Road Trip: New Mexico

After exploring the Petrified Forest in Arizona we crossed the border into New Mexico! Talk about beautiful landscape. Once we were in the Native American territories I was completely in awe. What a beautiful place!

We had originally planned to turn around after this stop which you will hear more about later. We planned our trip so that we would be in Albuquerque for Dan's birthday.

We were excited because we were going to stay with a very close family friend, Dan. Since we first found ourselves in Arizona, he insisted that we needed to come to New Mexico to visit him.

Thunderbirds ~ Luke Air Force Base Air Show ~

Before it got too hot, Luke Air Force Base put on an air show with a bunch of old planes on the ground and in the air. While being dazzled by tricks, flips, and smoke, Dan and I enjoyed a couple of beers while getting some sun.

Here are some fun photos from our adventure.

Find me on Etsy - "Turquoise Sky"

These guys stayed in close formation practically the entire time. It was amazing and at times scary to see.

Portlandia! The land named after Portland ...Maine.

Find me on Etsy - "St. Helen"

The husband and I took a trip up to the land of PDX. A wondrous place, filled with vegan food, beer, football love, and trees.

Sounds like heaven, right? Right.

Our adventure began with a long, yet absolutely beautiful drive up to Portland from home in the east bay. With some awesome clouds and good conversation, we enjoyed our journey north. One that we hadn't taken in almost ten years.

It turned out that our hotel was across the street from a brewery. Cha-ching, one point to Portland.

We had dinner with local family and got some great tips on what to do for our adventure day.

Denver - A Beer & Brick Adventure!

"Denver" - Find me on Etsy

A while back we planned a trip to Denver to check out the city, along with Boulder. When Dan lost his job we decided to still go on our trip, even though it was in the middle of our move. We had already bought the tickets, booked our stay with Airbnb, and were very excited to go. We ended up having great timing!

Our adventure began with changing our flight out three times. First to book it, then to change the time since we didn't have to worry about Dan's schedule, then to fly out of Phoenix since we were going to be at Grandma's house.

Downtown Date Night - Little Tokyo

Dan decided it was high time to surprise me with a trip downtown with a day packed with adventure and mystery. I had no idea what the plan was other than that it involved taking the metro downtown and that it would be all day, therefore involving food! Yum and fun!

We recently discovered the LA metro on an excursion to Angel City Brewery. We didn't want to drink and drive or pay exorbitant taxi costs and stumbled upon the well kempt, fast, and cost efficient metro! I never thought we would actually going downtown, but quickly discovered this to be an enjoyable adventure.

Anyway, back to date night. We hopped on the metro and ended up at Union Station. While that could have lead to a very different type of adventure, we walked away from the train station. I have a very apt sense of direction and quickly noticed we were headed in the direction of Angel City Brewery, but I decided to keep quite in hopes that we were indeed headed that way, and didn't want to ruin anything.

Joshua Tree

Before the government shutdown (luckily) we went to Joshua Tree for the first time. We went with another couple, Dorian an Elizabeth, and their adorable dog, Rocco. It was a great trip and easy planning. She is a vegan and he's vegetarian, so it was fun to come up with food ideas instead of frustrating. Yay for vegans!

Ventura

Ventura is just south of Santa Barbara and we recently took a trip up there to see family and enjoy the beach.

The drive up was very relaxing and beautiful and since it wasn't too far away from us we decided to take Highway 1, which travels along the ocean. It was a clear day and we were able to see the ocean almost the entire ride. Perfect!

When we checked in we were pleased to see that our room had an ocean view. We headed downstairs for a beer on the patio and to chat and catch up with our family.

Once we started to feel the chill of the fog rolling in we split up and Dan and I walked around the downtown a while. The stores were mainly second hand shops with a lot of interesting things in the windows. From Star Wars Pez to classic sewing machines. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to go into any of them and see if we could find any hidden treasures, because we were in charge of finding a place for dinner. Seeing as how Dan and I were the only veg heads we didn't pick the only vegan joint in town, although I was very curious to see if it was good. Next time.

Muir Woods and An Unexpected Treat

I recently visited my parents for my mom's birthday. We had originally planned to go camping in the RV, but dad's work was keeping him stuck in town. So, we figured we'd stay local, which was fine with me. I was just happy to be in the Bay Area. Like I said in a previous blog, my trip up was a surprise.

