Thursday, January 23, 2020

Travel: Route 66 and South Rim of the Grand Canyon Adventure

 My husband I love adventure and our kids are growing up loving it too!  So, when the opportunity came to meet my parents in Williams, Arizona,  we jumped at the opportunity.  We both had never been and it sounded like a lot of fun!  There were definitely no regrets after this trip and it's been a year and half and my kids still talk about this as one of their favorite adventures!

This trip was quick and we knew we didn't want to rush exploring on the way there and on the way back.  We ended up pulling the kids out of school for a total of 2.5 days.  The first day, they went to school for half the day and then we headed out to make it to Barstow, CA in time for dinner. We saw a gorgeous sunset, ate at the local Panera, and hung out in our hotel and let the kids do their homework.  The next day is when the adventure truly began! We stayed at the Best Western there, because we know that they have decent breakfasts. . . and really. . . the boys could live off of their waffles for breakfast! 
 We started off our adventure by checking out the Barstow Harvey House.  There are all sorts of trains to climb on, a route 66 museum (we didn't do this on this trip, but we did it when Ethan was a baby).  It is a beautiful building both inside and out, well worth the extra time to check it out.  We also spent some time on the second floor checking out NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Visitor's Center.  The museum is completely free and full of some really neat interactive exhibits! The kids could have spent a couple of hours there learning all they could!
After, probably more time than we had planned (we didn't know about the Deep Space Exhibits), we started on the rest of our journey.  It was going to be a full day of driving, with a couple of spots along the way.  Our plan for the day was to drive Highway 40, but with a slight detour down part of the original Highway 66 to visit the teeny town of Oatman, and then on to our dinner and our hotel in Williams.
Our first stop was Needles, CA for lunch.  We wanted to eat at as many "authentic" route 66 places as possible so, we found the Wagon Wheel Restaurant and it was delicious!  Then, because it was still quite a ways to Williams we headed on down the road.
Not far from Needles, you can take a turn off to Oatman/McConnico/Kingman.  It's a bit slower, being the original 66, but there are not a whole lot of cars.  But, Oatman is well worth the drive and so are the views.  You can stay on the 40 and go through Yucca to Kingman and probably get there in a fourth of the time, but you won't get to see Oatman and you will regret it. 


The town of Oatman is basically a street in the middle of the dessert that has wild donkeys roaming the streets.  It smells.  But, for a dollar you can feed them (and if you don't they will follow you like sad puppy dogs).  There is also an old hotel that if you dare go up the stairs (we did. . . they are really old and wobbly), you can check out room 15, where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard stayed on their honeymoon.  I am not going to lie. . . I am still wondering why on earth a famous movie star felt the need to take his new wife to Oatman for their honeymoon.  We stayed for about 45 minutes, because it stunk so bad and we still needed to make it to Williams in time for dinner.  In all serious, Oatman is the most authentic Route 66 town that has been kept alive by wild donkeys, unlike a lot of others that kind of died off when the 40 was built. 

 The quiet roads and the views were amazing! The view outside our window changed so much as we got closer to Williams.  It was fun to see the colors and rock formations, as well as Joshua trees and cacti.

We made it to Williams, met up with my parents (who were coming home from their summer in Wyoming) and went to dinner.  There were a lot of places to choose from to eat, but the best part was walking around at night and seeing all the neon signs lit up!  Plus, after being in triple digit weather, it was actually chilly and we needed to put on a sweatshirt!

Williams, despite being a tourist-y town, is also a small town with a very successful high school football team.  Some of the stores, including the local dairy queen were closed because it was homecoming and their employees (local high school students) wanted to celebrate, too!  We could hear the fireworks, band, and cheering from down the street that you almost wanted to cheer for them too!


The next morning we boarded our train that would take us to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  It was a nice way to get there and gave everyone a break from driving.  Each car has a host, full of fun jokes and puns, a beautiful view out each side, and live entertainment from fiddlers to robbers and bandits! 

 We had several hours to hang out at the South Rim.  One of the things we wanted to do was eat at the famous El Tovar Restaurant (you can even see the table that Teddy Roosevelt liked to sit at on his visits).  The food was delicious and the desserts were dreamy!  Then, we set off to explore! 
  Ethan was learning about rocks in his 4th grade science class, so we explored and even learned some new facts and Weston earned his Junior Ranger Badge.  He as so excited! 


 We spent a lot of our time, partly because it was so hot and partly because it was so gorgeous, just looking out into the Grand Canyon.  It's vastness is just so breathtaking that even the kids were speechless!  We spotted chipmunks, lizards, and a lot of other fun animals lingering on the rocks and out in the canyon. 

