A Friday Night Full of Sharks & Stingrays

In the city of Long Beach, on a cold fall Friday night, I got to enjoy the free Shark Lagoon at the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was a real treat to see the various kinds of sharks and stingrays from small to large. My favorite was the sawfish who's nose really looked like a saw! Lol! The stingrays took me back to a small island off the coast of Nicaragua called Little Corn. I spent my birthday there last year exploring the island and decided to take a boat ride out for a snorkeling trip. While snorkeling I saw an eagle ray stingray who appeared to be following me! Needless to say, I freaked out, took a couple of pictures, and swam back to the boat safely. The reason I freaked out was because I'd never seen a spotted stingray before and I didn't know their behavior patterns or if I was in danger until the boat captain educated me and I also googled it when I got home. I knew the regular gray stingrays weren't aggressive and they'll let you touch them as long as you don't mess with their tails. The close up of the black spotted eagle ray is a rushed photo of Little Corn's Spotty :-)

Enjoy the journey!

Chillin In Lake Arrowhead

It snowed last night in Lake Arrowhead!  There was already snow on the ground when I got here on Friday, but I was treated to a beautiful shower of snow late Saturday night.  Then I got a little concerned because I am not in a car that's snow ready nor do I have chains.  I'm hoping a snow plow comes by before I need to head back home in a of couple hours.

This weekend I got to sleep without waking up to an alarm clock, lounge around when I did get up, and I had absolutely nowhere to be and nothing to do!  Now that is what I call having a wonderful, relaxing weekend.  Just what I needed to come back ready to wrap up my year strong!

Enjoy the journey!

1st Cali Bike Tour with Robin's Crew!

Shoreline Park Lighthouse & Long Beach Museum of Art Bike Tour

What an afternoon of fun with Robin, Terri, Maribel and little Kiera! This is the start of something beautiful!!!

Prayers Answered

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray to God my soul to keep
If I should die before I wake
I pray to God my soul to take

For some reason the childhood prayer my mother taught me just came to mind and it felt good reminiscencing. :-) I'm not sure if it's correct, but for the most part that's how I remembered it.

As a child I had no real concept of God, Jesus, or prayers.  As a seasoned adult and Christian these have become very real to me and are an integral part of my life.  I am currently experiencing prayers being answered.  My longtime prayers being answered.  It's awesome when God shows out!  And it's amazing, and wonderful, and exciting, and scary all at the same time!  I've hesitated to run into it with all of me because it's been so long, how can it possibly be happening now?  For me?  Well, as I look around, there's only me standing in this position, so it must be for me.  Lol!  It's like things have been strategically placed, and all I have to do is reach out or look to the right, and everything I need is around me.  This is awesome and I refuse to walk in fear!  I just needed to remind myself that I have been prepared for this day and I plan to represent.

Enjoy the journey!

City Life!

I had a wonderful day! Partly because I worked from home (yay!), since Besty (my car) needed servicing, and the shop had to keep her all day. :-( She should be better now, I just need to pick her up. I dislike having to maintain my car, and this is just one more reason why I need a good, handy, helpful husband. :-) The main reason why my day was wonderful was because I got to go out for a bike ride at lunch! Now how cool is that on a work day? Especially on a beautiful, warm, sunny California day. Just lovely! This is what I'm talking about, the way of life I'm looking forward to transitioning into and enjoying on a daily basis. I'm ready to work in my city, near my home, where I can ride my bike to work, shopping, eating out, and playing. I already do 2 of the 4, now I'm ready to transform completely into a real green, sustainable lifestyle. I'm praying this will happen before 2010 ends and it's looking very possible with each passing day.

I went out for a ride for lunch to do some networking with the local resturants and attractions. I made it to about 6 restuarants and the Aquarium. I'll be getting 10-20% discounts at some of the restaurants, which is cool! Yay! And for some others I need to provide a letter about my company and the benefit for them partnering with me, and I guess they have to approve it. I need to follow up with the Aquarium because the Sales person wasn't available. I'll continue making my rounds of networking with the local businesses over the next couple weeks and anticipate having a hefty list of partners for my tours. Hopefully the more stronger relationships I build, I'll be able to get bigger discounts and some free services.

It felt soooo good being out and about in the afternoon in Long Beach! It was so beautiful, sunny, warm and the beach was just cool to ride along! I went home excited to finish up my work day so I could get back on my bike and enjoy some more of my day and the sunshine. I'd planned to do some more networking, but I just ended up riding to a print shop to inquire about printing t-shirt samples, and then headed to Belmont Shore to help out with the Biggest Losers weigh-ins. So far they have $46,000 in the prize pool and there is still 3 more weeks to go in the 12 week contest! Last year the prize was $5o,000, so it's looking like they may surpass that this year. Afterwards, I rolled back home with a smile on my face and a warm, joyful feeling in my spirit that I intend to hold on to. This is living and I plan to enjoy it all!

