I have been pulling together photos and documents to write this post for quite some time and finally took the time to sit down and work on it.

It seems that my work in the food industry had some really weird connections to Dad in his climbing career. I started working at Interbake Foods at 8500 Southwest Durango Street in Tacoma, WA soon after graduating from college. Among other things, the commercial bakery produced an item called Sailor Boy Pilot Crackers and also a somewhat sweeter version called Royal Kreems. The name may have changed on both the company and the product in 20+ years but here is a communication from Dad in the early 1960’s to the American Biscuit Company as he was the food procurement manager for the Century 21 Mt. McKinley expedition. Of course, Mom kept everything well documented and probably did most of the formal communication!

Once the expedition was underway, Safeway was able to get their name out there as here is a photo of Dad enjoying his Jersey Creams with Safeway’s Empress Berry Jam. This was from the January 1963 edition of Safeway News.

On the 1972 Pioneer Traverse Expedition, he also purchased the Jersey Cream Biscuits – here is a copy of a sample menu from that trip.

Then, when I left Interbake Foods and headed to Keebler/Kellogg’s, I found out that Dad seemed fascinated by Pop-Tarts that were introduced in the 60’s after his first Mt. McKinley expedition. Here is a scan of an ad that he saved from the newspaper.

I never found any actual purchase reference in his climbing documents but Pop-Tarts are actually a preferred climbing food for breakfast if one is on the go and doesn’t want to heat up oatmeal. They are pretty heavy to carry around but they are full of fat and sugar and calories! In fact, when I got the recommended food list for my upcoming Canyonlands Backpacking trip, look at what is the VERY first item on the list!

So, the biggest question is, “Frosted or Unfrosted?” I think growing up that the unfrosted brown sugar cinnamon was a family favorite!

And just today I see that there is a new Netflix movie about the breakfast wars between Post and Kellogg and the eventual launch and success of the Pop-Tart. Who knew there was so much family history involved.