Sunset....

...in San Diego!

San Diego

Hub and I have some fabulous memories of San Diego from years ago when we escaped Chicago's winter and visited San Diego. One of our most memorable moments was always taking the ferry to Coronado, walking to the Del Coronado hotel and eating lunch overlooking the ocean. We enjoyed that same ritual today and it certainly didn't disappoint.

On the San Diego waterfront, we found several fabulous sculptures. The first depicts a sailor arriving home and greeting his 'best girl'. We then happened upon a set of sculptures saluting Bob Hope for his numerous tours to war zones. (Click on any picture to enlarge it!)

Time Trial in the sun in Solvang

What a fabulous Time Trial. First the starting gate, then Lance on the course, followed by big George Hincapie, Chris Horner and of course Levi....raising three fingers in hopes of winning his third Tour of California in a row. We'll see!

Merced to Clovis

The riders rode from Merced to Clovis. We went up to see the "King of the Mountain" on Crane Valley Road. 7" of snow fell the night before, but the plows came out and totally cleared the road. It was pretty warm and sunny up there and we enjoyed the bicycle snowman, batman, and of course the riders plugging up the hill.
We then drove like crazy into Clovis to see the riders arrive. Of course, we saw Levi don the yellow jersey again!

San Jose to Modesto

It was raining AGAIN in Modesto. Below is a poster Livestrong is handing out. The next pic is the peloton screaming past us and finally ... Thor Hushovd ... winning the stage. Don't fret, however, Levi Leipheimer is still the overall leader. On to Clovis, Ca tomorrow. Can you say sunshine??????

Sausalito

A few pics from Sausalito.... a pic of Astana's bus. A pic of Lance w/his 'game face' preparing to ride, in the rain again, from Sausalito to Santa Cruz. A terrible pic of part of George Hincapie and alas a rainbow because it's freakin' raining all the time. This is sunny California???

Tour of California - 2009

Wow! Lance is back. Sacramento hosted the Prologue for this years race. Hub managed to get a few pics of some of our favorite riders....
In order below.... Carlos Sastre, Levi Leipheimer and of course....Lance!

Snow in West Linn, Oregon

We had a few inches of snow yeaterday.....enough for a snow angel.....beautiful!

Rosa - Barack

I just have to share......

Florence

Last month, Hub and I took a trip to Italy. We began with a few days in Florence, then bicycled through Tuscany, ending with a few days in Rome. We both felt we had the perfect mixture of city and country. We walked, walked and walked, some more, stopping occasionally to eat gelato or have coffee in a Piazza and people watched.
We both agree it was a fabulous vacation!
(If you'd like to see a picture a little larger, just click on it.)

This magnificent gothic cathedral was covered with pink, green & white Tuscan marble.
We climbed the 463 steps to the top of the dome and were treated to a wonderful view of Florence.

Here we are, on top of the dome.......................................

From inside the dome....


The Piazza Della Signoria is loaded with history, sculptures and people. Hub's favorite piece is the one on the right below...the Rape of Sabien. The copy of 'David' is also located here.

Just down the street, in front of the Uffizi Gallery is my favorite 'live' sculpture. As you can see, he came alive for a moment.

The Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge) which spans the Arno River was spared by the Nazi's in WWII. It used to house butchers, but now houses gold and silver stores. The nighttime view was breathtaking.

I think the Photo below is a typical Florence site.

We spent hours people watching.

Bicycling through Tuscany....

The middle portion of our trip was a fabulous ride through beautiful Tuscany. We traveled through pine forests, saw cork trees, stayed at a winery, visited an olive-oil mill, visited beaches, swam in the Tyrrhenian Sea and rode with 2 trip leaders and 15 fellow bikers.

(Again....click on any photo to enlarge it)

Our fearless leaders....Franco and Andrea. What would we have done without them???

Our group....

The 60ish ladies - and -

the whoe group!

Rode through pine forests....

...and through many beautiful Tuscan towns.

The view from two of our rooms.