I am back and with a new view-literally! We arrived in Colorado more than a week ago, and are starting to really settle into our new home.
When I last updated you, we were in South Dakota getting ready to head out for some food and then Mount Rushmore. We went out to Tally’s Silver Spoon for a late breakfast. It had good reviews on Find Me Gluten Free. I would give it a 5-star rating for food, but 3 for discussing gluten free with the server. While she was fine and capable of getting us gluten free options, she had some attitude (I am sure she was very knowledgeable about how their kitchen worked, but she certainly didn’t understand how we gluten free families often deal with restaurant staff who don’t understand as much, so we have to explain a lot) and so when we went to clarify a few questions during the order with her, she snapped back with “I know”….It was pretty unattractive.
After Mount Rushmore, we went back to our Airbnb house we rented. If you haven’t done a rental home before, I recommend it if you want a kitchen. Yes, you need to be careful of the pots/pans/utensils, but what a good wash won’t take care of, aluminum foil (or a few of your own items) should. In our case, the house we rented was the basement of a house where people were living. But they only had a microwave, coffee maker and refrigerator in our space.
The week before we moved I had a hair-brained idea to make a gluten free lasagna in a disposable pan, freeze it and take it with us, allowing it to thaw on our way to Rapid City. That is what we did and I put in the refrigerator upon arrival late Friday night. So Saturday, after Mount Rushmore, we made Caesar salad and had lasagna, heated up in the microwave (one serving at a time). Emma said it was the best meal she’s ever had! I call that the “Rice-A-Roni effect” (I know Rice-A-Roni is not gluten free, but let me explain). You know, when something tastes so much better than it really is, because of the circumstances you are in? I had that happen to me on a camping trip with Rice-A-Roni tasting like the best food ever. I think Emma had a bit of the same experience with my lasagna.
The next day we headed out toward Colorado in a rainy/snowy mix of weather. I was worried because the Denver area got 15 inches of snow the day before and it was lingering into Cheyenne, which we had to pass through to get to our destination. But the snow cleared– or just turned to light rain and we made it safely just a few hours after leaving South Dakota. Then, Monday, April 18th we closed on our new house in Longmont. It has a great amount of space and a mountain view! After a few days of moving in, painting and cleaning, we sent the kids off to school and my 17-year-old, Emma, started in with high school soccer already.
We have been very busy! But I have a few gluten-free discoveries already to share in my new hometown….watch for more on that coming soon.
Tags: celiac, disease, free, gluten, gluten-free, house, lasagna, Mount Rushmore, move, moving, Rapid City, road, South Dakota, travel, trip
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