Having just learned about the use of child slave labor to pick cocoa beans, you may be asking, "Camp Host Chad, from which ethical chocolate company** should I buy chocolate for s'mores?" Good question! I'm here to help. It seems to me that the only way to know for sure is to use a single elimination … Continue reading S’mores Madness: Compartés vs. Cocoa Parlor
Author: Camp Host Chad
Slave Free S’mores
Before we can talk about this: First please read this story outtake, courtesy of my transcription of a podcast featuring Danielle Strickland: I was in Australia, I lived there, I was a social justice director for the Salvation Army there. We had this guest come to this conference, it was a youth conference, it was probably … Continue reading Slave Free S’mores
Freeze Dried Sampler
This weekend will include a test of my new baby, bought in anticipation of an impending trip to Utah parks. For some reason (good judgment, maybe?) the Big 5 employees wouldn't let me cook a practice meal at the register, which is their loss because I totally would have shared. I bet REI would have let me. Hey! … Continue reading Freeze Dried Sampler
Panamint Milkshake
There you are, prepared to partake in a perilous journey, perched on the precipice of your pilgrimage. Peering over a panoramic view of the arid landscape, you pause. Something prods at you. What are you forgetting? You're not lost. You've got a map. You know where you are going. You know where you are. You just pumped a … Continue reading Panamint Milkshake
Get On the Map
As a child, I hungered for one of these: "An RV?" you ask. No. A sticker map. (Although I wanted the RV too. But I was a practical child - where would I put an RV, even a pop-up camper? The map was definitely going on my headboard.) The maps identify the states you've visited. If I'd … Continue reading Get On the Map
Wednesday Words on the Wild: Circle of Life
It is utterly false and cruelly arbitrary to put all the play and learning into childhood, all the work into middle age, and all the regrets into old age. ~ Margaret Mead Really, Margaret? Because George said this: We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. ~ George … Continue reading Wednesday Words on the Wild: Circle of Life
Let’s Go Camping!
This picture reminds me so strongly of an idyllic last-minute camping trip to Yosemite** I took a few years back with my friend Cindy, which reminds me that Cindy and I have an upcoming trip to a few Utah parks scheduled for September I mentioned here. That, plus the weather lately, and I suddenly have an overwhelming … Continue reading Let’s Go Camping!
Wednesday Words on the Wild: Holograms
By definition, our national parks in all their particularity and peculiarity show us as much about ourselves as the landscapes they honor and protect. They can be seen as holograms of an America born of shadow and light; dimensional; full of contradictions and complexities. Our dreams, our generosities, our cruelties and crimes are absorbed into … Continue reading Wednesday Words on the Wild: Holograms
Influences: The Adventures of the Wilderness Family
So, true confession time. I keep a poster for the first film about a family in a landmark trilogy beginning in the 1970's hanging behind my desk in my office at work. "The Godfather?" Good guess, but no: Co-workers around me display serious art and posters of classics by Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick and so on. My favorite reactions are when new employees are … Continue reading Influences: The Adventures of the Wilderness Family
Wednesday Words on the Wild: Southern Cross
It was a good time for sitting together, Mma Ramotswe felt, and it was not necessary to say anything. That evening, the sky was all but white with stars, filled with acres and acres of constellations, right down to the horizon. She had learned the names of some of these clusters when she was younger, … Continue reading Wednesday Words on the Wild: Southern Cross
Campfire Tales 