August 5, 2018

Pine, CO to Salida, CO

We don’t really want to leave.

Morning

I spent another good part of this morning reminding the dogs that I love them while finishing packing the car up. It’s amazing how slowly you can pack bags when you don’t really want to leave. There are not enough kind words we can use about Kevin and Chris. They are just the best. They allowed us to essentially totally take over one side of their home, bought and ate a ton of vegan food to accommodate my lifestyle, gave us great advice on places to go and things to do and see, booked camping and hiking excursions for us to accommodate Bear’s activity level, loved on both of our pups and watched them so we could explore on our own, played games and listened to music with us… I mean you’ve read about everything so you already know. We had no disagreements, we talked ahead of time about plans, it was really perfect. We all said that there are very few people we think we could’ve spent this amount of time with. I’m just so happy we took this amount of time together and did everything we could with it. Kevin and Chris are Jason’s friends from HS and college. They have over 25 years of friendship between them all. I’m here as the newbie but never felt that way once. We are just so incredibly lucky.

Goodbyes and hugs were exchanged and we got one last group picture. 3 out of 5 dogs looking isn’t bad!

Jason said the wind moved so that’s why his finger is barely touching Colorado…. 😆

On the Road Again

We turned Willie Nelson on as a send off to our friends and got on the road again. We still have over a week left on this trip. So much to see and still so much time to do it in. We headed southeast and stopped for lunch at a place called Pub Dog. It is the only restaurant where dogs can legally be where there is food. Other places do it, aaaand just don’t say anything about it. This place was amazing. They had a whole doggie play area with turf and there were so many dogs running around. We decided to sit in the outside covered area that wasn’t in with all of the other dogs. Our dogs weren’t going to make any friends so no need to stress over it.

We got the dogs little treats because they are back on the road with us again. I have quite honestly always wanted to be a dog (hopefully in my next life!) so eating out of a dog bowl just made me super happy! I had rice with jackfruit and cabbage. So delicious! As you can see from the adorable menu too, there were more dog references than you can shake a stick at! (Get it? #daddyjoke)

Bishop’s Castle

We meandered through Colorado Springs and over to a place called Bishop’s Castle. Now this structure is totally man made, no heavy machinery. It is probably 50-70 feet high with massive windows and swirly and curvy iron gates. Jason climbed to the top. You all know that I did not! 😂 I couldn’t see the light at the top of one curvy staircase so I turned right back around. Not happening!

Tons of pictures here that Jason took. I can’t effectively describe this place but I hope the pictures help illustrate the crazy wonder this place was.

Clouds coming in

The clouds looked pretty fierce and lent us a stunning backdrop as we were driving back south.

We did not have a solid camping location for the night because we originally were going to do a 10 mike hike to a hot spring in Pagosa but Bear’s mobility made us change that plan. Our friends told us on some places we could stay at, but us being us, we wanted to add more to the day. I really loved the town of Salida the last time I came here and wanted to drive through again. We called around but no one was answering and we had such limited service. We talked to a nice traveler who told us we would definitely find places in Salida so we took the risk and went!

On the way we passed some deer just chilling out. Love it!

Estelle

Oh we found a place to stay and someone to tell us all about it (and herself!) I love camp hosts! Estelle is an 82 year old who was the lovely camp host to us at the Wilderness RV and Family Campground in Salida. She talked Jason’s ear off for a good 20 minutes, then told us to go pick our site and go to dinner and come back and pay her afterward. What a gal! We picked site #5 and then took off to find dinner.

Boat House

After a quick drive around Salida, aka the cutest town ever, we found a place to sit and eat with the pups. This town has paintings on almost every brick building. I love it here. So quaint but hip and artsy.

Jason got a prickly pear margarita and I think he does wear pink really well! I got a Moscow mule, my new favorite drink.

We got edamame with the best sauce ever with garlic and soy and cashews and love.

