Winterfest party!

It's the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition's 12th Annual Auction, Art Show, Party & Fundraiser!

The biggest and baddest bike party of the year brings sweet items to bid on and buy -- from bags and bikes to restaurant gift certificates and dates with local celebrities. In addition, 60 pieces of incredible local art will be up for sale!

Where: SOMArts Gallery (Brannan @ 8th St)
When: Dec. 2nd from 6-10:30pm
SFBC members:$10+/Sliding scale
Non-SFBC members: $25 (includes new SFBC membership!)

Proceeds from the fundraiser go directly toward improving biking conditions in San Francisco so all cyclists have a comfortable, safe and dignified ride about town.

Come one, come all!

What a disaster!

In talking to my sister the other day I was surprised to discover that she had not heard about the giant oil spill in the Bay.  To bring those friends and family members that do not live in the Bay area up to speed, here's what happened:

A Giant mother-ass sized container ship collided with the Bay Bridge last Wednesday. The collision ripped a gash in the fuel tank of the Hong Kong-based Cosco Busan, unleashing 58,000 gallons of thick, toxic fuel oil into the Bay. In the week since the incident, the deadly oil has tarred thousands of birds and dozens of marine mammals. The oil spill couldn't have happened at a worse time for the roughly 1.6 million migrating birds that come to San Francisco Bay each year. Hundreds of thousands of migrating birds are threatened as a result of the oil spill. The toxic oil can kill birds outright and sicken others, depending on how much oil they consume. If the oil gets on their feathers, they can't keep warm.

To date, nearly 1,500 birds have been picked up dead or alive; however, thousands more birds and ducks have been splashed with oil but remain in the wild where they will probably die.

Birds aren't the only oil spill victims. Sea lions and harbor seals have also been exposed to the oil. Some 37 of the 244 sea lions counted at Pier 39 in San Francisco were oiled. Harbor seals have been seen swimming through the oil slick.

This is a devastating disaster that will have environmental consequences for the next 10-20 years.

On a more positive note, the first birds (38 in total) helped to survive the spill were released to the wild yesterday.

What you can do to help:

To volunteer: call the Oiled Wildlife Care Network at (800) 228-4544, or email Baykeeper at volunteer@baykeeper.org.

To report oiled wildlife: call the OWCN hotline at (877) 823-6926.

To report oil sightings, call (985) 781-0804.

Donate to:
International Bird Rescue Research Center: http://www.ibrrc.org/

Oiled Wildlife Care Network: http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/owcn/

Save the Bay: http://www.savesfbay.org

I have asked my family to make donations to the above organizations in lieu of presents this Christmas.

Clever concept

A new, fast, casual concept restaurant called Citrine has just opened in Redwood City. What's new and different about this concept restaurant is that its owner is not some inspired yet undercapitalized entrepreneur, but Safeway! No, Citrine is not in a foodservice section of an existing supermarket -- it is a stand alone concept.

The experience
It essentially cafeteria style -- so you stand in line, place your order, serve yourself coke or iced tea and then grab a seat. They give you this gadget card thing when you order that you place in the thingamajiggy on your table that notifies the staff where you are sitting so that they can bring the food to you.

The restaurant caters to busy dash and diners. If you want, you can order your food online and pick it up.

The atmosphere
The atmosphere is cute and vibrant! It's a peppy, perky little place. Booth and table seating is available and the booths come equipped with electrical outlets so that you can plug in your laptop.

The decor is modern, yet comfortable.

The food
The food is called "world-bistro." It is fresh and high quality and everything we saw coming out of the kitchen looked good. The menu is divided up by region (Pacific Rim, Mediterranean, Latin & Caribbean, American and New World) and every region is represented by entrees, sandwiches, soups, salads, side orders and desserts. Menu items include everything from grilled Asian pork loin, to Italian pizzas to Jamaican grilled shrimp. A wide selection of selection of the world's wines, beers, coffees and teas are also offered. In addition, there's a cute children's menu with enticing items such as Ninja Stir Fry.

The service
The staff was awesome! Numerous nametag-clad cheery individuals stopped by to check on us and see if we wanted to order anything else or if they could refill our beverages.

