We made the long drive back home yesterday, starting while dark, and enjoyed the longest sunrise I'd ever seen:
And then a couple hours later, ShaZam! Soo pretty!!
Thanks to my Mom searching Happy Cow, she found a Whole Foods close to our route back home... I typed the address in to Garmin and Voila!
They happened to be having a Kids festival that started just when we arrived... he got to pick a free Pumpkin (it was huge)
And got some other free goodies and was able to do some crafts...
We ate this for lunch.. A tofu Sample.. Veg's favorite was the stir fry'ish stuff at the bottom. My favorite was the patty at the top.
And then we got this for dessert:
There is a story about the Green Smoothie that I shall share.... I expected Whole Foods to have a grand juice bar/smoothie thing... And although I liked the rest of the store and the people were SUPER friendly. I can say that the smoothie guy wasn't my friend....
Turns out the selection of smoothies all come from a pre-mix juice bottle and they didn't put any fresh fruit in it. Then, when I asked if he could add spinach, he looked at me like I had 10 heads. And said "NO, I can't its not part of the juice" I asked if they had spinach (as it was on the menu) and he said, "YES, but that is for the juicer, not for smoothies"
I saw their vita-mix, and knew that it could pulverize spinach... so I begged for the spinach as I really needed some green energy for the rest of my drive home... He finally obliged but charged me an extra dollar...
For Juice/ice and spinach it was like $6 (for a small) But so worth the flavor.... Anyway, I still think Whole Foods is grand.. but at least the one we stopped at, the drink area was not what I expected.
OK so back on the road, and of course my young lad.... crashed out again....He was the best travel companion I could have asked for... Slept when he got tired, and played happily while awake. He read books and worked on mad libs... Out of all 6 days he only fussed once (our last night there)
And then we see home in site..... HELLO Mountain Tops, We missed you:
But it was COLD in them mountains.... and we still had a long way to go.
Time to eat a Michigan Honey Crisp Apple... Still need energy.. and Um, these are GOOooooooD
Thankfully I brought many of those home... The pups were glad to see us, one of them isn't doing so well though.. My old girl is just looking older.
Hubby was glad to see the food we brought him (I mean happy to see us)
He did real well while we were away, lots around the house, had some peaceful alone time, and even lost a few more pounds. He's down a whopping 21 pounds since changing his diet and exercising several days a week. So proud of him. He may gain 10 pounds from the food I brought.. but it was all by his request....
He even broke down one day and used Mr. Vita-Mix to make a smoothie... Good For him!!!
As for me.. I ate really well on our trip... Lots of Apples :-) Even some smoothies. Fruit every morning. My Mom made me breakfast in bed one morning with watermelon, apples, concord grapes and oranges. She made me GIGANTIC salads almost every night with Romaine, Spinach, carrots, celery, avocado, cucumbers and pea pods..
While out to eat, I got mostly veggies, some cooked some raw, and only a few pieces of bread.
BUT.. I did allow my self the luxury of Starbucks while taking long drives, and Donuts from each of the cider mills and some cider too.
Funny that last year, I could have eatin' a half dozen of those donuts in one sitting. But this year, one or 1/2 of one was plenty...
I didn't get any exercise except maybe my body trying to keep warm for hours upon hours while my kiddo played outside on all of our adventures. And still lost a pound by today...
So my grand total to date is 12 pounds... The donuts did make my face break out, so I'll have to get back on track now that I'm home. Other then that I didn't have any food issues!
It was a GREAT TRIP!!! Really and truly a GREAT trip! Visiting friends and family, the food, and all the activities...
But it is always good to be home... and so here we are!!
Hope you had a great week where ever you are!!