Archive for the ‘Mystery Mondays’ Category

Tax season is over!

And I’m back to blogging!

(And newsletters, and kayaking, and site updates, and fishing, and getting caught up with the backlog, and camping! And getting caught up on laundry, weeding, research, product testing, Facebook, emails, walking the dog!)

It’s cold, windy, and wet across the country right now. (Or if you live in Arizona, it’s cool, knock-you-down-wind, and sunny!) No matter what your weather trend might be at the moment, winter can be doing a number on all those outdoor-loving folks out there. Here are 5 tips that will help you take a vacation from the winter blues!

5. Have a Picnic

In your living room! Break out all your favorite picnic fare and spread out a blanket in your living room. The rules are simple: no running to the kitchen for napkins or more ketchup. For an extra boost, have your picnic as close to a window as possible and surround yourself with houseplants.

Extra bonus: No bugs to share your lunch!

4. Learn Your Winter Constellations

You know your way around the summer sky like nobody’s business, but winter stars? Yeah right! Take some time to learn winter constellations. Even if it’s too cold to go stargazing outside, you can always drive to a dark spot and sit toasty warm in the car to view the stars. Just be sure to not get vehicle exhaust in the car with you!

Extra bonus: Impress your kids with stories of the constellations.

3. BBQ

The next nice afternoon, break out the barbeque (tabletop or full-size) and grill up some summer favorites: hotdogs, hamburgers, or kabobs. For the full camping-feeling, eat everything off paper plates and plastic spoons.

Extra bonus: Eat a popsicle for dessert!

2. Tell Scary Stories

Gather up some flashlights and wrap up in blankets! Then swap scary tales as if you were alongside a campfire. Not sure of which stories to share? Check out the eBook: Campfire Tales from the Chill to the Giggle. It has 15 stories that run from chilling to funny and are perfect for any audience.

Extra bonus: Have the whole family camp-out in the living room.

1. Start Planning Your Summer Vacation Now

EatStayPlay.com is a great resource to start planning your next trip. If you want to some other tips, do a web search for your state’s tourism bureau and then request their travel guide. From there, you can order information from state parks, National Forests, National Parks and more.

Extra bonus: Instead of waiting (and stressing) in a the few weeks before your trip, you can have weeks of happy anticipation for that first outdoor adventure of spring!

In case you tried to access my blog(s) last week, you’ll have discovered that they were up and down and working and broken all week.

Okay, so they were mostly DOWN and BROKEN, but I’m trying to spin it!

After a TON of frustration, a 3 hour phone call to tech support, installing and uninstalling WordPress about a dozen times, we are FINALLY back up and running. Yeah! And while I wish that I hadn’t had to do it, at least it happened in early January instead of mid-March when I’d be so busy working in the tax office that I could hardly breathe!

I also wanted to take a moment and give you a run-down on some changes that will be heading your way for EatStayPlay.com and the blogs: FindYourGeocache.com, PitchYourTent.com, SetYourHook.com, PaddleYourKayak.com & TheOutdoorPrincess.com

What’s Been Changed So Far:

• All new URLs for TheOutdoorPrincess.com. There was no way around it, unfortunately. With the break and the fix, all the permalinks are different. Please update any bookmarks you may have had.
• New look for PitchYourTent.com! In the past, this was an “Arizona camping” site as well as the blog. Now, it’s just the blog and is on the main index of PitchYourTent.com. (All the old links work!)
• I’ve changed email newsletter mailing services to MailChimp.

What’s Coming Up

• New blog at PaddleYourKayak.com
• New newsletter for kayaking. (Send me your ideas for both!)
• Updated look for EatStayPlay.com

That updated look for EatStayPlay.com is what I’m REALLY excited about. Sometime this week, you’ll get a sneak peak with some minor changes and then in the coming weeks…

Well, let’s just say that a visual overhaul has been a long time coming!

In other news, I just wanted to remind everybody that I work full-time in my dad’s tax practice. So from now until April 18th, I might be bit slow(er) at answering emails and getting posts up. But it’ll happen!

