Does anyone else hate camp fires?

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by mandolindave

We found some juniper left by a Ranger at a BLM campsite. We didn't know better and burned it. It was NASTY. No bugs bothered us though.

Stands to reason. I think gin tastes nasty, too, and gin is distilled from juniper berries.

[Gene]

Juniper is bad for chain saw chains too—the tree brings dirt up with the sap and the dirt dulls the chain. We have lots of juniper, but I never cut it for firewood. I could go get the berries—we do like gin.

With the beetles killing a lot of the piñon in the southwest, we may have mostly juniper left. They are very hardy trees.

Gene

[Phrunes]

Gene,

Bring the gin and we can bake some brownies.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Phrunes

Gene,

Bring the gin and we can bake some brownies.

I hate the waste the gin by starting a fire with it. In Colorado we have special brownies and with gin (drinking it), who needs a fire?

Gene

[Len n Jeanne]

Sorry to hear about the juniper wood problem. We've burned lots of it over the years and never had a problem. Any chance it was green?

Sagebrush is something else, though. Greasewood burns really well but you wouldn't want your grilled steak to taste like it.

Pinyon pine is really nice.

Gin is nice too, but much improved with a little ice, dry vermouth and an olive. "Shaken, not stirred." Straight up.

[SilverGate]

Originally Posted by Len n Jeanne

...
Gin is nice too, but much improved with a little ice, dry vermouth and an olive. "Shaken, not stirred." Straight up.

Yes, perhaps I could live with a well attended, clean burning campfire...

as long as the martinis are shaken... not stirred!

50 great james bond quotes (sean connery) - YouTube

[Len n Jeanne]

For a range of reasons I need not go into, I think our 16' Bambina is going to be ours for a very long time, vs. spending $50K on a nice new upgrade. Consequently I (Jeanne-- Len could care less) think of ways to make it just a bit more sympatico w/ the AS innate sense of design and camping well.

We just hit upon the idea that, the night before our most recent outward bound trip (this week), we have a cocktail hour to decrease any pre-trip stressors. The night after we return, perhaps a bit frazzled after a day en route, ditto.

For health reasons, cocktail hour is not a nightly tradition with us. But something about that dry martini for specific occasions does seem like a civilized custom.

Oh, gosh.... were we talking about campfires??

It has gotten so troublesome and restrictive in so many semi-wild campgrounds, just to collect some firewood to cook the evening meal, that we've taken to traveling with hardwood charcoal. We don't sit around it of an evening making s'mores and singing, "Michael row the boat ashore," but it does give the food that good outdoor taste.

[DKB_SATX]

My WBCCI unit traditionally has a cocktail hour(s) on the night we arrive. And the next night. And if we're having a longer campout, the next.... it works for us.

[ROBERT CROSS]

We usually go on a Rabbit Hunt.....



Bob

[SilverGate]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

Stands to reason. I think gin tastes nasty, too, and gin is distilled from juniper berries.

You're in good company... it seems James Bond preferred a vodka martini, shaken, not stirred... now about that campfire... on second thought...

How about another...

Vodka Martini, Shaken, Not Stirred

[Phrunes]

I'm still stuck on Genes brownies. What happens if you shake a brownie, instead of your martini?

[Len n Jeanne]

I think you get arrested.

[ROBERT CROSS]

I shake my Campfire Girl softly and stir the brownies, real goooood.

Bob

[Phrunes]

I like dirty martinis, and brownies.

[pinkflamingoes]

You only get arrested if you throw them in the fire. Then they are detected by smell. If you are lucky, the FBI will stand in the smoke long enough to get into a really mellow mood. : dizzy:


Love campfires, hate the smoke. I have been known to put a fan next to a fire to blow the smoke in a direction that is least harmful to everyone. Here in California with all of our disasters most campers seem to all use them.

I like this thread. There is a lot of good information on wood, and I never know about things like campfire in a can etc.

Originally Posted by Len n Jeanne

I think you get arrested.

[Phrunes]

“Ash wood wet or ash wood dry, a King will warm his slippers by.”

[Globie64]

At a recent rally, I thought about this post: I ordinarily don't like smoke but being around camp fires, drinking wine and chatting to all hours, campfires are integral to the experience. Not healthy, but either is gin (try Junipero, made by Anchor Steam in San Francisco, it's awesome) or a lot of other fun stuff. Gathering around a fire with a wonderful bunch of other Airstreamers is an experience not to be missed.

[RUMSHIP]

Originally Posted by Globie64

At a recent rally, I thought about this post: I ordinarily don't like smoke but being around camp fires, drinking wine and chatting to all hours, campfires are integral to the experience. Not healthy, but either is gin (try Junipero, made by Anchor Steam in San Francisco, it's awesome) or a lot of other fun stuff. Gathering around a fire with a wonderful bunch of other Airstreamers is an experience not to be missed.

Well said!

[mandolindave]

My friend had me smell some as a prank...I almost lost lunch, and could never bring myself to drink gin ever again. Could you have burned your Juniper in a very hot wood stove with a very tall chimney, or might you have a different strain of Juniper? Because the Juniper here is literally toxic. Maybe you had Red Cedar which is classified as Juniper. In Utah there are junkyards of the bad kind, in piles, spaced far apart so that if there was a lightning strike, not all of it would burn. Cigarette smoke is perfume compared to the smell of Juniper.

[mandolindave]

The Rocky Mountain Juniper is rated as on of best smelling woods to burn.
It's the Utah Juniper which sometimes cross breeds with some other junk trees that smell bad.