Beach

Calella

September 19, 2013 by Julie Shipman

Today we rode North along the coast to Calella. (“We” may be a bit of a stretch as my rear end was mostly sitting on a large comfy Renault van seat… when it wasn’t in that seat, I was leaning my entire body out of the car window with the seat belt wrapped around my feet. It felt something like being strapped onto a sailboat that was up on its edge to balance against the wind — hiking. FUN!)

Keith..

Marty, with a smile!

Katherine and boys…

Cliff

Penny and Stanna leading the men up the hill!

The scenery was PERFECTION. Costa Brava was listed as one of National Geographic’s top ten places to visit in 2012. No doubt!

Riding along the boardwalk and stopping for coffee. Don’t think it gets much better.

Brigitte…

Bo and Katherine

Cliff and Marty

AAHHHHH, puppy alert. SSOO cute. Stylin’ collar. And, he even spoke Spanish! His owner said, “Aqui!” and he went running. How cool is that???

Connie and Marty posing for a travel ad. I think it’s going on the cover of Outside Magazine.

Scott being Scott and Marty worrying if he took out enough insurance for this group…

A really cute guy flirted with me on the boardwalk!! XO

Back on the bike to an ancient medieval castle built in the 12th Century. It is now adorned with a few places to stay, eat and shop. Extremely interesting and well-preserved. I am immensely impressed by the beautiful masonry. The roman heritage is evident in many of the flooring designs.

If you need a basket for your bike, you can get one here! Handmade no less… 69 Euros.

Here comes the crew! Marty followed by Keith, Pav and Bo.

Below you can see the ruts in the road made by carriage wheels over the centuries.

Connie (a fitness instructor and nutritionist) took this opportunity to get a healthy “refueling” for the last part of the ride. Yum!

Our tireless leaders/staff express their pure joy at being given the chance to take care of us on our journey! Below is Jill J. with assistant Kelly.

…and, JP!

We arrive at our Hotel in Calella… time for a nap, swim, and drink!

Rick enjoys the view and the wildlife!

Heading out for dinner. Connie is READY! After Fanta and Doritos, I think the Orange Dye went to her head a bit…

Yes, it’s me. After this crew, I decided I needed a double.

Our handsome men at sunset. Bo, Cliff, Scott, Keith, Pav, Paul, and JP.

The dinner crew! I was actually IN the ocean to take this shot!

Goodnight Callela!

Costa Brava!

September 17, 2013 by Julie Shipman

Time to move on!

Loaded our luggage on the van this morning and got on our bikes.

Through lots of sunflower fields (now they are sunflower SEED fields…) and corn… and orchards, especially pear. We also saw many cattle and sheep farms (ranches?).

We stopped for a morning café con leche in Llagostera.

After our coffee break, we climbed 9 km to the crest of the hills to gaze down upon the Mediterranean Sea. Happy to say I made it up the entire climb although the SAG wagon was supposed to come get me so I could shoot photos. Apparently Marty thought it was necessary for Julie to finish a climb by herself. I came in DEAD last; in fact I am sure I was at least 10 minutes behind the group in front of me and maybe 30 behind the leaders. I let them have a nice break at the top! I actually thought they had all gone on and so I stopped several times to take photos. Whoops!

Ok, now for the downhill. I LOVE downhill. SO much fun. AMAZING. The highlight of the riding so far for me. Going so fast I got bugs in my teeth!! 🙂

We reached the bottom of the hill at the Costa Brava… now we head south to Tossa de Mar.

We see the end of the ride! Tossa de Mar on the Costa Brava is a beautiful costal town with a sandy beach.

Our Hotel! Gran Hotel Reymar… and a gorgeous room!

BEACH time! The leader boys above are enjoying several beers……. I LOVED my mojito!

And, then nighttime. Beautiful full moon. This town is an ancient fortified city built originally by the Iberians, then the Moors inhabited it and in the 1400s built a protective wall against the Saracens who were invading as pirates, kidnapping fishermen and looking for ransoms. There are also old Roman villas where the lucky few wealthy soldiers could retire with acreage and build a homestead…

Well, we just walked along the beachfront and had a midnight pizza. Time to rest for tomorrow’s ride, north along the Costa Brava…

Quick Trip to “SoCal”

July 16, 2013 by Julie Shipman

A quick trip to “SoCal” to visit my oldest son – Peter, with my youngest son, Jack. There is one more in the middle, Hank — but as usual, he’s on his own journey this week. Venice Beach is quite fascinating. I don’t think PeopleWatching is better anywhere in the world! There is truly every flavor of person imaginable. There is NO norm. Anything goes. Refreshing. Interesting. A bit shocking.

It makes you ponder what is “acceptable” and what is not. It’s all perspective. Tolerance is key, but in raising children you have to set boundaries somewhere. Venice Beach is the perfect setting for Endless Boundaries!

Enjoy my look at the world. It’s different and it’s the same. I love to travel. I love to see it thru a lens. I love to share it with friends, family and the world.