It took me a good 7 questions to get something to eat for dinner… I don’t know how a place can make one thing so tasty and vegan and then not understand that they should have other simple vegan items on the menu too. But I got there finally with a veggie burrito with salsa on the side. I ended up pouring the sauce from the edamame all over the food anyways 😬😋

Jason got mushroom tacos 🌮, but as a dove in too fast to take a picture of my own food I totally forgot to take a picture of his.

Night

We got back to the campsite around 8 and were set up for bed by 8:30. This tent is easy to get set up and we are just pros now. Tomorrow is Taos!

August 4, 2018

Last Day in Pine with Kevin and Chris

Not ready to admit that yet.

Another late night turned into a late start to the morning. I actually was up fairly early and Kevin already had the coffee all set so I went and sat outside with the dogs, furiously trying to catch up on this blog because those days in Crested Butte without internet access put me so far behind. I just absolutely adore these three dogs with all of my heart. Each one has a separate and distinct personality. Magellan can’t hear anymore, not that he listened too much while he could. He digs holes alllll over their yard and just lays in them. It’s the freaking cutest thing (when it’s not your lawn it’s happening to!). He fully enjoys laying down and getting his belly rubbed. He has the sweetest eyes. I will miss my Jelly, Fancy Pants, Ferdinand. Zeb, or most commonly Zebbie is just my best pal. This pup loved getting massages all week and would reward me with little kisses afterwards. He is the enforcer, letting everyone know what’s happening with his adorable bark. He also lays on my feet and keeps them warm so I like that about him too. Zeke is the master face maker! I have never seen such an expressive dog! He absolutely lets you know that he wants and deserves all of the attention. He brings toys to you, wants to be loved, and is essentially a Velcro to you if you pet him at all. He also didn’t pick up on Bear’s cues of “we aren’t friends, I am just tolerating you”. 😂 He just kept working at Bear for the full two weeks. He and Patch seemed to understand each other. Find the closest human, get them to pet you for a very long time. Zeke also has the biggest smile ever and it just warms your heart.

So basically I pet the dogs forever, knowing it could be years before I pet them again. I needed them to know I loved them and they are amazing. I think I accomplished that.

Jason awoke and started conversations with Kev and Chris about the rest of our travels. I was not ready to admit we were packing and leaving, even though once Jason was awake I quickly went in and packed everything so I didn’t have to think about it anymore. Jason, Kevin, and Chris mapped out our travels for Sunday and Monday while I decided to cook my last meal in the house.

Lunch

Beyond. Meat. Burger. I have wanted this for over a year now. It’s nearly impossible to get your hands on back in Rhode Island. But here, in the vegan haven of Colorado, you can have what your heart desires.

These burgers are made totally from plants. They actually look and cook like burgers do! 3 minutes on each side and done. I added some sliced tomato cheese and plated up all the rest of the leftovers for a small taster for everyone.

Disc Golf

Kevin and Chris are basically so cool, they have their own disc golf area in their backyard. I sat under the tree and blogged while they all played for about an hour. Essentially, it’s three frisbees per turn and you try to get it in the goal. Looked super hard!

Kelly

I sincerely hope I spelled her name correctly. I have to tell you about the wonderful woman named Kelly who made our stay exponentially better by her kindness and friendship.

Kelly is a coworker of Chris’s. She lives a little ways away from Pine, but she so kindly and generously stayed with Zeb and Magellan during our trip to Crested Butte for 4 days since they are just not able to keep up with hiking a lot anymore. She also swooped in to save the day on tonight, the night of the concert at Red Rocks.

We had left Bear and Patch at the house locked in the bedroom a few times this trip, but never more than a few hours. They are not used to being trapped in a space since they have free range at our house. Kelly, so amazingly, offered to spend the night at the house so that we didn’t have to worry about either letting the dogs stay outside or locking them in. Epically, Kelly said there was quite the wind and lightning storm that happened up in Pine (which didn’t happen 30 minutes down the mountain at Red Rocks). Patch stuck very close to her side (typical Patch) and Bear mostly hung out in the room or outside. We are so incredibly thankful for Kelly and her assistance in making this trip so memorable.

