| the flights couldn't have gone more easily. departure from c.r. was about 5 mins late (the pilot said they had to de-ice the plane one more time; i don't know why they'd can't keep that info to themselves). but we arrived in a sunny denver about 10 mins early. |
| i had plenty of time to walk to the gate for the san diego flight, which fortunately was on the same concourse. as luck would have it, i passed a columbo yogurt shop on the way....well, i didn't exactly PASS it. of course i stopped & had my first chocolate ice cream of the trip. that seemed a fitting way to officially kick off my bike trip. |
| we left on time for san diego & arrived 5 mins early. sari was waiting for me with a bright purple t-shirt on. i think i disappointed her with my outfit, however; no purple anywhere. we went out into the gorgeous california day...sunshine, blue skies, light breezes, & palm trees & flowers everywhere. as i waited for her to go get the car, i had to remove a couple of layers. oh boy i can see why people flock to this state....at least weatherwise. |
| once at her house here in la jolla, we had some lunch in the sunshine on the patio, then, since my bike wasn't ready to pick up, sari & i took a long walk along the ocean to the homes of 2 of her children. sari & peter live just a block or 2 from the shoreline. |
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in this first photo you see me on the beach with some bright red boats & a seagull. people were out swimming, tho' the temps seemed a bit chilly for that to me. |
| further we climbed up along the cliffs. here's sari looking back toward the beach area where we'd just been. |  |
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we finally made our way to the home of sari's son erik & his wife, verdi. they have a darling daughter, kylie, not yet 2, & a newborn named laird. here are erik, kylie, verdi, & sari standing in their garden; that's a bird of paradise plant behind them. (i didn't know they grew so huge!) |
| sari & i retraced our route back home, stopping for a bit to view the seals on a secluded spot of beach that we passed. there were several baby seals in the group. |  |
| there's quite a controversy in the area about that beach. it was designated quite a while ago for use as a children's beach, but now it's become a favorite spot for a somewhat rare breed of seals. some folks, of course, support leaving the seals there. some of their spokespersons were posted at the beach with petitions. others feel the beach should go back to its use specifically for children, & point to the fact that the seals are drawing schools of great white sharks, who see all these seals as very tasty morsels. since there are always swimmers all along these stretches of beach (we saw many as we walked), they in particular want the seals to go. i hope sari keeps me posted on who wins this debate. |
| once home, sari fixed a delicious supper of quiche & artichokes & soup, & we 3 talked over plans for our bike ride the next day. it's not so easy to keep up with peter & sari, who have enuf energy for 15 people. keep tuned to see how i fare. |
| If you would like copies of the original, full-size photos, feel free to e-mail my son Mark with your request. Stay tuned.... |