I’m hoping that you had a great holiday season and are getting into the swing of things in 2011. I wanted to share a few of my 2011 goals with you:

• Post 5 blog articles per week
• Send out 52 weeks worth of newsletters
• Create 12 new placed-based eGuides (that one’s by April 18, 2011!)

And, I also wanted to introduce my new blog to you:

Paddle Your Kayak:

A beginner’s guide to kayaking

It will be hosted at PaddleYourKayak.com which I’m still setting up. Please, leave me a comment and tell me what you think of the layout so far! It’s a lot easier to change/update before I have a ton of posts in there. I’m looking for something readable and easy to navigate.

And, of course, the goal will be to have a weekly newsletter as well. Look for posts to be added to the new blog over the course of the next weeks.

Welcome to 2011!

If there’s one thing I LOVE about my job at EatStayPlay.com, it’s getting to participate in all the fun outdoor recreation adventures. This past weekend I got to camp (in a tent in November!), kayak (with otters), geocache, hike, and fish. All at Dead Horse Ranch State Park near Cottonwood, Arizona.

Now, the interesting thing about this state park is that it’s just barely out of town but feels like its miles away from anywhere. As you can see from the campground, there isn’t a lot of shade and you’re pretty close to your neighbors. BUT, what it lacks in charm, the park more than makes up for in amenities.

This was CodeWolf’s first camping trip with the EatStayPlay.com “Royal” Family. And his second introduction to camping period, so I wanted to take him someplace that wasn’t too rustic. The RV had power and water hookups (but we were in a tent!) There were flush toilets and hot showers (which didn’t actually HAVE any hot water!) And, we only had to make two trips to Walmart for supplies.

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to fish at one of the park’s two lagoons. They’re fed from the Verde River and stocked with catfish, bass, bluegill, and trout. The secret gotta-have-it-bait? Nightcrawlers!

I was the big fishing “winner” catching a bass, catfish, and bluegill.

I also learned some things on this trip that I’d never realized before.

1. Otters are cool to watch but ruin the fishing.
2. I never met a sign I didn’t want to take a photo of!
3. It is possible to stand ON a geocache and not realize it.
4. I might think I look funny in my big hat but it’s nothing compared to how I look in a beanie!
5. Most people are completely oblivious to deer standing RIGHT OFF THE TRAIL

Keep an eye on this week’s blog posts for more insights, tips, and tricks I learned from the trip! And, if you want to read more of my camping wisdom, check out the article Mystery Mondays: 31 Things I Learned

If you’ve been following The Outdoor Princess blogs these past weeks then you know that ESP Boss & I had been planning a trip to kayaking the Colorado River from Hoover Dam to Willow Beach. It’s a total trip of about 13 miles, goes past 3 hot springs, 2 sets of rapids, and is the perfect place to see Rocky Mountain Sheep.

We started our trip early on Sunday October 18. In order to kayak this section of the river, you HAVE to be launched by an outfitter and have the proper permits. That’s because of security measures since we’re so close to the dam.

The floating rope bows out more when more water is released from the dam.

We launched about 9:00 in the morning. There was water being released from the dam and the outfitter warned us that the river could rise as much as TEN FEET in as little as an hour. Boy was I glad to know that ESP Boss had brought some rope so we could tie up the kayaks! I hadn’t even THOUGHT of bringing rope to tie up the yaks; I just figured we’d be able to pull them out of the water like we do at a lake.

Our first stop was a sauna cave. This was a man-made tunnel that goes back into the canyon wall. There’s a hot spring the bubbles up about 3/4 of the way back that heats the cave to a “balmy” 140.

That water was knee deep at the entrance was bath-water warm!

Next stop was Gold Strike Canyon. Here’s we got out to hike up the canyon to the hot springs AND to lay down some footage of our adventure. It’s currently in post-production but will be finished soon so I can show you more of the trip.

Some pools of water were too hot to put a foot in let alone SIT in!

By the time we got back into the kayaks, the rapids just outside the mouth of Gold Strike Canyon were running. More water was being released from the dam so the river flow was higher (a LOT higher) and the rapids were very noisy.