Lunch/Dinner in Evergreen

We headed back to Evergreen to a place called Larist Lodge Brewing Company. On the way, elk decided to take over the road!

We stopped to take some pictures and eventually the road cleared enough for us to go through. The difference between Colorado and Rhode Island? No one beeped, no one really blinked. There is such an amazing respect for wildlife here. It’s very much understood that there is a shared nature between us. Beautiful.

A flight, corn and bean tacos, and sweet potato tots rounded out my meal here.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre

I told Chris that the next time we come back to Colorado, we cannot do Red Rocks on the last day. When we came three years ago, we stopped at Red Rocks, which is open to the public if there isn’t a show, on the way to the airport. Twice now I’m leaving CO with the most epic venue pulling me back.

Tonight we actually got to see a concert, the Infamous Stringdusters and Yonder Mountain String Band. We tailgated in the parking lot and then took a walk around the park area. When Kevin and Chris moved out here, they worked at Red Rocks for a few summers. Great way to grab extra cash and hear awesome bands at a top 5 venue.

We definitely had to take a few breaks walking up those stairs!! In the far background… that’s Denver! That’s right. We are higher than the mile high city!

There really is no venue like this one. We had great seats dead center and danced to the blue grass music. Infamous Stringdusters definitely have a few new fans. They totally brought the energy and we loved it!

Vegan at Red Rocks

I was slightly worried because finding food at a concert venue can be hard. Pretzels are usually a go to, but I wanted more. And I found it! They had vegan tofu dogs!!!!

Add onions and mustard to have a very happy Shannon!

Add friends, crazy clouds, and Jason and it was an epic night. Happy to have finally seen a show at Red Rocks. I will definitely fly in if DMB ever plays here again. No question about it.

Drive to home base

When we left Red Rocks, it was 75 degrees outside. We bet what temp it would be when we got home. Kev- 62. Jason-61. Shannon-60. Chris- 59. Well we were all wrong. In the 30 minute drive, and about 3000 feet in elevation change, it was 53 degrees when we parked the car. Brrrrrr! Gotta love Colorado weather! Kevin said earlier in the night “you can only see the weather for the next 20 minutes in Colorado”. He sure is right.

We said our thank you’s again to Kelly and headed straight to bed. Tomorrow came faster than we anticipated, but that’s what happens when good things come to a close.

August 3, 2018

Denver, CO

There weren’t many must do’s for me in Colorado, but there were definitely a few. Today we checked two of the boxes off for me in Denver.

Today was another eat toast and coffee for breakfast morning because I wanted as much room as possible for our first stop.

Watercourse

If you ever can’t find me for a few days, call this restaurant and see if I’m there. Vegan. Heaven. We had been recommended by several vegans and omni’s about this restaurant. Their words did not do it justice, just as my words won’t either. Being a Friday, we decided happy hour started at lunch.

Jason got a drink with sage in it. I had an orange mojito. I took a picture of the entire menu because they listed a bunch of vegan liquors.

This was probably the hardest decision making we had the entire trip. What do we order? For me, I needed to have some breakfast foods. Eggs are pretty much in everything with breakfast foods. I ordered the tofu hash with tofu bacon. Yup. I had to.

Jason ordered two apps, the potstickers and cauliflower wings. We had passed a man who was eating them, and there were so many sauces… we couldn’t resist!

These wings. They were so crispy on the outside. It felt like a thick cornmeal batter. The three sauces were incredible. Buffalo, Memphis BBQ, and Orange Seasame. Blue cheese and ranch dressings for dipping too. All vegan. All delicious.

The potstickers were great! They also had a thick wheat dough and both sauces were very tasty.

