Long weekend

So this weekend Becca and I headed to Palm Springs to celebrate our independence. We stopped at the Dinosaur museum on the way because she's been pestering me for months to go. It turned out to be a really good time. We broke the law and hopped the fences so we could pose with a baby brontosaurus (pics coming soon) and sit on a turtle's back. We climbed into the T-Rex's mouth just like in the movie and were told that evolution isn't real...wait what? Yes it seems the Dino Museum has been turned into a creationist museum instead. It provided lots of giggles for us as we looked at fully armor-clad knights battling dinosaurs and lions all at once. 

We stayed at the Travlodge.  It was cool enough as we spent most of our time in the pool. (Pics will not be coming soon lol)  Sadly we left with a slight layer of color but only distinguishable by the stark white bathing suit lines. I believe most people would still call us very pale.

What I was most excited about was eating at the Palm Springs Native Foods, which I heard was slightly different. It was fabulous as always.  We ended up eating there three times in three days (this was Becca's first try so she was excited to try some tasty vegan food.)  The desserts were what really made this trip memorable. We had the chocolate love pie. This pudding-like chocolaty goodness was spectacular but the almond spiced crust was clearly the winner as we battled forks to get each bite. The chocolate chips felt a little excessive but we were happy to eat around them.

The next dessert was the strawberry shortcake parfait. This was the perfect combination of sweet and sour. I have no idea what Chef Tanya made that silky parfait from but if it's in her cookbook, then I need to own a copy as soon as possible. The other very cool thing about our multiple Native Foods visits was that Chef Tanya herself made an appearance on the 5th. She chatted up an elderly man at the table beside us. Because we were busy stuffing our faces we didn't get a chance to say hello but she seemed very nice and approachable.

Next on our vegan Palm Springs tour was Nature's Cafe.  This is a tiny cafe situated in a corner of a health food store.  The wait was long because each meal is made completely from scratch. Becca got the burrito while I chose the garlic ginger stirfry. Mmmm, they were both great. Becca can be a bit snobby about the simplicity of lots of vegan food but she enjoyed this wrap very much (though she isn't a huge fan of alfalfa sprouts, I thought they were great).  I loved my stirfy especially with a few sprays of Bragg Amino Acids. We finished our meal out with a couple of Rice Dream ice cream sandwiches.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that our Independence Day was free of fireworks and slaughter, both of which I'm good without! :)