A Day in Denver

Botanical Garden, Denver, CO I Ross and Jamie Adventure

August 31, 2018August 28, 2018 | jamiefeinberg

Last week I had a dentist appointment for a cleaning, twenty minutes north of Denver, so Ross and I used it as an excuse to spend the day in the area.

We first headed to the Denver Zoo, which was Ross’ top choice for the city. While there, we had a wonderful conversation and catch up with Katherine and Morgan, our bosses at Musicalarts, the studio we taught at in Exeter. We loved seeing them, even if it was way too short, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon seeing animals, including an elephant presentation, and eating BBQ and ice cream (from God Save the Cream, a Denver company).

The zoo is really wonderful, and being there brought back memories of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and of course Animal Kingdom at Disney World.

After our zoo adventure, we headed to a gaming store for Ross, where he found a Gameboy game he’d been looking for. Then we headed to the Denver Botanic Gardens, which are definitely the most stunning I’ve ever seen. Here we met up with Melanie, a classmate of mine from high school. Melanie and I hadn’t seen each other in about sixteen years, but our conversation was easy and natural, and after closing down the gardens, she agreed to join us at our next destination, High Line Creamery, for some ice cream. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of Melanie.

Melanie and Ross each got a (reasonable) double scoop, and I got a (not so reasonable) ice cream flight. In fact, the two of them wanted some real food, so I sent them next door to grab burgers (closing time was approaching) while I finished my epic flight. (You can subscribe to In Search of a Scoop for all the ice cream details.)

It was an awesome night, and it reaffirmed a) that we have awesome friends b) that RVing is a great way to see them and c) we love the Denver area.

It’s so strange to realize the summer is quickly coming to an end. And with it, the end of our time in Fort Collins gets closer. We will definitely miss this area, and we know we will be back, but we’ve got some wonderful ukulele classes to teach and performances to share, and lots of family and friends to visit with.

I hope you’re all had a great week and find your own adventure too!

Visiting A Botanical Garden in Fort Collins, CO

August 10, 2018August 9, 2018 | jamiefeinberg

As you may know, I’m a sucker for flowers, nature and gardens of all types. The older I get, the more I realize this is true and seem to embrace it.

For instance, last night I was stressed and tryin to avoid a panic attack. My solution was to take a walk on the nature trail here in the park.

When I started walking, I was wishing I had a friend who’d take my call after 10 pm. By four minutes in, I was filled with gratitude, pure and simple, for my surroundings. It was almost an immediate fix. Telling, right?

So Thursday morning, I made a trip to the City of Fort Collins’ botanical garden. They suggest a donation of $5 for admission, although that felt a little steep to me today. (By next year, that would be a steal, once the construction and expansion are complete.)

I could tell you stories about their outdoor kitchen and Garden of Eaten, and rave about the colors and flowers I saw. But instead, I will just share some photos, so you can enjoy too. Thanks for stopping by!

Seven Reasons To RV in Northern NH

June 22, 2018June 13, 2018 | jamiefeinberg

My latest blog post for Outdoorsy explores why you should visit northern NH. Check it out!

Thanks so much for reading. We’ve been enjoying Boulder, Longmont and of course Fort Collins in our free time. Hope you’re having adventures of your own!

A Guide to Gluten-Free RVing

June 15, 2018 | jamiefeinberg

As most of you know, I’ve been gluten-free for almost two years now. It’s made a profound difference in my auto-immune challenges. But it’s taken me a long time to feel like I’m not missing out eating the way I do.

Recognizing the extra challenge in this, I wrote an article on gluten-free RVing for Outdoorsy this month. Give it a read and let me know what you think!

Easy RV (Or Anywhere) Dinner Ideas

June 1, 2018May 24, 2018 | jamiefeinberg

I recently wrote an article for Outdoorsy on easy RV dinner ideas. Ross helped a bit with it too. We eat really, really well in our RV, and it doesn’t have to be complicated to be delicious!