Enjoy the journey!

My 1st Long Beach Marathon Bike Tour!

The LBC!  I love my city!  Today I rode in my 1st Long Beach Marathon and it was fun!  I can't wait to hear the final count of participants.  They were expecting 25,000 runners and 3,000 cyclists.  They want to get the cyclists number up to 10,000 next year and I believe it will happen.

The bike tour route took me to places I hadn't experienced before in the city, which is good because I can incorporate them into my bike tours.  I was 15 minutes late to the starting line because I couldn't find the bike lock that I've only used once, and of course it was right next to my bike right.  Then I had to check my backpack because I was going to volunteer at the 3 mile water station after my ride and I needed dry clothes to change into.  Any hoots, I made it, but was behind all of the recreational riders which can be slow and dangerous.  I found a little middle-aged man who was rollin' and stayed behind him for a while.  I liked his maneuvering skills.  So he got me moving along through the pack.  Then I lost him and was rollin' on my own.  But I found another guy who was really rollin'!  I was hustling to keep up, but he got me through another group of cyclists.  Then he took off and I couldn't keep up and I'm glad I couldn't.  The next turn we made he ate it!  I would have been right behind him and probably would've fell over him or fell trying to avoid him.  His fall looked pretty bad, but he seemed to fall in control, if that makes sense.  I, on the other hand probably, would've wiped out several people in the process of going down!  Lol!  Thank God I couldn't hang with him.  He was able to recover quickly which leads me to believe he didn't get hurt to bad.  I hope he's ok.

After the tour I changed clothes and went to see how I could get back to the 3 mile water station. They were starting the 5K run, and the marathon runners were still on the route.  I couldn't get through to volunteer and I felt bad about that :-(  So, instead I watch the runners for a bit and headed out to get some crepes with strawberries on the way home.  We've had an overcast and light sprinkles all weekend, but I enjoyed my breakfast on the patio anyway.  It was delicious too!  Now since I've been up since 5:00am and I didn't get a good nights rest, I'm about to take a nap. Lol!

Enjoy the journey!

Finally!

I'm ready! Today I filed my DBA for Cali Bike Tours! I'm on my way to a successful, booming, and more importantly, fun business and new lifestyle! I'm excited and exhausted all at the same time. Lol! God is good and I'm looking forward to it getting better and better. :-)

The first picture was taken riding along the bike path in Manhattan Beach at sunset. The second photo was taken in Newport Beach near my turn around point. You can see Palos Verdes in the distance in both photos. Crystal Cove is beautiful. I got married there over 5 years ago, and even though I'm now divorced, the beauty of this place still remains captivating.

Enjoy the journey!

Gold Heels On Wheels

What a fun Sunday afternoon! I volunteered to help with registration for the 15th Annual Dress To Impress Gala put on by the nonprofit Close The Deal.  They provide business attire for low income people looking for jobs.  This was my first interaction with the organization and I have to say I was impressed. They had 231 registered guests!  Lots of vendors who were donating a portion of their sales and productive volunteers.  

The gala was held at the Hilton downtown, which is close to me, so I decided to ride my bike instead of paying $9 for parking.  It may be about 3 miles from my house, if that.  So I put on my strapless black cocktail dress and gold stillettos and rolled out to the gala on my bike.  Since this was my first time riding in heels, I packed my cycling shoes in my backpack just in case they didn't work out. LOL!  Well they worked out, even with my lollipop cycling pedals!  I had a ball being all dolled up and riding my bike to a fancy gala!  Now I just need to get an about town bike which will probably be a beach cruiser with a hot paint job and a bell.

I got excited and inspired last week when I read an article in the New York Times about women riding all over town on their bikes, even to fancy affairs.  So why not bring that type of green thinking to the LBC?  Well, it's already here as of today! LOL!

Enjoy the journey!

Excited!

Today was a wonderful day and I'm so excited!

Check out this lady rollin' out                                      in high heels!  This is just one more confirmation that a change is coming and quickly. God is good!  :-)

Innocence

Tonight I ran the stairs at Long Beach and got a surprising treat.  My goal was to run 20 sets of stairs, then run on the bluff for a bit.  Well on my 8th set a large family comes along at the bottom of the stairs to leave the beach.  The mother is getting everyone accounted for, baby out of stroller, and then continues up the stairs.  There were 3 little boys, a little girl, and the baby the mother was carrying.  This is just to give you a little background on what I was working with.

