I am amazed every time we go to the grocery store that I get to see this wonderful landscape. It just seems so weird that you drive through such scenic wonderment on the way to buy a bag of rice and some ground beef:
Utah
A Visit From Becca and Ken
My daughter, Becca, and her boyfriend, Ken came to visit us. They live in the Denver area, and spent the weekend in Taos, NM. They arrrived here onMonday night, right about the time we were having horrendous severe weather here at the North Rim. There were 4 tornadoes, and 28 tornado warnings, high winds, hail, lightning, and thunder so loud it shook our trailer on Tuesday. I had to work at the entrance on Tuesday, so they came out there to eat lunch with me. After I got home, the electricity went out for 6 hours. Welcome to the North Rim in October. But seriously, it is not usually that bad.
We had a wonderful visit, even though we did nothing at all on Wednesday, my day off, except for me to rest my poor old tired feet. I cooked dinner at home–I made the last of the catfish we brought with us from Alabama, smothered with sauteed onions. There was a shrimp and avocado salad and some brussels sprouts to round out the meal. We talked most of the day, and half the night while we waited for the electricity to come back on. Even though we still have heat in the RV when the electricity is off, the furnace in the trailer next door where they were staying was broken and did not work.
On Thursday, we got up and went to Zion National Park, stopping for breakfast at Jacob Lake Inn. That is my favorite place to eat in the area–they have good bacon and decent hash browns to go with my two over easy eggs, and I have never gotten a gluten reaction eating there.
We stopped at the scenic overlook to take some pictures and buy some Navajo jewelry. My pictures didn’t come out that good, but just look at those pretty necklaces!
A little further down the road we stopped again to take pictures of The Vermillion Cliffs and these great clouds. The weather was still not cleared up to the east of us, and it showed in these photos. We went over to Hurricane, Utah so that we could buy some groceries and enter Zion National Park through the west gate. On the way, we stopped at Sprindale Fruit Company for some delicious smoothies and some Nauvoo Jam.
Springdale Fruit Company has a very good selection of dried fruits, nuts, jams, and jellies. This time of year, you can pick your own apples. We didn’t pick any, but we did buy a few pears and plums, along with a jar of Raspberry Jam. Mmmmm.
Zion was truly amazing, as always, except that they are working on the roads there so we were not able to stop much to take pictures. I did get a few:
After we drove through Zion, we went to Kanab so Becca could buy cheezy souvineers for the kids she keeps, and then to Nedra’s Mexican Restaurant for dinner. I had the carnitas, which were very good, and came with the standard rice, beans, and corn tortillas. As we drove home we were treated to a beautiful sunset to end the day. AndFabGrandpa was laughing, because Becca, Ken and I all had our cameras out, taking pictures as we flew down the road.
Fresh From The Desert
We have been seeing a sign on the side of Hwy 89A that says “Fresh Produce”. We always forgot to stop until on the way back home, and by then we have already bought groceries in town. So, yesterday when we went to town to get some work done on the truck, we decided to see what they had for sale.
I’m really glad we went in there. The front yard was full of flowers–cosmos, roses, and sunflowers. It was like an oasis in the middle of the desert!
I’m sure if we had gone in there earlier in the year we could have gotten some lucious blackberries. There were just a few left, not enough to do anything with. They sure looked good, though.
He had some cantaloupes growing but these weren’t ready yet. Maybe next week?
The corn was white, and the ears were very nicely filled out. I made creamed corn, fresh off the cobb–mmmmmmm.
Look at that chard! That is one of my very favorite vegetables. I got a head of lettuce, fresh from the ground, and tomatoes, vine ripened, which we haven’t had in a couple of years. He has yellow tomatoes, roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and regular red tomatoes. We got some of each kind. And they were soooo gooood!
He also has pumpkins, broccoli, tomatillos, onions, and potatoes. I only wish we had been going in there all summer.
A Day In Kanab, Utah
Remember this? Well, today we added more to it. We got up very early to go to Kanab, Utah. It’s an 85 mile drive, with a one hour time difference once you cross the Utah border. We wanted to get there by 8:00 a.m. Utah time because we were having work done on the truck. So, we left about 5:50 (Arizona time), went to pick up Gaelyn of Geogypsy, and took off.
Early morning in the Kaibab National Forest, just outside the gates of the Grand Canyon National Park, is always interesting. You might see deer, turkeys, a coyote, or a buffalo out there. Today we saw this beautiful sky.
