Website Domain Purchased!

We purchased our website domain, now we're researching!

We started this blog knowing that it was going to have to turn into a website.  Some wise words from my sister recently (saying don't let your blog get too big before turning into a website) prompted my husband and I to do just that...purchase our website domain. 

I have so many ideas in my head for posts and I am so excited to share, but honestly right now I am spending my energy researching about the website world.  Please stay tuned....eventually we'll get our website built and what you see on this blog will be just the beginning!

Our hope is this website will be your one stop shop for getting going on your next family adventure whether it be hiking, car-camping, bicycling, kayaking, geocaching and more!  Lots of fun!

Where To Go

How do you decide where to go on your adventures?

This is a question we ask ourselves every time we say we want to go somewhere for the weekend.  Where should we go? 

Recently, we have been using an Iowa state map and the Iowa's County Conservation System Guide to Outdoor Adventure to help us.



A Fun Way to Use Your Map

• Cut out the state (use a free DOT map - not guilt!)
• Place it on your table.




Our Iowa map on our table protected by clear vinyl.


• Cover it with a thick clear vinyl cover
• Makes for great conversation starters such as...
• "Mom, look, there's a little blue dot here" (Mariposa Lake...we didn't know existed until then)

• "I didn't know that was there." - Husband
• "Which route are we going to take?" - Me
• Can also be done with a map of the USA...even more fun!
• Wait...side-tracked...back to the topic at hand!



A circle drawn on the vinyl for our chosen travel time.



What To Do

• Figure out how far you want to drive (1 hour, 3 hours, etc.)
• Tie a string approximately equal to that length to a whiteboard crayon
• Draw a big circle with the string.
• This is the area you can go.
• Begin to research fun things to do and places to stay inside that circle.

An up-close view of our travel "boundary."

Using the map this way has helped us find our more recent adventure destinations: Mariposa Lake Park, Bankston County Park and Colwell County Park.  I wonder where it will take us next...

How does your family figure out where to go and what to do? 

Cast Iron - Getting Started

A friend of mine was recently gifted a brand new, pre-seasoned Dutch Oven.   She contacted me in a panic, shouting over the phone, "WHAT DO I DO WITH IT?"  I responded to her in my normal, relaxed way, "USE IT!"  Still terrified and panicked, she shouted back, "BUT HOW?"

Ok, so this post is for you my dear friend, and others like you!



Getting Started With Your New Pre-Seasoned Dutch Oven

*Note: this information is for pots and pans that are already seasoned.





1.  Wash your cast iron with HOT water.



1.  WASH your new dutch oven.

• Use only hot water and a scrubber pad. 
• Do NOT use soap. 
• Soap can remove something called seasoning (more on that term in another post) and could leave behind a soapy taste in the iron of the pan.






2.  Dry thoroughly with a towel.





 2.  DRY your new dutch oven.

•  Cast iron is iron and will rust, so always dry your cast iron pans well.



3.  Oil your pan.



3.  OIL your pan.

• Put a very thin coat of oil all over your pan. 
• THIN is key.  Make it just look "wet." 
• Using a heavier coat can leave a sticky residue behind which I find annoying to remove.



4.  Store your pan.



4.  STORE your new dutch oven until ready to use.

• Place a couple thickness of paper towels between the lid and the pan. 
• This keeps it from banging around while driving AND prevents moisture from being trapped inside the pan.

5.  USE your new dutch oven.

• To get started, make a recipe that you and your family really like at home. 
• Leave the fancy or new-to-you recipes until after you have used your new "toy" a bit.
• A dutch oven is dual purpose: it can be used for cooking or baking!

6.  CLEAN your newly used dutch oven.

• Scrape out as much leftover food as you can with a spoon or spatula.
• Then use hot water and your scrubby to wash it more thoroughly.
• Wash your pan after your pan has cooled down.
• Don't wait to clean your pan until the next morning.
• Waiting could cause your seasoning to wear off sooner and rust spots to appear.

7.  DRY, OIL, and STORE.

• Follow the instructions from above!

