There’s an old saying that “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas.” But we’re not ones for keeping secrets. So, here’s the low-down on Wendi and KDcat’s time in Sin City — straight from Wendi’s travelogue, once again!
We drove to Las Vegas from California, and loved seeing the change as our surroundings became a desert. The snow-capped mountains are such a beautiful contrast in CA, but especially here in Nevada where it’s so dry and hot!
This stop was longer than expected, since we decided to change our schedule a bit in order to get some more relaxing time in–and also to allow KDcat to have some fun that didn’t involve raw foods or Pure Jeevan activity. We decided to hold off on visiting a date farm and the grand canyon (two activities we’d had planned for this leg of the trip) until Jim could do those things with us as a family. We especially missed him during this part of the trip, because he’s always wanted to see what Vegas is like in person.
It’s definitely sunnier and hotter here. It’s strange to see a city built up in the middle of the desert. This is our resting spot … the place where we’ll chill out a bit, do some things that KDcat will enjoy, and try to catch up with files to upload to Jim for the blog. Some initial observations about Las Vegas:
Like New York City, this is another city that never sleeps!
Regarding the nickname “Sin City” … oh, my! We saw more things than I wanted to see, and I’m glad KDcat wasn’t any younger!
Be prepared to exercise while in Vegas. We got quite a lot! We did 11 hours of nonstop walking while here! (Recall that part where I mentioned that we had decided that Vegas would be our special city for *relaxing*?)
We planned for a full day of walking around, so we packed some salads, glass bottles of spring water, and raw snacks from our lovely tour snack sponsors, Natural Zing! We stayed out much later than expected (well past my bedtime) and our food supply was exhausted. So, I did the best I could to have energy to get back to the car (which was parked over 1.5 miles away). Fortunately, I found a Mexican restaurant that offered fresh guacamole. It wasn’t great, but I was able to power it out. [Note from Jim: Mexican restaurants are decent "emergency" places to stop for raw foodies because, quite often, the nicer places make fresh guacamole and salsa -- and they all have lettuce -- which together can make for a nice salad.]
While walking around, we visited a wax museum (our only splurge for something to do). I only decided to splurge because, in the brochure, they showed a picture of Johnny Depp. I wanted to see how “real” these wax figures were! *giggles* [See photo set below for Wendi finally meeting her Johnny.]
It wasn’t the most ideal time to visit Las Vegas, because the streets were lined with lots of drunken people celebrating St. Patrick’s day. It was kind of amusing at times, but the stench from all of the alcohol was a little overwhelming to my senses.
Speaking of overwhelming, the air quality was horrible. It’s tough to believe, but there are probably more smokers here than in Pittsburgh!
Naturally, we also visited the Go Raw Cafe, and of course interviewed one of the co-owners, Lu, who gifted us a meal and some of her packaged snacks (I had the burger with the award winning NV salad, which was good. KDcat had some food from the salad bar and some coconut water). [Here's the interview with Lu:]
While at Go Raw Cafe, we bought some sweet raw snacks for the rest of our trip back home. Lu was really nice and generous.
We stayed at an awesome hotel/resort called Cancun. Jim was able to get a special deal online. For $65/night, we got a spectacular room with its own kitchen and even a blender (which came in handy, as we shopped for most of our own foor at the local Whole Foods). Surely it’s not always that inexpensive. Must’ve been a special mid-week deal!
On our final evening, there was a beautiful, windy storm. It never rained, but it sure seemed like there was going to be a downpour. The sunset was gorgeous when the sky cleared a bit for us to see it.
Here’s the photo set from their stay in Las Vegas!:
Next stop: Arizona!!
We hope you’ll check out our generous snack sponsor for the trip, Natural Zing, who made our travels extra enjoyable! They have the best selection of raw food snacks, supplies, and appliances for a raw food lifestyle!
Before we run this blog entry, let me first announce one awesome thing: Wendi and Kdcat are back home now!! Yep, the trip is now officially over, and was a HUGE success. Not only did our fearless raw travelers identify Pure Jeevan’s soon-to-be new home town — Portland, Oregon! — but Wendi and KDcat also met and made friends with hundreds of people from around the country. I’m sure Wendi will be back here on the blog with overall reflections and so forth soon. However, the trip generated so much content that it’s going to take a while to catch up! So, let’s pick up with the travel narrative where we last left off. As you may recall, the girls were leaving San Luis Obispo and heading into sunny Los Angeles! Let’s see what Wendi had to say, again with her travelogue:
Wow, it’s finally looking like CA with all the palm trees! After hitting and dealing with some major traffic of a large city, we arrived to the warmest welcome at the home of Debbie Young (of DebbieDoesRaw) — a decorative greeting waiting on the door, gift bags handed to us as we walked inside, loving hugs and smiles, and the most amazing raw meal ever (samosas!, chai, pineapple lassi, mango chutney, tamarind chutney, biscotti cookies), and a snack basket waiting in our private apartment! At this stop, we were totally spoiled by Debbie and her beautiful family!
