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Recipe: german roasted potato salad

With the exception of our dysfunctional ghetto neighbors to the east, the rest of our neighbors are truly wonderful people. One day as I was walking Kaweah past Marcus’ house, I asked him how their vacation was. He replied from their deck, “It was great! But it’s also nice to be home. I think that’s what a good vacation is: feels good to get away, feels great to come back home.” I would have to agree with Marcus 100%.

familiar fountains at denver international welcome us back

And it *is* good to be home because a cold spell has barreled through our region and it was down right chilly last night – near freezing. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me, to think of crisp fall days and then… TELE SEASON! But I am getting ahead of myself here. It was chilly enough that we used warm water to wash Kaweah after picking her up from Camp Crazy (doggy camp). Yes, this dog who dives paws first into freezing ice cold alpine lakes slinks away from us when we use warm water for her bath.

not everyone was thrilled to get home

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Recipe: arugula salad with figs and prosciutto

Do you remember the Go-Go’s song Vacation? It’s so 80s, I know. Hey – I wore the hot pink and turquoise. I watched Duran Duran on MTV. If I have any regrets in my life, it’s being a teen in the 80s. Whenever I’m about to leave on vacay, Belinda Carlisle’s voice enters my head and she is singing that damn song…

Yes, we’re shoving off. Cindy had asked me recently if I ever feel like I’m living someone else’s vacation. I laughed. She always makes me laugh. Believe me, I realize that we live in a fantastic place. I realize this because we spent over a decade’s worth of vacations in places just like our current surrounds! That’s why we chose to settle down here. But that doesn’t keep us from heading out to explore other awesome places.

I’ll still blog from the road when I can and perhaps you will see some familiar faces here… That’s all I’m saying for now.

My question for you: What is your ideal vacation? Is it spent with family, friends, strangers, no one? Is it a particular place? Is it travel, exploration, relaxation, eating, learning? On the water, at the beach, in the mountains, in the desert, in a posh hotel, riding a train, flying, exploring cities, art museums, listening to or watching performances?

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Recipe: japanese ginger-carrot dressing

Damn straight. Look at what the lovely Katie sent to me in the mail yesterday!

so sweet!

I like to think of Katie as my twin in Salt Lake City because we both tele and have dogs. Except she’s not Chinese. And she runs faster (and muuuuuch farther) than me. And I’m pretty sure she’s taller than me. And she writes more eloquently than I do. And she can lead climb. And she’s more in tune with her inner peace while I’m in tune with my inner anger. But other than that… we’re like the closest thing to twins you can imagine! What a gorgeous little headlamp. What a stellar gal pal. Thanks, Katie!

This morning we set out to do a short hike only to find that the road leading to the trailhead was still closed. It usually opens by Memorial Day weekend, but they postponed the opening. We decided to walk the road and saw along the way that there were still sizable snow drifts and windfall (downed trees) strewn across both lanes. The campgrounds were also under a few feet of snow still. Late thaw. But we enjoyed our walk since I’m still physically weak. There was a lot to see like different stages of pussy willow blooms, bunnies, ptarmigans, fish in the lakes, tiny wildflowers, snow, and a gorgeous Wilson’s Warbler that sang for us. It was a gorgeous way to start the day. Check out the photo blog for all of the pics, but I’ll include some of my favorites here.

kaweah loves the snow

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