Hey, Bear Buffs!

It’s National Polar Bear Day! These incredible creatures never cease to amaze. But just what is it that’s so FASCINATING about these albino bears? Well, that’s one thing right there—polar bears aren’t really albino—their fur’s actually colorless! But I’m getting ahead of myself. Just let me explain how cool polar bears are and you’ll see that there’s SO MUCH more to them than just soda advertisements.

First of all, polar bears are believed to have evolved from grizzlies around 150,000 years ago. Polar bears have since well adapted to their Arctic environment. Their white appearance gives them great camouflage. Their paws grow wider than a grizzly’s so to distribute their weight as they cross ice and snow. And they grow fur on the bottom of their paw to give better grip on ice and extra warmth.

Returning to the first point made, polar bears do not have white fur. Their fur is actually transparent, clear, see-through. It has no color at all. It only appears white because of the way that it reflects sunlight. And underneath all that fur, it turns out a polar bear’s skin is actually black. Black skin helps keep this giant mammal warm as it absorbs the sun’s heat.

Also unlike grizzly bears—or any other bear, for that matter—polar bears do not hibernate for the winter. They don’t hibernate at all unless they are pregnant in which case they go into a mild hibernation where their heart rate slows down and their body temperature is strictly regulated. Pregnant polar bear’s hibernation is easily interrupted.

Lastly, I think everybody knows that polar bears can swim, but do you realize how good they are at it? In fact, polar bears are able to swim for longer than an entire week without stopping at all!

So, as I said to begin with, polar bears are fascinating creatures, aren’t they? Happy Polar Bear Day!

Hey, Sleepyheads!

Sleeping outside is always an amazing experience at summer camp. Of course, you won’t enjoy a night under the stars very much if there isn’t anything underneath you. You need the right camping gear with you! Sleeping bags are a fairly important item to a camper who finds him or herself roughin’ it!

But people certainly had to sleep on the ground before sleeping bags were invented, right? Well, sure. It’s just nobody said that they had to be comfortable when they did it.

That’s not to say that they didn’t find ways to provide warmth and even comfort—quite the contrary! What people used to do is roll up wool blankets with themselves inside. I’m sure it was extremely comfortable, it just wasn’t very convenient. Not as much as a sleeping bag.

There was no zipper to allow an easy in and out. There wasn’t any insulation fill. And there certainly weren’t any temperature ratings! A more modern concept for the sleeping bag didn’t come around until the 1850’s when patrolling officers of France would keep watch in the mountains.

They carried large bags with them that had been made of sheepskin lined with wool. They would roll the wool up inside the bags and keep the wool buckled in place. Then, a decade later, another man, an explorer named Francis Fox Tuckett designed a “sleeping bag” out of a blanket that had a waterproof, rubber bottom.

Not much more than oversized bags of warm material, neither of these bags offered the convenience of modern day sleeping bags. Sleeping bags would have to wait until 1913 for the zipper to be invented, but before that, in 1876, a man named Pryce-Jones introduced what is considered the first sleeping bag, called the Euklisia Rug.

It still didn’t really look like a sleeping bag. And it didn’t roll up. It was really just a folded up blanket. It had a pocket at the top for an inflatable rubber pillow that was sewn in. When you laid down on the Euklisia Rug, you would fold the rest of the blanket over, wrapping yourself and fasten it shut with clasps.

So the next time you wrap up nice and warm in your sleeping bag from Everything Summer Camp, give a little thanks to Pryce-Jones …or maybe those French officers in the mountains…

Hey, Snack Fans!

Grabbing an after school snack or something to nosh on while you watch a good movie is sometimes the most enjoyable part of a day! As simple as a snack can be, they’re also just as satisfying. But there’s one snack that trumps them all. It’s crunchy, triangular, and goes great with salsa!

I’m talking about Tortilla Chips! Why? Um…because it’s National Tortilla Chip Day. Duh-doy! ‘So?’ you might be thinking as you read this post. ‘What’s so great about tortilla chips?’ to which I would respond, ‘WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT TORTILLA CHIPS??!!!!’

To a tortilla chip maniac like myself, the answer should be obvious, but if you need me to, I’ll try and break it down for you just why it is that tortilla chips are so great. Let’s see…where to begin, where to begin?

First of all, I’ll tell you how tortilla chips are made. You take a corn tortilla like you’d use to wrap a burrito and you cut it into wedges. Then you fry it (some tortilla chips are circles which are simply circle cutouts of a tortilla and then fried).