This is one of the stops I was really looking forward to, because Debbie and I have been online friends for a long time. We were able to spend a short amount of time together at the Raw Spirit Festival in 2008, and I loved her and wanted to spend more time with her and meet her lovely family in person (including their adorable dog, Malcolm).
Debbie, Sam, KDcat, and I met some other raw foodies at CRU, a raw food restaurant here in L.A., and had a nice time talking and taking lots of pics of the food. When we returned to Debbie’s place, she served us some divine cacao truffles while I chatted with her talented, creative husband, Warner, who has an awesome job where he’s able to work a bit on promotional merchandise for movies like Twilight! I was all fan-girl, giggling and swooning, as he shared some vampire and werewolf goods with me! That evening, KDcat, Sam, and Malcolm had fun together while Debbie and I video chatted online with Jim before bed.
In the morning, Debbie greeted me with an AMAZINGLY energizing fresh juice, and then we headed out to see some L.A. sights. Naturally, we visited the beach (where KDcat stepped into the ocean), walked the boardwalk, saw a famous carousel where I got a gypsy fortune [see photoset] that told me I shouldn’t travel. We then walked to a shopping area called the promenade, and checked out some shops there.
We also walked to another well-known raw food destination, Juliano’s restaurant. However, much like my visit to CRU, I was disappointed by the level of service and friendliness of the staff. I began to wonder: Is there a raw restaurant in Los Angeles that has a loving raw vibe like I’ve experienced in just about every other city I’ve ever visited?
The answer to this question came later when we drove to Matt Amsden’s Rawvolution restaurant. Kdcat and I were very impressed with the restaurant, the quality of the food, the friendliness of the staff, and the comfortable ambience. If anyone’s visiting L.A. and can visit only one raw restaurant, Rawvolution would be my recommendation.
While there, we happened to meet some nice raw foodies who agreed to be part of a quick video for the Pure Jeevan blog. In the video are Elaina Love of PureJoyLivingFoods.com, Chris Whitcoe, owner of Vivapura, and Orion Solarian.
We left the restaurant a little bit late, and I was able to experience true L.A. traffic. When we returned home, KDcat got a hair trim from Debbie, who is an amazing raw beautician. (If you’re in the area and want a cut/style, be sure to connect with Debbie!)
Debbie continued to spoil us during our entire visit. Every morning, we were treated to fresh juice and some awesome raw nut milk, granola, fresh fruit, chai tea, and even cooked pancakes for KDcat. Our Pure Jeevan family members send a lot of emails asking me for suggestions about eating/serving raw breakfast foods. Well, Debbie sure knows how to do it, so I’ve asked her to consider creating a Makin’ It Monday video showing everyone how she prepares the milks she serves with her homemade granola and fresh fruit. She’ll show everyone how easy it is to prepare and store the milks for an easy morning breakfast! It was a real treat, since we’re mostly used to having simple fruit or a blended fruit smoothie.
KDcat had a lot of fun in L.A. She walked to school in the morning with Sam, Debbie, and Malcolm, and she thoroughly enjoyed playing with Warner’s many musical instruments. She enjoyed the Young family as much as I did. In fact, we loved them so much we felt the earth move (LITERALLY! We experienced our very first earthquake — small enough to not terrify us, but large enough to have said we were in one).
Before leaving L.A. we did some thinking about our next few days. We wanted some quiet time to just chill, with less packing/unpacking. So, we decided to head to a great deal Jim found for us in Las Vegas, NV. He said since the economy is down a bit, there are some great deals there. So, he found a resort where we could chill for a few days — one that has a full apartment with a refrigerator and blender (!), at about half the cost of a normal hotel room anywhere else in the country! What a sweet deal!
It wasn’t easy leaving L.A. We totally love the Young family who showered us with love, attention, gifts, and lasting friendship. Debbie made sure we experienced just about everythign that LA offers…ocean, sunshine, walking the boardwalk, shopping, raw restaurants, earthquake, etc. The only thing I didn’t experience was a star sighting…but, I joked that I’d only want to see Johnny Depp and he was most likely out of the state or else she’d somehow have managed to have me experience that, as well! We felt loved and extra special.
[Note from Jim: She DOES get to meet Johnny Depp, in a way... stay tuned for tomorrow's installment. For now, here are Wendi's L.A. pictures.]
Once again, we’d love to thank our generous trip snack sponsor, Natural Zing, for helping us to make this possible on our budget!
Continuing on, today, with Wendi’s San Francisco travelogue:
While on our walk, Pete pointed out that in the building on our right there are some amazing kale chips being produced. Kale chips?! I asked if he was referring to raw food kale chips and he nodded. Of course, I had to investigate and find out who was producing them and possibly meet the person. Well, what a treat we were in for!
One of the workers directed us to an office nearby where we met a lovely woman named Blessing. It turns out, Blessing is the producer of the kale chips we received from our Official Snack Sponsor during our tour, Natural Zing. Not only does Blessing produce some of the most popular kale chips in the raw community, her company is also the manufacturer of the famously delicious “Raweo” cookies (which you can find on Natural Zing’s site)!
