Go for it!

Right now.

Don't wait.

Life is way too short.

Write that editorial. Call a friend you haven't checked in with for months. Make an amends. Say you're sorry. Forgive. Go on that blind date or make a date night with your love.

Plan a vegan potluck. Plan a protest.

Take a trip. Vietnam? Ireland? Colombia? The mountains. A beach. A back country trip.

We all work so hard. We all are so busy. We can't forget to live.

And live well.

Thanks for reading.

My 14 faves of '14: #3

My third fave of 2014 is Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego.

I am sure you're not surprised!

We LOVE this beach!

The area we hang out at the most is right about the center of this photo in the beach area.

This is from a hike we took this year. We started at the beach, took the road up, and then paths back down to the beach. Incredible!



And us during the hike!

If you are ever going to be in the San Diego area (we hope to live there one day) I highly recommend that you spend at least a day at Torrey Pines State Beach!

Thanks for reading!

Vegan (and gay friendly) Salt Lake City!

Our summer road trip took us in a different direction as we wanted to visit family on the way to California. So we ended up with a night in Salt Lake City and I am so glad we did!

When you think of Salt Like City, what do you think of?

Mormons?

Anti-gay people?

Well, we love Salt Lake City. If you ever have an opportunity to visit, I highly encourage you to take advantage of that and do it.

We stayed at the lovely Hotel Monaco. One of our favorite hotels in Denver, we wanted to give this one a try. It is right downtown, and convenient to several vegan dining options. They are dog friendly and Suga loves how she is pampered at a Hotel Monaco. We were not disappointed in the least. Great room, great service and the location rocks.

The Hotel Monaco also has bikes! Perfect. We rode them to our first meal, at Sage's Cafe.

In our short time in the city we had food from Sage's and their sister restaurant, Vertical Diner. At Sage's we both ordered the special, explained to us as carrot cake pancakes. It ended up being a carrot cake muffin lightly grilled.Quite tasty but not what we were thinking when we ordered. The menu is filled with items that looked tempting, but one can only order so much!

Back at the hotel we were able to order food from Vertical Diner and have it delivered to the hotel! Score! So we ordered the Chicken Biscuit, similar to a pot pie. We both loved this dish and have talked about it a lot since eating it. If you ever get to Vertical Diner I highly recommend it.

Any review of vegan food in Salt Lake City would not be complete without mentioning City Cakes bakery. Oh my. We went twice. Mike had three different scones and loved them all. I loved the cinnamon roll. We both really enjoyed the sausage potato burrito. The entire staff was so kind and friendly, and we especially enjoyed our conversations with Olivia. Definitely check out City Cakes!

Two places we did not make it to but heard very good things about are House of Tibet and Zest Kitchen and Bar. We will definitely check these two out next time.

Great food, great hospitality, a very friendly downtown and an overall progressive feel. Try Salt Lake City if you ever get the chance.

Thanks for reading!

Headed to Salt Lake City

Mike and I start our summer vacation next week. Although our destination is San Diego (no surprise) we are making several stops on the way. After an evening enjoying the hot springs at Glenwood Springs, we head to Salt Lake City.

Why on earth would two gay vegans go to Salt Lake City?

I used to think the same thing. Then I went there about ten years ago for an Amnesty International conference. Loved it.

It's a pretty progressive city.

And way vegan friendly.

We are so excited. This will be Mike's first time. And in the last ten years I think the vegan scene has exploded. Plus, Utah's marriage ban was ruled unconstitutional and although wedding were stopped for the time being I know it is just a matter of time until marriage equality becomes the law of the land.

Have you been to Salt Lake City lately? Or do you live there?

We'd love to hear from you. Only one night so basically dinner and breakfast. We'll be staying at the Hotel Monaco which is downtown.

We love road trips. And we're so excited about this one coming up.

Thanks for reading! We'll keep you posted on any incredible finds during the trip!

