Catch-up: July 4th in Jackson, WY

This summer has been crazy, and I've loved every minute of it... but it's starting to wind down and it is time to play catch-up on some posts. July was packed and flew by... Um, happy belated Independence Day!

We took a road trip for July 4th weekend to Jackson, Wyoming. It only took us about 9 hours to get to the Grand Tetons - how great is that?! We rented a house in Jackson Hole with 7 other people and had a fantastic time... I swear, it was like being back in college. We spent a day in Yellowstone National Park (elk, bison, deer, and bears, OH MY!), a day chillin' by Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park, and a day roaming downtown Jackson Hole. It was such a great time... I can't wait to go back! Here are some highlights...

Yellowstone National Park:


I got up before the crack of dawn on July 4th to go with my hubby, the photographer of the family, to take pictures of the Grand Tetons at sunrise. It was cold that morning - in the 30s. I thought my gloveless hands were going to completely freeze and fall off! But seriously, what a fantastic way to start off Independence Day! Here are some somewhat decent shots I got with my iPhone 4 while John did a photo shoot with his D40...


We celebrated Independence Day hanging out at Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park. This day pretty much goes down in the books as one of the best days ever... I was so sad to leave!


Jackson Hole, WY:


I seriously can not wait to go back... the Grand Tetons are still my favorite mountains. We had such a great time, met some new friends, and hope to travel with them again!

Oh Canada!

Note: I wrote this last week when I didn't have a WiFi connection, and forgot to publish it later. So... here it is finally. More Canada highlights and pictures will be posted soon! 

We started our Canada adventure last week by hanging out on Devil Lake (Ontario) with my husband's entire family. We spent the week swimming, fishing, playing games, and relaxing. I read two books while we were there! We also took a day trip to Ottawa. It was a great week, and we had some real quality time with everyone.

Once we left Devil Lake we took a VIA train from Kingston to Montreal (Quebec) and spent a couple of days there. We spent the entire time in Old Montreal with the rest of the tourists. We couldn't believe how crowded it was there. We went on a walking tour which was very informative, and also went to the Montreal Museum of Archeology and History - which I would recommend visiting if you're ever in Montreal - and learned about how the city was born and became a metropolis.

This morning we took a train to Quebec, and are staying at a hotel in the heart of Vieux (Old) Quebec. I'm in love with this area. It's like a slice of Europe in North America. It's beautiful, and I just don't think we will be able get enough out of our two days here. We definitely want to come back!

I'm typing this from a ferry we are taking a joy ride on to see the city from the water (we are waiting at port). Here is a picture of Old Quebec from the St. Lawrence seaway.




After Quebec, we are flying to Halifax, Nova Scotia and renting a car to explore Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. I'm so excited for that portion of our trip.

Till next time....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Santa Fe: The City Different

Do you know the way to Santa Fe?

You know, tumbleweeds...prairie dogs...

Yeah

~ "Santa Fe", from the musical RENT

Last Thursday, we packed up the car and hit the road to Santa Fe with our friend and city tour guide Brian.  We took the scenic route along 285, and although it was mostly cloudy the sun eventually broke through and we stopped to take some pictures as we passed a bunch of 14'ers. What to say about that stop sign... grrr.

Eventually, the road straightened out and the only interesting things to pass was sage brush, farms (including a solar farm), cows with their calves, horses with their colts, pigs, geese, Colorado Gators (yes, they have alligators here?!), and the Great Sand Dunes. I would have loved to have stopped at the dunes but there was no time on this trip. We did stop for lunch at the Brown Burro Cafe in Fairplay (in the area that South Park is based upon), where I got yummy breakfast food. Definitely worth a stop if you're ever passing through the area. That was just the beginning of our weekend food fest... seriously, every single meal on this trip was good. So good, that I gained 2 lbs while we were there (thankfully it's back off now). 

We crammed most of this trip in 2 days since our driving days were Thursday and Sunday. Thankfully we had Brian to show us the highlights! Once we arrived in Santa Fe we headed straight to Tomasita's, a former railroad station, to have a yummy dinner of Chicken Enchiladas served flat with green chile, and sopaipillas drizzled with honey - DELISH! This is how my love affair with New Mexican food began...

Friday's agenda included: breakfast burritos (with green chile of course) at the Santa Fe Baking Co. Cafe; walking downtown Santa Fe through snow flurries (oh yes, in late April!); the Palace of the Governors; the New Mexico History Museum; lunch at The Burrito Co. Cafe (yummy chicken taco salad with red chile salsa); and the Museum of Indian Arts & Cultures on Museum Hill. Then we met up with Brian's family and had dinner at Il Vicino for some fire oven pizza.

Saturday we braved the weather turning bad and headed up to Bandelier National Monument to hike among the cliff dwellings of the ancestral Pueblo people. For me, this was the highlight of the trip! It was great walking through this area after learning about it's history the day before. We barely made it around the main loop and long house before the clouds, wind, and snow rolled in (it is May people!), but we did it! If you are ever in the Santa Fe area, this is a must see. It's only about an hour away from the city.

Here are pictures from Bandelier (click to open album on Picasa to see the details of these pictures!):

Oh, I was so excited to tell you Bandelier, that I almost forgot to tell you about the rest of our Saturday! Well, we had a fantastic breakfast at The Chocolate Maven. I had the cottage cakes with blueberry-rhubarb compote and cranberry-orange chutney, and the best Cafe Mocha I have ever tasted. When we got back from Bandelier we had lunch at the French Pastry Shop and Creperie where I had the spinach, mushroom, and chicken crepe... mmm.... Then we walked around down town Santa Fe and checked out the art (I have never seen so much art in one little town in my life). Then we went to the Jackalope, which is a huge market with all kinds of interesting things. My favorite part of Jackalope was watching the glass blowing (and I had to buy few glass things to bring home). To end the day, we met up with Brian's family for dinner at La Choza, where I had the chicken stuffed sopaipilla with green chile. So so yummy, I miss those sopaipillas!

