4,793 Miles in 2008

I am back for 2009 and hopefully I will get better at regular postings.

Last year was a very busy year in our household.

In February, I did a week long bicycle trip in Death Valley with Woman Tours.

In April, Angela and I went to Beijing for a week and had a wonderful time. Here we are at the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is located in southeast Beijing and was completed in 1420, but has been expanded over the years by two Qing Dynasty Emperors. Qinian Hall, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, with the three blue tiled cone shaped roofs, has become a worldwide symbol of Beijing. It was hit by lightning in 1889 and completely restored. No nails or pegs were used in the original construction nor in the restoration.

In May,Greg did Wildflower Triathlon Long course and we followed that by a Backroads bike trip with our friends Barbara and Jerry in Napa Valley.

Greg completed two I man Triathlons this year (yes that is 140.6 miles each). Yes, you read that right, two Ironman Trialthlons. He did Ironman Couer d'Alene in June and Ironman Arizona in November. Our daughter, Bridget, also did both of them as well! Here they are at the start in Couer d'Alene. Greg looks like he is not sure what he got himself into.

After they did Couer d'Alene, Bridget, her boys and I went back to Seattle to spend a month with Angela and her family in their new home in Woodinville. While we were there Angela kindly agreed to watch the boys so Bridget, my friend Susan from TriSports and I rode the two day Seattle to Portland ride.

All this and other activies to be told about in future post ment I was still able to get in a total of 4,793 miles in on my bicycle. I have been busy all year preparing for the ride of a lifetime. I will tell you more about it soon.