The price
Everything on the menu is reasonably priced with entrees ranging from $8.99 to $13.99. And, if you can believe it, they do NOT accept. Tips. I repeat, THEY DO NOT ACCEPT TIPS! Apparently any and all tips left on the table are donated to the local food bank.

The company
Could not be beat!

Leaving on a jet plane

I am heading to the windy city for work tomorrow. What a drag. What's wrong with that you may wonder, well, I'll tell you:

1. I have to give a presentation to our entire team. I really dislike presenting. No matter how well prepared I am, I am always nervous. I know you are supposed to picture your audience in their underwear, but I don't care if I imagine people wearing boxers, briefs or leopard print thongs, nothing helps.

2. I have been given 60 minutes to present and right now my presentation is 53 pages long! Usually it takes about an hour to go through 20-25 slides, so I'll have my work cut out for me. This actually may not be a problem given that my nervousness will likely translate into motor mouth and my speaking so fast that I race through all 50+ slides in 10 minutes.

3. My boss wants me to present right after her boss presents. She told me that she wants to lead with the star on the team. Great, no pressure there whatsoever. What she doesn't now is that I don't want to be a star. I just want to work the minimal amount of hours so that I don't get fired and can ride and race my bike.

4. Chicago is the home of one of my ex-boyfriends -- one of the true great loves of my life. He was four years younger than me, and so when we met, I was working and he was still in college. He eventually graduated and moved to Chicago, but no matter how hard one may try, long distance relationships rarely work out. He actually proposed to me, but I gave him the "yes, but not now" answer.

Whenever I am in Chicago I always wonder if I will bump into him. Apparently he is married with children now. Good for him! Seriously. He probably lives in some fancy shmancy house in the city and spends weekends out in Lake Forest playing golf at some country club. I wouldn't trade my bike in for that life if you paid me. I like things just the way they are, thank you very much.

5. We are having our team dinner at Mike Ditka's Restaurant. I've been to Chicago a number of times and so I know that the city has a lot of good restaurants. I am pretty sure that Mike Ditka's is not one of Zagat's top rated spots. Perhaps she is trying to placate the boys on our team by taking them to a sports themed restaurant that serves giant slabs of beef.

6. My boss told us we should all wear jeans. However, Gayle, this girl on the team, sent around an email encouraging everyone to wear something smarter, since our boss' boss is coming to the offsite. So once again I am faced with a sartorial dilemma: do I dress to impress the boss' boss or dress down for the boss? It was much easier when everyone wore suits to everything.

So begrudgingly I'll be hanging up my wheels for a few days and heading East. I doubt I'll have time to get on a computer while I am gone, but I am sure to have a few stories when I return.

cough, cough... I feel a cold coming on. Maybe I'll come down with influenza and be unable to go.

CAT 3 vs. CAT 1

The difference between a CAT 3 and a CAT 1:

Me
One steady, conversational paced, seated climb up Mount Diablo with a friend

GI Jane
Multiple out-of-the-saddle, sprint paced climbs up Mount Diablo solo

No wonder she was the #1 Women's BAR in 2007!

Perhaps she is training for the San Bruno Hill Climb??

Clearly I need to train harder.

Boys with toys

Check out my 6 1/2 year old nephew Ben:
What a frickin' brilliant idea!

Next year I'm going to buy myself a power tool kit and a couple of pumpkins and see what I can do.

Don't jump!

I missed a jumper on the bridge by just seconds today. Bridge patrol pulled up and tossed some tubular device over the bridge that started smoking as soon as it hit the water. Perhaps it was designed to alert the Coast Guard where to look for the body? It was the second jumper in two weeks.

The Golden Gate Bridge is a frequent site for suicides. After a fall of approximately four seconds, jumpers hit the water at 75 miles per hour, which is nearly always fatal given you are 220 feet above the water's surface!

Numerous efforts and programs have been proposed to make the bridge a less attractive place to take one's own life. As terrible as this is to say, I would actually like to see someone free fall from the bridge. Hopefully one of these days I'll be there at the right time.

