We had our treasure all along

After a morning at the temple, Oshyn trying out every tree available to climb, we decided to go on another letter-boxing treasure hunt.  The pirates stayed home, but their attitude came along.  We followed the directions to a "T" and came upon the treasure's location after a nature walk by the 

American River.  I was just thinking what a good job the boy scouts who planted the letter-box did as Oshyn 

lifted up the rocks to find...a bunch of dirt and roots.  Where was the blue lid they described?  We searched high and low around the area, but had no luck.  It was no where to be found.  I guess being planted in 2005 can do that to you.  Boy Scouts may be Man Scouts now.  We were left empty handed

---or I guess "stamp-less".  Bummer.  As we were hiking back to our car, we ran into a guy with a dog (always a popular attraction).  Oshyn told him all about how we were searching for buried treasure, but it wasn't where they said it would be, yada yada yada... The guy smiled, very intrigued by this little man, and said matter-of-factly, "I know exactly where the treasure is.  Do you want to know where it is?"  Of course Oshyn was pumped.  The man said, "Turn around.  Your treasure is standing right behind you."  Not quite what Oshyn wanted to hear, but a good little wrap up of our day--starting with the temple and then realizing we had our treasure all along.