Final Summer Trip to NC Post 2014

July 29 to August 2nd

Hey Y'all!

This is my final post about my trip to North Carolina. Here you will see pictures from Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest and Snowbird Mountain Lodge.
 I also have pictures of the food I ate :)

This is my mom's version of vegan putanesca sauce (it doesn't contain anchovies... she added those to hers serparately. It is a slightly sweet sauce with yellow onions, garlic, black and green olives, tomatoes, mushrooms, capers, and bay leaves. It is over Angel Hair and served with fresh steamed asparagus. This was ridiculously yummy!

View from the top of the mountain. It was very clear this day when I went to find some books and things from school I wanted to take home with me.

This is a strange combination of foods, but they were really tasty. In the back of the picture we have pearl couscous. To the left we have chickpeas cooked with onion, celery, garlic and spices. To the right we have cooked kale with tomatoes, onions, and summer squash from our neighbor.

Here are some photos from my room at the Snowbird Mountain Lodge. I loved the room I was in (my parents had the room next door) and I wish we had been able to stay longer.

I also have a picture of my brother's gecko, Bobalina, who I was taking care of this trip. She doesn't like traveling too much.

And here come the pictures of trees and woods!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next pictures were taken at the Snowbird Mountain Lodge.

 

 

 

 

And... back to Joyce Kilmer.

 

 

 

This is our picnic lunch after our hike. I had a really fantastic veggie wrap with hummus (asked them to leave off the feta cheese), an apple, and a pickle.

I then sang the pickle song for the next two days. Here it is to get stuck in your head!

 

My mom had the pimento cheese sandwich that ate Los Angeles.

And, last but not least... my picnic lunch on the way home: A veggie wrap from Snowbird, a pickle, Raspberry So Delicious Coconut yogurt, an apple, some ruffles, and half a sandwich I had mad three days before with hummus, vegan pepperjack cheese and arugula.

This is it for my summer trip posts (I think... unless I go to NC again when my family goes in September, but I doubt that I will). I hope you have enjoyed it!

Hiking in the woods and lots of nature

Today and yesterday my family and I went hiking in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. Yesterday we went on a rather easy trail that had really huge poplar trees and was relatively flat. Today we went on another trail where the path was more full of rocks, streams, and tree roots. While we were walking today we found this huge tree that had a hollow base. I could have fit in the hole two or three times. It was an amazing tree. I can't remember weather it was an oak or a poplar, but it was huge.

I really love trees. I love tall trees, short trees, thin trees, huge trees. This tree was amazing. I even have it a hug. (Yep! I'm a tree hugger! )

On our way back down the trail, we literally almost stepped on a huge rattlesnake. I screamed and jumped over it, while my parents scrambled around in the woods to stay away from it. It was pretty exciting! And frightening! My Dad is still shook up about it.

We had a lot of fun looking at mushrooms, butterflies, frogs, crickets, cintepeeds, and other critters on the trail. I have lots of pictures to show you in a later post when I can edit them better, but here are a few:

Trip to NC Summer 2014 Part Four

July 4th - July 17

This post will be pic heavy.

We celebrated Independence Day with a barbeque. I made egg salad using tofu (it was pretty good) and had tofurkey hot dogs (these are amazing) with my salad and taboule. I totally forgot to take a picture of the wonderful food, but I got some pictures of the leftovers the next day. My Aunt came over for the lunch and we had a pretty fantastic celebration.

Then came my week at Kanuga. I spent a lot of my time there in bed asleep because I got sick, as you could probably tell by my "sick" posts. I did have a lot of fun with my friend Lauren from Mobile and did fun things like trivia, bible study, yoga, and sleeping.

Since Kanuga, I've been back at the house in NC and trying to recover. I finally made it out of bed for a hike on the 17th and took some awesome pictures. I hope you like them!

Vegan Egg Salad made with tofu on Olive Bread with a Tofurkey Dog and BBQ flavored Mini Rice Cakes

Homemade coconut pudding

First time I tried Tofurky and I really liked them. My dad cooked up a bunch on the grill.

These are my new favorite accidentally vegan find at Ingles. I'm sure I've talked about them before. They are just really fantastic and crunchy and have an excellent smoky flavor.

Heading to fancy dinner at Kanuga. I'm wearing my new necklace and earrings that I got at Gypsy Heart in Hendersonville. They match my dress perfectly. You can't tell in this picture, but I'm sick. That's why I have tired eyes.

Mushroom Miso Noodles with garlic

Vegan grilled cheese using Go Veggie! Cheddar

Spinach noodles, gardein beefless tips, bell pepper bruschetta topping, and vegan sour cream.

Bruschetta made with bell pepper topping and toasted olive bread

Bean dip! Vegetarian refried beans, Go Veggie! Shreds in Mexican blend and Mozzarella, spicy guacamole, sour cream and topped with salsa! This was good both hot and cold.

Vegan Lasagna

Vegan Lasagna

Wild Strawberry in the front yard

View from the top of the mountain

Bright yellow flowers at the top of the mountain

White flowers in front of a voluntary apple tree

yellow flower in the grass

Leftover Lasagna. It was soooooo much better the next day when all the spices had mingled.

Apple Orchard

Coral Mushroom

For some reason this leaf really looks like a fairy on top of this mushroom. I adore this picture.

My camera lens kept fogging up. It gave this cool effect.

Mushrooms!

Brightest mushroom on the trail. The sun came out!

This monster was the size of my face!

Mushroom

Small Coral Mushroom

Flowers by the bamboo

Mushroom, tofu, udon noodle soup