Healthy Across America Road Trip. Los Angeles to Zion Park, Utah.

Oh man. So much for our first day, we started out with a bang! Our morning began in the healthy of all healthy states California so we had an inkling to make the best of it, or at least I did.

So… off we went, to be super nerdy about the trip we made sure to brand our car traveling cross country.

Unfortunately the night before Karen let me park the car…and… well, after living in NYC for 15 years, let’s just say I am not the best driver. Here is what we found on the car when we returned from dinner:

After scrubbing the window (p.s. dear sir with the angry chapstick, I was in the lines dammit! Your fancy fast yellow car had more than enough room to get out) and packing the car to the hilt we were officially off.

First stop, breakfast. We popped into KrEATion cafe in Santa Monica, full discloser, I hate the name, but they are committed to local organic ingredients and it was on the way… so Karen got an organic egg scramble with spinach, feta, onions, and a side of greens and I got Irish steel cut oatmeal with blueberries, flax oil, and acai juice. Like I said, make the most of it when you are in California.

Karen drove all day and Willie navigated.

We decided not to stop for lunch instead we relied on the provision we purchased for the trip:

5 organic apples
3 oranges
4 bananas
2 bars dark chocolate
1 jar organic almond butter
1 bag organic trail mix

So… lunch today was a bit of the breakfast leftover (the portions from KrEATion were more than enough for 2 servings) and an apple and handful of trailmix.

Then… we arrived. Zion Park, Utah. There seems to be gorgeous mountains peeking through blackness, we can’t wait to wake up tomorrow and see them. The food scene so far… not so gorgeous.

As we checked in to our little hotel we asked the not so friendly front desk manager if there were any interesting restaurants to check out, perhaps someplace that sourced local ingredients or would be deemed “healthy.” He shrugged his shoulders, looked very unimpressed with our vigor for healthy and said, “Well the restaurants are ‘local’, none of them are chains. But ALL THE FOOD COMES FROM THE SAME TRUCK.”

Sigh.

This trip may be harder than anticipated.

Dinner was not as healthy exciting as breakfast. We did our best, honestly we did.

Not too horrible for not planning in advance.

On the way in to Zion Park we passed what looked like an organic farm market. Hopefully tomorrow we can grab more provisions.

Good news: We are under budget for today! Woohoo!!

Here is the rundown:
Starter Provisions: 24.50
$475.50 left for trip
$59.43 budget per day
Day #1:
Breakfast $27.09
Lunch/Provisions
Dinner- $23.17
Total for day 1 = $50.26
Surplus of $9.17

And…

Alarm is set tomorrow morning for an 8 am hike in Zion Park. Super excited for that.

For now, I am going to rest my head on this pillow and dream of fields of kale.

Keep us in your thoughts… we’ve got 7 more days to go!