Road Trip: Destination Small Town Juice Bar

Recently we’ve talked about how to eat healthy as vegans on the road–and I think it’s something we all think / worry / lose sleep about at one point or another. When my fiancé and I set out on our road trip across the west, I was prepared to order modified salads and generic veggie burgers (where they were available) en route, supplementing my meals with avocados from the grocery store in typical creative vegan fashion. And there has definitely been some of that. But to my surprise, we stumbled on a few small town juice bars, which made me oh-so-giddy! We’ve still got three more days on the road…who knows what other juice joys we’ll come across! A note on how I found them: All three juice bars were fairly close off the highway/main road–no more than a five minute drive. I searched “juice bar” on the maps program on my phone; often a juice bar would be 20 miles away, but as long as it was on the way, we stopped. And we didn’t regret it. Come join us on our road trip!

1. Juice Bros. Hood River, OR.

Hood River is a little gem of a town at the foot of Mount Hood in Oregon. In the winter, it’s a can’t-miss stopover location en route to the slopes; in warmer weather it is known as the wind surfing capital of the world. Nestled in downtown Hood River, the Juice Bros stand is surrounded by gorgeous scenery (speckled with wind surfers), bustling breweries, antique shops and boutiques, and general Pacific Northwest charm (if you don’t know what that means, I urge you to find out someday!). I enjoyed “The Green” with kale, celery, cucumber, and apple.

Travel: Destination Small Town Juice Bar

Juice Bros. Hood River, OR.

2. A Good Life Cafe + Juice Bar. Ogden, UT.

Coupled with a gift store/yoga studio, A Good Life serves smoothies, acai bowls, and lunch fare. The staff was very helpful and gave us directions to an all raw, vegan restaurant in Salt Lake City, which we hit up for dinner–more on that in a later post! This juice bar was the most surprising to find since Ogden, unlike Hood River, isn’t a tourist destination, as far as we could tell. I enjoyed “Steph’s Super Starter” with apple, cucumber, kale, ginger, and lemon. Hello, detox!

3. Peace Tree Juice Cafe. Moab, UT.

Due to its proximity to Arches National Park and Canyonkands, Moab is a popular destination for adventures from across the globe. In fact, as we hiked to Delicate Arch, we heard a number of different languages. The town itself had its share of T-shirt stores and Best Westerns, but among the the typical tourist fare, we found a vegan-friendly treasure: Peace Tree Juice Cafe. Serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, and cocktails, Peace Tree is far more than a juice bar. After a sundrenched drive, stopped for juice and lunch. I enjoyed the “Green Goddess” juice with cucumber, spinach, celery, parsley, and lime–and the “Big Green Salad” with greens, red onion, sprouts, avocado, mushrooms, cucumbers, and carrots.