USING YOUR Dutch Oven,  a brief tutorial

• Cooking - heat placed UNDER your pan.
•  If you are using it like you would your stove top at home (sauteeing, searing, boiling, stir-fry, etc.), place your coals under your dutch oven. 
• Baking  - some heat on the bottom, most of your heat ON TOP of the lid
• If you are baking with it, you want most of your heat on the top of your lid, with a few coals on the bottom.   
• Food cooking or baking too slow:  add more coals. 
• Food cooking or baking too fast: remove some of the coals.

There you have it: easy!  I use cast iron at home as well as at camp.  Once you get over the fear of using cast, you won't know how you got along without it!  More cast iron tips coming....

Mariposa Lake, Jasper County, Iowa

Mariposa Lake, Jasper County



Mariposa Lake Campground



Website: Mariposa Lake Park, Jasper County

GPS: N41 46.580 W92 57.664

What We Liked

• Cute fishing lake
• Scenic
• Drinking water
• Pit Toilets
• A couple of flat camping sites
• Very friendly park ranger
• Low cost ($7.00/night)
• Quite a bit to see and do in the area

Things To Consider

• At times can attract rowdier campers
• A family could desire a little more to do than what this park itself offers

We stayed at Jasper County's Mariposa Lake campground, August 10-12, 2012.  It was a beautiful camping weekend and we really enjoyed this little campground.

About the Campground

The campground is on the north end of a cute little fishing lake.  There are two areas to the campground.  The north part of the campground loop has several areas for camping, drinking water and a pit toilet.  The south part of the campground is closest to the lake and can only be used for those in tents since it was a walk-in area.  The north part of the loop was a little more open from the trees and foliage affording you a great view of the stars where-as the south part was more tree covered.

Observing the bison at Mariposa Lake County Park

About the Park

The park has playground equipment, a butterfly garden and a picnic shelter.  We had fun walking through the garden and playing on the playground.  The lake is for fishing from the shore only (no boats) and had a cute little island in the middle along with a hiking trail around it.  There is another section of the park towards the west which is a prairie area with a few bison. 

About the Area

Not far from Mariposa Park is Rock Creek State Park which contains a rather large no-wake lake (great for kayaking).  For biking, there are several paved bike trails in the area and are a delight to pedal.  A little further away from Mariposa Park lies the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge, another fantastic place to visit. 

About Our Experience

We arrived on Friday evening, set up camp, made a fire for s'mores and then watched the stars come out.  It was perfect as we were the only ones in the north part of the loop!  In the middle of the night we were awakened by the sounds of coyotes not far from our tent.  My big, strong and very brave husband clapped his hands a few times and they didn't return. 

Exploring the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge

We played at the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge for a better part of the day on Saturday and upon returning to camp found that another couple had set up their pop-up camper in the site next to us.  We eventually befriended them and discovered they like to camp for the same reasons we do: quiet and solitude!  Even though they were next to us (because it was the second best spot), there was still plenty of space between our two camps. 

 Besides being a fun little park to explore, the other thing that we really appreciated about our Mariposa adventure was the frequency with which the park ranger checked up on us campers.  We saw him once Friday night and then at least twice on Saturday.  We appreciate parks that employ people that committed to creating a safe and enjoyable camping experience for all. 

Bottom line: this is a park that we will definitely visit again!

(A little side story: I'm a former Spanish teacher so I have been teaching my daughter Spanish since she was a baby.  One of the words she knows and uses routinely in place of English is 'mariposa'.  Mariposa [pronounced mah-ree-poh-sah] means butterfly.  When we found this tiny blue dot on the Iowa state map called Mariposa Lake, we just knew we had to visit.  That is how we found this little park and campground!)

Entertaining Your Kids While Camping

How to "entertain" your young children while camping....

IDEAS

• Take along an Activity Tote
• Games
• Crafts
• Hikes/Walks
• Bike
• Explore streams and shores
• Swim
• Cook
• Make an aquarium or a terrarium for observing newly caught creatures
• Visit nature centers or other area attractions
• Go geocaching

Young children are easy to entertain in the wild.  My daughter is four so it doesn't take much to keep her occupied.   

IDEAS FOR OLDER KIDS
How do you entertain your older children while camping?  Write a comment and let us know!

Adventure Packs

Create an Adventure Pack for even more fun with your kids!

What it is

• A small backpack our daughter can wear filled with tools for exploring.

