Reviews and Great Giveaways!

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Tropicana.

For years I’ve said that I wouldn’t last 7 minutes on “Survivor” without either dying or getting voted off.  I’m not a camping kind of gal.  And I don’t know when that happened, because I earned my camping badge in Girl Scouts, and my family took us camping when we were little and I LOVED it, blah, blah, blah.

I think I’ve simply grown too attached to running water. And electricity. And sleeping in a real bed.

Anyhoo.  Thankfully, I married a man who shares my camping strategy.  Which is quite simply, The Econo-Lodge.

A week or so ago, my family had an opportunity to stay a few days at two different hotels, simultaneously.  My husband took the kids to the Econo-Lodge of Disney World, The All-Star Movie Resort while I attended our homeschool convention at a hoopty-ploopty hotel across town.  Score.

Both hotels had mini-refrigerators, which is nice because we are a family that travels with groceries.  The Disney hotel charges $10 a night for a room fridge, and the one at the hoopty-ploopty hotel offered a complementary mini-refrigerator.

I had the opportunity to stock both of them, and neither of them met my high standards for keeping my family free from food poisoning.  And to top it off, I could fit very little in them.

So, an idea was formed.  I went to Tropicana Juicy Rewards, and looked at the products offered at their Coleman site.  (Click on the “Partner Rewards” drop down menu.)  I then used 9 of our Juicy Reward points to get 30% off of the 40 quart Power Chill Iceless 12-Volt Cooler.  (Click here to view site demo video.)

It’s a cooler, that runs on either an electrical wall socket, or via the cigarette-lighter receptacle of our van (when the ignition is ON).  Therefore, whenever we go on car trips and we are in need of snacking opportunities, IT’S LIKE WE HAVE OUR OWN REFRIGERATOR IN THE VAN.  And best of all, there is no need for messy ice, or ice packs.

One of the things I love about this product is that it’s light weight, can be operated and stored horizontally, like a regular cooler, or vertically upright.  The door can also be changed to open in the opposite direction.

I find it MUCH roomier than hotel mini-refrigerators, and it has an adjustable shelf.  We have plugged it in while in the house, and I was extremely impressed with its cooling capabilities.  No food poisoning worries there.  While you cannot set it to a particular temperature, it will cool the interior down 40 degrees lower than the surrounding temperature.

I’ve already started calculating how much money we’ll save at the Disney Econo-Lodge by not having to rent a hotel refrigerator.  And this cooler will make long car trips so much more bearable.  Not like installing a plexiglass partition between us and the children, but still.

How to Set up your Juicy Rewards Account!

To get started, register at the Tropicana Juicy Rewards Website. Then enter your codes from specially marked Tropicana Pure Premium and Trop50 products.   And as a special offer, you can receive a one-point bonus.  To get your bonus point:

Visit the “Enter Codes” page within the site and get started with BLOGG-HER11.

(Please note, this one-time use code is valid for new accounts ONLY.  Must be entered within 6 hours of creating your account.)

A Giveaway

As part of the Tropicana Juicy Rewards campaign, I am able to give away a $50 Visa Gift Card, courtesy of BlogHer.  All you have to do is answer the following question in the comments on this post:

What makes for your perfect camping experience?

The Rules

▪       No duplicate comments/ one entry per person.
▪        This giveaway is open to U.S. residents age 18 or over.
▪        Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
▪        You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

For 7 more chances to win, please visit the BlogHer Review/Giveaway Round-Up page. And to see the official sweepstakes rules, please go here.

I will keep comments open until Wednesday, June 30, 2010, at 8:00 PM, EST.

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