Frigid fun

That would describe my ride this afternoon. Damn, it was cold going across the bridge!  The fog was so dense it was spitting large water droplets and visibility was down to around 10 feet.

The weather conditions were not much better in the Marin Headlands, other than at the very top, where sun and warm weather could be found. 500 feet later you would suddenly be back in the fog and temperatures would plunge by 30 degrees. It was a roller coaster weather ride.

Thanks for the company Mark! It was great to shake the cobwebs out.

Good luck to you and everyone else racing this weekend.

Searching for inner peace

While in Arizona, I purchased a set of Inner Peace Cards -- essentially it's a deck of 50 affirmation cards to help you find your own inner peace.

I am in a dark, brooding mood today and so I thought I would share a few of the messages. Yeah, I know, I drank too much of the Kool-Aid while in Tucson. My friends and family will probably be jumping on a plane soon to stage some sort of intervention :-)

I live my life in my own way -- You can't go around being what everyone wants you to be, living your life through other people's rules and expect to be happy and have inner peace.

True happiness resides with me -- Most people are searching for happiness outside of themselves. That's a fundamental mistake. Happiness is something that you are and it comes from the way you think.

My positive thoughts create a positive life -- You can reshape your thinking so that you never have to think in negatives again. You and only you choose your thoughts.

I appreciate all that I am, and all that I have -- Stop focusing on what you don't have, and shift your consciousness to an appreciation for all that you ARE and all that you DO have.

What other people think of me is none of my business -- One of the highest places you can get to is to be independent of the good opinions of other people.

I release the need to determine how things "should" be -- If you are suffering in your life right now, I can guarantee that this condition is tied up with some kind of attachment to how things "should" be.

Success is an inside job -- Being relaxed, at peace with yourself, confident, emotionally neutral, loose and free-floating - these are the keys to successful performance in almost everything you do.

I am a worthwhile human being -- You are always a valuable, worthwhile human being - not because anybody else says so, not because you're making lots of money - but because you decide to know it.

I look for the meaning of life within myself -- If you want to find a deeper meaning in your life, you can't find it in the opinions or the beliefs that have been handed to you. You have to go to that place within yourself.

I work on my problems, and I release them -- Anything that bothers you is only a problem within. Only you can experience it, and only you can correct it.

I forgive myself and then move on -- You can sit there forever, lamenting about how bad you've been, feeling guilty until you die, and not one tiny slice of that guilt will do anything to change anything in the past.

Happy Halloween

Feeling groovy

It's great to be back on the bike!

Here's what I discovered this past week:

* I needed the 31 days off the bike. As hard as it was to not ride for that long, my body is very appreciative of the extended break.

* Given how excited I am to be back on the bike, I had a very hard time sticking to the training plan last week.

* I am not as out-of-shape as I thought I was going to be. You were right Lorri!

* I have no top end. No surprise there.

* I am tired of riding and training in Marin. The terrain, road conditions and traffic are MUCH better in the south bay than in the north bay. I guess that means I'll be driving around with my bike a lot this Fall/Winter.

* I love climbing and descending as much as ever.

* I still need to find the love for the flats.

* This time of year it's better to ride a little later in the morning after the weather has warmed up a bit.

* Saddles never feel great when you've been off them for a while, but I might have been better off waiting a week or two before trying out, and breaking in, a new saddle. After tipping the nose up, then down, and inching the saddle forward over the course of several days, I think I finally dialed it in and found the sweet spot. Phew, what a relief. That was a rather painful and unpleasant process.

* I much prefer riding with friends than riding on my own.

* No matter the brand, flavor, texture or nutritional benefits, I still don’t like bars. I've got a serious sampling program going on right now, but a winner has yet to emerge.

* I love riding in the fall. It's great to get out and see the foliage. The yellow colors are amazing.

I am happy.

I love being back on my bike.

Life is good.

Red Sox sweep Rockies to win the World Series!

Period. No more baseball talk.