Neither ESP Boss or I had really ever kayaked rapids before. What an adrenaline rush! Thankfully, we made it through the rapids without any problems; dry and upright!

From the first set of rapids, we headed to Boy Scout Canyon for more hot springs. But, since it was starting to get really cloudy (the whole day was overcast) and we could hear thunder moving closer, we hurried on towards our pre-planned camping spot near Arizona Hot Springs.

It was a lot of fun splashing through the warm hot-spring-fed stream on the canyon floor.

The only problem? Arizona Hot Springs is just on the other side of Ringbolt Rapids. These rapids made the first set (never did find out their name!) seem like NOTHING. And, we could see a TON of people camping there. So we skirted the rapids and camped at one beach upriver from Arizona Hot Springs.

Want to hear about our camp? Check out the article on PitchYourTent.com called Camp Setup Order of Priorities.

The next morning, we hiked over a couple of ridges to Arizona Hot Springs. You’re going to have to see this on film to believe it. Fantastic!

I'm just about ready to climb that slippery rock to get to the next pool of hot water.

But, a word of caution about the hot springs. Most people wear clothes or bathing suits, but we did encounter a couple of people who were, how should I put it? Naked! Yep, apparently it’s not all that uncommon to run into people enjoying hot springs in their birthday suits. You’ve been warned!

After our dip in the hot springs, we headed back to camp to break camp and head down the river. We got to Willow Beach about 4:00 in the afternoon.

Now, you might be asking how we had heard about this trip. We found it in the book, Paddling Arizona by Tyler Williams. (That’s an Amazon.com affiliate link.) The only thing is that the information about this trip was kind of light. So, we’re working on a new eGuide that will cover EVERYTHING you need to know about this trip, including stuff to watch for (side canyons, hot springs, and the catwalk), GPS coordinates, photos and more.

This is a good all-around refrence to kayking in Arizona.

ESP Boss & I JUST got back from our weekend trip kayaking The Black Canyon. That’s the Colorado River from the Hoover Dam to Willow Beach. It was an AMAZING trip and we had a fantastic time. I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Next Monday.

Yep, I want to be able to write up some of the highlights of our trip so for now, I just want to post some of my favorite photos.

This story and others will appear in the eGuide “Campfire Stories: From the Chill to the Giggle” coming October 15, 2010. To pre-order your copy at a 30% discount please click here.

Pre-orders are only $3.46. Your eGuide will be delivered to your email inbox on October 15, 2010. At that time, the eGuide will go on sale for $4.95. Order yours today!

This story is best told by a male, but could be modified to use a male relative of the storyteller. It is best if you replace the place names with the names of places that your audience will recognize. Before telling this story around your campfire, be sure to practice it so you get the rhythm and timing correct.

As with any scary story, you’ll want to choose your audience carefully so you don’t keep anybody awake all night.

Props:

• White hanky

The Woman At the Bridge

A few years ago, I was driving home on a rainy summer evening. The wind was whipping the rain so it was nearly heading in sideways and I could hardly see out the windshield.

As I was coming to the Willow Bridge underpass, a figure in white stepped out from under the bridge and raised one hand. I quickly braked and just avoided splashing the person with water from a large puddle. I rolled down the passenger window to yell but was confronted with a beautiful young woman in a white dress, soaking wet.

“Do you need help?” I asked her. After all, who would be waiting under a bridge in a rain storm if they didn’t need help!

“Can you give me a ride into town?” She answered. I nodded and she opened the door and got in. I noticed that she was shivering so I offered her my coat that was sitting in the back seat. She wrapped it around herself as I continued on into town.

“What were you doing under that bridge?” I asked her.

“My boyfriend and I were at the movies. We got into a fight and I made him let me out of the car. Thank you for picking me up.”

To my discomfort, she started to cry. She pulled out a white hanky to dab at her eyes but it looked as wet as her dress.

I tried to get her to talk to me, but she just stared out the window and cried quietly. I vowed that if I ever met the lousy boyfriend who had left her under the bridge, I was going to break his nose!

