We're Back!




Last weekend, Jeff and I packed up the bikes and tents and headed down to sunny California to follow parts of the Tour of California bike race. Photos are from our first afternoon watching the prologue on the Stanford campus. We had fun revisiting some of Jeff's college haunts and stayed with a college friend and his wife. After watching stage 1 start in Sausalito, we went to Napa on Monday for some wine tasting and a bike ride. After a few beautiful and sunny days of driving, Tuesday found us on our bikes in the rain. We had a great view of stage 2, however, up close and not too fast of a blur, as they had just passed a food station. Wednesday, we watched an exciting stage 3 finish in San Jose before heading south to Big Sur where we camped under the redwoods (after lingering at the restaurant's wood fire for as long as possible). We got lucky with a dry night of camping, but the rains reappeared as soon as we got back on our bikes Thursday morning. We managed to get in about 20 hilly, wet, and windy miles before putting on dry clothes and driving up to the vantage point to watch the riders climb their first big hill of stage 4. We then left the race behind to stay with my cousin in San Francisco and enjoy the home-away-from home she and her family provided. On the way home, we saw more school friends of Jeff's, ate South Indian food, took a tango lesson, and learned about the history of Mendacino County. And drove through a lot of rain. We got home late last night to find a dry and spring-like Seattle.

Despite our very rainy rides (we're 3 for 4 on rainy CA bike rides), we had an amazing trip. This could be an annual adventure.