First Tent Camping in Rockies Part 2

After my monumental hike earlier, we all return to camp to get some grub in our bellies.  We are also awaiting the arrival of new campers that are to be joining us.  This would be Kristen, her dad, Reuben and two of her friends James and Erica.  This new group enlightened me to the ways of the vegan.  More on that later.

First thing we had to do was to show them how spectacular watching the stars from the parking lot was.  It seemed colder this night than the previous.  I was also more tired.  And the group was smaller.  It was good all the same but I retired to my tent by 3:30am in a vain attempt to get some quality sleep.  My slumber was better than the sleep I got the night prior.  I woke up in a better mood.  Not being a morning person I mumble and stumble out of the tent and enter the fire pit area with all the grace of a drunken bull.  My hair doing gravity defying tricks to humor my fellow campers.  I shake the cobwebs from my brain in a record 30 minutes.   This day was going to be a little more subdued and blissfully relaxing.  Everybody, except the new people, were leaving this morning.  I was the only person from the original group to stay.

James and Erica are a married couple who are some of the most different people I have ever met.  I mean that in a very good way.  They are strict vegans and fitness fanatics.  Pretty cool combo.  They turned me on to some incredibly delicious vegan food.  I won't even attempt to recreate the words of the foods I ate, I could barely pronounce them, much less spell them.  I do remember that virtually everything was gluten free.  I have never hunted gluten but it must be a very unhealthy animal because the vegans really made sure it didn't sneak into their food.  I had a preconceived idea of what a vegan ate...tofu burgers, tofu hot dogs, etc.  In fact, the only vegan food I knew was tofu and rice cakes.  They learned me alot this past weekend.  Like pretty much any vegetarian food that tries to pretend to be a meat substitute almost always tastes bad.  You have to make completely original meals.  They influenced me so much that I will attempt to change aspects of my diet to see if I can notice a difference.  This will take much planning on my part because I am pretty sure that everything I currently put in my mouth is not kosher.  Fortunately, James informed me that I should only give up certain foods at a time to keep my goals achievable.  He suggested dairy products first, milk, cheese, eggs.  Supposedly I would see and feel the most benefits from this change.  This alone will be a feat of great magnitude for me.  As long time followers know, eggs represent a bulk of my quick, easy and cheap meals.   At least he didn't suggest that I start with the most difficult ingredient for me to abstain from: Sugar.
Here Erica and Kristen prepare something healthy...While Sam and Tom dine on bacon.

Kristen and her dad also practice a vegan diet although not as strict as James and Erica.  They gave me decaf coffee with coconut milk and stevia.  They used almond butter on their sprouted grain breads.  I drank some horrible concoction called Kombucha with a main ingredient called mother, a mushroom like item that ferments in a carbonated mix and leaves a stomach churning sediment at the bottom of the glass bottle.  I was also fed some wonderful homemade salsa and hummus.  It felt very appropriate to be eating like this in the heart of nature.  My only regret being that the trip was too brief.  I have so much more to learn.

Being a lover of the fire as I am, I always jumped at the opportunity to bring down firewood to make sure that we had an overly adequate supply.  Sometimes these outings required bringing the wood from a mile away, since closer spots had long been picked over.  It was an opportunity to work on my balance and upper body strength.

 Our group also had a little fun playing on logs that had fallen across the miniature river.  Yoga was a common theme (except for my De La Hoya impersonation and Reuben's graceful crane)

And there was always time for a little R&R.

As we were getting ready to leave we spied these little nymphs prancing through the forest.  They spoke not a word, but gestured and flitted around with gay enthusiasm.

Here is a video of my fairy encounter.