The contents of our daughter's Adventure Pack.

What's In It

• Notebook
• Crayons as well as pencils
• Compass
• Whistle
• Magnifying Glass
• Small clear, plastic critter jar
• Binoculars
• Thermometer
• Snacks
• Water bottle
• Kleenex
• Sunscreen

Earlier this summer, I wanted to purchase what I would call a kids adventure pack for our daughter.  I was hoping to find a pack for her age that would help her notice and explore the world around her a little more.  I was able to find several versions for older kids (which will be fun to get someday) but none that I thought a child who could not read yet would be interested in using.  So, we created our own!

Our daughter wearing her Adventure Pack

Note: she LOVES wearing her own little Adventure Pack.  She insists on wearing it when we're hiking or riding a bike.  That is pretty cool to me (and I'm hoping that it will get her ready for a new type of adventure: backpacking).

About the items in the pack:

Notebook - to record thoughts about where we've been, to make leaf rubbings, or draw pictures of the flower we just saw.

Crayons - pencils are good for drawing and writing, but crayons work best for making leaf or bark rubbings.

Compass - it's never too early to start little ones in learning their directions and using an old fashioned compass is a pretty fun way to introduce this skill.

Whistle - this is a safety thing.  We taught our daughter that if she couldn't find us, to just sit down, blow her whistle a lot and wait.

Magnifying Glass - for looking at things up close.  This is one of her favorites from the bag since it's so cool to look at flower stems or bugs that are really big.

Critter Jar - you just never know when you might want to capture that beetle so you can research it when you get back to your base point.  Small peanut butter jars or spice jars are little enough for the pack and are clear.

Thermometer - Kids like to measure things and measuring the temperature of the air or the puddle of water is pretty neat.  Record your findings in the notebook.

Binoculars - for those times you wish you could see that pretty bird better that's at the top of the tree.

Snacks and water bottle - helps the little ones stay hydrated and full of energy.

Sunscreen - this is one item we always forget and since our daughter is so fair skinned, she burns too easy to leave it behind. 

Kleenex - not just for noses, tissues are quite handy for wiping all sorts of body parts in the great outdoors!

Eventually I want to add a camera to her pack.  I would add one now, but the cute little kid cameras really take terrible pictures.  If I purchased one today, it would be a quick point and shoot that was waterproof and had digital zoom only (so that one did not need to worry about a retractable zoom lense).  We have a Fuji waterproof camera that would be perfect but for now, it stays with dad.  

(Extra Story - I attended a conference recently and one of the workshops I listened to validated the use of an adventure pack.  It was titled the "Quiet Schooling of Nature" and the speaker encouraged the audience to buy a notebook, grab some colored pencils and go exploring with the kids.  She said the next level up would be to get your kids a magnifying glass for some serious observation.  Wow...I had already done that!  Talk about validation!)

Have you created an adventure pack for your kids?  What would you put in one for your kids?  Let us know!

First Aid Kits



Our first aid kit



Safety is important.  Be prepared and carry a first aid kit with you.

 

About Our Kit

• A purchased basic first aid kit

 

How We Customized It

• Added more band-aids
• Antibiotic ointment
• Ibprofen and acetaminophen
• Antihistamine
• Moleskin



What we added to our kit.



 



We always carry a first aid kit with us on all of our family adventures because accidents will happen.  Many people customize their kits depending on where they are going, what they are doing, and their level of first aid skills.  As a result, you will find all kinds of recommendations for what should be in your kit. 

 

Our recommendation: JUST GET A KIT and TAKE IT WITH YOU! 

 



At the very least, put several band-aids in a ziploc bag and carry them in your pocket.

 

Story: Some friends of ours wanted to learn about camping and creating their own family adventures so they joined us for an entire day of fun.  On our short hike their daughter slipped and fell, cutting her knee on a rock about a half mile from our car.  Her dad (a paramedic) began to assess her and realized he needed a few first aid supplies to help her otherwise he was going to have to carry her back to the car.  My husband pulled out our first aid kit from our hiking bag and in a short while, their daughter was running along the trail again.

 

Bottom Line: Injuries will halt any sort of adventure.  Carrying a kit will not prevent an accident, but it can mean the difference between a ruined adventure or one that will continue on after a temporary delay.