Vacation food! Grilled cheeseburger, watermelon & tomato salad, grilled corn on the cob and a pathetic amount of chips.
OK. Here’s the deal. I didn’t eat bad on vacation. I didn’t eat great. I ate OK. I had watermelon, salad, corn on the cob, and grilled chicken, but I also had potato chips & s’mores. I hiked & swam until I almost collapsed (quite happily) from exhaustion. And my weight stayed exactly the same.
I am so OK with this because I had such a BLAST while away that I can’t feel guilty about not losing. I’m just glad my little indiscretions didn’t make me gain.
However. Today I was making some birthday treats for a sweet girl at Church and I succumbed to the siren call of pretzel rods dipped in homemade caramel and chocolate. To the tune of 4 caramel-covered pretzel rods and a finished rod that had chocolate coating, peanuts & more chocolate drizzled over. I seriously do NOT want to know how many calories that equals. I’m guessing probably 2000. But I’m moving on. (If you want the recipe you can get it here.)
Our vacation was incredible. I personally enjoyed it more than any other we’ve taken, including Las Vegas. There is something about being surrounded by nature that makes me more aware of and appreciative for all the miracles God has wrought upon the Earth. Our cabin was perfect–it came with everything, including pots & pans! Next time, and there will be a next time, I won’t have to haul half the house with me for fear of not having what I need. We found an outdoor worship area nearby and walked there each morning to pray and sing hymns. Since it was during the week, there was hardly anyone around and we felt especially secluded, which I appreciated.
The hiking trails were fantastic, despite finding tics crawling on us each time we went on one. The views were amazing. All told, we saw about 7 deer (probably would have seen more if I could have kept quiet but I had to keep exclaiming over everything I saw), and probably 20 wild turkeys, inluding about 7 baby turkeys. We also saw cute little lizards and ran across a black snake in our path, which could have been a water moccasin since we were close to a stream. And the birds! I’ve never seen a red wing black bird before this trip–they were everywhere. And so were hawks–constantly gliding overhead. I also saw orioles for the first time in my life and there were more blue jays there than I’ve ever seen before. I saw one red bird and I swear I saw a bird that was bright yellow and black but Dennis didn’t see so we don’t know what kind of bird that could have been. I enjoyed all the beautiful dragonflies and wish I could have gotten a picture of my favorite, a pure black one with a metallic gold stripe down its back and metallic gold stripes on its wings.
We went swimming but were forced to just jump waves the first time b/c the wind was so fierce that swimming was difficult. The second time we were so exhausted from all the hiking that we didn’t stay in the water long, despite being able to swim easier. But then we went back out onto a trail that we’d done the day before b/c Dennis wanted to pick some more black raspberries (yes, there were black raspberries growing wild!). There was also a bunch of mulberry trees near our cabin that we munched on.
Our last day there, we went to the Kansas Motorcycle Museum. The guy that started it, Stan Engdahl, is now dead and his wife runs it. He had raced for 47 years and over 600 of his trophies were on display! The old motorcycles were so interesting to study and see how they have changed over the years.
Anyway, I took a million pictures and put a few of them into a slideshow for you to enjoy. I apologize to those banjo & bluegrass haters out there–you might want to turn the sound off, at least until it gets to the motorcycle pictures. :)
Going Down 
Love the cabin and the front porch with the rocking chairs is awesome! Glad you had such a great time – and sometimes maintenance is a victory!!
I was so in love with that cabin. True dat on maintenance being a victory! I was very glad I didn’t gain.
I love it!! Great blog! I totally forgot about the diet while i was reading! Great slide show. Glad you guys had fun. You did really good while on vacation…most of us “GAIN”!! Awesome blog Veronica. :)
Thanks, Cheryl! How did your week go? Are you still a big loser? hahahaha–you know what I mean (I hope)!
Well, Thanks for asking Veronica. I did well this week. While you were gone I purchased an ab lounge ultra from a second hand store. It got it for $50.00 They go for a whole lot more!! I had no intention on buying anything like this i was just out shopping with my mom like we do every sat. morning :) Anyway, I busted my tail on this thing. Girl, I didn’t even walk this week just out of curiosity to see what type of weight difference it would be if i just done the ab lounge. Well, the results are in!! I lost a whopping 4 pounds on this contraption! I set this thing up in my living room the day i got it and thought ok this week this is all i will do ( with no walking ) just to see what type of weight i could lose with it. Girl, I was shocked!! It makes by back feel awesome for one and another it is killing the mid section!! So, with that said this is the best $50 bucks i have spent in a long time! So this week i will start the combo with the ab lounge and walking 3 days a week. I hope the results are just as good if not better next week. I pretty much watched everything i ate last week. I made these awesome whole wheat and wheat germ waffles with pure maple syrup. They are awesome in taste! I ate these every morning with fresh blueberry and pure maple syrup. I had 2 days this past week where i went meatless. I will send you over the waffle recipe as well. I made extra and froze the rest and pulled one out each morning and stuck it in the toaster. Very good!!!
I’m so happy to hear your news! It motivates me–I’ve gotten off track since returning and am feeling disgusting. I def want that waffle recipe.
Whole wheat and wheat germ waffles:
1 cup whole wheat flour ( i use arrowhead organic stone ground whole wheat flour this is a coarse flour )
1/2 cup flax seed optional ( i did not use this i was out )
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder ( aluminum free )
1 tablespoon sugar ( i used organic pure cane sugar this is brown in color )
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 and 3/4 cup milk ( if you don’t add the flax seed only use 1 cup of milk )
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 tsp. pure vanilla
Mix all ingredients well let sit for 5 minutes to thicken. Pour into waffle maker. Cook till done. Leftover waffles let cool and place rest in the freezer for the upcoming week. This recipes makes 8 waffles ( depending on the waffle maker of course ) When you get ready for another waffle take out of the freezer put in directly into toaster and let it toast. Add your butter ( i use i can’t believe it’s not butter spray ) I also add sliced banana’s or fresh blueberries on top really you can add any fruit you wish as long as it is fresh. I also use pure maple syrup (Spring Tree brand grade B ) These are very good even with all the healthy ingredients. Let me know if you make them and tell me what you think. :)
This was the coolest vacation I have ever taken!
The raspberries alone would have almost been enough.
Oh re-he-he-heally? Guess you changed your mind since I last asked how it ranked and you chose LV as your fave. I agree, though, I loved getting back to nature and the freedom of our days.