 Late afternoon came and we boarded back on our train and headed back to our temporary home in Williams.  We explored the streets a little bit more and tried the local brewery (delicious).  One thing we really loved about Williams is that you could walk just about everywhere!
The next morning came and it was time to head back home (well, to Barstow, anyway!).  We started by fueling up on caffeine at the local coffee shop (quite necessary and quite delicious!) and then headed back home.  This time taking a little detour along the original route 66 from Seligman to Kingman.  They way takes you through roadside stops with fun shops, and fun town names like Peach Springs and Hackberry.  There's even a stop called Radiator Springs (which I am sure is just a play on the Cars movie!).  There are all sorts of old cars and replicas of Cars characters, as well as vintage gas stations and old license plates!  We all had so much fun that we realized we were taking too much time exploring! 


 We ended up eating a late lunch in Kingman at Floyd and Company, which is a BBQ place and a pizza place on Kingman (it came highly recommended by some friends of our and is owned by some of their family).  This place was wonderful and the pizza side even had dairy free cheese, which made our youngest quite thrilled that he could actually partake in the food!  That afternoon there was even an old car show, which was kind of fun to walk through to get to lunch!

From there we headed back to Barstow.  Same hotel and as a welcome back to California, we ate at the largest In & Out that I have ever been in!  The next morning, instead of eating the Best Western Food, we went to the local McDonalds because it actually inside a train.  Then it was time to head home and prepare for reentry to reality.  Kids were back at school the next day and Jon had to go to work.  This trip was very quick, but so worth it!  I highly recommend you take the trip if you get a chance! 




 p.s. if you wanted to make the trip even more exciting. . . stay on the 40 and end up in North Carolina! 













Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Decorating your Hutch {A tutorial}

 I am celebrating my Friday by having a working lunch with my boys at Panera today.  So, while they are working hard on independent study work (we are headed out on adventure next week), I thought I would work on the hutch decorating tutorial that so many of you asked for over in my Instagram stories.

Taking Christmas stuff down earlier this month gave me a week of what the Nester calls, quieting the house.  No new decor up.  Just empty shelves and spaces.  It's a nice time to quiet my house and in turn, my soul.  It allows creativity to move in and inspiration to come.  So for about 7ish days, I sat there with an empty hutch.  Once the kids headed back to school and things slowed down a bit and before new commitments begin, I slowly started to pull out some decor and place it on the table.  It feels weird and unnatural to leave your house looking empty and "quiet," but I promise you, it's worth it.
I am pretty minimalist when it comes to decor.  I have a few things hidden in the cupboard of my hutch and in my hall closet (Christmas and Fall has a box in the garage, but other than that, my decor is pretty minimal).  Most everything that I use for my hutch gets recycled throughout the house and seasons.  It helps keep clutter low and keeps me not running to the store for new decor each season.

I start by placing all the decor in my color scheme on the table.  I am currently loving neutral colors and in that room, with the blue walls, they just sort of pop.  I recommend picking 2-3 colors. . . one being the color of frames.  This week, I chose brown, black, and green tones, with some galvanized metal thrown in.
Next, look at your shelves.  Mentally, take note the length and height of each one.  Note what decor fits where.  Then start placing a tall item on each shelf. I try to keep the tall things on the edges of the sides, making sure to alternate tall things going down.  For example, I put my tall hurricane on the Left side for the top shelf so on the next shelf down, I placed the taller item on the right side.
Then, on the shelves on the other side, I placed the tall item on the Left side so it balances the whole shelf out.  The middle of the Right hand side I just placed a wooden wreath (Hobby Lobby) and a square grape basket in the middle. And that's that.  Super easy.  Sometimes, one thing is enough. 
 Decorating your shelves and/or your hutch can seem to be a little daunting, especially if you are under a budget.  Let's be honest, sometimes our money has to go other places than home decor.  So before you do anything, shop your own house.  Look for picture frames that you already have.  I think I bought one thing when I did my most recent Hutch update and that was a $4.50 wood picture frame from Target (they have great inexpensive ones!).  Sometimes, I have even painted an old frame to get the color I wanted (I actually did this with a frame that just got relocated from our kitchen to our hallway and it needed to be white to match).   Pinterest is also a great place to "shop" for free prints to decorate your walls and your shelves.  And, it's also a great place to find ispiration for creating your own art or wreaths. 