Blessing showed us around her warehouse and did an interview for our blog. Her product line includes much more than the kale chips and Raweos, which are selling extremely well through her company Blessing’s Alive & Radiant Foods. I felt a strong connection with Blessing and look forward to spending time with her again. It was such a nice treat to stumble across her business while just walking down the street with my friend, Pete! Somehow we forget to get a photo taken of Pete and I together, but I did get one of Blessing and I (above). Here’s our video interview:
Once again, we’d love to thank our generous trip snack sponsor, Natural Zing (which carries products by Blessing!!), for helping us to make this possible on our budget!
As we promised yesterday, we’re featuring a wonderful (and LONG!) video interview today with the incredible John Kohler of Santa Rosa, CA. You may be familiar with John from some of his popular web sites, most notably his “Living and Raw Foods” community site at www.RawFoods.com. Below are parts one, two, and three of Wendi’s interview. They’re roughly 10 minutes each. (That’s a lot of time, I realize, but at least check out Part 1 if you’re short on time, as it offers an amazing look at John’s front yard.)
Wendi said she was at a loss for words when interviewing John at his home (and you’ll soon see why!), because what he has done on his 1/10th of an acre lot is *phenomenal*. He told Wendi off the video that it’s all a matter of trial and error–finding what grows easily and well, and working with those plants the most. If something takes a lot of effort, or is difficult to easily grown, he skips it and focuses on what can give the most yield for the least work. Almost everything grown on John’s land is edible!
PART ONE:
PART TWO:
PART THREE:
The video of John’s garden and the pictures (see yesterday’s post) are enough to inspire ANYONE to plant even a small garden for themselves! WOW!
John has a lot going on, including a monthly potluck. Wendi and KDcat happened to be in town on the night of the March potluck, so Wendi was invited to speak at the event. It was a nice, laid-back group of people, Wendi said, and they sat at a long table talking about the raw lifestyle, health issues / concerns, what children are fed in school, and so much more — a really nice group of people, Wendi said, noting she’d love to visit them all again. To connect with John Kohler is pretty easy. He’s on the internet at:
Wendi’s initial observation about Santa Rosa was that, at first glance, it seemed similar to many of the places they’d visited in Oregon. However, once the sun came out, she said you could feel that California sunshine starting to warm up your body. This is Northern CA, so it’s not overly hot; it is, however, much sunnier and a bit warmer than the parts of Oregon they visited.
Wendi and KDcat were hosted by a lovely couple, Shea Lynn Baird and Stephen Barlow (and their adorable dog, Bella, pictured above). You might be familiarwith Shea already, as she and her husband launched the popular Monday Night Live series, broadcast Monday nights from Cafe Gratitude. Shea is a long-term raw foodist, so Wendi interviewed her and asked some questions about what she’s been doing. It’s a really great, highly interesting interview. Wendi also asked Shea to offer some helpful advice for our Pure Jeevan family members. I think everyone will enjoy the video:
Shea and her husbandd Stephen are both colon hydrotherapists. Their business web site is www.EverybodyCleansing.com. For information about Monday Night Live, you can visit www.MondayNightLiveEvents.com. For info on gaining access to their enormous video archive of Monday Night Live guests (for all of 2009-2010), you can visittinyurl.com/MondayNightLive. Shea is on Facebook here, Stephen here.
Wendi and KDcat’s stay in Santa Rosa was very relaxing, Wendi said. They were able to catch up a lot on their photo / video uploads for for me, and also took a quick trip to a nearby town to visit with John Kohler, who’s known for foundingLiving-Foods.com (a huge raw foods community) and his amazing edible garden right in his front yard. Wendi interviewed John while there. The footage is so amazing (and lengthy), I’m saving it for tomorrow’s post! For now, you can have a sneak peak at John’s yard in this photoset:
Thanks go out to John for inviting Wendi to speak at a meetup there (which went well, I hear), and also to Shea and Stephen who so generously hosted our travelers while they were in Santa Rosa. They are all fantastic people and I hope you’ll check out their sites!
Once again, we’d love to thank our generous trip snack sponsor, Natural Zing, for helping us to make this possible on our budget!
Welcome to Pure Jeevan's online raw foods home, where you'll find comprehensive information about raw foods, living foods, the raw food diet, raw food weight loss, and more. Jim and Wendi Dee have lost (and kept off) a total of 170 pounds via a raw foods diet. We regained our health, and you can too! We hope you'll spend time reading and contributing here!
Topics of Interest
The following are links to groups of blog posts on the following subjects:
We drove to Las Vegas from California, and loved seeing the change as our surroundings became a desert. The snow-capped mountains are such a beautiful contrast in CA, but especially here in Nevada where it’s so dry and hot!
While on our walk, Pete pointed out that in the building on our right there are some amazing kale chips being produced. Kale chips?! I asked if he was referring to raw food kale chips and he nodded. Of course, I had to investigate and find out who was producing them and possibly meet the person. Well, what a treat we were in for! 
As we promised yesterday, 
Wendi’s initial observation about Santa Rosa was that, at first glance, it seemed similar to many of the places they’d visited in Oregon. However, 
