Southwest Roadtrip: Arizona

And we're back in Arizona!

We were up bright and early for our only full day in Tucson!

We stayed in an adorable airbnb right in the middle of downtown, so luckily, we were in walking distance of a ton of great food spots.

We had breakfast at nook. They just celebrated 1 year since opening and I hope they're around for much longer! They've got awesome variations of classic breakfast dishes. Cinnamon roll hot cakes, Eggs Benedict with prosciutto and a bunch of other stuff. Honestly I would have ordered half the menu, but my stomach is not capable of that... so we all just shared.

Then it was on to Saguaro National Park! This place is incredible. As an FYI- the park is split (West and East) on each side of town, we only spent time in the West, but I'm sure the East is just as awesome! First of all, it's right on the edge of town. Then, you drive through about half the park to get to the visitor center. We went on a short hike to an outlook, since it was the middle of the day and therefore the worst time of day for hiking. Even on this short hike we saw about 7 varieties of cactus in bloom! And I almost think it was good to do shorter, smaller excursions because it is easier to focus on how incredible this landscape is, rather than just becoming complacent at seeing giant cacti every 10 feet.

Blending into the landscape with cactus poses

After an afternoon in the sun it was definitely time for a cold treat. So we headed to the HUB Ice Cream Factory. This adorable ice cream parlor is a great mix of old timey factory vibes with a modern twist. Plus they have crazy ice cream flavors! I had oatmeal cookie dough and strawberry passion fruit. Both super good! 

Our dinner choice was based on basically every food network show that has ever been in Tucson: Carne Seca. This beef is dried on the roof in the sun then shredded and mixed with onions and veggies and other stuff. We got take away from El Charro Cafe, which has been in Tucson since 1922, and everyone says it THE PLACE to get this special stuff. However, based on our experience and yelp reviews, interacting with customers may not be their strong suit. We ordered a platter and extra tortillas and ended up with a platter, rolled tacos, a chimichanga and no tortillas... So we did get to try Carne Seca...on chips... It is definitely a special dish and you should try it while here, but I would recommend sitting in, despite the wait, and having low expectations.

Bags of the wrong food

The next morning we visited the Sonoran Desert Museum. Again in the heat of the day, getting an early start wasn't exactly our strong suit, but whatever, we had great breakfasts to eat! The museum is on the same road out of town as Saguaro National Park, and it is impossible to tell where the museum ends and the park begins. Personally I loved it. The area with the animals is so well incorporated into the surrounding habitat that you can almost see how those animals would act if you were lucky enough to see them in the desert. A lot of the large animals were sleeping, but I would be too if it was 90 degrees outside! There were lots of helpful enthusiastic docents around to answer any animal questions. This was a great way to learn about the awesome desert that surrounds this city!

Sleepy Javelina

Saguaro Bloom

Baby Bighorn Sheep!

After the museum we were starving and made a snap decision to have lunch at Penca, a Mexican restaurant downtown that was owned by the husband of our airBnb. It was incredible!! This may have been the best meal of the trip. Cactus Tacos, horchata, beef tongue. Literally everything was delicious. We only ate off their happy hour menu, but I'm sure things would have just gotten better if we went there for a real meal. If you're ever near there, I highly recommend it!

Steak and Cactus tacos

On our way out of town we made, what was meant to be a quick stop, at Bach's Greenhouse and Cactus Nursery. What we thought would be a small area of cacti and a few post, was actually several giant greenhouses or all sizes of cacti and succulents! The women working there were so helpful and enthusiastic about helping us put together pottings and find our favorite cacti. It was such a great experience, creating a unique memory to bring home! I can't wait to watch my cactus babies bloom! We ended up spending about 2 hours wandering around looking at plants and creating combinations. They packaged our cacti up in special carrying cases and gave us their "papers" so that they could go to other states. And it was time to jump on the road again!

Although his trip was less than a week, we managed to fit so much in! Although the large tourist attractions in this area of the country seem to be spread out, there are little gems around every corner, as long as you look!

And as we drove off into the sunset back to California, a roadrunner ran across the highway right in front of us, as if you say... meep meep!

Southwest Roadtrip: New Mexico

 I just returned from 6 days on the road through the desert, and although that may not seem like a lot of time, we managed to pack quite a bit in! So here is a summery of our trip through New Mexico and some of our recommendations!

Centerpiece of the Museum

Our first big stop was Roswell. It's crazy to see a town take its entire identity from an even that happened in 1947. (The only other place we could think that is sort of like this is Salem, MA) The UFO Museum provides info about the event and general history of UFO sightings across the world. It provides a good background, as long as you're willing to skim. You could easily spend an entire day there, but I wouldn't, there's so much else to see!

So much info!!

