I just got back not too long ago from my 180+ mile round trip to Estes Park and back. That's more driving than I do in 2 months! And I was wrong, I've been there before. On some weekend trip my dad felt compelled to bring me along on (were either of us happy about this decision? Couldn't tell ya).
To start, I need to get something off my chest.
This little paragraph is dedicated to the dude attempting to drive the Honda MINI FREAKIN VAN into my trunk. Number one, you're driving a minivan. Do you understand?! Not a race car. Not even a sedan. A minivan. For real. You are no longer a tough guy in a fast car. You are an adult. Make peace with that, grow up, and calm yourself. You clearly have children (hence the minivan) and I would guess that they like having you around. Which is why you don't drive through the mountains like you drove. You just don't do it. I know most people treat speed limit signs as guidelines, but when they tell you to take a turn at 35 miles an hour in the mountains, it really really does mean you should take that turn at 35 miles an hour-or less! No, I didn't like the white Jeep in front of me either. I agree, she could have gone 55 in the straights just like the signs said she could. However, I really need to explain something to you. Riding my tush in no way causes the car in front of me to go faster. Physics doesn't work in that manner. The car in front of me couldn't give one poop that you are displeased with their driving. Add to that they're not even aware of your displeasure as once again, it was MY trunk you were trying to drive into.
Also, who the flip speeds up in the turns and slows down in straight aways?! Idiots, that's who. You sir are an idiot. Stop it.
Here's the thing. I really dislike mountain driving. It's total white knuckle for me. I'm afraid of heights. Have you looked over the guard rail? I have. That was a mistake. Sometimes it's an awfully long way down! I have no interest in being on the wrong side of the guard rail thankyouverymuch. So driving in the mountains is super stressful for me. My neck and shoulders tense up and don't even bother trying to talk to me. Just let me sing! Singing keeps me calm when I'm driving (so I do a lot of it. Helps me avoid road rage and keeps me from letting tailgaters scare the crap out of themselves by allowing them to get a little too close to my bumper.). I do not like it. This is another thing boyfriends are good for. They like mountain driving.
Now onto fun stuff!
Today was great! I'm tired and will probably not post this until tomorrow when I've had a chance to digest the info. (and the food! OMG. The. Food.) But I wanted to get some first impressions down.
So after my two hour, white knuckled, average singing voiced "where the in the E freakin F am I?" drive, I park and hop out of the car. Guess what greeted me! Guess! Guess! Just try. You'll never guess! Want me to tell you? Ok, I will. Two juvenile elk. Not more than 10 feet away. And just like human juveniles they were all whatever about the fact that there was an adult stranger 10 feet from them. They just looked at me, and then kept slowly walking off to wherever they'd been slowly walking off to before I saw them. One of them even looked at me like, "hey lady, aren't you going to take a picture or something? We're ELK!" And I thought back at him, "yeah I totally want to take a picture of you guys. Hang on a sec while I dig in my phone out of purse!" Wouldn't you know it? I forgot to plug my phone in last night. No battery! I could sense the Elk Eye Roll as they were walking away from me. Kids these days, I tell ya, no respect for their elders. So no one is going to believe me about the elk. I don't care. It happened.
Melissa was up first (and the only one I didn't get to talk to...boo!) and she is indeed rad. I knew it! There were a few people there that had just started their Paleo journey, and she did a great job breaking down the what's and why's. She was funny and knowledgeable and personable and just all around super awesome. Poor woman had to talk for hours! Really great tips on how to keep things interesting, even if you're actually just working with the same ingredients you normally have. Apparently spices make all the difference in the world. Sigh. I should know that! She also led us throughout the day through short little exercises so our tushes didn't get sore and so no one would drop dead of a heart attack at a Paleo conference. That would be bad press.
Lunch, directly after Melissa's talk, was a five minute walk away and was deeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious. All from her cookbook! I am so glad I got that thing, I can't even tell you. Can I just say that after I wrap up my 30 day Autoimmune Protocol the first thing I think I'm making is her chocolate chili? I guess I can say it since this is my blog and I just did. So there :P
Next up was Holly. I think this was my favorite talk of the day. That is in no way to say that Melissa and Michelle were anything to shake sticks at; they were all fabulous. But Holly came at it from a "hey this is my story" kind of way that I just really liked. The woman knows how to get a crowd going too. Very funny. Very honest. Very helpful. She talked about the "Paleo Pyramid" that she came up with. Silly me didn't really take many notes for some reason (probably b/c I was too busy laughing). Basically, learn the frame work. Do it. Adjust it. Learn from it. Find what works best for you.
And last, but of course not least, was Michelle. She also talked a bit about her own journey, but more she talked about how to make it work in a family with a busy life and how to get the kiddos on board. Now, I'm not there yet, but now I know how she does it! She also talked about the experience of Umami flavors and how just combining a couple can make your food freakin awesome without much work at all. (Side note: this knowledge will come in handy because I won fish sauce. I have no idea what to do with it, but apparently it has umami magic inside.) She did a little cooking demo of sorts for us too. We got more yummy food to fill our tumtums for the ride home. I must make her Kahlua pork! So tasty! And, sadly, I now know why I cannot have a Nom Nom Paleo app for my android. Each Android apparently has it's own platform, so they'd have to design it for each one. Talk about expensive! My heart broke a little, but I will survive. Especially since she said people with the iPad app can email recipes... Hint hint C or D ;)
I met some really nice people too. Goodness help me if you
were to ask me their names, but I can tell you where they're from! A
couple from north Wyoming(!) came all the way down. A woman from
Prescott Arizona too. And a couple other women from Loveland. Someone in there is
named Annie. I used to be really good at names but I found that most
people aren't and frankly they get uncomfortable when the encounter
someone who is, so I taught myself to not be good at them. Now I wish I
hadn't done that. I will relearn! Or unlearn. Whatever. I will be good at names again is what I'm trying to say here.
P.S. I got to meet my favorite Paleo food blogger too! Juli from Paleomg.com was in front of me in the lunch line and I just went ahead and said "so this is an awkward place for this, but I really love your blog!" She was very gracious and sweet and told me about how she got into CrossFit (no, not for no reason, I asked silly!) and all that fun stuff.
I had a great day. See any of them if they're ever in your neck of the woods.
Now if you'll excuse me, the heating pad is calling for my shoulders.
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