the road to red rocks and the gluten free trip

Last weekend we left our small box canyon and headed to Denver for the Yonder Mountain String Band show. They're not my fave but Dave enjoys them and I was game for getting out of town.
We left on Thursday night and found the best road snacks at the Sawpit Mercantile as we left town. I was able to try Annie's Gluten Free Bunny Cookies and Glutino Chocolate Covered Pretzels, neither of which is very good for me but fine in moderation. The Bunny Cookies have a bit of a rice flour taste and are great in small amounts while the Glutinos were all that I had hoped for in a GF chocolate covered pretzel since I knew I loved the plain version.

Friday we spent the day at the Park Meadows Mall in Denver which is the second time all summer that I've gone to a mall. I did hit Cherry Creek on my Denver trip in July. That may sound strange but I live 3 hours from the closest mall which is on the small side and ski bums don't have too much need for most mall stores anyhow. We both remembered this on Friday as we walked through the monstrous structure and did some shoe shopping for Dave. The best part about Park Meadows is the proximity to a PF Chang's and that's why we hit it versus Cherry Creek.

 We enjoyed a gluten free lunch with the lettuce wraps I dream about, Chang's Spicy Chicken and ventured out with the Mongolian Beef that quickly became a new favorite. I'm hoping to find a PF Chang as we drive cross country to Maine in a few short weeks.  I've already marked a few Whole Foods that are close to interstate 70 and will make great lunch stops.

In less then three weeks we drive from Colorado to Maine for our October wedding. We're driving so that the pups can join us and we really enjoy the road trip. We're doing a simple day at Sugarloaf and are looking forward to a relaxing trip... which we will need by then as we're also moving. Our new location is yet to be determined so everything will be going into storage until we return to Telluride and find a new home. We'll still beat the rush of the seasonal ski bums coming into town so I'm optimistic that we'll find something that will take us and our two golden monsters.

Two years ago this stress would have wrecked me, I'd be a grumpy mess. Two years ago I was still eating gluten and had felt bad for so long that I didn't even know I felt bad. We had stress then too and I was a wreck.... as was our Tacoma when Dave rolled it that September, it was our only car but we had good insurance. Two years later, again in September, everything is happening at once, some good, some bad, some just challenging. Whenever I hear people say that it's tough to be gluten free I just shake my head and say that it's tougher not to be. While gluten free isn't stress free it certainly helps when challenges come around. The balance I have now is well worth the trip of being a glutard.