Now for a little history: Tortilla chips were first made sometime in the 1950’s, invented by a woman named Rebecca Webb Carranza. Along with her husband, Rebecca owned a tortilla factory in Los Angeles. They were one of the first people to automate tortilla production.

The Carranza’s automated production would turn out the occasional imperfect tortillas which they would throw away. But one day Rebecca got the idea to cut the “bad” tortillas up and fry them. She’d sell a bag of these “chips” for a dime (which was the equivalent to today’s dollar—maybe more).

It wasn’t long before tortilla chips caught on by the entire nation. Since they go great with so many different appetizers and dips they’ve become quite a popular chip. Celebrate National Tortilla Chip Day and enjoy a bag yourself. Maybe you can even make your own!

Hey, Dessert Lovers!

What kind of a Dessert Lover are you? Do you love combining flavor favorites? Do you have one go-to ice cream flavor that never fails? Are you hopelessly addicted to Andes Chocolates? Yes?! Then get ready to celebrate ‘cause it’s Chocolate Mint Day! Break out the candies, cake, and ice cream!

Surprisingly, there are some weirdos out there whose taste buds actually dislike the way Chocolate Mint tastes, but for the most part, people generally love Chocolate Mint. They’ve been mixing the two since the late 18th Century.

After 1776, when the United States declared its independence and became its own country, British merchants had to find other things to tax and they made a lot of money off chocolate. While the rest of the world loved chocolate, the people of Britain didn’t enjoy straight chocolate very much. They wanted something less bitter. So they mixed it with spices like vanilla, cinnamon, honey, and…eventually…mint!

There’s just something amazing about that almost stinging coool taste of a Chocolate Mint treat. Mint is so cool, it even spawned its own slang to mean cool, as in: “Is that a Chocolate Mint Cake for dessert? MINT!”

Tragically, my recollections are too vivid and too many of my family’s Christmas tradition in which we would enjoy cookies and pie along with a side of ice cream at my grandfather’s house. We always got two flavors of ice cream—obligatory Vanilla and, of course, Mint Chocolate Chip.

To my repeated misfortune (being the slow-eater that I am), I was always the last to get my cookies and ice cream. And I was always stuck with boring ol’ Vanilla. My family had already devoured the Mint Chocolate Chip.

Don’t let what used to happen to me happen to you on a day like today. Get yourself some Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, get some Andes Mints, and get some York Peppermint Patties and have yourself a happy Chocolate Mint Day!

Hey, Hydrators!

I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you how important it is to stay hydrated—it’s ESSENTIAL really. That’s why it’s important to have your trusty water bottle at your side during outdoor excursions. Whether you’re hiking in the summer or snowshoeing in the winter, it’s smart to have some water with you while you’re out.

People knew this a long time ago just as we know it today. And despite the fact that no plastic, metal, or glass water bottles were able to be made thousands of years ago, people figured out ways to transport their clean, fresh water. Our ancient ancestors discovered that curing animal bladders made them stronger and able to carry water for an expedition.

These crude carriers were obviously not water bottles. They weren’t really even canteens (the water bottle’s ancestor), but they moved water. It took quite a while to get to the reusable plastic or stainless steel water bottles that we’re familiar with today.

Hollowed-out gourds became trendy means of transportation for a while. But it wasn’t until the cowboys of the Wild West sewed together leather bags to use as canteens that a water carrier doubled as something from which a person can conveniently drink. Canteens made of metal and even wood became popular means of water transportation in the military.

Canteens are used as simple means of water holders on camping trips nowadays, but water bottles have really taken over in that department since the early 1970s.

It started a little over 20 years prior in 1949 with a type of plastic that was developed by a chemist named Emanuel Goldberg and his team. This plastic, Nalgene, was intended for laboratory use as bottles and storage tanks as the material is able to hold a variety of liquids (and solids) which have very low to very high temperatures.

These bottles were continuously missing from the lab as members of the team kept taking them out to use as water bottles during leisurely hikes or exercise sessions. It wasn’t long before the President of the Nalge Company, Marsh Hyman discovered that his son’s entire troop in Boy Scouts used bottles from the Nalgene lab for their outdoor activities.

So the bottles were given color and a cool style and marketed as reusable plastic water bottles—a much better alternative to buying disposable plastic water bottles. Nowadays water bottles have all sorts of features like measuring lines and built-in filters.

Enjoy your water, wherever you go.