Getting you started on outdoor adventures

It’s not ice cream, it’s not slush but it’s yummy!

Ingredients

• 2 liter bottle Orange soda
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk

Mix soda and sweetened condensed milk in a large bowl. It’ll froth up so make sure your bowl is big enough! Freeze until solid.

Froth

Take frozen to camp. As it melts, it will become slushy and creamy and wonderful. Eat in a cup (or straight from the bowl!)

This recipe is probably best served as soon as you get to camp unless you’re lucky enough to have a freezer in your RV. In that case, freeze in smaller containers. If in an ice chest, the larger the container; the longer it stays frozen!

PS: Sorry there’s no picture of it frozen. I ate it before I remembered to take pictures! I’ve heard that this will work with any flavor of soda, but I’ve only tried it with orange.

When I’m camping but planning on staying in camp, I like to pack a lunch that requires no cooking, is cool, and above all yummy! I first made this recipe last summer for the BS Club camping trip. The girls are heading out today but I can’t go. So I figure I should at least share a super yummy recipe from last year’s trip!

Ingredients

• 1 box large pasta shells
• Imitation crab meat
• Black olives, chopped
• Celery, chopped
• White or yellow onions, chopped
• Greek yogurt (plain, full fat)
• Mayonnaise (full fat)
• Salt & pepper

Cook the pasta shells according to package directions. Drain and let cool. Toss with vegetable or canola oil and store in large zip-top baggie. (It must be vegetable or canola oil; olive or coconut will solidify when chilled!)

Flake the crab meat into a large bowl. Add olives, celery and onion. To make the dressing, mix equal parts yogurt and mayonnaise. Toss gently. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and any other spices you like.

You’ll notice that there are no amounts listed on the salad itself. That’s because its one of those wonderful, easy recipes that you just make “to taste”.

Store salad in a lidded plastic container.

When ready to serve, fill a shell with crab salad. Serve with chips!

HINT: If you let the pasta shells warm up ever so slightly, they are easier to work with!

Barely.

I think that Northern Arizona has some of the coolest place names ever! Mint Creek. Feather Mountain. Hootenanny Holler. Mary’s Mesa.

Yesterday, I “kidnapped” Ben for a much needed hike. We only had a couple of hours before he had to go fly and I needed to head back to work on the never-ending illustrations for Pastarelli.

But, after the crazy-busy tax season it’s been, I needed a break! I think Ben, Pete-The-Dog and I all desperately needed to get out into nature, enjoy the signs of upcoming spring, and get some air that hadn’t been locked up in an office!

I love the way the flower looks like it is made of ice!

It was a quick jaunt north on Feather Mountain Road and then up a MONSTER mesa. At the top, along the ridge, were the ruins.

After examining them, I’m really not sure that they were Indian ruins. Rumor has it that the Spaniards, had horses and a fort in this area. For some reason, the walls just didn’t feel old enough for Native American.

Regardless, Ben, Pete The Dog, and I had a great little hike and a much needed break!

Ben, Pete-The-Dog, and Kim, The Outdoor Princess.

I could see the San Fransisco Peaks (Flagstaff) above the surrounding mesas.

The view to the south.

Trivia Tuesday

Geocaching got its start on May 2, 200 when satellite accuracy instantly improved with the pressing of the “Great Blue Switch”. Dave Ulmer placed the first use-the-Internet-to-find-it container on May 3, 2000 and the game of geocaching was birthed.
Read more about geocaching at FindYourGeocache.com

The trackable code is around the edge of the coin.

I have had interest from geocachers who wanted to purchase the last of my Arizona Centennial Trackable Geocoins. These were made specifically for the Centennial and only 48 trackable coins were minted.

(Okay, FIFTY were minted but two are going onto a plaque as part of the project. Someday.)

Of the 48, I have eight SIX left.

I’m selling them at $25.00 each which includes priority mail shipping anywhere in the USA. (Out of country folks, sorry, I just can’t handle it!)

I made a button at PayPal that “should” keep track of the inventory. Each PayPal account can buy one coin. When the six are sold, they’re sold! And I’m only taking PayPal to make my life easier.

Now, all this being said, if the inventory button doesn’t work, then the first six buyers get the coin. Anybody else will get a refund.

The PayPal account will like to TheOutdoorPrincess.com. Make sure I get your correct shipping address and email address!

I always forget how much I love day-long adventures until I have one. So far in 2013, I’ve had TWO: fishing on New Years Day and hiking this past Saturday. Saturday was one of those “adventures” that is only loosely planned.

Ben had noticed a seep marked on the wicked-cool Arizona Recreation Atlas I had given him for Christmas. It’s not that far from his house so we decided to hike up to it and have a poke around. We also grabbed the metal detectors to see if we could find anything fun.