We got to the auto shop just at 8:00, and dropped off the truck. They gave us a loaner vehicle so we wouldn’t have to sit around there all day. We went to Houston’s Trails End Restaurant for breakfast, then headed about a mile or so north of town to the private campground where our friends, Marcie and Jim, and Chris, are staying while they are workamping in Kanab. I didn’t think about taking pictures while I was there, but that campground has some wonderful scenery around it.
Marcie and Chris are going to be staffing a booth at The Kane County Farmers Market, which will be held every Saturday from the last weekend in May through the middle of October, beginning at 9:00 am to 11:30 am. Chris makes some really cute “tea bag wallets”, which are big enough to hold 4-6 tea bags for hot tea. What a great idea! Marcie makes crocheted items, which I unfortunately did not see. But, if you find yourself in Kanab on a Saturday morning this summer, go on over and check out our stuff. They are going to be selling some of my things, too. Thank you so much, girls! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.
When we left their place, we went over to the Family Dollar store, where I picked up some packing tape and another cute dress for Amelia. (yeah, I know, I have it bad, hehehe). There just happened to be a thrift shop next door, so we went in to see what they had. I picked up a luggage carrier for a good price to use to take my laundry to the laundry room. By then, it was almost time for my hair appointment.
Since the post office is right behind the hair salon, we parked there and I finished packing up the things I had to mail out. Heads up to all my kids, I sent gifts out to all the grandkids today. They should get them soon. Got the hair cut and made an appointment for a pedicure in two weeks, and another hair cut in 5 weeks. Yay!
We went to another thrift shop, the one for the hospital auxiliary, where they had these cute fabrics for 50 cents a piece, for 1/2 yards!
I also picked up all this lace trim, for practically nothing!
The best bargain of the day, though, was this fabulous thread bin, full of thread, for $15! Some of that thread is silk. And all of the spools are wooden, which I haven’t seen in years. OH, I am just loving this!
And last, here is a lovely piece of fabric, all pink and flowery. It is actually an 84″ X 26″ curtain panel, that I picked up for $4.00 in Deja Vu Antiques. I am planning to use it to make a fluffy dress for Amelia. Yes, like Scarlett O’Hara, she will be wearing the drapes before she is old enough to walk. Hahahaha. But, don’t you think that is just soooo pretty?
Somewhere in there, we went grocery shopping, and ate some lunch at Escobar’s. Finally, around 4:00 p.m, they got finished with the truck. They added a Banks Intercooler under the hood. See all those new manly pipes! FabGrandpa is in “guy heaven”.
And FabGrandpa finally got to add the Banks sticker to our truck. One on each side. He says they only cost $1100, each.
Scenic Sunday
On the way to Bryce Canyon National Park from Kanab, Utah in July 2008.
For more Scenic Sunday photos, click here.
Creamed Corn with Red Peppers
We drove down to Kanab again Monday afternoon. FabGrandpa needed some soup and some fruit bars, and I needed some veggies for this week, so off we went. It had been raining, storming, thundering and lightening for a couple of days, but on Monday the weather was clearing up, and the sky was beautiful. So was the desert:
We had lunch at Escobar’s, a little Mexican place off the main drag, then headed over to the Foodtown. I found a Boston Butt pork roast on sale for $1.79 per pound, some fresh sweet corn, a red bell pepper, and some yellow squash. We brought our treasures home, where I got out the butcher knife and sliced off a few pieces of the roast. I breaded them with rice flour and fried them like pork chops. Boy were they ever good!
The next day, I poked holes in the rest of the roast and stuffed them with garlic, and put it in the crock pot while I was at work. I think it was the most excellent roast, ever! So, tonight, we had leftover roast with fried squash and creamed corn with red peppers.
The first time I made creamed corn with red peppers was when the refrigerator quit working last month. I had the last bits of those sweet Italian red peppers that I bought in Maryland last fall, and some corn, that I did not want to lose. I cooked them up together and it turned out to be very good.
Here is the recipe:
3 ears fresh sweet corn
1 red bell pepper
1/2 stick butter or margarine
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup milk
Shuck the corn and scrape the kernels off the cob. Wash and chop the red bell pepper. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, then add the peppers and saute for a few minutes. Add the corn, milk, salt and pepper. Turn the heat down to low. Cook, stirring often, until the corn is done.
I took a picture of it, but it did not turn out very good, and made it look very unappetizing, so you won’t see it here. Sorry. But, you will not be disappointed if you try this. Yum! Oh, and the best part: It’s gluten free!