I spy with my little eye

There is something about going to the gym that really creeps me out, and it's not just the guys with the football player sized thick necks
or all the bacteria and germs that are lurking on the equipment. What I think disturbs me the most is the spying eyes that I feel upon me whether I am sitting on a stationary bike, doing sit-ups or bending over a bench doing arm raises.

You know how you sometimes get that feeling that someone is looking at you. You might glance up or around in reaction to it and either lock eyes with someone, catch someone looking away or find nothing.

I don't know why it bothers me. I guess I don't like the feeling that I am being watched or that strangers may be undressing me with their eyes. It's rather disconcerting. For me the gym is a place of exercise and not a bar where you go to survey the eye candy and possibly chat someone up. My approach to the gym is more matter of fact: get in, get out and get on with your life. Focus on the task at hand. Period.

I do; however, have a good friend who met her husband at a gym, so maybe I am being too closed minded.

Perhaps the next time I lock eyes with someone, or catch them looking away, I should get up the courage to walk over to them and ask them if they'll spot me. Then again, maybe not.

He's just not that into you

A friend of mine in L.A. told me they are making the girl's dating bible "He's just not that into you" into a movie. Scheduled release is summer 2008 with a star studded cast said to include Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Connelly, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston and Drew Barrymore.

For those of you who have not read the dating bible, most of the book's chapter titles begin with the mantra "He's just not that into you," each focusing on specific signs. He is just not that into you if he is not asking you out, not calling you, not dating you, not having sex with you, or having sex with someone else; if he only wants to see you when he's drunk, doesn't want to marry you, is breaking up with you, or has disappeared on you; if he's married, a selfish jerk, a bully, or a really big freak.

The message: A woman should stop imagining that the man in her life is treating her shoddily because he is busy, conflicted or suffering from bad cellular reception. She should move the hell on. Nip unpromising relationships in the bud by administering a brief, stinging torture (He does not like me) in place of an endless, agonizing one (Does he like me?)

It's sound advice that I need to remind myself now and again.

The book contends that if someone is truly 'into you,' then they "will go through heaven and earth to spend time with you. They'll go without sleep, they'll travel if feasible, and they'll do whatever they have to do so they can see you."

What you'll learn:

• An excuse is a polite rejection. Men are not afraid of "ruining the friendship."

• Don't get tricked into asking him out. If he likes you, he'll do the asking.

• If you can find him, then he can find you. If he wants to find you, he will.

• Just because you like to lead doesn't mean he wants to dance. Some traditions are born of nature and last through time for a reason.

• "Hey, let's meet at so-and-so's party/any bar/friend's house" is not a date. Even if you live in New York.

• Men don't forget how much they like you. So put down the phone.

• You are good enough to be asked out.

If you're a single girl and have not read this book, you should. It will save you hours overanalyzing e-mails, conversations, actions and inactions. It empowers you by making you realize that you are not alone in your delusions.

The message is clear, if he's not that into you, move on sista.

What a game!

Sorry to bore all you non Boston, non baseball readers with so much baseball lately, but I am a big fan!

Growing up I had Rex Sox players' posters on the walls and pennants on the door of my bedroom.  I was one of three girls that played baseball with the boys, as opposed to softball with the girls, in school.

Bucky Dent was my idol, and so shortstop was my position. Yeah, I know he played for the Yankees, but I like them too. And I still have a box of baseball trading cards sitting in a shoe box in my parent's basement.

About last night's game:

What I would have done to be in Fenway Park last night. The energy was electric. The Red Sox won the game 2-1 to take a 2-0 lead in the World Series.

The pitching was phenomenal! Jonathan Papelbon is THE man. His pickoff of Matt Holliday on 1st was IMPRESSIVE!

The series shifts to Coors Field in Denver for Game 3 on Saturday night. I'll definitely be watching.

Slow down you move too fast

Do you have as much time to stop and think as you did a year ago?

When was the last time you stopped to reflect on something important to you?

In our culture, we equate productivity with speed. If it can be done faster, then it must be more productive.
More often than not our days are fragmented and scattered, consisting of many abrupt starts and stops.

Transitions are ways to slow our hurried pace, help us pay attention and have intention.

