Roast Trip 2014

     My best friend and I took driver's ed together back in the day, and ever since then we have been talking about taking a roadtrip together.  We finally found a time when we were both free. I had just finished summer classes at WSU-V and she had a week before going on a family trip to London.  Because I was trying to finish up my school work, Rahee took on a lot of the planning (Thanks Rah!).  She used a site called Roadtrippers to plug in the places we knew we wanted to go, and then filled in the rest with camp grounds and places to see along the way.  We created a master camping packing list that I plan to use again in the future.  The day after school got out we packed up my car and hit the road!

     Our first stop was at Crater Lake, OR.  Neither of us had ever been and we were both blown away! I still don't understand how water can be that blue without artificial color or photoshop.  We stopped by the lake the next day, but there was so much smoke in the air from forest fires that the water was barely even visible.

     That first night we camped at Diamond Lake campground.  We both liked it and would like to go back in the future.  We found a great little spot by the water for an afternoon swim and then we came back after dinner to watch the sunset.

     We drove south, passing through lots of smoke, hoping that we weren't driving straight into a raging fire.  Luckily the fire fighters seemed to have it under control.  That night we made it to Palo Alto, CA to visit the wonderful Michelle :)

     We had a rather grey visit with the Golden Gate Bridge, but what else can you expect from San Francisco? We explored Valencia Street and the Mission District, getting brunch at Boogaloos, and ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery.  

     The next day we walked Michelle to work and explored the Stanford campus before getting back on the road to continue our journey south.

     We fell in love with this otter at Monterey, CA.  I was surprised that Rahee didn't try to jump in the water to swim with this little guy!

     We drove down the very narrow, very windy Highway One, stopping to take pictures.

My favorite photographer

     We would have liked to spend more time exploring Russian Gulch State Park, but because of road construction we got there much later than we had planned.  This trip could have been called Mastering the Art of Setting Up Camp in the Dark: How to hit every traffic delay in California.  Good thing I had lots of snacks, driving music, and my best friend to keep me entertained.

     We drove the Toastmobile through a tree, nbd.

     We fell in love with the redwoods and drove up and down Avenue of the Giants about a million times trying to find our campground.  We also stumbled upon the best iced mochas in the entire world. Seriously. I would drive back to California just to have another soy mocha frappuccino. 

     Eventually we made it back up the coast and spent our last night in a yurt at Billards Beach State Park before heading home so Rahee could jet off to London. 

Away We Go

I know I'm a little late posting this, but here are some of the highlights from my trip down to New Mexico:

We started out going East on 84 towards Pendleton, which I had just driven the week before going out to visit my family. Driving through the Columbia Gorge Scenic Area is beautiful,
but then it becomes very flat and boring.

The first night we stopped in Buhl, ID. It was starting to get dark and we needed to find a camp spot so we could set up before the light was gone.  My mom had read about camping at Balanced Rock and we wanted to give it a try. The directions took us farther and farther into nothingness and we were starting to get worried.  The farmland finally dropped into a rocky canyon.
It looked like scenery from Thema & Louise. 

We found the rock, but didn't feel comfortable camping out there.

Does anyone else think that these look like faces?

We drove back into town and were able to get a camp spot at Miracle Hot Springs.

On the second day we continued South through Utah.
I loved the mountains surrounding Salt Lake City and Provo. 

 Eventually we made it to the flat, flat, flat part of Utah. 

I feel like someone took this rock and keep pressing ctrl + v

We came into Moab the back way because my mom wanted me to see the beauty of the Colorado River.

I was speechless.  

As it turned out we arrived in Moab just in time for Jeep Safari Weekend. What that meant was that every single campsite was taken. We pulled into each of the seven campgrounds along this stretch of the river and there was not one open spot.  The sun was setting and we were starting to get worried.  My mom new of a few more campgrounds on the other side of town so we headed that way.  Of course those were all full too.  By this point it was completely dark.  At the last campground we saw a group site that only had one tent set up, and we asked if we could join them.  They were super friendly and FINALLY we could set up camp. Thank goodness for headlamps.

When I woke up the next morning and peeked my head out of the tent I was blown away all over again!

I couldn't understand why anyone would ever want to leave Moab, but we had to get back on the road that day. We did manage to squeeze in an AMAZING hike!
Just across from Gold Bar Campground there are a few trail heads.
My mom dubbed this one Culvert Canyon.

   

We had to leave beautiful Moab and continue southward. We drove through Colorado (although I didn't find it all that colorful after falling in love with the red rocks and blue sky in Utah).

 

And we finally made it to New Mexico! 

By the time we made it to the house it was already dark,
so we had to save our exploring for the morning. 

I will post soon about our New Mexico adventures!

Anything goes pasta salad

Tomorrow my mom and I are leaving for New Mexico for a two week adventure! We are driving down and planning to camp along the way unless we hit any crazy cold patches in which case we will find a warm hotel room.  We're all about the road trip food.  We've got more beverages and (healthy) snacks than we could possibly eat and we've got the trusty Jetboil for making tea and hot cereal.  I was in charge of making pasta salad for tomorrow's dinner.  I had a few ideas for good flavor combinations, but as I started cooking I kind of just grabbed things at random trying to use up as many things as possible.

While the quinoa pasta was cooking, I sauteed onion and garlic with a little olive oil.  I tossed in some chopped carrots, celery, and broccoli. I let that steam for a few minutes while I drained the pasta.  I have not quite learned the difference between overdone and underdone when making gluten-free pasta, so I just hoped for the best!

After giving the pasta and veggies a few minutes to cool, I dumped them into a large mixing bowl and started adding things. Sheep's milk feta? Absolutely! Fresh lemon juice? Go for it! Chopped peperoncinis? Why not... I also added salt & pepper and Trader Joe's everyday seasoning.  The end result turned out surprisingly well.  I hoping this is one of those dishes that tastes even better the next day, or else we are going to end up with a bag of cold, soggy pasta salad...  Let's think postive! Road trips are all about adventure :)

It seems like a shame to go out of town when our yard is in its full spring glory, 

but New Mexico, here we come!