The skillet hash. Omg. Scrambled tofu, jalapeños, tomatoes, home fries, onion, with tofu bacon. This was amazing! I will be making this when I get home.

Nooch Vegan Market

This cute little marketplace was a must go for me. A total vegan market. It is freeing to walk into a store and not have to ask questions, read every label, and feel disappointed when you can’t have something. We grabbed a little of everything that we needed for the drive home and I even got a soft serve ice cream. Happy girl!!

We stopped to buy a few more gifts and th things we needed and heading back to our home base.

Dinner

Kev and Chris love making pizza. Chris says she could eat pizza everyday. But they didn’t have a pizza stone! That little tool changed how we cooked pizza at home so we bought one for our hosts. Kevin was bringing home “take and bake” pizza tonight from a place in Littleton. They had vegan cheese!!

They also had garlic knots, which were the perfect way to start dinner. Great marinara sauce too!

My pizza had roasted red peppers, mushrooms, and spinach! 😋

Tonight is our last night staying in at Kev and Chris’s. We continue playing Farkle one more time so we know they definitely have the rules down. We listened to music and stayed up talking for hours again. I definitely put off sleeping as long as possible to soak up all I can with these friends.

Thursday, August 2, 2018

Evergreen, CO- 25 minute drive

Kevin and Chris both had to work today so we slept in and decided to explore the town nearby, Evergreen. Kev and Chris used to live in this area and Jason always loved it when he has visited in the past.

The best thing about sleeping in is that you can have leftovers for breakfast, because it’s basically a brunch.

Evergreen

There has been a few must visit places and I got to one today. Da Kind is a place that makes their own soups, many of which are vegan. Chris used to work there and spoke highly of it. I really wanted to get a bunch of soups we could freeze for the way home. And oh I did!

Check out that amazing lot of soups that this place has! We talked to the owner and chef, Dustin, who was so very kind. We told him Chris sent us and he erupted in kind words for her. In conversation, Jason and I told him we are educators who are taking advantage of traveling with our summers. He introduced us to his mother in law, who is a retired teacher! I love family run businesses!

Dustin described every vegan soup he had available to us. Each one sounded better than the last! The one I am super excited about is Coconut Dahl! 😋 Dustin was kind enough to give us ice for our cooler so we could bring all these soups home.

Our next stop was to a bar on the creek called Murphy’s. The menu ended up not being super vegan exciting so we just grabbed a drink!

We left here and went into a few little shops for more gifts and jewelry. We both bought jewelry at a little place called Marmalade.

Next we headed to the Little Bear. This place has been known to have musicians who are in town come and perform at it without any notice. It is also the type of bar that has bras hanging from the ceiling. Sooooo yeah.

We went and grabbed a late lunch at a place called Saigon Landing. We ordered fresh rolls for an appetizer because we can never turn them down!

Jason got a hot pot for dinner and I got the tofu yellow curry. Yum!

Shopping

We went grocery shopping on the way home because we wanted to surprise Kevin with ice cream sundaes. He has a sweet tooth! We grabbed a bunch of stuff and went home.

Magellan had a vet appointment to check on his foot, which is healing!

Dinner

Jason claimed he wasn’t hungry so I went ahead and made little quesadillas for dinner. We had a bowl of gazpacho from Da Kind as well. I liked the flavor but I don’t know how I feel about cold tomato soup. The quesadilla had the Daiya pepper jack cheese with SmartLife Mexican crumbles. Yesssss!

Sundaes!

We were so excited to make sundaes! First, I made cookies! Double chocolate fudge!

Then added vegan ice cream, cool whip, and some dark chocolate morsels for a tasty treat!

Farkle

We taught Kev and Chris our favorite game tonight, Farkle! All you need is 6 dice so it’s easy enough to play anywhere. It’s amazing how fast and how slow time can go with your friends.

