Howdy, mosquito-bitten campers and ash-laden adventure seekers, and welcome to lovely Mineral, California, where today the beans have the honor of visiting one of the nation's most unique places -- the Lassen Volcanic National Park! About 400,000 people a year make the trek into the mountains to check out the tall trees, cool clear lakes, and of course, the volcanoes. All four types of volcanoes in the world are found in the park, which for 600,000 years bubbled, boiled, and erupted as only major volcanoes do.

Fortunately for all involved (especially one curious can of frijoles), Lassen Peak has been quiet since 1921, but who knows -- if Mount Saint Helens up in Washington decides to one day stage an encore, perhaps Lassen Peak will decide to join the chorus. For the sake of canned vegetables everywhere, let's hope that the beans are somewhere else if and when that happens -- they like to be cooked, but tend to burn when exposed to 5,000 degree magma. Definitely not good eats. (Sorry, Alton.)

Anyway, the beans had a good time camping in the California woods, and encourage all of you to get out there and get back to nature. Of course, the beans are too wimpy to actually sleep outdoors, but they did go without any cable TV reception. Does that count as "roughing it"?