We decided to go to Muir Woods which is just north of San Francisco. Dan and I had gone hiking there before we moved to Los Angeles, but I hadn't been since and a trip to the redwoods was just what I needed. We drove through San Francisco and over the Golden Gate Bridge, it was a lovely day and only foggy when we crossed part of the bridge, a little bit of everything. :]

Worldfest

When Dan and I went to the Vegan Beer and Food Festival, we came across a flier for another veg friendly event, called Worldfest. Based on the flier, I was not completely sure if it was going to be a festival geared toward everyone, vegetarians, or vegan specific. Either way, I wanted to go because it looked like another fun event with vegan vendors, and of course, beer.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that it was indeed an all vegan event and wandered around to see what was there. I was excited (and Dan nervous) that there were pet adoptions from a variety of different places. Of course we went and talked to the cats for a while, it is me after all. And of course we both fell in love with all of them. I was also surprised to find that they had two specific dog adoption groups for the types of dogs I would want once we finally have a permanent yard, Beagle and German Shepard. I really would love to get one or the other, but I refuse to purchase an animal when there are so many in need and in danger of euthanasia. Here is a list of all the vendors from the event, I only wish I could talk about all of them.

J.R. Organics

I recently made my way down to Escondido to check out our CSA farm for their 6th annual event. I had decided on the first date available because I was really excited to finally get the chance to check out a farm. This is our second CSA and we never had the chance to visit the one we were a part of in Berkeley, so you can imagine how excited I was.

In case you didn't already know, CSA stands for community supported agriculture. Getting a CSA box is a great way to support local farmers, get surprisingly affordable fruits and veggies, get you to eat healthier, and they can on occasion get you to try new foods you would never buy on your own. It's also a great way to find out what's in season, and when. All around a great deal.

LA Galaxy!

We finally made it to a Galaxy game, and it just happened to go hand in hand with Dan's birthday weekend. Double awesome.

Our first American football game, and second game in total. It was very different than when we saw a game in Berlin. It was very fun, but there was no practical public transportation and the beers were $11!! For corona!!! Terrible. In Berlin they were about €5 and good. The food was more diverse and cheaper as well.

I automatically learned a lesson, before the game even started. Bring food, BBQ yourself, and drink your fill before hand. Sheeh. The fact that people actually buy anything at these places is crazy.

Well anyway, we ended up getting a beer (I mean, you gotta!) after a lot of resistance and found our seats.

Of course we got the seats with a pole right in Dan's view, so we moved once it kicked off and people seemed to be settled. We moved back a bit, but were able to be in a spot where no one was in front of us and I'd say it was a better view than our original seats.

Vegan Beer & Food Festival

Golden Road!

We recently enjoyed an amazing day full of music, food, and beer tasting. Did I mention it was a vegan fest?

The 3rd Annual Vegan Food and Beer Festival took place in Hollywood on Sunset Blvd. They apparently expanded the event from the previous year, bringing it across the street from the Roxy Theatre to an empty lot, instead of in the Theatre and it's small parking lot.

This was a great event. Knowing that all the food there was edible was very exciting, especially since they had a lot of yummy things, i.e., sushi, nachos, sliders, pretzels. Believe you me, I could go on.

Mr. & Mrs. Hochreiter Tie The Knot!

My cousin (twice removed) recently got married in Arizona, and you know what that means... Road trip!

Homebrewing with Brewers

We recently had an amazing Saturday. We signed up for a homebrew demo at Eagle Rock Brewery. There were about 15 people there and two of the brewers, Lee and Andrew. We had a blast!

Dan already has brewed a handful of times at our various homes, but was never satisfied with his beers. I enjoyed them much more than he did. He also didn't like our old kitchen, so he only brewed their once. I thought this would be a great opportunity for him to learn somethings that would give him the kick he needs to get back to brewing.

The setup at the brewery is nice. They have a taproom out front and a big window looking into the brewery, which is pretty small. It was neat getting to go back there and feeling right at home. Some fun bit of info, most of their equipment turns out to be dairy machines converted to work with brewing. Pretty awesome. They actually got most of their equipment from AleSmith when they were upgrading.

St. Patrick's

Dan's heritage escapes for a day. 

 I hope you had a nice Sunday with whatever you ended up doing. We had a grand ol' time this weekend.

We started our morning at the farmer's market to pick up our CSA box and found they have strawberries! And oh my are they juicy and delish. I bought a bunch and hopefully will be making a strawberry jam soon. I also picked up some oranges which I used to jam with when we got home. Find out more about my jam session here!

a.day.in.my.life.

Isis

Can't type. 

Can't Drink. 

Why? 

She's purring.

   

 

Bad Religion & Pizza Port. Yes please!

So, we have been vegan for a week now. It was a little difficult for Dan this weekend, but he survived it and he doesn't seem deterred yet. Especially since today at work he got a peanut butter smoothie made with rice milk. I'm jealous!

This photo is actually from their 30th anniversary tour.
I hate being one of those people who hold their phone up the entire concert so my pictures aren't very good.