But on the plus side, I did have some great firsts as well as find some awesome deco finds. Our first adventure involved buffalo, camping, and snow. Yes, snow, in June. Last time I EVER listen to my husband when he tries to talk me into camping. We took a trip to Rocky Mountain National Forest and Yellowstone, both of which were completely amazing. We saw lots of buffalo, buffalo poop, and grizzlies bears. We actually had a grizzly outside of our tent the last day were there... emPHASis on LAST day. WTF Mr. Grizzly. Way to freak me out.
Here we are fishing at Yellowstone.
This we took at Rocky Mountain National Park. That is a marmot :)
We went to eat at the Buff in Colorado after RM. It's one of those "Man vs. Food" places :) All of this food for only about $6! I gorged!
Jump back to Yellowstone; we had just arrived (temp drop from 65 to 41, out of park to inside the park) and set up our tents in the drizzly cold.
Just one of the amazing thermal features... it was so cold there, and all I could think of looking at this was the beach!
The Yellowstone General Stores carried everything to make a camper happy :)
A beautiful river that runs past some of the geysers, including Old Faithful.
Heading over to the I think, Excelsior Geyser. The crater was huge where the actual Geyser had first exploded.
The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone... Let me just say, I'm terrified of heights, and I wouldn't get any closer than 20ft away from the edge.... mEEEEP!
The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone from Artist's Point, great hike there, even better view! There is a trail that goes straight down to the bottom of the waterfall, Old Tom's Trail, and well... I was so scared of that trek I almost peed my pants. Heights + me + water + slick handrails.... I don't even want to recall the awful memories!
And on the way home, we decided to stop and see Mount Rushmore. It was 7 oclock at night and we'd been driving all day. For some reason, the heads seemed much smaller and less cool than I think that it should have. Of course, at that point, I had been woken by a grizzly bear, not showered, and been in the car all day. I was seeing the world through a haze of grease and grog...
Later in the summer, I spent a few wonderful days with my grandparents. My grandmother is a wonderful cook, and she taught me to make the most excellent coconut cream pie! I took pictures to show off :)
The world's smallest rose, grown by who else but my grandfather? That's a teaspoon!
Here's the magnificent coconut creme pie I made with my grandmother's help. It was delicious!
And the 4th of July cookie pizza for the shindig my mother hosted.
Grandpa is a storehouse of oddities (mental as well as physical), and he somehow coerced me (ok, so I begged) into taking one of my dad's only water skis home with me. After lots of washing in Dawn and scrubbing, it's all clean, and ready to take it's place in my dining room. We've decided to go with a travel theme of sorts. Right now I'm on the hunt for antique snow shoes for the wall as well as some awesome vintage prints on canvas from the various national parks we've visited recently. It's going to be pretty damn sweet, if you ask me.
All that being said, Justin and I are really trying to move away from processed foods and get back to the 'nitty gritty' as it were. I would love to become that from scratch sort of cook. I've already mastered the from scratch gravy, as well as a few other dishes (like chicken and dumplings, oh goodness, yum!). But we still have a long way to go. What kind of things do you eat that are unprocessed?
Also, I would love to hear what your favorite new recipes are. How did they turn out? Are they easy or difficult to make?