Around the museum there are heaps of tshirt shop and stuff. Most are all selling the same stuff, and then there's the Alien Zone. This place fully embraces the corniness of the alien sightings. The front of the shop is a store and for 3 bucks you can go in a seperate place full of alien scenes that you can take pictures with: experimenting on aliens in the lab, drunk alien BBQ, alien on the toilet, etc. It's definitely a must see after the museum!

Secret gem: The Human Society Thrift Shop. In town here are heaps of curated vintage stores, but there is something so much more satisfying about digging through racks of duds to finally find something awesome! I came away with a garbage bag full of clothes for under 4$.


What to eat:
Honestly I didn't' have high expectations for food in Roswell, but I was delightfully surprised! Both of our meals here were great! First we went to Big D's Downtown Dive for lunch. The food was super yummy and fresh an imaginative. Reportedly it was on Diner Drive ins and Dives, but I couldn't find any evidence of that, either way, deliscious!
For dinner we went to Lemon Grass Thai. Yes, we all thought it was a bit insane to try Thai food in NM, but again we were pleasantly surprised. It was on par with my favorite Thai place here in San Diego. Crazy find and so worth it!

 The next morning we were off! Back to Arizona with stops along the way. Basically our idea was, we're gonna have to make backroom stops, why not make them fun!
Stop 1: The Fox Cave. An Old mine now converted into a giant gift store/ roadside attractions. The store is built into the cliff-side, which is pretty awesome, and they have gems from all over the world, along with local turquoise jewelry. One of the best parts are the giant sculptures outside: a pair of 20 foot tall hands, dinos, aliens, cowboys. Bonus points for having a super nice backroom.

Chillin in the cyrstals

Stop 2: Pistachioland. We saw this giant pistachio on the  side of the road and knew we had to stop on the way back! bonus points for having a sample bar where you can try all of their pistachios.

Stop 3. What Sands National Monument. This place is positively unreal. Southern New Mexico is basically a craggey open landscape, and then all of a sudden you come upon these stark white sand dunes, the feeling is surreal.I could have spent all day here climbing the dunes and letting the sand run through my fingers. Any description beyond this would only cheapen the awesomeness of this place. I can just say: if you have the chance, Go.
* credit to by boyfriend Gabe who first told me about this place*

Details on Designers at bottom of page

Sampson the Camel: therapy animal during the week, hilarious sight on the weekend

Stop 4: Adobe Deli. All of the credit for this goes to Diana. We were all hungry making the long drive from White Sands to Tucson and she put in the effort to find a unique place for us. After a drive in the middle of nowhere we arrived at a giant building at the end of the lane, and the parking lot was packed. This place is literally covered in decor, and most of that decor is stuff that vintage pickers would die to get their hands on: taxidery, road signs, hats, old hunting stuff. The menus are sassy and suddenly everyone has southern accents. I loved this place. As a capstone to our day of oddities it just emphasized how many awesome things there are as long as you put in the extra effort to look around you.

This is how they bring you your ribs...

And with our bellies full it was off to Arizona!
I'll post highlights of our trip soon, along with a video of our travels.

If you want to check out more shots from our trip, check out my instagram: @beckapalter

 Body Suit: Little Black Diamond
Sunglasses: Knockaround

Fall Forward for Fun

 

      So I've reached that off point in the year where I gear back up to apply for grad schools and I may have only a year left of school free time here in San Diego. So here's my list for fall!

     -Julian is a great little town in east county, and somehow I've never been. So what better time than apple picking season-aka apple pie season!

     -Even with all this fun, I need to make sure I've got my list ready to go when apps get released on October 1.

     -With everyone going back to school the beaches finally won't be as crowded but it's still plenty warm to frolic around!

    - I've gotten pretty comfortable in my breakfast, brunch, brinner routine. But that's no way to live, time to get a bit more adventurous in my food realm!

     -Any article of about moving to a new place will tell you that the hardest thing is that you're on your own when it comes to exploring. So I want to push myself to do one new fun thing each week so that I can finally start crossing stuff off my SD bucket list!

     -Between working 3 jobs, modeling and going on weekend trips, my room is a mess.  It'll be nice to start with a clean surface before heading into application time.

    -Last week I was able to walk for a San Diego designer in LA Fashion week. It was kind of incredible to walk for a packed house at a big event. Hopefully the open calls are on days I can actually make this time!

     -San Diego has heaps of Dia de los Muertos celebrations, so I'm hopign to make it to at least one this year!

     -I'm chronically late with deciding my Halloween costume. This year I'm aiming to decide a month before to allow the max amount of thrifting and creativity!

So that's my list for Autumn! If you want to join me on any of these activities, or think that there are major SoCal activities that I'm missing, let me know!

