WED: Walking, Eating & Drinking!

Today goes down in the history books as one of the best Saturday’s ever! After the Farmer’s Market, Ben and I drove 20 minutes west, past some picturesque corn fields and farmhouses, to Adel, Iowa!

Adel is a stop along the Raccoon River Valley Trail, which, for large portions of the trail, is completely canopied by trees and brush.

In the summer, when the trees are fully bloomed, you can’t see any sun on the trail at all!

The portion that we explored today was lined with these beautiful periwinkle flower clusters.

Cute, huh?

The trail is extremely popular with bikers because it is loooong, flaaaaat, and shaaady.

We ran a little, but mostly, we walked.

It was really quiet, except for the wind rustling the leaves in the trees.

Basically, it was perfect.

On the trail is a big bridge that Ben used to jump off of when he was in high school.

Rebeeeeeeeel!

Today, we stuck to picture taking. ;)

We walked on the trail for about an hour and a half before making our way back to the car. We drove around the tiny town for a bit, and stumbled upon their “main street” situated around the court house.

It was soooooo cute!

The building was very “Back to the Future” if you will. Remember?

The whole clock fiasco?!

After playing tourist, we got down to business. ICE CREAM at the Dairy Shoppe! It used to be called the Dairy Stripe, when I was little, but alas, some things do not remain the same!

Funnily, there were a lot of bikers at the shoppe. Apparently you’re never too tough for ice cream. ;)

The name may have changed, but the inside looked EXACTLY the same as it did when I was little. So many memories!

We ordered Crunchi Creme Cones – which is basically soft serve ice cream with crunchy candy pieces inside it. Cool!

I ordered the Butterfinger variety.

It was amazing. Sweet, crunchy and very rewarding after our run/walk!

The indulging continued when we got home – I whipped up a…Mojito!

I was going to make a Mint Julep, in honor of the Kentucky Derby, but I got a bottle of Phillips Peppermint Schnapps from Phillips Distilling, and decided a cool, refreshing mojito would be the perfect thing to sip on while Ben and I made dinner.

All I did was add 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 lime wedge and 3 mint leaves into a cocktail shaker, and muddled everything with the back of a spoon for a bit.

Then I poured in 1 1/2 ounces of the Peppermint Schnapps and some ice, and shook what my mama gave me. :mrgreen:

The result was a thick goo. Mmmm, thick goo…

I topped it off with a splash of Lime soda and some more ice, then got my sip on!

WOW – refreshing indeed! Mojito’s are my #1 favorite drink, and this tasted just like anything I would have ordered at a nice bar. Those schnapps were nice and smooth too.

Mint Julep or not, we still watched the derby on tv.

Congratulations to Super Saver!!!!

After the race was over, I posted out on the back deck to enjoy my drink while Ben grilled up our dinner.

I crunched on some homemade Guacamole – made the same way as usual – but with the addition of fresh cilantro!

Crunched with some salty tortilla chips – yowza, it was good!

Places were set,

appetites were revved,

but my steak was taking so long to cook! Yep…steak. Bacon wrapped sirloin to be exact!

omg look. Sorry vegetarians – this was insane!

We dined alfresco on one of the best meals we’ve had in awhile.

The steak was pink and juicy,

with an amazing crust on the outside. Ben set our grill to the highest heat it would reach, to sear in the juices and get a good crust, then turned it down. He likes to cook them slow and low – and they always turn out perfect!

With some fresh guac on the side – there was a bit of an “odd couple” phenomenon happening, but it was good!

Real good – I’m stuffed on guac!

Perfect ending to a perfect day. They don’t happen often!