The theme of this blogpost is celebrations! We are about halfway through our time on the left coast and it’s time for an update. We’ve been busy celebrating birthdays and having fun. Speaking of fun, I’m excited to tell you that the Elliott & Skye professional photos (our biggest celebration of the year) are finally here and I promised to share a few! Here ya go:

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming! When your bIrthday is on the third of the month (like mine) it’s easy to celebrate for the whole month, but when its on the 26th (like Roger’s) you have to work hard and start early! Things kicked off in Atlanta with a brewery visit and dinner with John and Mitzi on the 10th! As shocking as it may sound, no pictures were taken!

On Roger’s actual birthday, we rode his age (alas, we switched to kilometers back when we passed age 50) with Britt and Kevin and then had lunch and treats.

The celebration continues with a lovely dinner out and…surprise – more dessert!

September ends and the party continues into October with a 120-mile road trip to Ventura to attend the first annual Southern California Tandem Club Rally. Around 15 teams enjoyed beautiful weather and rides with some serious climbs and spectacular descents.

The first ride was essentially 24 miles of climbing followed by 24 miles of descending. The group stayed together on our way out of the city, but we split up for the climb, and ultimately we were pleased to be alone for the very curvy drop down to the Ojai Valley.

When we reach the town of Ojai we lunch at a French bakery, and share bread pudding for dessert.

There is a brewery right across the street from our hotel which features organic Belgian-style brews, which happen to be our favorite.

And there was post-dinner ice cream just around the corner from where we ate with the group!

In retrospect, perhaps my mother-in-law’s white puffy jacket might not have been the best background for the white ice cream. Oh, we shared that giant “small” cup of frozen perfection!

The second day of riding had us climbing up to Lake Casitas, which apparently had hardly any water in it for the last several years. Lots of rain last winter made for better views.

Following the ride, there are no alligator lizards in the air (anyone get the band America reference?) as some of the group meet up at the Red Tandem Brewery (in Oxnard) for pizza and beer.

After the post-ride libations everyone else heads home, mostly to Los Angeles and Orange County. Since we are still in celebration mode, we stay one more night in Ventura and enjoy a flat coastal ride with more scenic views of the Pacific Ocean the following morning.

Back in Orange County, there are a few more celebrations to come.

We are excited when one of the couples we met and rode with in Ventura attend an event in Newport Beach. They reach out to us and we are thrilled to host them on some of our favorite paths and roads.

The very next day Judy came to town on her birthday and we celebrated with her! On the way to the restaurant, we knew we were in for a spectacular sunset because the clouds and sun were perfectly situated. We also knew we would only be able to see little bits of the color from where we were sitting.

Trust me when I tell you the entire sky turned pink, orange and red while we enjoyed dinner.

It was another two-dessert night since the restaurant joined in the celebration!

One more birthday to mark! We meet our friends Michael and Nancy in San Clemente for lunch and cake!

We love to celebrate almost as much as we love dessert! It’s a good thing we are riding 5 days a week or Roger would have to roll me onto the plane to come home when the time comes!

There are still 3 weeks to enjoy the sun and the surf (just looking at it – not swimming). We’ve also got Halloween and the fourth year of the Candy Chute to look forward to! The next post will probably come to you from home.

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