Wednesday August 1, 2018

Boulder, CO- 1 hour drive

Our original plan was that we would leave this morning for an overnight hike/campout just Jason, the pups, and I. Reassessing our level of tiredness as well as realizing we have 2 weeks left of this trip, we decided to scratch the hike/camping plan. Neither of us had been to Boulder before so we left the pups at home to rest with Kevin and Chris and we took off on an adventure. I did not eat breakfast this morning because, well I woke up at 10:30 and I figured lunch was right around the corner!

Lunch

If this place doesn’t make it over to the east coast in the next 3-5 years I will have to consider leaving the east coast. Native Foods had everything, and I mean EVERYTHING vegan that you could dream of.

Beyond the adorable decor and extensive menu, we needed to try as much as we could to ensure the taste was there too!(we brought a cooler with ice in it for this adventure because I knew we’d have left overs.)😋😉

Appetizers – Crispy Chicken Tenders and Crispy Brussel Sprouts. Come on! This was unreal! Totally perfect textures and sauces on both!

I got a spin on chicken and waffles with a tamale with jackfruit, pineapple, and avocado. Yup. It was amazing! Jason got a jalapeño burger and he was shook about how good it was! He is super picky about non-meats and having the textures be consistent. Native foods did it and did it right! Some seasoned fries and Mac and cheese rounded out this meal, which we took over half of it home because obviously we could eat all of this! So please, East Coast, get on the plant based diet train that Colorado is doing so well at driving!

Downtown Boulder

We headed to the Pearl St Mall area, drove around a few times to find parking, and started the crawl! Today’s focus was supposed to be on craft drinks and gifts for family and friends. Totally honesty here, I hate going into little shops. I always feel so badly when I walk out not wanting to buy something. Jason could walk into every shop, talk to the owner for 10 minutes about their stuff, and walk out empty handed without thinking anything of it. My goal today is to work on not feeling guilty. This sign helped me because it reminded me of my own small business!

We happened upon a street performance and obviously had to watch it. The man was talented!

I mean, seriously!! No way! He had an infectious personality and was fun to watch. Very interactive with people and kids. Loved it!

I finally found my sister’s name spelled correctly on a keychain! We always look for each other’s name since neither is super common. Usually they spell it “Megan”. I also tried to find all of my niece’s names, but very surprisingly I didn’t find them. (Of course my brother’s name is shown two ways, so insert joke from my brother here about how great he is! 😂)

My brother in law is a champion eater! He has eaten several chipotle burritos 🌯 in a single sitting. When we saw the “51 tacos in an hour”, we figured that would be a challenge that Chris would be able to accept and defeat!

We grabbed a quick beer at Mountain Sun. They gave us several free samples so they was fun!

Happy Hour snack/drinks were supposed to be at Leaf, a highly suggested vegetarian/vegan restaurant. Unfortunately, they are in the process of moving locations and their liquor license is in limbo. So we just had food, crispy harissa tofu and a grilled flatbread with beet hummus, arugula, and Daiya cheese. The food was quite good but their drinks would’ve made it better. They were super unique and we really wanted to try it.

Our last stop was the farmers market! There was a bagpiper playing, lots of veggies and local venders. Jason grabbed some hot sauce and local liquor and we headed home.

Still don’t know what these are, but I love them!

We passes some turkeys, I mean Emus on the way home! What huge animals!

I wasn’t super hungry, but I really wanted nachos when we got home so this was my late night snack!

We watched videos on the chromecast and settled in for the night.

July 31, 2018

Drive from Lake Irwin Campground to Pine, Co through Buena Vista (aka Buena Disaster!)

Wake up

We let ourselves sleep in as long as possible. Kevin had started a fire so that drew us up. We left the tent unzipped so it could dry out. A few minutes later I went back to change to find a hummingbird stuck in the tent. I called (screamed) for Jason to come over and he grabbed the camera and snapped a few before letting our hummingbird friend go.

