San Diego - Ride for Aids - Sept 2009

This is my second trip to San Diego this year, with one more to go. I had signed up for the 2009 Ride for Aids in April, but it was postponed until September.

I was extremely lucky that my good friends Jeane and Jay Zorzy were at home, and invited me to stay with them. The two pictures above were taken at their mountain ranch.

When I arrived in San Diego, I went directly to Lisa’s office and took her out to lunch at the Studio Diner – I wasn’t hungry since I already had three meals by noon. That’s Lisa above signing the word “hello”.

After lunch I went to Jeane and Jay’s and relaxed until dinner. It seems all we do is relax and go out to eat, which isn’t all that bad. Tonight was PF Changs.

Jeane had a fantastic day on the golf course today. She was taking her second lesson and was chipping onto the green – and guess what? – The ball went right into the hole – I call that a hole in one. I doubt she’ll take my advice to give up the game, since it will never get any better.

On Friday I went with Jay to the skating rink, where he played ice hockey – number 27 in the picture. I lasted about an hour, before the threat of frostbite forced me out into the warmer weather. That evening we went to a beautiful restaurant overlooking the Pacific.

On Saturday, Lisa, Jeane and I went downtown for an Art Walk. I wasn’t really impressed with the work, but Jeane bought a beautiful photo of stones and shells that matched her guest room perfectly. That’s sunset above from Jeane and Jay’s backyard.

Later that afternoon we relaxed before another night out on the town – sushi tonight.

Sunday morning Jay and I woke at 5 am, and actually left on time at 5:30am. There were about 75 riders for the Ride for Aids. After four hours of up hills and down hills, Jay and I completed 108 miles. That’s 54 miles each, which included 4 extra miles since we got lost alone the way. It really was a beautiful ride as you can see from the pictures. The first loop was to Point Loma Peninsula, where we rode by a very large military cemetery. The view was beautiful, not a bad place to be buried. We then headed north, where we overlooked the Pacific Ocean. We lost the course somewhere around Sea World, but managed to make it back to the finish line with four other riders. Just as we arrived, they were drawing prizes, and Jay won a $50 gift certificate. I won a stuffed teddy bear.

An interesting fact – my bike rental for one day cost the same as my four day car rental - $60.

We returned home, heated up the hot tub, and relaxed.

The biggest surprise Sunday night was the homemade dinner Jeane prepared – her famous white chili. Save the picture above, since it may be a collector’s item one day. Exhausted from the ride, I retired early, getting ready for my flight home on Monday.

I’ll be returning to San Diego in October to take Lisa out to dinner. I need the miles to requalify for Executive Platinum.

Costa Rica - Sept 2009

This year's relaxing vacation was a week at Tamarindo Beach on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. After our flights to Miami and San Jose, we had a four hour car ride to the condo (pictured above). The ride wasn't really that bad, except for the last half hour on a dirt road. The condo had a fantastic view of the ocean and beautiful sunsets (see below).

This is the waterfall in our pool.

No - I did not go surfing. I leave that to my sister. The waves were not very high, but there were plenty of surfer boys showing their skills. We didn't really spend much time on the beach - since the rental chairs were too uncomfortable to sit in, and the umbrella was at least 15 years old - not providing a lot of protection.

Here's one of the many sunsets we saw each evening. It rained most afternoons, which helped to bring the temperature down.

I don't know how I got this affect, probably after too many gin and tonics. It was fun walking the beach, especially in the evening.

This was the sunset on the last night of our trip.

The hightlight of the trip was our ziplining adventure. We drove to the rain forest and managed to find a small hotel with ziplining - not the one we were looking for, which was about an hour and a half from where we ended up. The last time we went to Costa Rica I paniced and would not go ziplining. This time we were both pros - flying from tree to tree at at least 50 mph, or was that kph. It was a lot of fun - and I hope my niece Rachel gets to do it one day.

This final picture truly describes our trip. Our meal - every night except one - was rice, beans and chicken, which always came with a small salad and squash. We call it the standard dinner in Costa Rica. It was just as good as we remembered it four years ago. We also had it the first night we were home.