My passenger shivered every now and again and pulled my coat tighter around her. I turned up the heater since I could tell she was still cold.

As we got into town, she started giving me directions to her home. But it was as if she didn’t really want to talk to me since she just said things like “Turn here” or “Take the next right.” Pretty soon we were on a nice street in a part of town I wasn’t really familiar with.

“This is my house,” she said quietly. As I pulled up to the curb, the rain was pouring down harder than ever. I got out quickly to open the door for her. But when I opened the door, there was nobody there. I looked around wondering if maybe she had gotten out of the car before I had come around the car but there was no sign of her.

Confused, I figured that she must have hurried into the house while I was coming to open the door for her. I went up to the house, noticing that no lights were on, and rang the doorbell.

After a moment, an old woman answered the door, wrapped in a bathrobe. I was a bit startled but said, “I just saw a young lady, all dressed in white. I think she went into this house.” But suddenly I wasn’t sure and felt the fool for waking up the lady.

“That was my daughter,” she said.

“I’m glad she made it home alright, then,” I answered and turned to go.

“No,” the woman said, “she didn’t. She was killed in a car accident after fighting with her boyfriend at Willow Bridge underpass. It was fifteen years ago tonight. Every year on the anniversary of her death, she signals a young man like you to pick her up. She tries to get home to me, but she never makes it. Wait a moment,” the lady said.

She opened the coat closet next to the front door and handed me a coat. My coat. “This is yours,” she said.

Stunned, I carried my coat back to my car and got it. It was only as I turned on the windshield wipers that I realized that the coat was dry, inside and out. I reached over to feel it and in the fold I found a damp white hanky.

This story and others will appear in the eGuide “Campfire Stories: From the Chill to the Giggle” coming October 15, 2010. To pre-order your copy at a 30% discount please click here.

Pre-orders are only $3.46. Your eGuide will be delivered to your email inbox on October 15, 2010. At that time, the eGuide will go on sale for $4.95. Order yours today!

Sometimes the best ghost stories are the ones that you tell as if it happened to you. The key to making them super scary is to relate most of the story in a matter-of-fact voice until you get close to the climax of the story. Then, let the creepiness be heard in your voice.

Hints:

• Feel free to adjust the time frame to fit your audience.
• Change the date in the story from October 4th to be the date you’re telling the story.
• If you think your audience can handle it, have a “helper” sneak away and cry like a baby at the very end. (Caution with that one!)

Cry Baby Creek

Tulley Creek, just a bit west of here, has been known for years as Cry Baby Creek. Tulley Creek used to flow year-round, but about 15 years ago, the creek went dry. Now, it only flows once a year, on October 4th.

That’s because, when I was young, Shelly Armstrong died at Tulley Creek on October 4th. Shelly had been driving home from work, late one night with her infant son Jack asleep in his car seat in the backseat.

It had been storming all afternoon and Shelly was anxious to get home. The rain had made the dirt road slick and treacherous. The pot holes were filled with water and shoulders of the road were soft. Shelly had her windshield wipers on at full speed but it seemed as soon as they moved the water, the rain blurred the windshield again. Her headlights barely illuminated the road in front of her.

As Shelly approached the old wooden bridge over Tulley Creek she noticed that the creek was flowing much higher than ever before. It seemed that the bottom of the bridge was only a few feet above the raging surface of the creek.

Shelly slowly eased her car onto the bridge. Even above the sound of the rain, she could hear the bridge moan and pop. Just as she was nearly across, the bank on the far side slid into the raging waters below.

Shelly watched, helpless, as the whole bank in front of her gave way, revealing the supports of the bridge. Just as she was putting her car into reverse to back off the bridge, she saw the bridge give way and plunge her, the car, and her still-sleeping young son, Jack into the tumultuous waters below.

The next morning, searchers found Shelly’s body 30 miles down stream. Her car had washed up in some shallows. They searched for three days, but they never found the body of young Jack Armstrong.