I made the most tasty breakfast today!! Grilled PB&J!

Here is my “Grilled PB and J” dance!

We packed up and got on the road by 11. It was going to be another 4 hours home. At this point Jason is in the mode when it comes to driving. Who am I to argue with that?

Lunch

We decided to stop about 2.5 hours into the trip home at a town called Buena Vista. All in all, it was an adorable town. We had gotten there before Kev and Chris because they are towing a camper so we stopped at a park near what used to be a dog friendly brewery. Not only was it no longer dog friendly on the patio, they had set up this area with stone and a hitching post where you could tie your dog up while you eat. Now while I appreciate having a stop outside so people don’t leave their dogs either at home for long periods of time or in their potentially too hot cars, I did not like this hitching post idea. While there were big water bowls, the entire area was in FULL SUN at the time of arrival (right around 2:30pm). Not fun for the dogs at all! Obviously since we’ve brought our dogs across country with us for our vacation, they are considered family and I don’t want to eat somewhere where they can’t be under my feet. This would stress Patch out and Bear would feel defensive. So we left. Drive around town but obviously the health inspector recently cracked down here and no place would allow the dogs to be at the tables with us. Kev and Chris decided to wait to eat until the 1.5 hour ride home, but I was hungry.

We found a place that had a couple of vegan items so we grabbed lunch to go.

Thai Basil Pesto with carrot ginger soup.

Home Base

We winded through the roads and saw more deer along the way. No moose this time! We made it home just before 5pm. Unloading the vehicles, SHOWERING, and getting into PJs early was just what the night was calling for. It’s been awesome to be on an extended vacation because lazy days and nights don’t seem wasted at all.

Dinner was a quick soup and tacos. The soup is from a place not even a half hour away that Chris used to work at called Da Kind. Amazing place! More about that later.

July 30, 2018

Climbing up Rustlers Gulch.

Breakfast

We needed to be up early for the hike today so we just ate some granola bars and on the way there. Gothic is about an hour drive from Lake Irwin. We passed through the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab which opened in 1928 and saw they were studying wildflowers. They even had camps for kids who were getting involved and helping! So cool!!

The Hike

We knew today would probably be our last hike as to keep the stress to Bear as low as possible. That being said, we really wanted to try to avoid the first mile of this hike if possible. It was strenuous and steep. There was a road for 4WD vehicles to drive up to get to the trailhead. But of course, this road had one part that was flooded. There was even a sign saying to pass at your own risk and that 5 cars had been totaled trying to pass through. As much as I wanted to test the Subaru’s limits, I also knew we needed this vehicle to get us home. So we walked up the strenuously steep mile long road until the trailhead which immediately leveled out and we sat near a creek to eat and let the dogs play. Around a few bends opened up to a field of wildflowers. We saw our first columbine, which is the state flower.

The wall back was stressful for Bear. Going downhill hurts more than walking up. Slow and steady, he made it back. We headed into the town of Crested Butte for lunch.

Lunch

I cannot find the pictures of this food right now, so I will repost. But this was hands down the best lunch I’ve had so far on the trip. Rainbow fiesta bowl 🍲 and a cold ramen bowl were so incredibly tasty. This place makes their own rum, so I had a Dark and Snowy and a twist on a pina colada. Let’s just say it was the perfect ending to a long hike.

Dinner

We walked the streets of Crested Butte for a little while before heading back. We passed so many cute puppies! Just the best!

Back at the campground, we decided to do hummus and veggies for dinner. Simple and easy.

I didn’t heed Chris’s warning to bring winter gloves and hats on the trip. Thankfully she had an extra hat I could wear, but I had to improvise the gloves. Glad I brought tons of extra socks!! 😂

Sunset

Just beyond our campsite we set up to photograph the sunset. Just no words.

Headed back to camp for another campfire. First picture of all 3 dogs together on a blanket! So sweet!

