Grilled Vegetable and Goat Cheese Wrap to Celebrate 100 Parks and 5000 Ideas

Welcome to the latest TLC Book Tours.   100 Parks and 5000 Ideas is the current stopover.  

Planning a summer vacation?  This book may help.

About 100 Parks 5000 Ideas

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic (February 12, 2019)

Filled with helpful travel tips and beautiful National Geographic photography, this expert guide showcases the best experiences in the top national, state, and city parks throughout North America.

In the sequel to the best-selling 50 States, 5,000 ideas, National Geographic turns to the United States’ and Canada’s most pristine–and adventure-filled–national, state, and city parks with 5,000 ideas for the ultimate vacation. Showcasing the best experiences, both obvious and unexpected, each entry in this robust guide provides an overview of the park, detailed travel advice, fascinating facts, insider knowledge about wildlife, and expert tips for hiking, biking, camping, and exploring. From the geysers of Yellowstone National Park to the Everglades’ Nine Mile Pond Canoe Trail and the stunning peaks of Banff and Jasper in Alberta, each page will fuel your wanderlust. Plus, explore the natural beauty tucked away in cities like New York’s Central Park and Boston Commons, and find bonus parks with day-trip suggestions to nearby neighbors. Top 10 lists throughout highlight best-of destinations for river trips, monuments, panoramic views, beaches, and more. This comprehensive book provides all the inspiration and information you need to plan your next park visit–and make it a memorable one.

Social Media

Please use the hashtag #100parks5000ideas, and tag @tlcbooktours.

Purchase Links

National Geographic | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

What I thought…

This is a massive book that covers city parks, state parks, and national forests, sites, monuments, sanctuaries and preserves.  The contents are divided by regions of the US.  Canadian sites are also included.

I immediately went to the Southwest section.  I then perused the Midwest and the South sections.   Some descriptions are more detailed than others.   I like it when travel authors include suggested places to stay as well as dining options.   While Yogerst includes suggestions to “Lay Your Head” in some sections, others have none.   Some parks are described with detailed directions on how to get there;  some are not.

I enjoyed the “Did You Know” sections and reading short descriptions about other points of interest that might be close by in “Meet the Neighbors.”    I do have to take exception with the write-up of one of the Oklahoma parks and its neighbors.  Yogerst includes the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge (near Lawton) and suggests that the Chickasaw National Recreation area (121 miles away near Davis) and Fort Reno (113 miles north) are all “neighbors.”  Yeah, not really.

In some portions of the book (like the aforementioned Oklahoma one), I got the impression that he might have been doing a lot of internet surfing and not a lot of field research.

Although there is a large map of the United States and Canada at the beginning of the book, it would have been nice to have detailed cutouts for a location reference for each park.

But, I am being too picky.  The photographs are wonderful and although I didn’t count them all, I am sure there are at least 5000 great ideas in this book.

The Food…

Obviously, there is no food in this volume.   My inspiration came from Yosemite National Park and our trip there in 2016. 

Big Tree Lodge (from our 2016 trip)

I remember a fantastic lunch and a goat cheese and roasted vegetable wrap at Big Tree Lodge.

Grilled Vegetable and Goat Cheese Wraps

Debra

Inspired from a delicious lunch at Big Tree Lodge in Yosemite.

Ingredients

  • 2 small zucchinis, sliced on the diagonal
  • 1 Japanese eggplant, sliced on the diagonal
  • 1 large red bell pepper, cut in strips
  • 2 slices of red onion
  • 2 T. olive oil, divided
  • 1  t. dried oregano or dried basil
  • 1/2  t. fresh thyme
  • 1 T. vinegar (your choice of variety)  I used a pinot noir vinegar .
  • 4 oz. herbed goat cheese
  • 4 flat breads or wraps
  • 4 handfuls of spinach (or baby kale)

Instructions

  1. Preheat a grill pan and brush it with oil.  Place zucchini, bell pepper, eggplant and red onion in a large bowl. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Begin grilling the vegetables until grill marks are pronounced and vegetables are soft.
  2. Whisk oregano, thyme, vinegar, and remaining 1 tablespoon oil in large bowl to blend.  (This can be done in the same bowl that the vegetables were previously in.)  Add grilled vegetables and toss to coat.
  3. Spread each flatbread with cheese mixture, using about 1 oz. per serving.  Divide the vegetables on to the four flatbreads.  Cover with a handful of spinach and wrap up.  Cut each wrap in half.

Yield: 4

I thought these were delicious and just as good as what I remember from Big Tree Lodge.   I asked The Hubs what would make them better.  “Bacon.”

Of course.  🙂

 

I am linking up to Deb’s Souper Sundays.

Novel Reads (at Simona’s briciole) is up and running (from February 26 to March 26).   I’m joining up.  Check it out.

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