Hope these ideas help you on a busy night!

Overnighting at Walmart – How Tos!

May 25, 2018May 24, 2018 | jamiefeinberg

We’re having a fun and busy week with family! But I haven’t forgotten about you. (Cat photo for attention!)

I wrote an article for Outdoorsy magazine on best practices when you’re overnighting at Walmart.

If you’re interested, give it a read, or share it with someone else who might like to. And thanks!

Finding Fun in Fort Collins

May 18, 2018May 17, 2018 | jamiefeinberg

As predicted, we still haven’t gotten our act together on RV repairs, but we’re certainly enjoying our time here. We do get a bit of an employee discount on cabins here, so if any of our readers want to visit us in Fort Collins, let us know and we can get you a discount at the campground. 🙂

One of the best things about Fort Collins is how incredibly bike-friendly it is. There are so many miles of walking/bike/equestrian trails, and if we had bikes, we’d have an easy 3 mile drive to downtown from here. Throughout the city, bike signage is super-clear and bikes are everywhere. They also have a bus system, which is a nice option I imagine, but if we lived here we’d definitely bike 80% of the time – at least until winter!

So this past week, I did some further exploring of the closest bike trail to us. I didn’t walk all the way to Old Town, the historic downtown area, but I walked about three miles of farms, forests, river and housing. It’s a beautiful and very popular trail. It’s also where we buried Bear, the second kitten we lost.

We also visited Dungeons and Drafts. It’s an adorable geek bar where the decorations, menu and activities cater to geeks and weirdos like us. We went to their comedy open mic, which was great. They take musicians if time allows, so we were hoping, but it didn’t. We’re hoping since we stayed until the end and all the comics loved Ross’ laughter, they’ll let us sing some geeky songs when we return.

The bar is fabulous. It’s reminiscent of a medieval castle, with a giant tower of games to borrow and play. (We tried Ticket to Ride, which we loved!) We each had a couple of drinks (which we never do, but it was pretty affordable for a treat) and shared a giant plate of amazing BBQ pulled pork nachos.

We’re looking forward to heading back there. Otherwise, the big excitement might be that Jamie went to Second Friday in Loveland, which was fun but nowhere near as cool as Longmont or Fort Collins, and she ended the night with two chocolate chip cookies with vanilla frosting in between them. Gluten-free goodies from Mary’s Mountain Cookies are legit!

And finally, if you’re looking for a kitten update, we just started eating canned kitten food, but mom is still feeding them too. Stay tuned for cat box adventures….

That’s it from Fort Collins. Have a great week, and thanks for reading!

Pizza Victory in Fort Collins

May 4, 2018May 2, 2018 | jamiefeinberg

When you’re gluten-free, any pizza is a treat, but we recently hit the holy grail of pizza places in Fort Collins. For food reasons alone, Colorado is going to be very hard to leave!

Trigger warning: pet death

I’ve been gluten-free for almost two years now for health reasons. Way back when, I’m search of relief from auto-immune issues (both known and mysterious), I began an elimination diet, and the auto-immune protocol really helped me. Gluten was quickly proven to be extremely problematic for me, and as my favorite foods were bread and dessert, going gluten-free was tough.

Honestly, on a day to day basis, it’s become pretty easy, but in social situations and going out to eat, eating can still be really stressful (instead of enjoyable, as it should be). So every once and a while, I enjoy gluten-free indulgences.

This past week has been challenging. On top of training and being trained at work, we lost another kitten, Bear, which was really sad. So Sunday evening, before our grocery shopping run, we decided to treat ourselves to pizza. A quick search of the Find Me Gluten Free app showed excellent reviews for The Garlic Knot in Fort Collins. There are lots of places to get gluten-free pizza here, but when I saw that their menu offered a large gluten-free pizza (you usually can’t choose sizes) and gluten-free garlic bread, I was sold.

