Ay carumba! Elaine and I organized a party of more than 20 lunatics to drive to the Santa Cruz mountains to go camping at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. As Elaine said, "I will never do this agian!" and I can hardly blame her cos it was a nightmare to plan. However, most people went home happy (and I hope appreciative). I had a great time and plan on going again. Below are some great camping tips I got from the Girl Scouts homepage. Pretty cool stuff! Click here to begin or go back to the index page. Camping Tips: Hate instant coffee while camping? Make a coffee concentrate before setting off for the woods. Put 1/4 cup of very finely ground coffee in a clean gallon jug. Fill the jug with hot water and let it sit for 24 hours. Strain the concentrate through a filter and take along camping. To make a hot cup of coffee at the campsite, put about 1/6 to 1/4 of a cup of the concentrate in a coffee cup, and add hot water to fill the cup. Vary the amount of concentrate to achieve the desired strength of coffee. A cotton ball smeared with petroleum jelly is an instant fire starter. Take a 100-percent-cotton ball and spread it out until it resembles a flat circle. Work a finger full of petroleum jelly into the cotton, making a sticky mess. Store in a sealable plastic bag or empty film canister. The petroleum jelly starts the fire while the cotton around it slows the burning time. Bring oranges along for a snack, then save the peels for cooking muffins in the campfire's coals. Eat the orange by cutting off just the top of the orange peel, and scoop out the fruit inside. Then pour muffin batter into the hollowed-out orange, place in the warm coals and enjoy fresh-baked muffins with a hint of orange flavor. An easy peach cobbler can be make with just a large can of sliced peaches in heavy syrup and a handful of baking mix such as BisquickB.. Drain the syrup from the peaches, saving about 1/4 cup of the syrup. Add the Bisquick to syrup until it's the consistency of pancake mix and pour the mixture over the fruit in the can and set the lid on top. Set the can in the hot coals and bake until the flour-syrup mixture resembles little dumplings. Another fun campfire dessert is banana boats. Cut a banana down the middle, leaving the fruit inside the peel. Stuff with bits of chocolate and mini-marshmallows, wrap in tinfoil and set in the coals. Scambled eggs in a pot of boiling water? Yes you can! For quick scrambled eggs without a lot of mess, mix and cook the eggs in a sturdy sealable plastic bag. Add other desired ingredients such as peppers or onions, but avoid cheese because the cheese will get hotter than the eggs when cooking and could melt the plastic. Seal the bag, getting as much air out as possible, and scramble the eggs by squeezing the bag. Drop in a pot of boiling water and cook for five to 10 minutes and make breakfast without getting the pot dirty. Best viewed at 1024x768 or 1152x864 resolution