“Always stop in random health food stores while traveling is good advice.” – Jeremy
When Jeremy and I travel we love to find new health stores to visit. There’s a deep-seated fascination with snooping around someone else’s local health food sanctuary. How are products laid out? What do they carry? Do they have local or regional products available that I’ve never heard of?
Oftentimes I marvel that even in very small town xyz you can find product abc. Good times!
While on our Glacier National Park leg of our recent vacation we drove by Sun Drop Health Foods store on the way into the park. It’s like my eyes are robotically scanning for the words ‘health’ and ‘vegan’ whenever we’re on the road.
In robot voice, “location locked and noted”. We hoped to be able to stop by after our day in the mountains and we did!
When we arrived we pulled in and parked alongside the building. A semi-truck was in the median of a highway 2 unloading supplies.
You walk in and it has the established health food store feeling. And smell. The a.c. wasn’t working or was non-existent.
The wooden floors were comfortably worn and creaky. Each creak leading you to a new area of exploration based on the subtle pitch.
On that note, I was lead to the essential oil/beauty section. I smelled several NOW essential oils hoping to discover one that would be perfect in my homemade deodorant. I’m currently on the lookout for an androgynous blend. I didn’t pick up anything there, but I did find the fabulous vegan lotion brand Deep Steep. I own the Grapefruit-Bergamot scent thanks to a Petit Vour box from last year. It smells like fruit loops!
I settled on the tangerine scent. It goes perfect with my blood orange body spray from Pacifica.
I found these raw cacao beans, but didn’t buy them because I had no idea how to use them (besides grinding?) and they were $10.
I quickly realized I was attracted to items with a $10 value. Reining oneself in while wandering a health food store takes more diligence than when you’re in a pen aisle.
I loved this end cap of personal hygiene stuff. I have a GladRags liner from a Vegan Cuts beauty box, and almost bought a pack—because you really need more than one to make it through a cycle—but thought I could get a better deal online. Sorry store. It was still nice to see them in person. I think I’d like to be done with Carefree.
I also almost bought the Diva Cup. I bought the Moon Cup back in 2010 when we departed on our several month European backpacking adventure, but it’s a funny thing and probably deserves a post of its own. I will say feeling stressed makes it more uncomfortable to wear because of how your body tenses (to a point you’re not even aware of) and seriously how are you gonna change that shit when in a public restroom? The one time I tried in Ireland, it looked like the elevator scene in The Shining. Blood was all over my hands, I was locked in a stall with the sink not in the stall. Obviously. And we were staying in hostels with shared bathrooms so my ‘privacy’ wouldn’t have been any better or sanitary.
Still I’d like to give it another chance.
Though I didn’t buy any, I loved seeing these tamari packets available. I wish grocery stores carried these or individual dressing packets for the travelers that don’t want to cart around an entire bottle of dressing. If I had needed to dress a salad I would have bought one of these packets. Great idea!
A huge Hurraw! display was adjacent to the check out counter and even though the nice lady was ringing us up, I’m across from her frantically grabbing chapsticks like the world is ending. They had a bunch of flavors that reminded me of the Bonne Bell ones I grew up with. But these aren’t tested on animals and have ingredients you can eat.
I ended up with Root Beer, Vanilla Bean, Black Cherry (aka Dr. Pepper), and Orange (aka Crush). Mmmm!
The black cherry one is lightly tinted and feels like silk. The smell and ‘taste’ is great too!
The final haul. I grabbed some Carob Mint Patties, clearanced raw pumpkin seeds (perfect for hiking), kombucha, and lotion. Jeremy grabbed a ginger beer and that chocolate bar.
The carob mint patties are great and all you need is one bite, they are so rich and dense. I didn’t care for the kombucha, but the pumpkin seeds are tasty and I love thinking about how good they are for my hair and nails.
Be sure to check out Sundrop Health Foods if you’re near Glacier National Park.
Address: 639 9th St W, Columbia Falls, MT 59912
Phone: 406-892-9295
Website
Do you also like to seek out health food stores when traveling? What fun stuff have you picked up?
On a side note, I learned that night that the chapsticks originate in Whitefish, Montana—the town we were staying in. Crazy! I had no idea. A factory tour would have been cool.