Wyoming Vacation - Day 6 and Day 7

Well, we've just about reached the end of the vacation. These last two days were mostly spent with Ryan's family in Casper - that is, once we finally got there. Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures due to all the chaos, but we had a really great time.

After navigating through the crazy snow storm in Jackson, we got back down to lower ground and continued on the now six hour journey to Casper. Since our original route had changed due to weather, we were kind of "winging it" on our new, longer route. Since we were adding about 70 miles to our trip, Ryan reviewed the map to see if he could find a quicker way to go. He ended up locating some small highway on the map that appeared to follow closely with the mountain range rather than going down South and back up. We decided to go with it, not knowing what the road was going to be like ahead. I mean, it was on a map, so we assumed it was a legit road. We drove along a nicely paved road for about 10 miles before it turned to dirt. Yes, DIRT. On top of that, there had clearly been snow in the recent past, leaving many of the dirt roads very muddy. Did I mention we were in a Mazda 3? Not exactly the best vehicle for such driving conditions.

Anyway, with every turn we took it seemed like we were "almost to the road". We (and by 'we' I mean Ryan - haha) just knew that around the next curve we'd be on the main highway again. After about an hour and a half, our short cut dropped us off approximately 5 miles North of where we would have been, had we stayed on the main highway. That tends to be how short cuts go though, right? At least the weather cooperated.

This is the route Google Maps suggested we take



This is the Short Cut that we ended up taking

They look awfully similar huh!

Once back on the main road we noticed we were running low on gas. Unfortunately for us, the closest town, Jeffrey City, was about 30 miles away. When we finally got to this tiny ghost town, we went to the only building that looked like it had people in it. We found out that this town had no gas station. It was either continue on our route for 30 more miles or turn around and go 60 the way we came from. We obviously opted for the 30 mile route. When we reached the gas station, we experienced price gouging at it's best. Since it was the only option for many miles, they were charging an outrageous $4.10/gallon for regular, unleaded gas. Mind you, the rest of Wyoming was selling gas for around $3.20 during this time. So we got the minimum amount needed to get us to the next town, where we could fuel up for a more reasonable price.

We finally rolled into Casper around 5:30, just in time for dinner. We met up with Ryan's Aunt and Uncle, then went to pick up his Grandmother, and headed to the restaurant. Dinner was really good, but I was EXHAUSTED! I could not wait to get back to their house and go to bed. It had been a really long day of driving, and had started out very stressful because of the weather. Once we got back, we hit the sheets and we were out!

The next day started out pretty peaceful. We didn't have much planned since Ryan's Aunt & Uncle both had to work this day, so we decided to drive around town a little. We ventured up to the cemetery to visit his Grandfather's grave. Later that afternoon we went and visited his Grandmother and took her out for ice cream and drove up Casper Mountain. We tried to take some pictures up there, but it was really windy and only one turned out alright. We did get some more deer pictures though!

Ryan and his Grandmother on top of Casper Mountain

After we dropped Ryan's grandmother back off, we headed back to his Aunt & Uncle's house. We were notified that many of Ryan's cousins would be coming over that evening to hang out, so we were pretty excited! Ryan hadn't seen many of them for a year or so, and I had never met them. Some of the family had already arrived by we time we got there. There were so many little kids running around all over the place!!

Most of that evening was a blur. It just went by so fast! I so happy to meet everyone and to announce our engagement! After things settled down and everyone went home, we hit the sack again. We had a long day of driving ahead of us. The next morning we woke up to a fabulous home cooked breakfast of biscuits and gravy! The hospitality was so great. It was just what we needed to begin our trip back home.

The rest of the story gets very, very boring. It primarily consists of driving across Nebraska. The trip from Casper to Kansas City was about 14-15 hours, so we didn't get home until around 2 or 3am. I don't really recall - I was that tired! The only thing I really remember from the monotonous drive back is the way the humidity increased with every mile. There is such a HUGE difference between the humidity in Kansas and Wyoming. I didn't notice it as much going there, but on the way back it was extremely hard to ignore.

Well, that about sums it up! I hope I didn't leave anything major out! I probably should have written these recaps oh, about 3 months ago! But what's new?! I'm a little slow to update, obviously! So I hope you all enjoyed reading about my latest vacation!

Picture Troubles

To those of you who view my blog through a reader or via email, you might get notification of updates to prior posts. I changed some settings on my pictures on Flickr, and apparently, by doing that, I removed them from the blog. So the updates were just to correct that information. Sorry for any inconveniences!

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

I know it may seem unnecessary to post a recipe for spaghetti with meat sauce. You're probably thinking, "Really? How hard could it be?" Well, I can definitely admit to searching and searching for the perfect homemade sauce. The stuff that comes in jars can be good,  but there is so much extra junk added in the mix that really doesn't need to be there. Also, the price. It can get pretty expensive to buy the quality sauces.

After numerous sauces and various experimentation, I've finally created a sauce that I am completely satisfied with. In my personal opinion, and Ryan's too, this is the best sauce EVER! Now I know everyone has different tastes, and some may already have a "best sauce EVER" that they would defend to the end. However, for those of you in search of an easy, flavorful, inexpensive sauce, this recipe is for you! Feel free to change things up too. The fun with cooking is the experimentation!