My favorite places to get things for my shelves are. . . 
1.  Target Dollar Spot. . . if you see it, buy it. . . it most likely won't be there when you back! 

2.  Hobby Lobby - their decor is pretty much always on sale and if it's not, there is always a 40 percent off coupon in their app!

3.  Ikea - I love their frames, vases, fake plants, and plus, they have some great random stuff. 

4.  Your local craft fair.  Twice a year, one of my favorite stores throws a weekend event called the Old Town Clovis Flea Market.  It's a great combination of antiques and really talented local creators (and food trucks) that makes for a fun day and a great place to shop local, gather inspiration, and spend a little bit of money!

Here's some ideas from different parts of the year.  You will probably notice a lot of things reused over and over again.  Don't buy one thing that you will only use once (except Christmas stuff. . . a lot of that is hard to use other parts of the year). 


And that's all I have for decorating Hutches and shelves.  Have fun!  Don't make it a chore and if you're stuck, let it hang out and see what inspiration slowly floats in. 

Happy decorating! 





Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Chai Raisin Bagels

 Bagels are probably one of my favorite bread items.  There used to be this little cafe place that served up the most delicious bagel sandwiches.  It is where I developed a little crush on bagels.  It was really close to the local dollar theater, so sometimes my sister and I would go grab a fresh toasted bagel filled with creamy shmear and sneak it in and enjoy it while watching a cheap movie.  So, it's not a s surprise that I really love bread.  Over the last several years, I've been trying my hand at several bread making techniques and bagels are probably one of my favorites!  They taste so much better than store bought and they are better for you.  A little side note:  With Weston's soy allergy, we have noticed more and more brands throw soy flour or soy lecithin in their bagels so they stay fresh for months. . . which is a HUGE bummer when all you want is a bagel and cream cheese! 

When I opened my the Fall Bake from Scratch magazine, I was immediately drawing stars on the page for these Chai Raisin Bagels.  They just sounded so good and they looked gorgeous.  Then, I read the recipe.  I hadn't even heard of several of the ingredients and I'm pretty sure that most people don't have some of them in their pantry and I really wanted to make them. . . and maybe inspire you to also.  So, I did some research and tweaked the recipe a bit and wha-la, we have the most amazing and chai raisin bagels with ingredients you should be able to find in your pantry or even your local Target.  Easy Peazy!  
 My kids could not get enough of these bagels.  They even had fun making them because they are really hard to mess up!  Plus, making the holes in them is so much fun! This is a great way to not only teach yourself something new and improve your bread making skills, but it's also amazingly delicious and a fun recipe that even the kids can get involved in! 
Chai Raisin Bagels
adapted from Bake from Scratch 

Ingredients:
7 cups bread flour
2/3 cup golden raisins
1 1/2 Tbs sea salt
3 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice*
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water
4 tsp molasses
 egg white (for egg wash)

Directions:
In your favorite stand mixer, mix flour, raisins, salt, spices, and yeast by hand.   Attatch your dough hook, and add 2 1/4 cup warm water and molasses.  Beat at low speed until you start to see a shaggy dough start to form.  Continue beating until dough begins to pull away from the side of the bowl.  It will start to look elastic, but not baby bottom smooth.  This will take about 8 minutes. 

Once, your dough looks right, place on a floured surface and form it into a smooth ball.  Spray a bowl with some oil spray and place the dough ball into it, turning it with your hand so that the bottom is now on the top and a little bit oily.  Cover it and place it in a warm place*. 

Let it rise until doubled in size. . . about 1 hour. 

Divide dough into 12 portions and make little balls.  Then poke your finger through the center of them and let it swirl like a hoola hoop around your finger.  This will give it that bagel look.  Place it on a baking sheet and continue to do that to all of them.  Cover with a towel and let rise for 15-30 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 350. 

In a large pot, bring 8 cups of water to just before a boil.  Pour 1/4 cup of molasses into the hot water.  Lightly drop a bagel round into the water (2 or 3 at a time), and cook for 10 seconds on each side.  Place back on baking sheet.  Keep doing this with the rest of your bagels. 

Make an egg wash by whisking an egg white and a tablespoon of water.  Brush carefully over the tops of bagels.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Spread your favorite shmear** over the top and enjoy. 

notes:
*Chai Spices include ginger, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and cardamon.  I found that the Pumpkin Pie Spice from Trader Joes has almost all of these ingredients (McCormick leaves out the cardamon. . .so you might want to adjust your flavors accordingly).
** We love Kite Hill Cream Cheese as a dairy free option! 

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