"trail mix" news and stories

It appears that I've made it through the 24 years of my life without having encountered the word gorp. You can imagine my surprise when, on a recent car trip, my girlfriend referred to the bag of peanuts, raisins and chocolate chips that I packed, asking "Where's the gorp?" Gorp came up in conversation again the other day, so I decided to do a little research. The origins of the word are cloudy at best. According to a Wikipedia entry, gorp may be a "backronym," an acronym created to match the letters of a word that already exists, standing for Good Old Raisins and Peanuts or Granola Oats Raisins and Peanuts. I'm skeptical of the latter because granola generally contains oats anyway, so that would be redundant. Apparently gorp is also known as scroggin in Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Iraq. Supposedly, this may also be an acronym.

[Photo: Wikipedia]

If you're heading up into the mountains for a ski trip this winter, you are going to need some supplies. Clearly skis, coats and hats are in order, but what about the really important things, like food? Driving up those long, icy mountain roads isn't fun and, unless you have to stop to put chains on your tires, you really want to minimize the time you spend out of your car before you either get to your hotel or out to the ski lodge. A supply of snacks in your glove box is just what you need to get you through those long drives.

• Packaged snacks with a long shelf life, like granola bars or snack bars, are nice to have around. They offer a balance of sweet and healthy, in addition to being satisfying.