Travelology

croissant topped with cheese & herbs (rosemary, thyme, italian seasoning & possibly nutritional yeast) and microwaved for some seconds.

v chili (added herbs, oatmeal, nutritional yeast, maybe a little hurdur) con queso v

Pasta alfredo + "roasted" potatoes.. topped with some pieces of apple.

Can't tell from the crappy picture, but ..enchiladas and rice.

I made vaghaarelli rice with the leftovers.

Soup garnished with soy nuts .. & huckleberry honey on toast.

choco-hazlenut tea + cinnamon & indian biscuit (maybe parle g?)

Spinach, huckleberry honey, cucumber dressing, cinnamon on seasoned ~~focaccia~~ ciabatta bread. Tasted something like a cinnamon roll. hehe

added seasoning and couscous to the potatoes... don't remember the rest.

My brilliant idea to roast the peppers in the sauna X-).. And, my brother's yummy creation of peppers stuffed with zatarans black beans and rice, some pepper jack cheese & whatever else (idk) was in there.

sloppy pg&H... 'natural' pb + wild huckleberry honey + cinnamon & slices of banana..& a piece of the banana fiber hehe..mm

Rice boiled with olive oil & loving/cloves

Mixed veggies added to vaghaar (jeeruu&raii in olive oil..and sliced tomato) then, added hurdur, nutritional yeast, thyme, rosemary, italian seasoning & ground black pepper.

~rice milk+ bran flakes+ huckleberry honey+ banana slices+ cinnamon~
delicioso.

...............to be continued...

We went to Zion this weekend. It was a pretty short drive compared to the other places.. We left for Zion Saturday morning and decided to do the hike up to Emerald Pools and Weeping Rock, that day.

We took a mini cooler with some veggies and slices of pepper jack (of course) cheese for sandwiches.... and had them for lunch that day. Also brought some macaroni salad and white cheeto puffs which didn't taste as amazing as I thought they did when I had them a long time ago. But, it's funny.. the taste seemed to increase the more I ate them, just like this review says it does, heh. We also brought some trail mix (dried fruit+mixed nuts+seeds+m&ms), which I'm becoming addicted to... yay for the healthy addiction!

On Saturday, before we left I had a banana & some bran flakes for breakfast.. and, I took my iron supplement.. which I have been neglecting to do for the most part. I don't think the nutrient boost hit me till the next day though. I was exhausted by the sunny up-hill hike to Emerald pools... I didn't have my camelbak with me on this hike, but I had a water bottle that I mixed some gatorade powder into. It definitely helped. Then, I finished off my brother's camelbak on the way back =P... Saturday was a really hot day. The pools were serene collections of blue-green, clear & muddy waters.. saw some tadpoles in them. The rock formations surrounding the hike are beautiful. Zion has some large and diverse rock formations. People were taking a dip in the pool... I decided not to heh... despite my love of water..

Weeping Rock was not a difficult hike.. short and shaded. And, the destination point was magnificent. Canyon cliffs surrounded the gorged out weeping rock. I sat with my back against the wall and cooled off as my shirt soaked up the stone's tears. My brother and I sat there for quite a while listening to our music and taking in the environment around us.... The ipod droned out the tourist chit chat~

After heading back to the visitor center, we headed for Lava Point Campground which is somewhere in northern Zion. It was worth the hour away from the visitor center. Its higher elevations allow for some beautiful trees, plants and flowers to grow there. The look out point was not so shabby either. The campground was nice since we had our own little area.

We had a camp-meal of vegetable lasagna and some flavored mashed potatoes for dinner.. the potatoes were nasty after a while and I mixed them with some macaroni salad to attempt to finish them. My brother's camp stove is really useful ..it boils water in seconds!

I decided to sleep in the car this time around... I put the back seat down.. had the sleeping pad, bag and my cocoon (which my mom sewed last minute with perfection).. I think the car kept me warmer... but, bro said I missed out on the after rain smells of the forest that night =/ The rain/drizzle helped to clean some sweat off before hitting the sack.
I kept waking up in the middle of the night, but seemingly was rested enough when I woke up around 7:30 in the morning.... I finished the macaroni for breakfast along with a banana and trail mix. On the way back to the visitor center, we stopped by a Springdale rock shop.. my brother picked a few pieces of I think amber that he plans on carving. After a while, we left for the narrows~~~

Yup, we didn't think we'd hike the narrows since we had no gear, but we couldn't resist. We wore our hiking boots, and I carried my camera bag in the waterproof sack that I bought from a gear store back home. I'm glad I brought the suitcase belt with me.. it came in handy in creating a make-shift strap to carry the heavy camera sack and camelbak on either side of my shoulder.... The hike up to the narrows went by like a breeze.. maybe the iron pill kicked in.

Hiking the narrows is a unique experience which I plan on doing again someday! I think we went an hour or two into the narrows.. maybe not, but I really enjoyed it. On the way back I was a little tired and dizzy.. and, my bro wanted to walk back through the deep water, so I held his bag (was really light, but still threw me off balance a bit)... soo, as it was probably predicted, I would eventually slip on a rock and fall on my buttocks X-P ...I feel like I have a couple of giant bruises on my butt.. but, they're hurting less each day haha!

At least, it was at a point where I was walking on the rim of the stream.. so, no water damage.

After getting out of the narrows, we rushed back so we could beat the 8pm closing of the tunnel out of Zion.. for otherwise we would have to drive the long route down through Arizona to get back. We made it just in time =)
I got back, took a shower and plopped on my bed.. belly down ;p

I had a natural peanut butter- cinnamon- banana- and wild huckleberry honey sandwich on some oatmeal bread for breakfast around noon yesterday.. twas yummy.

I cooked some rice and veggies late last night for dinner. For my taste, I think the veggies needed a sauce base. But, it was a fresh meal reminiscent of well, my perception of Mediterranean-style cooking. I first did a vaghaar with olive oil, raii / mustard seeds & jeeru /cumin seeds.. and bit of tomato sliced up.. then, added the frozen veggies and hurdurtermuric powder. I boiled the rice with some loving/cloves and olive oil in a pot.
(why do gujaratis have slightly weirdly different names for foods from the rest of india??) ..oh, and I added ground blackpepper, rosemary, thyme, and italian seasonings.

My bro has gone to the field today. I'm just sitting at home... maybe, I'll paint some this week and stop by the art shop to take them up on that pottery field trip.