Episode 511: Hiking

Hiking Episode 511 logo

Welcome back to the show. We are so glad you are here, joining us for the book group discussion!

Each week we talk  about books and about different genres, and provide useful information for people who want to talk about books. Each week we pick a new genre to chat about. We want to help you find new books for yourself, and to be ready to share them with others.

We recorded this episode while we were socially distancing! So, enjoy us recording all from our own homes.

This week we are talking about hiking! Right now, we are all focused on our social distancing and not doing long-distance hiking trips. But as long as we are thoughtful of our fellow hikers, heading outside for some fresh air and exercise is good for us. Even if you can’t make it out to hike, you can do some hiking with books!

Our Guest Host is Kate Wallace, from Marketing and Communications at the St Cloud Technical and Community College.  She is also an occasional hiker, and has visited every state park in Minnesota! 

Beverages:

Each week we like to connect the theme of our books with our beverages, and we each came prepared with our own drink to enjoy while we talk about our books. You are an important part of this book group, so if you don’t have a beverage go ahead and get one now. Each of our beverages will have a recipe or a link on our episode page, so you can try them yourself!

This week our beverages will help us to be well hydrated, as well as giving us the energy and endurance to make it through this discussion. 

Sparkling Coconut Grape Juice

  • 4 cups white grape juice
  • 2 teaspoons lime juice
  • Ice cubes
  • 2 cups coconut-flavored sparkling water, chilled
  • Lime wedges or slices

In a pitcher, combine grape juice and lime juice. Fill 6 tall glasses with ice. Pour juice mixture evenly into glasses; top off with sparkling water. Stir to combine; garnish with lime wedges, if desired.

Sunshine Lime Rickey

  • 4 tablespoons simple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons orange juice
  • 4 drops orange or lemon bitters
  • 1 cup club soda, chilled
  • Optional: Orange peel and fresh mint leaves

Fill 2 tall glasses three-fourths full with ice. Add half the simple syrup, lime juice, orange juice and bitters to each glass. Top each with 1/2 cup club soda; stir. Garnish as desired.

Creamy Watermelon Smoothie

  • 4 cups seeded cubed watermelon, partially frozen
  • 1/2 cup reduced-fat vanilla ice cream
  • 1/2 cup fat-free milk
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 6 fresh mint leaves

Place all ingredients in a blender; cover and process until blended.

Genre Discussion:

We are big fans of encouraging everyone to get outside and to enjoy the great hiking trails available across Minnesota. We have a Goodreads book challenge game: Armchair Travel to Minnesota. As we are Minnesota library people, we want you to connect your enjoyment of reading, and visiting libraries, to the fun of visiting these parks. We give a book prompt connected to each park, to help people learn a new fact about the park and also to find some new books.

Most people who are interested in hiking probably already know about the two popular books: A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, by Bill Bryson, and Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed. They are about people who were thru-hiking parts of two of the three long trails in the US. A lot of hiking books are written by people who have done some or all of these two trails. 

You do not need to do just long hikes, or even to only read about these long hikes. There are so many trails out there to explore, and we encourage you to go explore all kinds of hiking for yourself. And there are going to be a lot of other books you can explore to help you do some armchair hiking, or to start planning out your own next hiking adventure! 

Suggested Reading Resources:

Book Discussion

Now we are a little more familiar with this week’s genre, and we have enjoyed some of our special beverages, let’s get to the book discussion!

Here are the books we shared this week. As always, each book link goes to Amazon.com. If you click on the link and buy anything at all while you are there, Amazon will give us a small percent of their profits. You can support CMLE without doing a thing. And we appreciate your support!

Conclusion

Thanks to Kate, for sharing this discussion with us! 

Thanks so much to you for joining us this week for the book group! It’s always better when you are here with us. Join us on Patreon, to get some behind-the scenes secrets after every episode. Official Office Dog Lady Grey appreciates your support. 

Be sure you are subscribed to this podcast to get every episode, genre, and book suggestions dropped right into your favorite app. And if you prefer to stream them, every episode we have created is on our website.

Join us next week for more genre discussions!