Trying Air BnB

Last year at Vida Vegan Con in Portland, OR I met some people who had booked a place to stay through Air Bnb. I don't know what world I had been living in, but I had never heard about this.

For those who are not in the know as I was, Air Bnb is a website where you can find a room, a studio, an apartment or a house to stay in all over the world. The main page offers a place to stay in over 34,000 cities in 190 countries. That covers a lot of choices for travel.

We are new to this, After hearing from another friend who had just booked places to stay during a cross country trip, I got onto the website and started looking at some choices for our upcoming trip to San Diego. We are taking quite the route to get to San Diego, which is typical for our road trips as we plan them around people we can visit and delicious vegan food options we have heard of.

I have to say it's pretty exciting. The profiles of places to stay are well written with plenty of photographs. They include information on whether or not dogs (or cats) are welcome, a map of the location, a way to contact the person offering the space, and reviews from others who have stayed at the property.

I found a couple of places that I thought Mike and I would like and emailed the folks listed as a contact with a couple of questions. For example, at first I didn't know if the dog and cat information meant that the person had dogs and/or cats or that we could bring Suga. The profile states the time frame in which the contact will get back to you and in all three cases I was contacted back well within that time.

So we are booked for our first Air BnB experience! I am pretty excited. A new adventure for us.

If you are interested in checking out a spot for your next trip, here is their website: https://www.airbnb.com/

I'll let you know how it goes!

Thanks for reading!

Loving Los Angeles

Mike at the Hollywood Farmer's Market

On our way to the beach in Encinitas, CA, we had the awesome chance to spend a few days in LA. We love Los Angeles! Suga joined us for this trip and I think she loved LA too!

Please note that this post is simply to let you know where we went during our two day trip. It does not include full restaurant reviews, just brief snippets.

I guess we all think of different things when it comes to LA. Hollywood, movie stars, palm trees. I think of good, vegan food. And this trip LA did not disappoint.

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Century City. Great hotel and wonderful service. I loved their pool and spent as much time there as I good. Pure relaxation. And they let us bring Suga for an additional $50.00. All well worth it as for us it was the perfect place to relax and go out on food missions from.

The awesome pool at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza

Real Food Daily is a staple for me when in LA. Both of us had been there and we went to the West Hollywood location for lunch. They were still serving their weekend brunch so I got the tofu scramble and the French toast. The French toast was the best I have ever had, Mike got the Reuben and he said it was the best Reuben he has ever had. Adam our server was awesome and attentive.

What makes a trip like this even better is being able to spend time with friends. Dinner on Saturday night was with one of my dearest friend Bettina and her husband James. They suggested Shojin and we went to the newer location in Culver City. At first I wasn't all that thrilled as Shojin is a Japanese sushi place. As the food started arriving at our table I was quickly surprised and soon was thrilled to be there.

From texture to taste to service, Shojin gave me a rare food experience and I loved it. If you ever have the opportunity to dine at Shojin, go for it.

Sunday morning we went to the Hollywood Farmer's Market. Definitely don't miss this. We left the hotel at 8am so there was no traffic for the 25 minute drive. The Market is huge, much larger than what we have in Colorado, and there are dozens of options for food and drink. We got to see and taste all sorts of vegetables and fruits and talk with growers about items we have never or rarely seen. The amount of organic produce is what really blew Mike away, and I just loved the immensity of it.

Crossroads was our destination for dinner on Sunday and we were meeting fellow blogger Kristy and her husband Chris for dinner. A new restaurant in West Hollywood and all vegan, we were pretty excited. Crossroads has the feel of a fine dining restaurant and serves small plates. Having just experienced Shojin, my expectations were high. Crossroads delivered, and I think a future trip to LA may or may not include a meal there. The best part of the dining experience was the company, and we were delighted.

Lastly, I just have to tell you about Sun Cafe in Studio City where we ate on our way out of town. What a delight. Great service, incredible food, wonderful atmosphere (we sat outside and Suga was able to join us) with a mix of raw and other options. The server was amazing, and we left smiling for sure.

