Road Trip

**Riverkilt** · 26th December 09, 04:57 PM

Kilted up in my saffron (buckskin) leather RKilt and headed up into Utah then out across the lonely, but lovely, Arizona Strip to score some fresh cheese from my favorite dairy-side cheese store.

Stopped in Paria Canyon up in Utah and took a pic of the snow on the red rock.

This pic is from a place called Yellowstone Ridge on Hwy 389 above twin border towns I can't mention. It does look out on the snow covered mountains west of St. George, Utah. A most grand and beautiful vista

Such a serene drive over and back across the Arizona Strip and through the Utah canyonlands with the red rocks peeking through the snow.

**piperdbh** · 26th December 09, 05:07 PM

As always, another beautiful travelogue of the Southwest. Thanks for posting these.

**nh_maclean** · 26th December 09, 05:58 PM

Beautiful! There's something about the desert and snow with a blue-blue sky that's inspiring! Thanks for the pic - it's raining cats and dogs here, washing away the dirty snow... (ie not so pretty...)

**Tattoo Bradley** · 26th December 09, 06:40 PM

What sort of cheese did you pick up?

**Rogerson785** · 26th December 09, 09:05 PM

Ron,

I hope that you had a merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year. I sure do miss the Southwest.

Chris

**Riverkilt** · 26th December 09, 09:45 PM

Well Bradley, I'll tell you.

Yesterday at holiday dinner my host was telling me how he had a guest from California a few months ago who was a self-proclaimed cheese expert...knew them all...knew the best. So my host served him some smoked gouda from this same dairy and the expert proclaimed it the best cheese he'd ever eaten.

The Dairy Store is next to the dairy...think of walking into a convenience store only instead of beer and soft drinks the coolers are full of cheese - all flavors of cheddars, mozzerella, provalone, swiss, smoked gouda, monteray jack, et.al., etc., and more than I can remember. All made from the milk of the cows next door. Incredibly fresh, but well sealed so it keeps for many weeks in the refrigerator.

This fresh cheese is about half the cost of supermarket cheese since there's no transportation fee to add on. I take a large cooler and usually buy about about $80 worth of gouda, swiss, mozzarella, provalone, and jack. Sometimes some hickory cheddar. Swiss is less than $4 a pound. Gouda $7 a pound. They have all those blue and crumbly cheeses too but I don't buy them.

And - the cheeses are all unpasturized...so they have a lot of healthy enzymes in them - better than yogurt. Wanna get your innards right, this dairy's cheese will do it.

Brand name is Meadowayne. But since its unpasturized you gotta go get it. Used to see some in healthfood stores in Flagstaff and Tempe, but no more.

And, they sell Huckleberry soda from Jackson Hole, WY...only place I've found it near hear. A succulent beverage. And, they make chocolate peanut clusters - home made...puts any commercial candy bar to shame.

I don't buy it but they also sell bags of squeaky cheese (curds) that a lot of folks like.

And, because folks in their area tend to have large families to feed they sell blocks of cheddar as long as your forearm...

Only bad thing about this cheese is it ruins you for anything you buy in a supermarket that's been pasturized and preserved for shipping. Sorta like the difference between produce in the store and produce off the tree or out of the garden.

Well, the other bad thing is when you pull up and get out of the car there is absolutely no doubt that the dairy is right across the street. When the wind is comin at you from the dairy the aroma will knock you over.

Been going there for years and always go kilted and so the staff remembers me...that and always saying "Hi Honey, I'm home" when I walk in...

Its a sensual treat to be driving across the Arizona Strip taking in the vast landscape, high red cliffs, snow, while munching on some fresh smoked gouda and washing it down with huckleberry soda with a home made chocolate peanut cluster for desert.