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef (or chicken, turkey, etc.)
1 medium-large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 8oz cans of tomato sauce (or one large can - approx 24-28oz. Small ones just happened to be on sale)
1 6oz can of tomato paste (because I like my sauce a little thicker)
1 6.5oz can of mushrooms, diced (fresh would be awesome as well - I only had canned)
1 tsp dried basil*
1/2 tsp dried oregano*
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 tsp salt
1-2 tbsp sugar (depending on personal tastes)
Black pepper to taste
Couple shakes of crushed red pepper (optional)


Instructions:
Begin with browning the meat. Once the meat is fully cooked, drain off any excess grease and return to pan. With the heat set to high, add the diced onions. Cook for a few minutes, until the onions begin to soften. Next throw in the minced garlic. When the mixture becomes fragrant, add in the other ingredients.

Stir in the tomato sauce, tomato paste, mushrooms**, and spice mixture. I personally like to combine all of my spices beforehand. This is just personal preference though. Bring the mixture to a low boil, then reduce the heat. At this point, the sauce is technically ready to serve. However, I like to let it simmer for awhile so everything can mesh together nicely. If you go that route, reduce the heat to a low simmer and cover, stirring occasionally. Depending on how hungry I am and how much time I have, I would let it simmer anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour.

Once the sauce is to your liking, grab a pile of spaghetti, add a generous serving of this meat sauce and a heaping handful of Parmesan cheese (that is, if you are a cheese fiend like me). If you want to get all fancy, you can top the dish with a couple leaves of basil. This treacherous Midwest heat did my basil plant in though, so no fanciness here.

To save time in the future, go ahead and make a double batch of the sauce and freeze it in an airtight container. Before freezing, make sure the sauce has cooled completely. Savour at a later date!!

*Remember - Dried herbs are more concentrated than fresh herbs. When substituting fresh for dried, you will need to increase the amount you are using.
** If you are using fresh mushrooms, add them to the mix with the onions

Recipe Source: My Imagination

Wyoming Vacation - Day 4 and Day 5

Hi Again!

Back for the Wyoming Vacation recap I see. Well, I pretty much covered the main events of Day 4! After the big proposal we went back to the hotel to regroup. Since it was so cold and snowy we weren't really sure what to do. So we decided that nothing sounded better than taking a blissful, newly engaged, afternoon nap. It was pretty great!

After the nap, we started our search for dinner. We love using Open Table. It's a free service that allows you to make restaurant reservations online (or with your phone). Every time you check in at your reservation you earn points. Sometimes there are promotions and you get a crazy amount of points, but it's typically 100 or so for most restaurants. The way I see it, I'm eating out whether I use Open Table or not. I might as well accumulate points. When you reach a certain balance of points you receive a gift certificate. Moving right along (see how easily I am distracted!)

We chose to eat at the Silver Dollar Grill in the Famous Wort Hotel. It came highly recommended by the hotel magazines! The food was really great, although I wish I had paid more attention when ordering. I chose the Salmon en Croute.... and yeah, I don't like breaded salmon so much. After I removed the "croute" it was delicious! Ryan ordered a super thick filet. I probably wouldn't eat there on a regular basis because it was pretty expensive, but it was nice for the occasion.

After dinner we walked around briefly in the town square. The antler entrance to the park was all lit up at night and looked pretty cool. However, it was freezing out, so we went back to the condo to hang out. It was a night of more roasted marshmallows in our fireplace.

 The next day we woke up to beautiful weather. I'd say it was around low 50's. Since it was so nice out, we decided to venture out to some of the nearby national parks. We knew for sure that Yellowstone was still closed, so we headed South toward the Grand Teton National Park

Unfortunately we didn't get to travel very far into the park. We were able to drive about 8 miles in before we had to turn around. Everything was still covered with snow, so the majority of views looked like this:

 

The entrance to the park looked promising!

 

 

The roads were clear, but the snow was piled higher than the car!

We really wanted to see Jenny Lake, but found out the roads leading there were still closed. However, we were pretty excited when was saw that the roads to Jackson Lake were open and went right along the banks. Unfortunately, this is what lakes look like in Wyoming during the month of April: 

 

It was still really pretty, but it would be nice to go back again sometime in the summer! After we left the park, we headed back to Jackson. Right on the edge of town is a wildlife refuge. Since it was on our way and free we decided to check it out. I think it's primarily for elk, but we saw lots of sheep, and even a grey wolf! The animals obviously didn't hang out close to the road, so they look really tiny in our pictures.

 

 (Sheep on the left and elk on the right)

Later that evening we went back to Snake River to get dinner. After that we just hung out back in the condo. Before we went to bed that night, it looked like this outside:

 

When we woke the next morning it looked like this:

Basically the same shot as the night before - just covered with a few feet of snow!!

The pile of snow on top of Ryan's car as we checked out of the hotel

We wiped the snow off the top of the car and began our trip to Casper. We had planned on leaving Jackson the same way we came. However, due to the snow overnight and the continued snow that morning, the road we came on was completely whited out. I used to think I knew what "white-out" conditions were, but after seeing Jackson white outs, I can for SURE say I know! I tried to take a picture, but anyone who's ever been in a white out knows everything is just bright white, so as you can guess, the pictures didn't turn out very well. Since we couldn't see anything at all, let alone where the road ended and fields began, we decided to turn around and find a new way out of town.

We went up the North side of the mountain, which ended up taking a little longer. On the way we stopped by Teton Village and snapped some photos and checked out the mansions. This is clearly where the rich and famous stay when they come to town! We tried to be as non-creepy as possible while gawking at the mansions, so I refrained from snapping photos of the huge houses. This is the only picture I took while in Teton Village:

The mountains in the background were sprinkled with amazing houses!

Back on the road to Casper! Final Wyoming Vacation post coming soon!