Upon entering the home, Japanese people stop and remove their shoes, literally leaving behind the baggage of the world, relaxing the feet, letting go of what has been so that they can be present in the here and now.

How do you transition from one activity to another? You might want to pause for a moment and think about it.

Fan-freaking-tastic!

The Red Sox DECIMATED the Rockies in a major way in game 1 of the World Series last night. 

The Sox pounded 16 hits in the first five innings. By the time the game was over, the Sox had scored the most Game 1 runs in World Series history with 13 runs and 17 hits!

Coming into the World series the Rockies had won 21 of 22 games and 10 in a row. Did the eight days off break their momentum?

The question on everyone's mind now is: will Boston sweep?  I am not sure I'd want to be holding a ticket to game 6 or 7. But then again, anything can happen.

Back in the saddle again

I got back on my bike today after 31 days OTB. I was actually not scheduled to start riding again until Tuesday, but the temptation to ride on a warm, sunny day like today was too hard to resist.

The Good
Motivation -- I am so excited to be back on my bike!
Weather -- It could not have been a nicer day.
Color -- I love the colors this time of year as the sun starts to set.
Smell -- For some reason everything smelled great. Maybe being off the bike for so long has heightened my sense of smell.
People -- Everyone that passed me was nice and friendly.

The Bad
Fitness -- It's gone. Period.
Strength -- I lost 4 lbs in 31 days and I am now convinced it was all muscle.
Nutrition -- It's back to Gu's, bars and mixed bottles. I really enjoyed the break from all that nastiness.

The Ugly
Fitness -- It's going to be a long uphill battle to regain my form and fitness.
Strength -- I need to put those 4 lbs back on and then some if I hope to survive this season. I think it's time for me to start measuring my thighs.
Fashion -- It's been so nice fitting comfortably into my jeans for the past month. It's now back to looking and feeling like a stuffed sausage.
Flu shot -- I should not have stopped at the Y at the beginning of my ride as my arm is killing me.
Pain -- I may not be able to walk tomorrow given how sore my legs are.

All smiles in Beantown

The Boston Red Sox CRUSHED the Cleveland Indians 11-2 last night in Game 7 of the AL championship series to secure a trip to the world series.

Having rallied from a 3-1 deficit against Cleveland, the Red Sox now face the Colorado Rockies starting Wednesday night in Boston.

Each team won three games in a row, but Cleveland was unable to close the deal. Given the Red Sox dominance in games 1, 6 & 7 it makes me wonder if Cleveland's wins were simply good for TV ratings.  

Go Red Sox!

Finding my religion

I am heading to Tucson for a week on Saturday. My sister twisted my arm into joining her at a mind and body spa for a week of yoga, meditation, contemplation, relaxation, and hopefully, a little hiking and mountain biking :-).
Since I have been bullied by my family into finding more time and more ways to relax and slow down my life, I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn some new tricks.

I have read that meditation is the act of listening, which is encouraging since I am actually a good listener. The biggest challenge with meditation is asking the mind to rest in stillness. There is nothing harder than quieting the mind. It's amazing how easily it ricochets from one thought to another. To stay in the present moment requires dedicated, disciplined single point focus.

If you have never tried to meditate, you should. It is by far and away the the hardest thing I have ever done. My goal is to meditate at least twice a day. That shouldn't be too hard as the place we are going has a ton of meditation classes ranging from morning meditation to sound meditation to chakra meditation.

Apparently, the place also has a meditation labyrinth, which sounds like fun.
I bet I can make it through faster than anyone else. I know, that's not the point. I just wanted to freak my Dad out. In all seriousness, one of the meditation activities is entitled "Labyrinth Journey" and you are supposed to "walk the circuits of this special unicursal design and calm your mind while enlivening your intuition."

I am going to use this opportunity to TOTALLY unplug and unwind my life, which means no email, NO BLOGGING, no Internet surfing and no phone calls for an entire week! I am sure I will have LOTS of stories when I return.

Let's just hope I don't decide to trade in my wheels for a sticky mat or a string of prayer beads when I get back.