There are some enormous mesas just north of Chino Valley. Since OCTOBER we’d been trying to successfully get to the top of one. Trust me, none of the photos do the size and steepness justice!

I knew that the day was going to be fantastic when it started out by coming around a bend in the road and finding an entire herd of antelope!

From there, we parked and began climbing the hill. I was testing out a couple of new products: Merino wool base layer (thermal underwear), an amazing new hiking stick, and a new mini-backpack from REI. I’ll get the reviews up in the coming weeks.

I don’t have a lot of pictures of the day simply because MOST of our adventure was spent hiking to the top of the mesa. And while my camera takes AMAZING photos, it’s not pocket sized!

The seep was really neat. I’ve never seen cattails growing basically out of the side of a mountain. There was about 8 inches of water in the bottom of the tunnel so there was no exploring; the high was maybe about fifty degrees!

You can see the cattails growing in the seep’s water. Ben is standing at the mouth of the mine, in a hole. See the huge prickly pear cactus growing behind the seep?

We then scaled the entire mesa to the very top. Along the way, I saw a 6-foot long snake skin, prickly pear cacti with pads at least twelve inches across, a galvanized steel pipe sticking straight up out of a rock outcropping, climbed some nasty cliffs, found pottery shards from the 1970′s, and enjoyed the most amazing views of the valley spread out below us.

Amazing views spread out below. This is only about 1/3 of the way to the top!

I’d love to go back and do some more exploring; maybe with a pocket-friendly camera! But, based on the size of that snake skin, I’ll ONLY be doing it during the cold months!

Oh, and the metal detecting? I found a 30-30 rifle cartridge, a bit of wire, and an old Coke can. Hauled it all off the mountain too!

Chino High grad is now author

By Matt Santos. Published 12/19/12 in the Chino Valley Review.

From spooky campfire stories to cookbooks and travel guides, local author Kimberly Eldredge does it all.

Kim Eldredge, a Chino Valley High School and U of A graduate, has eight e-books online as well as a three-part paperback series, “Scary & Silly Campfire Stories.”

The 1999 Chino Valley High school graduate spent this past Saturday at Kathi’s Books in Chino Valley, signing copies of her paperbacks “Scary & Silly Campfire Stories,” a three-part series based on part fiction and real life adventures.

“Not everybody is interested in the traditional scary campfire stories, so my books are about half scary and half silly,” said Eldredge. “The scary ones have that urban legend feel to them, but some of the silly ones are definitely based on real experiences that I’ve had.”

Eldredge has been writing for as long as she can remember, but really got serious about telling stories when she realized she could make a career out of it.

“I’ve been writing all of my life, but then I realized you could get a degree in writing and how cool is that,” said the University of Arizona graduate.

In addition to her trilogy in paperback, she currently has eight e-books available on Kindle, Nook, and Kobo, through her web site TheOutdoorPrincess.com and through Amazon.

Her e-book titles include “Easy Camping Recipes From The Outdoor Princess,” “33 Great Camping Recipes,” “Must Know Trout Fishing Tricks, Tips, & Techniques,” and her most recent work published this past week, the sixth edition of “The Flagstaff Snow Guide,” a guide to all things outdoors in the Flagstaff area.

Eldredge recommends her campfire stories series to readers of all ages, but says she gears the writing style to fourth- and fifth-graders. Her advice to young writers?

“Don’t be afraid of it. You can do this,” said Eldredge. “Two, get a good editor, start with your local grammar Nazi or your English teacher. Three, your title and cover are key. You have to have a good title and cover or you won’t sell.”

Eldredge also teaches online e-book publishing classes to help new writers. Information on her classes is available at OnTheBeachPublishing.com/KillerTitles.

Kathi’s Books, located at 318 W Perkinsville Rd., Suite 10, hosts similar book signings and also a readers’ tea party every Tuesday afternoon.

Information on all of Kathi’s Books events is available by calling 928-636-2450 or online at kathisbooks.com or on Facebook.

Kim got her degree in what discipline?

A. Taxes

B. Creative Writing

C. Drawing

D. Spanish

Northern Arizona got our first snow storm of the season.  And that means that it’s time once again to promote my annual Flagstaff Snow Guide. In the past, I’ve offered this as an eGuide on EatStayPlay.com. The only problem with that, is that as much traffic as the website gets, I know that it’s only a fraction of the people who may be heading to Flagstaff to play in the snow.

So, (drum roll please)

I’ve decided to offer this year’s snow guide as an Amazon eBook! You can read it on the Kindle or any variety of free reading applications for PC, Mac or even your smart phone!

The 2012-2013 Flagstaff Snow Guide is available for $2.99!