Here are some pictures of the drive and of Santa Fe:

Sunday after breakfast at the Santa Fe Baking Co. we headed home. Because of the weather we decided to take I-25 back to Denver. We stopped in Trinidad, a little old coal mining town to have lunch at the Bella Luna Pizzeria where I had the Mean Mica Salad which was good.  I wasn't expecting the I-25 route to be so scenic, it was a good drive until we hit snow and traffic around Colorado Springs. But really, what a great trip. We are so thankful to have had a tour guide - thank you Brian! If you're ever in Santa Fe, and only have a few days, I highly recommend our itinerary and especially the restaurants. 

So, where have you been lately? I wanna know! :)

Clouds

Flying along the coast of Florida...











- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day! Thank you to all the active and retired service men and women! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday weekend.

We are on a mini vacation visiting family in San Antonio, TX. Holy crow is it HOT here! Yesterday we spent the day melting at SeaWorld. Despite the heat we had a great time and tried to take advantage of the splash zones at all the shows. We said hello to Shamu, Seamore, the Belugas, and dolphins, and rode a couple of rides including the new Atlantis water ride and The Great White loopy roller coaster (my fav).

Today, I tagged along to a Tea Party, my first protest. It was interesting, and peaceful... not too rowdy at all. I call myself "independent", being more of a centrist.... so I was just taking it all in. Now we're on our way to play in some caves, specifically the Natural Bridge Caverns! Whoohoo, caving is right up my ally, but this will be a touristy guided tour. I'll take what I can get. They do have an adventure tour which is more of a caving/spelunking experience that I will have to come back and do on our next visit!

I updated this post to include this blurry but documentary picture (and a link to their website):


Have a great, safe 4th of July!

--Post From My iPhone

MOO MOOO!

I'm back from our 3 week Europe vacation! Not sure if everyone gave up on this blog... but I'm back and ready to get back to blogging. I plan to post some eco type pictures I took along our road trip in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Czech Republic - but I don't have those sorted yet. To keep you entertained I uploaded this video we took while stopped on a little road, waiting for the cow herd moving ceremony to pass us by in Switzerland. They have ceremonies when herds are moved to higher and lower pastures in the mountains. The large bells are for straying cows and the bigger the bell, the prouder the farmer is... we learned that some bells can cost over $2,000! Don't miss the MOO in the middle. The audio is pretty funny (I think).

Carbon Offsetting

Just in case you're wondering where I've been and why my posts have slowed down... it's because this blog has well, been on the back burner recently while my hubby and I plan our 3 week Europe trip! To say we are excited is an understatement, try ecstatic! The picture below of Murren, Switzerland (picture by moonjazz)... yeah, we're going there!

I have a confession to make. Though I had good intentions of planning a GREEN international trip - it's not going very well. Does it help that a couple of the hotels/B&Bs I've booked (so far) charge a carbon offset tax? Maybe... not really. Let's look at the big picture:

• Transatlantic flight (x2): ~10,000 miles or ~5,000 lbs of CO2
• Rental car estimate ~1,600 miles or ~700 lbs of CO2

Never fear, carbon offsetting is here! You can now buy your way out of damage and guilt by purchasing carbon offset. In my internet research I found this article on Independent Traveler that explains how this works,

For better or worse, the concept of "carbon offsetting" has gained considerable currency in the media as one way to mitigate the environmental impact of many facets of modern living. The concept is fairly simple: for every mile you travel, or rather every ton of carbon dioxide your mode of travel causes to be released into the atmosphere, you pay a small fee to enable other folks to work on solutions to mitigate the damaging ecological effect of your travel.

This article also lists multiple websites that you can purchase carbon offset from, both profit and non-profit organizations (listed at the bottom of this post). Some sites will even send you a handy certificate declaring your eco-goodness (can you read the sarcasm?). I do think this is a good idea, and I will pay for our trip's carbon offset... but I don't like the idea of people being able to buy their way out and thinking it's OK, no harm done as along as they have money. It doesn't change the fact that nonrenewable resources are being used, and toxins are being spewed into the atmosphere. Though I feel bad for the negative impacts of us traveling, especially our transatlantic flight, it by no means overshadows my desire to travel. For me, and many, the benefits (however personal) far outweigh the cons. Below is a list of things I do in attempt to travel more green, that everyone can do... some of these I borrowed from Independent Traveler's list of Green Travel Tips.

• Reuse sheets and towels at hotels instead of having them changed each day
• Bring your own toiletries rather than using the minis provided in hotels
• Stay at locally owned hotels
• When leaving the room, turn off the lights, TV, and adjust the thermostat - the A/C doesn't need to be running full blast when no one is there.
• If your hotel offers recycling - use it (if you don't know, ask).
• Offset the carbon emissions produced from your flight (this is a new one for me)
• Rent a car that meets your needs and gets good mileage, or even better rent a hybrid when possible!
• Walk to see sights, or use public transportation
• My favorite: "Take nothing but photographs, and leave nothing but footprints"
• Another favorite - when snorkeling or SCUBA diving do not touch the coral or stir up sediment (avoid as much as possible), as this damages the reef's fragile ecosystem - I can go on and on about this one...

The commercial aviation industry is taking some initiative, check out their website. They explain the impact of air travel, as aviation is responsible for 2% of global carbon emissions. So, what are you doing to green your travel? Are fuel prices squashing your travel plans?

Here are some carbon offset websites:
TerraPass
GoZero (also on Travelocity)
Climate Care
Treeflights
Carbon Footprint