July 29, 2018

Lake Irwin Campground, Crested Butte, CO

Day on the Lake

We woke up early because it was just so damn cold. We needed get moving to warm up! If this is Crested Butte in July, I don’t want to know what it feels like in January!

Breakfast

Jason made us oatmeal and fruit with large cups of coffee!

The Lake

Today we decided to stick around and explore the areas and trails near the lake. There were tons of people on it since it was Sunday afternoon. First we were greeted by the host of the lake as he checked us in. He told us about 2 different sets of waterfalls around the lake. We set off to find them!

The first set of falls were the largest. The pups had fun playing in the water and having some off leash time. It was a pretty start to the day.

Lunch

We headed back to camp to get ready for the actual water part of the day. We made simple PB and J’s.

The Lake

Kev and Chris have a stand up paddle board and kayaks. We brought two to play around with on the lake. Neither Jason nor I have ever been on a SUP so we were excited to give it a try.

We hiked across the lake so that we could have a little private area to let the dogs swim without bothering people. Kev and Chris paddled over and met us. Jason was obviously a natural. He got right on the paddle board and got moving. He even had both Bear and Patch on with him! I jumped on but the winds shifted and I had a little bit of difficulty standing and making any progress to get myself back to the group. Kevin was kayaking next to me so I knew I was fine. I went down and knelt on the board and had much greater success! I made it back to the group and we set back off to head to the campsite. It was hot and the weather started to look like we may get rain again.

We found the second waterfall on the way back. Smaller but very cool!

Back at Camp

It took a little while but the clouds rolled in again. This time… we got hit with small bits of hail! It was so cool but only because of how small these pieces were. Our friends said having holes in your windshield out here due to hail is totally common.

The weather only lasted about 30 minutes this time. When we came out, we started on dinner. Tacos!

Jason grilled eggplant and I warmed up these amazing Thai curry tofu nuggets I found. We also did peppers, mushrooms, and onions in a skillet. Add some salsa and chips and this was a great camping dinner.

Meeting people

I love campgrounds because everyone is there for the same reason. They love being outdoors, they like to have fun, and they are so kind. We met Mike in the morning who gave us their extra firewood as they were leaving. Huge score! In the evening, we met Jenny and her family. They stopped by and brought us a few packages of a magic fire powder! You throw the package into the campfire and it adds blues and greens to the mix! It’s gorgeous!!

Jason and I had fun with taking pictures!! I also was able to get better pictures of the stars too.

I have always wanted to get a shot of the “stars” moving. So excited!!

The moon also graced us tonight with an orange color.

This was the last image I took before I feel over a stump! It was so dark I forgot it was right there. I got a picture of it though!

Pretty talented!! Jason thought I must’ve been very hurt. I kept asking him to check the camera and make sure it was okay but he was too worried about me. He should know by now how incredibly clumsy I am. Nothing was injured so we just headed to bed. I was laughing, he kept shaking his head.

July 28, 2018

Pine CO, to Crested Butte, CO

Drive time: 4 hours

Breakfast

I was so busy eating just for fuel that I didn’t get a picture of my breakfast. I had a PB & J with coffee!

We started our trek and left around 9 am. Our plan is to stop halfway and get a brewery in for lunch. About a half hour into the trip, we see a line of cars on the side of the road. We look around and see a moose in a lake kind of taking a bath! It was amazing!! Chris said it was only the second time she has seen a moose in her 22 years here. It was Kenosha Pass and was definitely memorable.

On the way there, I tried these super delicious Primal jerky! The flavor was incredible and Jason said the texture reminded him of beef jerky.

Lunch

High Alpine Brewery in Gunnison, CO was our lunch stop. We tried a beer sampler and some pizza. I had to be a little creative to get something I could eat, but I just created my own with artichokes, mushrooms, and tomatoes. They had a green chile hot sauce that I added to the pizza and that was phenomenal! So spicy and great flavor!