Now, people say that if they visit Tulley Creek on October 4th they can see the waters rise and go rushing through the creek bed. And if you go to the site of the old wooden bridge, you can still hear young Jack Armstrong crying for his mother.

I went to Tulley Creek, Cry Baby Creek one year. I was 16 and had just gotten my drivers license. I was too afraid to roll down the windows to listen for the baby to cry, but when I drove away, on my back window there was the imprint of a baby’s hand.

Princess Sasha and the Evil Knight

This story and 29 others will appear in the eGuide “Campfire Stories: From the Chill to the Giggle” coming October 1, 2010. To pre-order your copy at a 30% discount please click here.

Pre-orders are only $3.46. Your eGuide will be delivered to your email inbox on October 15, 2010. At that time, the eGuide will go on sale for $4.95. Order yours today!

Feel free to modify any story to fit your audience. That includes changing out the names of characters for names of people in your audience or changing the place name to be YOUR hometown.

Once, a long, long time ago, there lived an evil knight named Sir Kwingsly. Sir Kwingsly lived in the Deep, Deep, Dark, Dark, Deep, Dark and Dirty Mountains. He had a passion for kidnapping queens and princesses to either make his slaves or to eat. He had his black heart set on marrying Princess Sasha, the most beautiful maiden in all the land. But, Princess Sasha was guarded by a very powerful wizard named Igor.

Never-the-less, Sir Kwingsly managed to capture Princess Sasha. She was out gathering herbs for some magic brew Igor was making, when out of the bushes jumped a troll! (Sir Kwingsly was the king of the trolls, who also live in the Deep, Deep, Dark, Dark, Deep, Dark and Dirty Mountains.) This troll was at least eight feet tall and smelled like last week’s trash! The troll seized Princess Sasha and took her to the mountains.

When the horrible, smelly troll got Princess Sasha to Sir Kwingsly’s lair, Princess Sasha was in tears. She was certain that the evil knight wouldn’t make her his slave. Princess Sasha was certain that Sir Kwingsly was GOING TO EAT HER!!

Little did she know that a worse fate awaited her: marriage to Sir Kwingsly!

Word of kidnappings travel like lightning through the Deep, Deep, Dark, Dark, Deep, Dark and Dirty Mountains since everybody wants to know which beautiful Queen or Princess Sir Kwingsly has captured now.  So when the rumor of Princess Sasha’s kidnapping spread to Igor, Igor was outraged. He sent his fastest messenger to tell Sir Kwingsly to return Princess Sasha or prepare to die.

When the messenger delivered Igor’s missive, Sir Kwingsly roared in a rage of fury. The Deep, Deep, Dark, Dark, Deep, Dark and Dirty Mountains shook with his yells.

While the messenger was traveling to Sir Kwingsly’s cave in the Deep, Deep, Dark, Dark, Deep, Dark and Dirty Mountains, Igor was assembling his army. Hard on the heels of the messenger, Igor’s army marched toward the Mountains.

When Sir Kwingsly saw the army approaching, he called to his dragon Spike and told him to destroy the advancing army.

Igor didn’t even realize that Spike the Dragon was circling around to attack the army until the bravest knight in Igor’s company, Sir Wimpsly, charged the dragon. His lance was pointed at the dragon’s foul heart. The lance hit its mark… bold and true. And the dragon Spike was dead.

The army began cheering. But even as they celebrated Sir Wimpsly’s victory over Spike the Dragon, an army of trolls came thundering down the mountain. The battle for Princess Sasha was on!

Both sides lost blood, but Igor was using his wizardly powers to restore his wounded so they could continue fighting. Troll met knight in an epic struggle. But without their greatest weapon, Spike the Dragon, the trolls quickly lost heart.

Suddenly, a white flag was raised! The trolls surrendered.

Princess Sasha rode down the mountain on a lovely white charger to meet her benefactor, Igor. Princess Sasha and Igor returned quietly to their home in the woods, never to hear from Sir Kwingsly or his nasty trolls again.

Moral of the story:

• Don’t gather herbs without a companion.
• Only live where there are no mountains.
• Princesses rule and trolls drool.