Now, as I work on my 9th set one of the little boys excitedly asks "Can I race you?"  I was like what?  Race? Can't you see I'm an old lady and barely making it up and down these stairs?  He may have been about 6 and his name was Arthur.  Since I was still working on my 20 sets and was going back up anyway so I said ok.  Even though he was only about 6 or so, I barely beat Arthur. LOL!  He was on fresh legs though! :-)  Then his other slightly older brother wants to race me too!  I guess his thought was she barely beat my little brother, I know I can beat her.  And he does because a sista was tired.  Then the little sister, Kimberly wanted to race me too!  It's hard trying to race a 4 year old. Lol!  Then the oldest brother wanted to race me.  I could tell by looking at him that he probably did not play much.  He had to stop on the second flight of stairs, so I tried to encourage him and let him know that sometimes we need to take a break and regroup before you start again.  They were all cutie pies and it was definitely a surprise to have them all getting involved with a complete stranger.  I started to lose count of my sets because the kids kept wanting to race me and I was distracted.  So I'm sure I did more than 20 sets, but I'll stay on the conservative side.  Afterwards I ran for 15 minutes on the bluff.

The kids reminded me of my childhood and how we would race each other and make up games to play.  So tonight, instead of being a pain, the stairs were a treat  all due to childhood innocence.  Thanks for the refreshing reminder kids!

Enjoy the journey!

Sundays In Southern California

You gotta love 'em!

I went for my first bike ride since my San Francisco bike tour 1 month and 1 day ago and it was wonderful!  I was quickly reminded why I love to ride.  Just take a look at the sunset over Manhattan Beach that I was treated to today.  Beautiful!  Utterly beautiful!

Enjoy the journey!

Take Me Out To The Ball Game!

An afternoon with my department at the Anaheim Angels vs. Tampa Bay Rays game.  This is my 2nd baseball game ever and it's burning up out here!  Fortunately we're in the shade :-)  I've never seen a game with 12 runs by the 6th inning.  Lots of action for a baseball game!

Day 6 - Santa Barbara to Los Angeles - 97 Miles

I just crossed 400 miles for this trip in Oxnard! The view from the Rock is awesome!

Day 5 - Lompoc to Santa Barbara - 58 Miles

We rode from Lompoc to Santa Barbara today and the hills were very long and challenging! The sun finally came out and stayed out and it was a really beautiful day! Santa Barbara is such a California spot. You have to love it. We had dinner at the Fish House right across the street from the beach and beach. Very enchanting and the food was tasty too. I've been videotaping most of the tour with this helmet camera and I've had issues with finding a 16 GB memory card and finding a computer nearby where I can download and upload the files. I finally found a Kinkos somewhat nearby and have been here for way to long transferring the footage. Hopefully I'll be able to make something out of it being that this is my first time videotaping anything and this helmet camera and tricky when trying to make sure you're focused the correct way. If I can create a watchable video I'll post it. I'm hoping to be out of Kinkos in a few minutes and back on my bike to the hotel and to sleep. Day 5 has me tired and looking forward to tomorrow when we roll home to LA.

Enjoy the journey!

Day 4 - San Luis Obispo to Lompoc - 58 Miles

Today we're riding from San Luis Obispo to Lompoc and I'm looking forward to the days ride. I want to sleep in and even though this is our second short day, I have to get up, get dressed, find food, and be ready to roll by 9:00 am. I woke up around 6:45am, but have been in and out of sleep for the past hour. I guess I'll get up now and stretch.

We rode to Pismo Beach and had breakfast at the Seaside Cafe and Bakery. It's a cute little restaurant, with an nice ambiance and good food. We had our first flat of the trip and a broken derailleur. The flat was an easy fix, but we were concerned about the broken derailleur. Renee made it the to a bike shop at the end of the ride and the shop owner didn't have one to fit her bike so he called one of his buddies who happened to be moving his daughter's furniture. The buddy had a used one and quickly brought it to the shop to be installed on Renee's bike. That was definitely a blessing being that it was at the end of the day and it was delivered and installed immediately!

I met two ladies from Holland staying at our hotel. Liesbeth and Elizabeth are 5 1/2 weeks into a 6 weeks bike tour from Vancouver to San Diego! They are camping out and carrying some serious touring bags on their bikes. They are rollin' for real! We exchanged emails and hopefully I'll get to hear all about their tour when it's over and share mine with them.

Eric and I ended up having dinner at Mi Amore's restaurant and their veggie lasagna was delicious! We headed to the hotel me to blog and chill and him to hang out with his crew.

Enjoy the journey!

Day 3 - San Simeon to San Luis Obispo - 42 Miles

Our first short day!  I survived yesterday even though I couldn't complete the entire ride.  My shoulder seems to be better and I got to sleep in!  Yay!

Since we slept in, had to do laundry and have breakfast, we didn't have time to do the Hearst Castle tour, so we just visited the museum.  It was beautiful and interesting and I'm looking forward to doing a tour the next time I'm in town.

On our way to San Luis Obispo we passed through a town named Harmony with a population of 18!  I got a big kick out of that.  I  got to see elephant seals for.the first time and that was awesome!  They were huge and a few of them seem to be playing.

My ride was beautiful and I've accepted that I might have to finish out my tour in pain because my shoulder seems to be reacting to the hill climbing.

Enjoy the journey!