Keep Adventuring!

Morro Bay

The view across the bay to Morro Rock

      This past week I finally got some free time to head up the coast to Morro Bay. I don't think I'd been there since I was a wee tot.  Here's some highlights from the trip!

     We camped at Morro Bay State Park, which was lovely. Personally I recommend trying to get a campsite on the upper loop, as we did for our second night. The campsites there are in a stand of eucalyptus, rather than out in an open field, so it feels more private.

     We spent our first day setting up and wandering around the marina.  We made our way up to Cayoucos to the Brown Butter Cookie Company.  These guys have amazing cookies!! I really regret not taking a picture inside, because you can see the cookies being baked right in front of you.  They even had 3 gluten free options!

     We made a delicious camp dinner (especially considering this was our first camping trip on our own) and a little campfire and that's about it.

Steak, Salad and Gluten Free Mac & Cheese. Keeping it low FODMAP on the road.

     The next morning we work up to mourning doves and got a jump start on our day with some breakfast burritos!
     Then we threw everything in the car and moved to our second campsite. Surprise, booking a campsite in the summer is difficult, so we're lucky we got  2 consecutive nights, even if it wasn't at the same site.

 

The second day was pretty packed.

     We grabbed kayaks and went across the bay to run around to the sand dunes that I had been dying to play on since the moment we'd arrived. Apparently there was a beached whale somewhere that was attracting a lot of harbor seals and other wildlife, but I've been down wind of a beached whale once before and it's not something I'd like to repeat.

     After a quick paddle back with the tide helping us along, we made lunch and set out for Montano de Oro State Park.   It's only about 10 minutes away from Morro Bay and well work the drive.  The scenery changes vastly when you get out the the area that faces the ocean. 

The little hook coming off Mondano de Oro is surrounding Spooner Cove

    We ended up at Spooner Cove, with is stunning. It's covered in perfectly smoothed beach stones (sorry southern California pals, this is not a sandy beach). And when we were there were heaps of beached Velella Velella.  They're basically like jelly fish that use a sail on the top of their body to skim across the waves, but if the winds change, they can get blow onto the beaches in hundreds.  The perfect treat for a bio nerd.

A dead Velella Velella

   But outside than biological oddities, it is still a great place.

A natural rock "pier" that you can walk out on, as long as the tide is low enough for you to get back.

The signature hole in the rock and my wonderful camping buddy.

     The second night we were relieved from our duties as camp cooks by the SLO Farmer's Market.  If there is a way to arrange your trip so you're there on a Thursday, you have to do it.  The market is 5 big blocks long, with musical performers at every intersection.  There's barbeque, fresh veggies, and most importantly, all sorts of sweet treats.

     But none so sweet as a view down their famous bubble gum alley! I remember putting my gum on this wall when I first came here at 5 years old, and I was probably just as excited this time! We left our mark on SLO in the shape of a lucky green mint clover.

We packed up or happy little camp the next morning and headed out to our next adventure.

Your friendly neighborhood Food, Health, Style Blogger

     For a while people have been asking me to create a blog but I never got started because I couldn't decide how to narrow down a topic to write about.  But then I realized, I don't have to.  I've never tied myself to a stereotype, and because of that I have a lot of diverse interests. 

     A bit about me: I'm originally from the San Francisco Bay Area.  I graduated with my BA in Psychology with an emphasis in Neuroscience in 2013 from an awesome little university in Tacoma.  And I now live in San Diego.  I work part time at a large children's hospital, volunteer with a cat rescue, model and wander around with my camera. Through modeling I have met some amazing artists and gotten to explore some great places in and around San Diego.  "The Industry" is not always the most welcoming place, but if you search a bit and are choosey about who you work with, you can find some real gems.

     Over the last 5 years I have done a bunch of medical tests to try to figure out why I have had tummy trouble my whole life, and eventually got diagnosed with a functional intestinal disorder (basically things don't work quite the way they should but we don't know why).  So as a result I also spend quite a bit of time coming up with creative food that doesn't hurt my stomach, but still tastes good.

     So here you go, what this blog will be about:

• Shopping small.  I love connecting with people that truly believe in the product they create, and one of the best ways to do this is by shopping small.
• How to make your digestive track healthy.  Whether it's a yummy recipe or other ways to keep yourself balanced, I'm all about it. I have yet to find a place where young women talk openly about their digestive difficulties and I would like to give us a voice.
• Exploring.  Every corner of this world is incredible, I'll share the places I find, what I do, and other things I love.

     I'm not going to tell you how to "get a bikini bod" or  "trends from the latest magazines", but I will share a bit of my world with you.  If you have any questions you'd like me to address in a post, or want to collaborate with me, feel free to contact me!


Well, here goes nothing.