Steamboat Springs Adventures

Late last week, with a long weekend looming I was feeling a bit desperate to get out of dodge. With all of the kitchen renovations and other daily stresses of life, I decided to surprise Chris with a night away somewhere. There were all of our favorite places to consider, but in the end I decided to take us somewhere new. We love a good explore of a new town so I knew Chris would love the choice just as much as I did.  

We set off early Saturday morning, coffee in hand, for a three hour journey to Steamboat Springs. We only spent one night there, but I have already declared it my new favorite place in Colorado. It is a STUNNING place.

A New 30-Day Challenge - Salad Style

One really interesting thing I have learned through all of my joint and inflammation issues (among so many interesting things!!) is to gear my diet to include a lot more alkaline foods and drinks. Apparently the sweet spot is to get 80% alkaline and 20% acidic.  This isn't just for those suffering from inflammation or joint pain, it's actually fascinating to learn all of the things that this type of diet can help with.  If you are interested, I highly suggest doing some research of your own, as I am certainly not an expert!

I have made so many changes with my diet over the past 4 or 5 years (removing meat, dairy, gluten,  & soda, reducing processed foods and sugar, increasing fresh, whole foods) but I have been feeling like I need to make more effort on this front. Switching up my diet to include more alkaline foods is likely to make a big difference in my health overall, including the dreaded inflammation I have suffered from for the past 3 years.  

Now, I love a good salad. Give me a big bed of spinach, kale, lettuce and I will happily pile it high with fresh chopped vegetables (sans dressing).  I am not, however, good at doing this regularly which is strange given how much I love it.  It just hasn't become a habit to include a salad into my daily diet for one reason or another.  Not to mention that it usually involves chopping whatever vegetables happen to be in the fridge and throwing them on top of greens.  Not a whole lot of planning involved.

So I am going to do a little salad challenge (similar to my bikram yoga challenge) to jump start what I hope will result in us incorporating salads several times a week, if not daily.  So I have been trolling through Pinterest to find some new salad recipes just to mix things up and keep it interesting.

Here are some that top my list...

Southwestern Chopped Salad - courtesy of The Garden Grazer

My Contribution

Every once in a while (okay, it's actually much more often than that), I stumble upon a source of inspiration that seems like it was made just for me to find.  And I have to admit, I love that.  I love finding things that speak to me, that get me thinking, push me out of my comfort zone or remind me to return to a more intentional life.

Meat-free, Dairy-free, Gluten-Free, Oh My!

As many of you know, my health has been a bit troubled the past few years due to severe inflammation in my joints.  I have spent countless hours going to doctor appointments, surgery, physical therapy and having a battery of tests done.  All of this resulted in a 'best guess' diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis, with my rheumatologist saying that medication was the only way to ease my aching joints and all of the unpleasant side effect that came along with it. (I won't bore you with the details.)

The Art of Meeting Your Own Needs

Okay, so I started a 12-day cycle of medication last week to help ease my aching joints, and one thing my rheumatologist said has stuck in my head ever since: one side effect is that you will likely be crazy when you are on it. like crazy, crazy.  Um, okay.  Not the worst side effect I can think of, but certainly a mysterious and somewhat creepy one, if I'm honest.  But okay, I can handle this.  It's only 12 days.  Right?

Well, as far as I can tell, I haven't become crazy yet (or not any crazier than usual, ha!) and I am 7 days in, so that must be a positive sign.  What it has led me to do is get all up in my head in a different way.  A way that is related to my needs, or how to go about meeting them, to be more exact.

Over the years I have really honed in on exactly what it is that I need to be happy.  Body, mind, and spirit.  And though they are relatively easy-ish things to accomplish and incorporate into my daily life, they don't always happen.  Far less often than I care to admit actually. (anyone else?)

Weekend Stress-Reliever

After a very stressful week at work, I retreated to the mountains for some stress-relieving hiking therapy, not one but two days straight!  And it was just what the doctor ordered.  

Saturday, I set off early to meet a friend up in a super cute mountain town called Evergreen, only to sit in traffic for an hour and a half longer than necessary due to an accident.  But I plugged on, and was so glad that I did.  We picked a random trail and ended up climbing to the top of a mountain.  For real.

Sunday, Chris and I headed up for an afternoon in the mountains, enjoying this beautiful mountain road, when we turned the corner to see a motorcycle wipe out in the gravel on the side of the road.  Chris hopped out, along with a few others that were driving past, and lifted the motorcycle off of the couple who were still trapped underneath it.  Luckily they were both okay, though the same cannot be said for the bike, but still scary to see.  

We eventually carried on towards our destination: Mount Evans.  Just as we reached the entrance to Mount Evans road, we realized we were super low on gas and would probably not make it up the mountain and have enough gas to get us back down to the nearest gas station (though we did seriously consider coasting!). So we parked up and went for a hike around Echo Lake, figuring we would catch Mount Evans views another time.  We spent some time around Echo Lake this past winter, cross country skiing, but it was our first time up there in the summer and it was equally as beautiful in the summer sun as it was covered in three feet of snow.

Here it is in the winter...

And this past weekend...

We discovered a really cool trail, with beautiful views all along the way.  And I have to say, there really is nothing like the camaraderie and friendliness found on hiking trails.  It puts a little spring in your step.

(side note: all photos taken on Sunday are courtesy of hubs. I forgot my phone.  :)

Oh, and Saturday night we enjoyed a sunset dinner at the lake.  Stunning.  So grateful that we live so close to this beauty.

What did you do this weekend?  What is your cure for stressful weeks?

Veggie Life: Protein Pasta?

