enter the park, which directly goes to upkeep of the property.
OK, now please bare with me, the rest of this may be a bit long-winded, but I find it very interesting?
I?ve been putting a lot of thought into the fact that MS has said, ?Anyone who can read can discover the exact location of each treasure? AND the poem states that ?Within the text you have the key.? So I?ve been looking into his wording and trying to find it?s significance. One thing that really caught my eye was in CHAPTER 9: THE JEWELRY BOX. As the forest creatures try to unsuccessfully communicate with Zac, they accuse him of being ?deaf, stupid (ie: dumb) and blind.? The first person that pops into my mind when I think of ?deaf, dumb and blind? is HELEN KELLER (to Helen). Doesn?t seem to mean much on it?s own, however there are some crazy ?coincidences? at play. For one, Helen Keller?s life was lived out in one big code ? Braille, sign language, etc. She was also an author, with her most well known book being ?King Frost?, wherein fairies are given treasures to deliver (to Santa of all people), but while traveling they hide them throughout ?The Great Forest? where they are ultimately found (by the Sun).
Helen Keller is also the poster child for succeeding through adversity (education and hardwork), issues MS seems quite passionate about.
Now, you?ll also notice when referring to the forest creatures in this chapter, they are prefaced with things like, ??when the EMBASSY of forest creatures arrived?? and Ladybug refers to the group as a DELEGATION. Both of these words can be associated to Helen Keller when you think about THE HELEN KELLER FOUNDATION.
There are two places where you can ?find? Helen Keller ? (1) her burial plot in the Washington National Cathedral and (2) her birthplace (Ivy Green) at the Helen Keller Memorial Park in Alabama. Interestingly enough, at Ivy Green, there is a bust of Keller with the inscription, ?I AM YOUR OPPORTUNITY.? This bust, however, is located in doors, so no tokens are to be found there. However, outside, on the grounds of the property and part of the Memorial Park, is an authentic MOON TREE. For those of you that don?t know what a Moon Tree is, basically during the Apollo 14 mission, one of the astronauts brought up a pocket full of seeds. Upon his return to earth, he (along with his pals in the government) spread these seeds in various areas across the country. The trees that came from these seeds (these delegates) are known as Moon Trees.
Could this be a ?launching point?? It?s interesting that these ?clues? (if they are clues ? if I?m not just really reaching), are in a chapter titled, THE JEWELRY BOX. The jewelry box being the item that must be filled with the treasures - essentially, the treasure?s home. Maybe MS wants us to start here (TO HELEN). Maybe, ultimately the clue isn?t necessarily about Helen Keller, but it wants to lead us to THE MOON TREES. There are many scattered throughout the country. Here is a link telling a little bit about them and where they are:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/moon_tree.html
Anyway, it?s a thought. Let me know what you think. I?m going to check out the trees in California.
