Two-Upping Mandy Moore

Hite to Blanding

Since Hite was so remote, the water levels so low (Cadillac Desert is now on my reading list), and the flies so numerous, we decided to head to Blanding a day early for our rest day.  To our displeasure (though it wasn’t exactly a surprise), the activities in Blanding are sparse as well.  Luckily, it’s a mere 60 miles from Four Corners, so we made the trek out there yesterday.  Driving two hours to pay $3 to see an elevated platform, take a picture, and buy a postcard was totally worth it.  Being in four places at once (New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah) is priceless, AND doubles Mandy Moore's character's goal in A Walk to Remember.  Hopefully everybody's seen that movie and gets the reference...unlikely.

Last night, we met up with my parents for dinner.  My dad had business in Albequerque, New Mexico (a three hour drive from Blanding), and so my mom flew out and met him.  We went to “the nicest restaurant in town,” the Homestead Steak House.  A tripadviser reviewer praised the restaurant for their large portions; however, large portions often lead to excess food (not in our case, however, thanks to Dave and Austin once again) and waste.  Food waste at the restaurant, however, is not thrown away, says Jamie, an employee there.  Instead, they save uneaten food scraps and potato peels and collect it in a bucket for a local who raises pigs.  He collects the buckets from the restaurant almost daily and feeds the scraps to his pigs.  Feeding restaurant waste to animals wasn’t necessarily a trend that I expected to see, but so far it’s been relatively common—maybe I’ll write an article on that form of nutrient recycling.