Monochrome Monterey

It's been a month since our son went under the knife. He's self-sufficient now and mostly healed, at least in a general sense (throwing a baseball again isn't happening anytime soon). Anyway, we felt like we could slip out of town for a few days. Monterey. Heard of it? It's a good place. Our happy place.

Walk along the ocean, sip your coffee, ride your bike, eat some food, drink some beer. Rinse. Repeat. What's not to like?

For whatever reason, I felt like shooting in black and white for the better part of the week.

This last one is obviously in color, but it's too good to leave out.

Another great trip in the books. I think we might go back . . .

Later.

Tahoe Time

After a little time at home following our visit to San Diego, we were off to Tahoe for another short vacation.

We stayed at the Club Tahoe Resort again. It's pretty OK. The staff are mostly indifferent bordering on hostile. The check-in is late and the check-out is very early. You lose about half a day compared to other places. But it's a big place that sleeps a bunch of people, which works out well when my son brings some friends. Family friends vacationed with us but in another suite.

The first order of business was to stop by the condo to grab our bocce balls. We rent out our place full time now, but all our crap is still in the storage shed. When we opened the door we were immediately greeted by this:

Every trip we made to the condo flashed through my mind in an instant. My son would shoot baskets for hours. Those were the days. So many good memories. I do miss the condo quite a bit.

On Tuesday I went for a short ride. On these trips I feel like I have to balance the "family" aspect of my vacation and my personal desire to ride for six hours. But the neat thing about riding in Tahoe, my favorite place on Earth, is even a little bit is still awesome. I did my favorite short ride, a 16 mile loop.

I used to call this trail the Diamond Peak Flume. When I originally found the trail it was an overgrown game trail with a lot of deadfall, and it appeared on no maps. Now it is officially the Incline Flume Trail.

Different name . . .

Same awesomeness.

The next day we went to Reno so my son could take a look at UNR. It was a surprisingly beautiful campus. UNR is also a school where a few Folsom Lake College players end up every year.

After a general campus tour, we headed for the baseball field. It's nice.

There's something special about a baseball field that also has a great view.

We ran into some of the new coaching staff, and my son was able to talk to them for a while. Always network when you can.

After that we went to a Reno Aces game versus the Salt Lake Bees. We hate the Bees. "Boo Bees!"

We started going to Aces games years ago when we bought the condo and feel a certain affinity towards them as our second home team.

It rained pretty much the whole time, but it was warm and made for interesting views.

The Aces won 7-4 against the hated Bees, so we went home happy. Boo Bees!

The next day I went on another quick ride. Conditions were simply fantastic.

Another great trip to my favorite place on Earth.

Unfortunately we go home to an impending shoulder surgery for my son in just a few days. The possibility of ever playing on that beautiful field we just toured depends on it, and I am more than a little nervous.

Later.

San Diego

We just returned from San Diego. While we did a lot of cool things—like going to the zoo, a couple Giants games, the beach, great restaurants, breweries—let's focus on the important stuff. This is, after all, primarily a cycling blog.

Our hotel unexpectedly provided free bikes, so we went for an unplanned ride.

We grabbed three bikes and took the ferry over to Coronado Island to do a little tour.

There is a long recreation trail (Bayshore Trail) that runs along the water that you can actually take all the way back to San Diego. However, that was about 25 miles and I'm not sure how feasible that was. Spencer and I were on greatly overgeared single speeds and it would have been tough even for me. Jenn at least had a 3-speed, but these simply weren't the bikes for cranking out long miles.

We rode the trail for a bit before heading inland to explore the neighborhoods.

At the end we stopped at Coronado Brewing. Because beer.

A good day in San Diego made great. Because bikes.

Later.

Coastal Birdies

We have been working really hard to get the Placerville property on the market. The listing is done and the house looks fantastic. Jenn did a spectacular job in the design and execution of the project.

The whole family contributed in some way. For the men, it was mostly demo, cleanup and at times some very hard labor. Retirement ain't always what it's cracked up to be.

Little was left the the same. The stairs used to come up though the middle of the loft starting in the back left corner of the new kitchen.

Now they are on the right as you enter through the front door.

The new kitchen is in the old living room.

The old house was dark and closed. Now it's open and bright.

The master bedroom is massive.

The master bathroom is fantastic.

The loft is super cool.

Were it not located in the boonies, I would love to live in this house.

Anyway, with the job done it was time for some R&R on the coast.

We opted to ride before we left. Even though we did 20 miles on the same roads we always ride, there is something different about "clocking out" that makes a ride more enjoyable.

We arrived in Monterey, checked in and walked to Peter B's.

Here I am saying hello to my friend Brian. He likes to see pictures of the pretty birds on the coast. Here you go, buddy!

We walked back happy and relaxed, as calm as the waters of the bay.

The next day we rode along 17 Mile Drive. Purple seemed to be the theme.

We finished the day with a fine meal at the Alvarado Street Brewery.

The next day we did our long ride. We rode north on the coastal trail and entered Fort Ord, climbed up Barloy Canyon, skirted Laguna Seca Raceway, and descended back through town.

We totaled 25 miles and almost 2000 feet of climbing.

The next day we rode south along the water.

Afterwards we visited the aquarium.

On our last day we did a quick ride north, checked out and hit the road.

This was a much needed and well deserved trip. A few days to do all our favorite things without many distractions was just what we needed.

Later.