Namaste

Battle of the pitchers

Following their sweep of the Angels, "the skies are blue in Red Sox Nation." The Red Sox got what they wanted: an ALCS matchup against Cleveland as opposed to another exhausting Armageddon with the Yankees.

However, I am sure that Boston was hoping that Cleveland had to use their star pitcher C.C. Sabathia in ALDS Game 5. Now the Indians can match a rested Sabathia with Josh Beckett in ALCS Game 1 tomorrow and Fausto Carmona against Curt Schilling in Game 2. Both of the Indian's pitchers
are AL Cy Young Award candidates so it's sure to be a battle of the pitchers!

Go Red Sox!

The art of doing nothing

I am reading a really good book that, I am embarrassed to admit, I would definitely classify as a "chick book." Mind you, I usually spend my free time reading Velo News, The Economist, books on nutrition and historical fiction. So this is the first guilty pleasure read I've had in a VERY long time.

There is an interesting section in the book that talks about pleasure and how Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure. We live in an entertainment seeking nation, but not necessarily a pleasure seeking one. Americans spend billions to keep themselves amused with everything from porn to theme parks to wars, but that's not quite the same thing as quiet enjoyment.

Americans work harder and longer than anyone else in the world today, but we seem to like it. Statistics show that many Americans feel more happy and fulfilled in their offices than they do in their own homes. THAT'S TERRIBLE! Of course people inevitably work too hard, get burned out and have to spend the entire weekend lounging around eating cereal straight out of the box and staring at the TV in a mild coma, which is the opposite of working, but not the same thing as pleasure. Americans don't really know how to do nothing.

It makes me question -- How do you define pleasure? How often do you ask yourself what would I enjoy doing today? What would bring you pleasure right now? Try to answer that with no one else's agenda to consider and no other obligations to worry about.

Clearly time off the bike = time for reflection. Rather than exercising my body, I seem to be exercising my mind. If I don't get back on my bike soon I'll be joining an Ashram.

Addicted to hurry

I received a serious verbal licking from my parents while back in Boston about my life and how I am moving at mach speed and need to slow down and find more time to relax.

Why is it that people are so anxious to get on with whatever it is they are doing that they have no time for anything, including relationships or community? Are we addicted to hurry? Clearly this need for speed is not good and can negatively impact the quality of our lives.

So why do we hurry? One theological teacher believes we are running away from aches and fears and presents some strategies for slowing down. At the core is the need to savor our experiences -- basically stopping, or slowing down enough, to smell the roses.

Here are a few recommended practices:

1. Honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy by allowing it to unfold without any time limits to your activities. Don't wear a watch or look at a clock.

2. Try a day of silence. Everything will seem much slower and more deliberate.

3. Resist the urge to hit the "door close" button in the elevator.

4. Practice "after you" and allow people to walk in front of you or exit in front of you.

5. Practice slowness by being slow to anger, slow to react, slow to judge, slow to respond and slow to write anyone or anything off.

6. Go for a slow walk around your neighborhood.

7. Notice moments when you let go of time and are 100% absorbed in what you are doing.

8. Be open to possibilities so that you don't miss them.

What do you do to slow your life down? Am I the only one that's always in a frenzied hurry?

A day in the wilderness

Headed out at 7:30 am on Sunday morning. Destination: Horsetail Falls, a hike in the Sierra Nevada mountain range to the west of Lake Tahoe in the Desolation Wilderness.This is definitely not a beginner hike as there is really no marked trail and you need to scramble up granite rocks.The hike starts at 5,900 feet and climbs fairly aggressively straight up. Our high point for the day was a little over 7,200 feet, for an elevation gain of roughly 1,300 feet. It is amazing how hard it is to breathe at altitude.

Being fairly energetic and ambitious, and wanting to get in a vigorous workout, we scrambled up the mountain, stopping at the waterfall for pictures and a snack, and then continued upward in search of some lakes.
This was quite strenuous. Given that there is no trail, you are essentially scaling straight up the mountainside, across the waterfall
around pools
and climbing over rocks and boulders.It was part hiking and part rock climbing. On several occasions the route we selected was extremely dangerous and forced us to either back track or select an alternative route. Apparently many people have died by losing their step on the slippery rocks!

