Products We Love: Pocket Fuel

As you may know, my family and I are great outdoor enthusiasts. We hike, fly fish, XC ski, downhill ski, camp, etc, and for the last two years I have spent a lot of time training for competitive XC ski races. Training sessions usually last 1-2 hours and sometimes more. During and after long and hard workouts, I am always looking for good, quick and easy "fuel" for my body. I hate gu's and gel's so my choices have been limited, until now.

My most recent discovery is called Pocket Fuel, a local Oregon company based out of Hood River (even more reason to like them). Their nut butters come in five flavors, my favorite being Chocolate Haze.

Chocolate Haze is made with hazelnuts, almonds and rich chocolate blended together into a silky smooth sweet delight and served up in a cute little pouch. It's loaded with essential minerals – potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and sodium – in the form of electrolytes. 

Even if you are not a competitive athlete, Pocket Fuel is a great snack to keep in your purse, at your desk, in the car, etc. They are 100% natural and 100% tasty! :) 

You can buy their products on their website and on amazon! Try it! You won't be sorry. 

Happy Trails! 

C&C on the Move

This past weekend we packed up the car for a weekend of camping in Central Oregon. We knew that there were forest fires in the area, but we were hopeful that the winds would be in our favor.

Mt. Hood

Unfortunately, we drove over Mt. Hood and quickly realized that the winds WERE NOT in fact blowing in our favor. It was a tough decision, but after two hours in the car we decided to turn around.

This is the plume of smoke. We were still to the North of it. 

I mean, who wants to camp in an ash tray?

So, we decided to stay North of the smoke and camp on Mt. Hood. Well, that idea was good, in theory, but at 5:00 p.m. we found that campsite after campsite was full. Ughh!

So, nearly 5 hours after leaving the house we made the call....to head back home. What? Crazy, I know.

Thank goodness for popcorn and a movie

First we made a quick stop in Hood River to refuel and stretch our legs. It was by far the highlight of our day.

We dined right along the Columbia River at a great restaurant called Solstice, and right next door there happened to be the most amazing gelato stand called Cicci. I had the "Gorge Berry" and it was phenomenal. I could have gone back for seconds and thirds.

The Mini Fashionista enjoyed playing at the river park playground, and then we hit the road again.

Rock Climbing, her next sport

Eight hours and nearly a tank of gas later, we found ourselves back at home. Fear not, we still got our camping in. We pitched the tent in the backyard, made a fire, roasted some marshmallows and then went to bed. All three of us lasted the entire night in the tent!

We had to laugh at the whole thing....especially given that one of the Mini's favorite books, A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee, ends just as our camping adventure did.

For anyone with kids, I highly recommend this book as well as others by Chris Van Dusen. The Circus Ship is also one of our favorites.

C&C on the Move

This past weekend Katie and Dr. B came to visit us here in Portland. We hit up some of our favorite dining spots, Elephant's Delicatessen, Caffe Mingo, and Daily Cafe, did some damage at the Nike Employee store, took a barre3 class and spent a day adventuring to Mt. Hood and Hood River.

Here are a few photos from our MLK weekend adventures.

It was a beautiful, sunny and warm day at Mt. Hood.  We spent some time at Timberline Lodge and outside in the snow. Oregon is short on snow, but we still had fun.

Even The Muppet (a.k.a. our labradoodle Winston) got to come along!

After our stop at Mt. Hood we ventured to Hood River for some lunch and Beer. We had lunch at Double Mountain Brewery and Taproom and then the boys did some beer tasting at Pfriem Family Brewers. 

On Sunday Katie and I hit up the barre3 studio in the Pearl District and then followed it up with a coffee at Christopher David. 

I will leave you with some final thoughts from the Mini Fashionista.