Road Trip!

It's been a fun couple of months. We've been on a trip to Arizona for a friend's wedding, a road trip to Colorado to visit family, and fun filled weekends with wedding events, nieces, nephews, and puppy fun time!

Lance with sister Sabrina, Niece "A", and Annie

First, traveling through states that aren't vegan friendly is a challenge, but totally doable. On the way to Colorado, we drove through Eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

Packed Food Items:

• Lydia's Organics Kale Krunchies
• Lydia's Organics Sunflower Bread
• Lydia's Organics Cereal
• Larabars
• rice milk
• Chick (pea) salad
• salad greens
• macadamia dressing (recipe below)
• cacao
• Warrior Protein
• vitamin E supplement
• maca

I made the decision to pack store bought rice milk instead of making my own nut or seed milk to pack because of convenience and the packaging enables things to stay fresh without refrigerating (until opened). Unlike many of the dairy free milks, Rice Dream in particular does not contain Carageenan. Certain strains of carageenan are used with lab animals to induce IBS and inflammation in wounds. Carageenan is made from Irish Moss, so you'll notice that my raw vegan desserts do not use this ingredient.

Food Implements Packed:

• sharp knife
• cutting board
• Vitamix!
• plates
• bowls
• forks
• spoons
• large cooler

Flying is a little more difficult than driving, in my humble opinion. When I do fly, I usually pack a big suitcase that can fit a small cooler full of chickpea or other bean and vegetable salad. I pack dishes and silverware and make sure my room has a mini-fridge. I map out the health food stores and ask around on message boards like veggieboards.com and goneraw.com for restaurants in the area. Most of my business travel is to major cities, which makes things easier. I love traveling to San Francisco because it gives me an excuse to go to Cafe Gratitude!

Going through several states meant days full of driving, but it was kind of fun in our new Hyundai Elantra. So far, with upgraded tires, I've gotten around 37+ mpg driving in areas that require 55 mph, so it's capable of very decent mileage. With the speed we were going (especially through Montana), we weren't getting the optimal mileage.

Options are few and far between when it comes to finding decent selections of organic produce and vegan/raw vegan packaged foods without preservatives or soy, especially in Wyoming. I will point out that larger cities or anywhere with a college in the town will have more options. If you're planning a road trip, I would recommend finding the larger colleges along your route and looking for health centric grocery stores in those towns. Bozeman, MT has a really cute little health food shop that has some decent options. Fortunately, the food I packed was more than enough to get me to Colorado.

We spent some time in Boulder, CO, but I didn't get to try out Leaf, a restaurant I was hoping we'd have time for. We did go to a few grocery stores to pick up "Cami Friendly" supplies. The family is very meat and potatoes, but I had free range of the kitchen and was able to make whatever I wanted for my own meals. They even let me use my Vitamix to make some rockin' smoothies (LOVE my Vitamix but it does sound like a plane taking off).

Annie is fabulous with the nieces. She loved the girls, and was really good watching out for the little fingers reaching for her beloved squeaky toy. "A" and Annie had fun racing around the back yard, and Annie even got to catch bubbles! OK, she wasn't really into the bubbles, but she loved chasing the squirrels and birds!

Don't you wish you could be surrounded by a cloud of bubbles?
Annie will trade places with you.

Zoos are a little hard for me, but I imagine they are much harder for the animals stuck in those really tiny places. I do have to say it was fun watching my niece run from place to place, staring at all those critters with awe.




Annie was a awesome traveler. She traveled in her crate for safety sake, and was snug as a bug in her cushy bed. We took rest stops and were happy with the dog friendly hotels.

She's not used to sleeping on the bed. What would give you that impression?

We are happy to be back in Washington! I've done a little baking so far. Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, and my first run at red velvet cake!