Crested Butte, CO Lake Irwin Campground

We arrived at the campground around 4pm and set up both our tent and their camper in less than an hour. We started a camp fire and made a drink and then the skies opened up! We retreated back to our areas and the dogs and we took a must needed nap.

An hour later it’s still raining and I was hungry. We had grabbed a can of eggplant, onion, and tomato in an olive oil with some bread so we nibbles on that for awhile.

Dinner

The rain stopped and we slowly came out of our shelters. We got the fire started again and just started thinking about making dinner when another downpour began. This time all 4 of us and the 3 dogs ran into Kev and Chris’s trillium camper. We listened to music and waited out the last of the rain drops. When it was finally over it was COLD. We were at 10,200 feet and the wet and dampness stayed with us throughout the night.

I must admit I did not do a great job of photographing all of my meals while in Crested Butte. There was ZERO service there so I didn’t have my phone attached to me since I really couldn’t use it besides for photos.

Dinner for me tonight was Loma’s spicy pad Thai. It was a boil in a bag so nice and easy camping food!

The night

The skies opened up to a gorgeous clear sky. I spent a long time looking up at the stars. We don’t see nearly this many in the sky at home. The glow from the Warwick airport doesn’t allow the stars to truly shine. It was one night from the full moon so once the moon rose we started snapping pictures.

It was nearing 11 so it was time to try to sleep. Try was a key word tonight. I was shivering. It was in the 30’s outside and we were trying to keep our dogs warm with us too. We both woke up all night checking on each other and the dogs. Not a restful sleep for us on this first night!

July 27, 2018

Packing and food prep day

Breakfast

Chris didn’t have to work today so she and I were planning on going shopping for the 4 day 3 night camping adventure we were about to embark on to Crested Butte/Lake Irwin.

I had some vegan cream cheese on toast and hung around with the adorable Zeb in the morning while we got our shopping lists together. I basically wanted to grab PB and J makings, veggies, fruits, and some rice. We had so many snack items from the first part of our trip we didn’t need too much else. I did find Rocky Road Trip Oreos and had to grab those. And yes, they were vegan!

We also went to the liquor store, because it is vacation! I grabbed the Bailey’s “almonde” which is basically Bailey’s made vegan! Perfect for morning coffee! I also got Jason a bottle of Escolon tequila, which is vegan friendly, and another cider that was vegan as well!

Lunch

There is nothing better than leftovers!! Before the heavy lifting, packing and organizing began, I needed to eat! These are Jason and my creations!!

Packing

The campground we were staying in called Lake Irwin does not have electricity or running water. That means we have all our food on ice. We brought 4 coolers total to have enough food/drinks/ice that we would need for as long as we could. I decided to make us each one salad per day and put them into mason jars.

The layers are from bottom up cut celery, shredded carrots, shredded broccoli slaw, peppers, and spinach. I didn’t add dressing this time but brought a few with us.

Dinner

Chris wanted to make pizza from scratch, so we did! Well close, we bought the dough, but that’s the hardest part up in the mountains is getting the dough to do its thing and rise, so we let the professionals at Safeway make it. We did half vegan cheese half regular cheese and both added veggie toppings!

I used the Miyokos mozzarella ball and crumbled it all over for my “cheese”. It was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside which was an amazing texture. The pizza sauce was amazing too. Yum!!

Dessert

VEGAN COOKIE DOUGH!! That’s right!! Amazing I know! You can just eat it straight from the carton which was fantastic, or just cook them up in the oven! Mountain cooking time came into play, but these cookies were amazing! So happy with the quality!

Late Night Eats

Because I couldn’t wait another day to try this out!!! This Cheesy Bacon Mac by Upton was so impressively good! The “bacon” seitan gave a smoky flavor to the entire dish. Best thing ever? It’s microwaveable and ready super fast!! Delicious!!

We leave early tomorrow for Crested Butte! So excited!