They warn that the pizza will take a half hour (if it’s gluten-free), but since we ordered garlic bread, the wait wasn’t bad. Ross got amazing glutenous garlic knots, and I got their gluten-free garlic bread. Wow. The texture of the bread wasn’t exactly what I expected, but it was crispy and quite good, covered in delicious mozzarella and with their homemade marinara for dipping. It was outrageous. It reminded me so, so much of the calzones I’ve been craving since going gluten-free, and it took all my self-control to save half for home.

Ross and I then shared a 14″ pineapple and “breakfast bacon” pizza. The bacon was delicious and very finely chopped. Best of all? It tasted almost like a real pizza crust! The crust is my favorite part, so that is such a big deal to me. Heaven.

Service was great, atmosphere is beautiful but casual and it’s laid out well for pickup or eat in. They also have ice cream available for dessert, as well as other delicious options.

So I think we found our pizza and garlic bread place!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Garlic Knot.

One more non-food update. I’ve been asked to write more blogs for Outdoorsy. 🙂 This paid writer thing is pretty great!

Have a great week, friends, and thanks for reading.

Settling in and Kitten Adventures

April 27, 2018May 2, 2018 | jamiefeinberg

We’ve now been in Fort Collins for about a week and a half, and we’re happy to be stretching our legs a bit after a month or so of RV travel. It’s always nice to settle in…not having to pack up regularly and having full hookups (that we don’t have to pay for) are major perks that make giving up regular travel easier.

Of course, we aren’t the type to sit still! We’ve already visited local music and gaming stores, sampled homemade ice cream and gelato, and today, we visited Longmont, CO’s great downtown and explored a bookstore, music store and a dedicated gluten-free bakery and cafe. (It’s definitely a town we will return to. The cafe was fabulous, and there’s a homemade ice cream place we haven’t tried yet!)

Bakery Display at Aime's Love, Longmont, CO | Ross and Jamie Adventure — Bakery Display at Aime’s Love, Longmont, CO

Alley art, Longmont, CO | Ross and Jamie Adventure — Beautiful alley art in Longmont, CO

Gelato & aMore, Fort Collins, CO | Ross and Jamie Adventure — All the deliciousness at Gelato & aMore, Fort Collins, CO

The Woodshed, Fort Collins, CO | Ross and Jamie Adventure — Visiting one The Woodshed in Fort Collins, CO

Walrus Ice Cream, Fort Collins, CO | Ross and Jamie Adventure — The bright exterior of Walrus Ice Cream in Fort Collins, CO

RV Site in Fort Collins, CO | Ross and Jamie Adventure — Settled in for the summer!

We’re truly enjoying being so close to great food and services with a view of the Rockies in the background. Today the kittens went to the vet…we’ve got a couple of infections to treat and have a couple of medications to give out daily. Squeak was cool as a cucumber the entire time, and there’s really not much cuter than a cat carrier full of kittens and mom.

Cats in an RV, Fort Collins, CO | Ross and Jamie Adventure — Squeak and Bear (formerly known as Groot)

Kittens in Colorado | Ross and Jamie Adventure — What a face, right?

Kittens in an RV | Ross and Jamie Adventure

The campground work is off to a good start, and we’ve got some great employees to work with. It’s a beautiful campground, and I’m especially excited about the nature walk, which I typically walk twice a day. Here are some of the gorgeous photos from my walks around the campground. Fort Collins, CO | Ross and Jamie Adventure

We’re hoping to make quick trips to Boulder and Denver, as well as Colorado Springs, while we are here for the summer. We’d also love to book some gigs on our days off.

Want to host us for a night? Have ideas on where we need to visit? Let us know.

And if you enjoyed this, perhaps you’d also enjoy hearing about our adventures settling in Orlando or visiting Austin. We’ve also got a fun post on Disney for adults. Thanks for reading!

Crafting The Life You Want: A Practice in Living

Ross and Jamie Adventure – Coaching and Creating

Rossandjamieadventure