Coolant leak on front of the block

So last night before a 3 hour drive home, i pulled over cause i smelled coolant faintly. Popping the hood showed that about 5-10oz of coolant had sprayed out. it was in the ribs along the A/C compressor, along the valve cover, and on the hood. letting it run, it leaked about 1-2 drops per minute...enough to get me worried. i drove it back to a parts store (which was closed) and during sitting, it started to puke it fast. i couldnt tell where it was coming from because the fan would just blow it out of the way. it seems like the thermostat housing, but possibly the water pump? the engine runs normal, even a few degrees cooler (which is accurate because the temp sender for the gauge is on the back of the block, not in the thermo housing, right?) and the overflo bottle is approaching empty, but not moving. the upper rad hose is cold and empty...
what does it sound like to you? stuck thermostat? bad housing? bad water pump? im hoping just a bad t-stat, but why would that cause the leak? i have no tools up here, so this will be a fun repair...any help is greatly appreciated. thanks
-Bennett

*edit: forgot to mention that i put in some water wetter about 2 weeks ago, if that has any bearing on the leak

Was your temp sky high? A stuck(closed) thermostat can cause the problems you are talking about. The flow has no where to go when the t-stat is closed, and the pressure build up will make it spew out of somewhere. Take a long screwdriver, and press the tip against the housing of the water pump. Be careful, because you need to do this while the engine is running. Press your ear against the handle, and listen for any grinding noise. If you hear grinding, I would replace the pump. Go ahead and do the t-stat since it is easy and cheap. Not sure on what to tell you about not having tools, though. I guess you could ghetto it up and swap it out in the parking lot of Auto Zone, and borrow tools from them.

After you let it cool down, fire it up again and then shut it off. Feel under the nose of the water pump, there is a weep hole there. When that starts leaking it is usually the packing around the water pump seal and/or the bearings.
The only othe way I can think of is to borrow/buy one of the Stant coolant kits and pressurize the cooling system when it's cold to about 17lbs. Any leaks should show pretty quick.

It sounds like you may have a leak from either the heater hose that joins the water pump or the heater hose that joins the t'stat housing. Take a look there, especially near the spring clips where the hose is most liable to split.

Ok...well after closer inspection i got some good news. when i went to remove the t-stat housing to check the condition of the t-stat, i took off the upper rad hose. found 3 small pinhole leaks under the plastic sheathing on it...theres my culprit. drove it home at 70mph for 3 hours after some testing and she ran 205 the whole time....problem solved. thanks guys
-Bennett