The trip down was almost as challenging as the trip up. You need to carefully select where you place your hands and feet. There definitely is not a lot of room for error on this hike.

Our reward for our five hours of effort was dinner at Ludy's Main St BBQ in Woodland where we stuffed ourselves full with a beef rib and chicken platter, a baby back rib and chicken platter and a BBQ brisket sandwich, all of which TOTALLY hit the spot. It was a great way to spend day #17 OTB.

OTB Trip #2

In an effort to maximize my time off the bike, I flew back from Boston only to turn straight around and catch a flight to Phoenix. Destination: Sedona.

Sedona is believed by some to be a vortex meditation site. While I have never bought into the new agey, crystal worshipping mumbo jumbo, I was determined to hit a few of the vortex "hot spots" on the trip and make my own assessment.

The trip from Phoenix to Sedona included a stop in Prescott, a drive thorough Jerome, a brief visit to a cactus farm, which had all sorts of cool varietals of catcus

and a stop at Mingus Lake. It took a bit of coaxing to convince my travel companion to drive the rental car up the boulder ridden, unpaved road. You can only imagine our surprise when we arrived at Mingus Lake to find this

Despite the beautiful brown hue, we were amazed to discover that people fish for trout AND go scuba diving in the lake! I tell you, you could not pay me enough to dive in that lake. NO WAY!

As we drove into Sedona we collided with a deer! Clearly, the positive vortex energy was not flowing in our direction. The deer slammed into the side of the rental car, up across the window and over the car. We were lucky the glass did not break. The driver's side view mirror took the brunt of the damage.
A lovely piece of deer fur wedged in the door.
A passing rain shower resulted in the most spectacular colors and sunset.
Day two was overcast and so we made a joint decision to drive north to Flagstaff. Flagstaff sits at 7,000 feet, runs by Route 66 and is MUCH more charming than Prescott. Highlights in Flagstaff included lunch downtown, touring various neighborhoods and driving up to the Lowell Observatory. I don't think I drank enough coffee that day as my navigational skills were terribly impaired. I definitely FAILED as a co-pilot.

Driving back from Flagstaff we pulled into a driveway to snap photos of this silly house
Our next stop was Cathedral Rock, one of the four major vortex sites. Cathedral Rock rises sharply above the desert floor and is topped by twin spires and a large saddle in between that offers spectacular views.

With the sun starting to set we raced to the top in the hopes of catching the sunset. The vortex is a conical pile of black lava rocks just below the saddle
We stopped at Margs Draw on our way back to town where we encountered a group of people huddled in a circle deep in prayer
Day three we decided to hike Soldier Pass. This hike winds and weaves over red rock washes and passes Devil's Kitchen, a huge sinkhole.
Everything went to hell after Devil's Kitchen. I accidentally left the trail map in the car and so all we had for directions was some information printed off the Internet. Let's just say we ended up charting our own course straight up and down this giant hillside, through bushes, bramble, sand and dry washes and up and over red rock ledges.
Next stop: Bell Rock. This is one of Sedona's electric or positive vortexes. To get to the top we had to climb, scoot and scramble our way up a giant wall with narrow footholds.
The views from the top were amazing.

Last stop: Airport Mesa, another electric or positive vortex that is supposed to have the best sunset. While the view and sunset were great, we were much more interested in the group on one of the lower ledges that was engaged in some sort of spiritual cermony 
and the man who arrived with his own gong
On our last day we killed some time driving around the greater Phoenix neighborhoods. We could not believe our eyes when we saw this dude take off his bullet belt!
All in all, it was a fun trip.

It's official

1. I HATE my job. Not sure what to do about it. Maybe it's time to quit or move. Or better yet, maybe it's time to play the midlife crisis card, pack my bags and move to Italy for a year.

2. I am able to find all sorts of things to do when I should be working including:

Watch the Blue Angels down by Chrissy Field
Best I could do with my little digital
Watch my dog stalk gophers
Clearly, I am bored and need to find some other things to do to occupy my time. I think it's time to get back on my bike.