Oh LA, I sure do love you. As we kept enjoying LA, many of our readers kept sending recommendations. We weren't able to go to even a small fraction of what is offered in LA. All the better for another trip.

Real Food Daily

Shojin

Crossroads

Keepin it Kind - Kristy's blog

Sun Cafe

Awesome actions for this week

One thing I love writing about is that we all have the power to take action in making the world a better place.

Every year Mike and I take a two week vacation. Usually it is planned around visiting one of our parents (two if we're lucky). The past couple of summers we have been able to spend awesome time with all of our parents, and this year we decided to prioritize us and our marriage and are headed to southern California for food and beach.

As we count down the days before we leave, I wanted to share some ideas of how we can all be a voice for the voiceless this week. Some of these ideas are repeats and others are fresh from that turning wheel in my head!

Meatless Monday! Celebrate it! Tell friends who are not vegan or veg all about it and offer them ways (or meal invites!) to enjoy the day.

Walk a dog at a shelter. Yep, no matter what their tomorrow looks like, you can brighten their today with a nice walk and maybe some cuddling.

Play time with a cat in a shelter. Same idea as with the dog minus the walk.

Send a note to your favorite charity with a $25 donation. Tell them why you love them and why you are donating. This will have a huge ripple affect with those who work there. I promise it.

Have a quiet date night with your beloved. Or your best friend. As voices for the voiceless, we have to take care of ourselves.

Write an email to a politician who represents you on any level or your local police chief. Tell them what you think about animal cruelty or anything else important to you. I add the police chief because in Colorado several family dogs have been shot by police and I want our chief to know that we would like his employees to have better training and high expectations.

These are just a start and I hope you have time to do at least one.

With all of us doing actions like these we can rock the world!

Thanks for reading!

Vegan summer adventures

Every year Mike and I take a vegan summer adventure. Most of the time we go to Florida, Illinois or Michigan to visit family.

This year we are taking a long-planned dream vacation to Encinitas, California starting with a couple of days in Los Angeles. In Los Angeles we plan to spend time with friends and eat a lot of delish vegan food. Once in Encinitas, we check into a beautiful little place on the beach where we will eat, cook, relax, swim, kayak and I'm sure many other things while there.

As a blogger near Denver (we live in Lakewood, just west) I often receive questions from folks coming here regarding where to eat. Vegan road trips or trips in general can be tough sometimes. I love to eat. And when I am on vacation I love to eat more. Fortunately for us we get to travel to places where there are awesome places to grab an amazing vegan meal. But that's not the case everywhere.

What to do?

First, check out http://www.happycow.net/ ! All you have to do is plug in the city where you are traveling, and instantly you have all of the known places to grab a bite to eat. This includes restaurant (both vegan and vegan friendly) as well as nutrition stores and grocery stores that might serve or sell vegan dishes.

We have found Happy Cow to be really helpful. On a trip to Florida, we found this amazing grocery store/restaurant in Jackson, Mississippi where we ate like kings. We enjoyed it so much that we made sure to stop in on the way home.

The key here, at least for us, is to try to find places to eat before you leave for your trip. That way you not only have something to look forward to, you also know that at this particular point in the trip you'll be able to find some good vegan options.

While on the internet, Google "vegan" and then the city or country you are traveling to. You might be surprised of your choices. If nothing pops up (never happened to us but just in case) try searching for "vegetarian" then the city or country.

One last place to check out on the internet that can be very helpful are vegan bloggers local to where you are traveling. We follow bloggers all over the place, including Omaha, Memphis, Los Angeles, Portland, Miami, Chicago and San Diego. When it comes to us traveling to one of these places we simply email the blogger and find out where to go.

While traveling between places (like Denver to Los Angeles) we rely not only on Happy Cow but also local, ethnic restaurants. They seem to be even in the smallest of towns and practically every Indian, Nepalese, Ethiopian, Chinese and Thai restaurant has vegan options.

