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.

30 thoughts on “Home! (JL goes Vegan in Colorado)”

  1. From a total stranger (and Canadian) who has been following your blog: Thanks for showing how vegans can travel and still eat well. I travel a lot and never have trouble eating as a vegan. Thanks for your real-life blogs.

    1. @disqus_8nUd5iFUFG:disqus , thank you so much for your kind words! I could not agree more -it’s easy to eat vegan! It might not always be exactly what we want, but plants do abound!

    1. Thank you, @twitter-152011611:disqus ! I’ll be posting next week about restaurant discoveries and cooking with very few cooking utensils! LOL

    1. Ha, @twitter-21980345:disqus , you know that’s one of the things makes me so happy – proximity to seitan! 🙂

  2. Welcome to your new, gorgeous home. Last time we were in Colorado Springs we were stopping on our way to visit friends in Silverton. The drive from Ouray to Silverton was one I’ll never forget — and never repeat! Thanks for sharing your room service conversation. 😀

  3. You drank Opus One in a plastic cup?! LOL!

    Congrats on the move. I’m totally jealous. Of the the wine and to location. 😉

    1. @Sprint2theTable:disqus You know it! We debated when to have the bottle – we didn’t want to buy wine glasses when ours will eventually be here with the moving truck but we also really wanted to enjoy our special wine on our very first night. Thus the nod to the movie Sideways, when Miles pours his cherished wine into a plastic glass. Trust me, the Opus One tasted divine! 🙂

  4. What a wonderful way to wrap up your move 🙂 Fud is supposed to be awesome. I was in Kansas City for work earlier this year and sadly did not make it to Fud, though I ate 5 meals at Cafe Gratitude Kansas City, so I can hardly complain 🙂

    1. Cafe Gratitude was on my list, too, when I thought we would stay over in K.C. Since I’ve been to CG in L.A., and only had one meal in K.C., FuD won out. So fresh and tasty!

  5. I think you’re the only person I’ve ever met who could actually make moving across the country sound like FUN. Love the carpet picnic, love the room service call, love the view–love it all. Welcome Home!! xo

  6. Welcome to Colorado!! 🙂 I love your conversation with room service, that sounds so familiar and you can get the most delicious meals that way! And Opus One out of plastic cups – very awesome.

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