Well, I guess we have a year to work on getting Ted to camp. This was my first time making it to the hotluck, though I have attended the FFS in the past. It was a lot of fun. I want to second the request for the Thai Chicken Curry. I never saw someone who looked like s/he belonged to it. But it was darn tasty. The class C camp ground was pretty nice, and only a couple of campsites were taken. On saturday morning I did a walking tour of the campground to get my metabolism going before making breakfast (buttermilk pancakes with a pinch of chipotle powder and a layer of hickory ash - mmmmmmmmmm). I noted the sites that get good morning sun yet have good tree protection to the north, and I'll save the map for planning next year. There is a string of about 6 really good sites in that regard in the class C area. We need more camping chileheads to fill them up, I think. The class A campground, on the other hand, was pretty well packed with motor homes and fifth wheels and dogs and small children. Don't know how Alex could stand that, especially with his spot right next to the dumpster. It was a little bit colder saturday night than I had originally predicted. But that was just because it didn't get cloudy as I predicted (clear skies lead to greater cooling at night). So we awoke to frost both days. In spite of the fact that anything remotely technological failed me (coleman lantern that worked fine on Tuesday wouldn't pump up coleman stove that worked fine on thursday wouldn't light, the rewinding knob on one of my camera fell into little pieces and we couldn't find the screw...) and our short little 1 1/2 to 2 hour hike on saturday morning turned into a 4 1/2 hour tour of darn near the entire park (darn high water and washed out stairs...), I really had a great time. Many wildflowers were blooming, though I really think it would have been better about 2 weeks later. Lots of birds abounded (and woke us up REALLY STINKING EARLY), and had several nifty raccoon prints on my 2 ton steel bear bag. There was plenty of water to keep the waterfalls impressive, yet the trails weren't horribly muddy (though there was quite a bit of water inside the railroad tunnel Alex mentioned). The drinking water at the park tasted pretty good, though it was a strange milky color and fizzed when you'd fill your water bottles. I'm guessing it had enough lime in it to have a pH in the 10 range... It was great seeing the few folks that were still at the fields by the time I got there last year, as well as meeting some new folks. The park was beautiful, and not too much traffic on the trails. As we were trying to piece together my camera, we did get to watch what we though was sure to be the next Darwin Awards winner, but even that pair made it safely... Anyway, a couple of people asked for my fudge recipe. So, here it is: 3 C sugar 3/4 C margarine/butter 1 can Evaporated milk 12 oz package of chips * 7 oz Jar Marshmallow Cream 1 C nuts (optional, I rarely use them) 1 teas Vanilla Ground peppers to taste ** Put sugar, milk, and margarine or butter in a heavy sauce pan and heat to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium, and boil for 5 more minutes, continuing to stir constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in chips until melted. Add marshmallow cream, optional nuts, and vanilla. Mix until blended (don't over-mix, though). Pour into a greased 13" X 9" pan and cool. It SHOULD solidify at room temperature... * the chips are whatever flavor you want the base of the fudge to be. So, if you want peanut butter fudge, use peanut butter chips. Chocolate fudge, use chocolate chips. etc etc. ** getting the right ratio of peppers is the challenging part. I finally got the peanut butter chipotle ratio correct this time, though it didn't solidify and I haven't yet figured out why... I used 4 chipotles. The particular chipotles I used I made myself from jalapenos I smoked in hickory, and finished drying in a dehydrator. For the white chocolate cayenne/thai hot fudge (the one that ended up all over my kitchen floor/ceiling/walls/appliances/cabinets thanks to my cat) I use 3 thai hots and 2 teas of commercial cayenne powder. Of course, you can adjust pepper ammounts as you like... -- Chad Gard, KB9WXQ INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21