Home! (JL goes Vegan in Colorado)

Where were we?

Oh yes, Wednesday we departed the delightful Omni hotel in downtown St. Louis and stopped by Whole Foods to pick up sandwiches for our drive on Thursday, which would be the long, final haul on I-70 through Kansas and Colorado – we knew it would be hard to find vegan food so we were planning ahead!  Plant-based meals for our Wednesday drive, however, would not be a problem because we stopped at FüD in Kansas City.  We ordered two sandwiches to go, the Jack Reuben and the Eggysalad.

The reuben is made with jack fruit and the eggysalad with tofu.  Both delicious!

We arrived in Topeka in the afternoon and opted for hotel room service for dinner. The conversation with the kitchen went like this:

Me: Hi I would love to order room service and can’t wait to see what you think of my ideas. I’m vegan and think we can do something great together!
Him: Sounds good, what were you thinking?
Me: I’d like the Greek salad, with no feta cheese and, if the Greek dressing isn’t vegan (please ask if it has dairy in it) I’ll take balsamic dressing.
Him: The Greek dressing has dairy in it so we’ll give you the balsamic. Anything else?
Me: Yes! I would love that baked potato, without butter. I see that you offer mushrooms and onion for your steak. I’d like them on my potato, but only if they are sautéed in olive oil, with the vegetable of the day.
Him: The vegetable of the day is squash and zucchini and we can make sure your mushrooms and onion are sautéed in olive oil.
Me: Sounds like a fabulous vegan meal! Thank you!

It was.

Thursday morning we geared up for the eight and a half hour drive to Colorado Springs, err, I mean home.  As we got in the car CK, the oldest cat, meowed for the first time; it only lasted 30 seconds but we freaked because she never meows, not even at home.   I think she was just fed up with being in her carrier because, though she did glare at us for a while, she ultimately curled up and slept the rest of the drive. (Ernie slept face down the whole time.)

We enjoyed fruit and scones from Whole Foods for breakfast in the car.  Our lunch was in the car, too.

I was so excited to try the vegan sandwich from Upton’s Naturals, makers of delicious seitan.

It was a fantastic sandwich!

Suddenly, we were in Colorado.

And then we had keys to our new apartment.

Our cats did what they do – CK cowered in the pet carrier and Ernie chilled.

We ran a few errands and then opted to go nice and easy for dinner. Dave called Trinity Brewing Company, right down the street from our new place, and came home with seitan buffalo wings (BBQ with peanut sauce) and portobello sliders for dinner.

We had a carpet picnic

which included a sort of Sideways moment when we drank this

out of plastic cups.  But that’s what one does when all of one’s belongings are on a truck somewhere in the eastern part of the U.S., which may or may not be here next Friday.

The next morning we dealt with utilities and the delivery of a few pieces of new furniture.

Then we headed out for a mid-morning run.

This magnificent view is just steps from my front door. Less than five minutes walking and I am in the Garden of the Gods.

We feel so lucky.

We are home.

Tagged as: fud, garden of the gods, vegan travel