Okay, I feel like I have an obligation to share something with you, my three loyal readers. :)

As a vegetarian, I am often struggling with getting enough protein into each meal of my daily diet.  I really do try to incorporate it wherever I can, but am always eager to find new and healthy ways to do so.  Well, last year I found Ezekiel Bread, and it literally changed my life.  Not only does it taste great, but it is also a complete protein!  Meaning it provides all 9 of the essential amino acids your body needs to function properly!  Double win!  Yes, it still has carbs... let's not get ahead of ourselves here.  But our bodies need carbs of the healthy variety, people, so let's call a truce.  Chris and I enjoy this bread all the time.  And then, I found out that Food for Life do loads of other things as well: pasta (gasp!), tortillas, buns, cereal, english muffins (!), etc.

Pasta is not a common dish found in Chris and I's diet, but who doesn't love pasta?!  We usually opt for spaghetti squash instead, in an effort to fool ourselves into thinking we are eating the delicious comfort carbs we crave. But finding a way to add the real thing in such a healthy way is certainly a win for me.  And the best part is, that they have a few different types of pasta including, spaghetti, fettuccine, elbow, and penne. What more could you need?  Add a healthy (homemade?) sauce and some tasty grilled veggies and you are good to go!

A veggie blog that I love, is Naturally Ella, and she has some very tasty looking pasta recipes that I just might have to match up with our new pasta friend, Food for Life.  A few of my favorites from her site...?

Sweet Potato & Spinach Mac and Cheese

Spinach-Pesto with Roasted Red Peppers and Ricotta

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Sauce

Chris and I are enjoying being in the kitchen together as of late, so I might have to suggest a date night in sometime this week to make one of these tasty recipes!

On a side note, if you are scouring your grocery store trying to find it... the bread is located in the frozen section, and should be stored in your fridge once you get home (unless you plan on saving it for a while, then it can go in your freezer).  The pasta is typically in the "health food" section of Safeway, etc. rather than on the regular pasta aisle.

Happy Sunday!

Mountain Fix # 3,976

I really should start keeping track of how many "fixes" we actually seek out in the mountains...

As I mentioned in my last post, Chris has had an insatiable appetite for the mountains lately.  And who am I to complain about exploring new hiking trails?!  So we set off towards one of our favorite mountain towns, Evergreen, in search of a new-to-us trail.  It was pretty roasting hot, and errands in the morning meant we didn't reach the trail head until almost 3 in the afternoon!  Not the best decision for a summer hike in Colorado, but we managed all the same.

Love finding random photos after hubs steals my phone on a fun adventure.

We couldn't come that close to Evergreen without spending some time in town, so we cleaned up and decided to enjoy dinner and live music in a super quirky and fun pub downtown.  The music was fantastic and we went home with full tummies and lots of energy from the lively pub atmosphere.

Sunday was much more low key, spent snoozing during power outages, daydreaming about decorating our laundry room (ha! how boring do I sound?!), and hanging with hubs before a sleepless night for the both of us.  Zzzzz......

I am gearing up for a busy week at work, followed by a weekend back in Washington celebrating a new babe and catching up with family.  Bring on the coffee!

How did you spend your weekend?

A Little Fresh Mountain Air Therapy

We spent the week of July 4th visiting one of the most beautiful natural landscapes I have ever seen: Yellowstone.  I expected it to be great, but having spent a lot of time in the mountains, I didn't expect it to be that different than the other wonderful places we have frequented.  Boy was I wrong.  It was absolutely stunning, unlike anything else I have ever experienced.

Let me back up.  Yellowstone is about a 10-11 hour drive from us here in Denver and we decided to make a proper road trip out of it.  We were under no illusions that we were going to find any big tourist towns/cities in Wyoming, but we are game for exploring cute small towns, so we began researching towns that were about halfway to Yellowstone.  We ended up stopping in Riverton on the way up.  Cute little town, but apparently everything is closed on Sundays... which also happened to be the day we arrived.  We found one restaurant open for dinner (thank goodness!) before going for a little drive around the area.  The next morning we found a super cute coffee shop to grab a quick breakfast for the road.  The owner was an older gent who gave us a little tour of the coffee roaster in the back (sounds creepy, but he was a super sweet grandpa-like man!).  He gave us a really good impression of what the people were like there.

Wyoming also had a lot more rolling hills than we expected, and of course we had the promise of the mountains looming in the distance.  We drove the final 4 hours on Monday morning before landing at our final destination: The Old Faithful Inn.

Instead of trying to tell you how amazing it was, I will let the photos speak for themselves...  and I apologize in advance for the photo bonanza (overload) that follows..

long drives require lots of caffeine... 

blurry husbands...

the stunning, rustic Old Faithful Inn.

nightly live music, including two of my favorite instruments: piano and violin.

 the one and only, old faithful.

the view from our room when we checked into our hotel. 

early morning lake views. 

just missed spotting three wolves. super disappointed we didn't get to see them. 

playing spot the wildlife... 

beautiful crystal clear water. 

misleading the guys to a "viewpoint" of Grand Prismatic Spring only to find out you couldn't see it from there... 

second times a charm. the breathtaking grand prismatic spring. 

taking some back roads... 

and the creme de la creme... mama bear and two cubs spotted on our last day! 

babes are a bit harder to spot.. 

ah ha! there he is crossing the log. so cute.

tuckered out after all the excitement.. 

a quick visit through grand teton national park on our way home.. 

definitely a first. does one person even qualify as a "town?" apparently so.. 

 lunch in a cute little town on our way home.

 altitude much? 

It was just the mountain adventure we were looking for, and so much more.  Great company, stunning scenery, and fresh mountain air.  Does it get any better?

Chris is now craving the mountains every. single. day.  Literally can't get enough.  :)  So we have been doing lots of hikes to satisfy his craving for higher altitudes.  

I don't know about you, but I plan on taking advantage of a lot more of these fun adventures before the Summer slips away!

Happy Friday!