archived photos

Throwback Thursday: 2009 Amgen Tour of California

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Along with the Big Guy, I was a roadside spectator for all but a couple of editions of the annual bike race known as the Amgen Tour of California between in the first edition in February 2006 and its final run in May 2019. I first shared these images from February 2009 soon after the event; Stage 1 took the riders from Davis to Lake Berryessa, then across the Vaca Mountains to Napa County, eventually crossing the finish line in Santa Rosa — a total of 115.9 miles. Two days before the race, Friday, the Big Guy and I drove from Sacramento to Napa to scope everything out and pick a good place to watch. We drove past the first of two King of the Mountains checkpoints, near the Monticello Dam at Lake Berryessa. After accidentally taking the wrong road, we passed through Angwin and came over Howell Mountain, the location of the second KOM, driving in the opposite direction of the race route, then down into Pope Valley. We didn’t drive the race route along the western shore of Berryessa, but we did see some pretty sites on our way back to Route 128. On Sunday, we knew exactly where we wanted to go. And despite the crazy weather we bundled up and made the trip back over to Napa. Narrow bridge near Pope Valley Somerston Vineyards Not part of the peloton! Actually, on race day the wind didn’t […]

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Animals

Gabby and her chair

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I’ve been very slowly working at transferring my old Hi8 videotapes to DVD, and from there to my hard drive. I’ve been editing them with Windows Movie Maker and then uploading — with a little additional editing — to YouTube. Much of the footage is devoted to our three dogs, Buster, Gabby, and Pinkie. My final results are far from professional, but that’s okay. Most of the videos are at least 10 years old, and I’m just very happy that I’m finally able to watch them with more smiles than tears. As I wrote in the description of this video on YouTube, Gabby wasn’t allowed on the furniture inside the house, but once we moved this old chair to the back patio, she adopted it as her own. She loved that chair! One of her favorite things was to curl up in it during a spring storm and watch the rain fall. The music is Tucson Tease by John Deley and the 41 Players, courtesy of YouTube’s collection of ad-free tunes.

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