What is your summer adventure going to be?

Thanks so much for reading!

Only two weeks of vacation?

Lately I have been having a conversation with others who work in the non-profit world about vacation time.

I know, this doesn't really relate to being gay or vegan. It does relate to working for human rights and working to making the world a better place for all human beings.

In this world of "family values" and looking at for the "middle"class, why do many people still only get two weeks of paid vacation per year?

Is it a poverty issue? Meaning do those in lower paying jobs or those who are considered the working poor get two weeks and others get more?

Many questions, few answers. I believe that people should have more vacation, it's just that simple. And it seems to me, not a professional human resources guy nor an economist, that our entire society would be much better off when people have a little more time with family and friends.

I am going to continue the conversation. I am going to start asking everyone how much paid time vacation they get.

Join me. Well, join me if you believe that people should get more than two weeks of paid vacation. I say people should start off with three weeks of vacation.

Your feedback would be wonderful.

Thanks for reading!

Camping in Wyoming

Mike and I just returned from an amazing camping trip in south-central Wyoming.

You might be thinking, gay and vegan in Wyoming?

Definitely!

Before I even begin, I must saw that we were completely surprised by how beautiful this particular national forest is. We knew we were in for a treat, but WOW. We highly recommend this area for either car camping or back country.

The east entrance is just west of Laramie (take exit 311 from I80 in Laramie and head west on state highway 130), starting out in this town of 100 called Centennial . The restaurant/bar here (on the left as you enter from the east and named the Beartree Tavern & Cafe) is one of the first buildings in town, you can't miss it. Plenty to eat as a vegan, including gazpacho! The veggie burger is NOT vegan, just so you know. Yet they have plenty of options.

We car camped this trip and found an incredible spot (#28) in North Fork campground about 10 minutes west from Centennial. Pass the Spruce Creek camping area and after a few miles look for a blue camping sign underneath a road sign on the right. Of course I can't remember the name of the road. Turn right here and you'll go up and see a sign that says North Fork CG, 1 mile.

For meals we rocked it. I am a big pancake guy while camping so we had pancakes both mornings. Vegan pancakes are so easy to make! Mike had found this new (to us) vegan sausage mix that we tried and we all loved it. The first night Jessie made dinner and it was rice, quinoa, black beans and lots of delish, organic veggies from her garden including kale! YUM! Then the second night we made sloppy Joe's, perfect for a night with friends by a campfire. Snacks throughout the trip included peanut butter sandwiches, chips, hummus and tabbouleh.

What was really shocking for me was that there were a ton of families there and we barely heard a word. After spending last summer camping in Colorado State Parks and dealing with a lot of noise, this was such a breath of fresh air. Suga enjoyed the couple of dogs that visited and especially enjoyed the other dogs camping with us: Trudy, Libby and Ben. The whole area was very dog friendly.

Once you get settled in, you can go back to Highway 130 and head west. In just a few minutes, your mind will be blown by the upcoming Snowy Range. I was so stoked, and surprised. There was so much snow (on July 2nd) that people were even skiing and going down the mountain on inner-tubes. There are trail heads here but all were snow-covered.

We continued west to check out Saratoga, WY, population 1,800. There is a hot springs here but it was closed due to the flooding. We went to Lollipop's for a coffee (they have soy milk) but at the last minute I changed my mind and ordered one of the most delicious limeades I have ever had.

This is a great place to add that Mike and I felt welcomed wherever we were. People didn't blink when I called him one of my terms of endearment or when we asked about veg items. One guy in Centennial, when we asked about veg items without cheese, asked us "oh, so are you vegan?". YEEHOO!

This blog is all about sharing our experiences as being gay and vegan in the west. We would love to know yours. We have received amazing feedback since starting this blog, and we are very grateful. Keep it coming.

If you are gay and vegan, there is a community for you! No matter where you are! One doesn't have to live in a big city or in a gay ghetto to find other gay folks who embrace a compassionate lifestyle.