Why I DETEST Buying A Car.

[This is a long one. And it's a rant. You have been warned.]

It’s fair to say that negotiating is a regular part of life. Some people do it for a living and some people avoid it at all costs. I’m probably somewhere close to doing it for a living based on different roles that I have had over my career, not to mention when I was negotiating for a later curfew in high school and in college.

Background

My Dad negotiated my first car purchase when I was 19. Before that, I drove a hand-me-down that varied between whatever car my brother trashed along the way. Then I moved into Manhattan and the need for a car ceased until I had a temporary stint in the Bay Area in 2000. I got creamed when I leased my BMW in Palo Alto. No doubt about it. Spanked. Hosed. Bamboozled. You name it. I didn’t know enough about the mechanics about how car sales worked. Fortunately, when my stint in NorCal ended prematurely, BMW wanted my car so bad that they essentially paid me to get the car back so they could resell it for an exorbitant price. Whatever.

Fast forward to 2003 when I moved out to Seattle and needed to acquire a car. I didn’t want a BMW because even though I loved it, I felt they nickeled and dimed on so many of the packages. I mean this is a luxury car brand and power seats weren’t included in the base?! So I went to Volkswagen. They assigned me a female salesperson and truthfully she was as much of a shark as anyone else, even with me reading “Car Buying For Dummies”.

I wanted to lease (mistake) and committed pretty much every other dumb error you could do (i.e., this is what I want to spend per month). The worst part was the signing process where they said it would take an hour and it took three. I had already returned my rental car and Marc had dropped me off at the dealer so I was on an island, or so I thought back then.

The Finance team at Carter VW in Seattle jerked me around with delay tactics and other BS. I would complain to Sales while I was waiting and I didn’t exist anymore. I was passed over the wall. I could tell you that I had my Jetta for almost 10 years. I LOVED that car and yet I still tell people that Carter VW sucks and doesn’t respect your time.

They would call, email, etc. I’d tell them why I’m not interested each time and they would say that things are different. Yeah, right. Car dealers are nothing if not predictable. They still use the same crappy tactics. And they are in denial that the model is changing…. Maybe they should talk to yellow cab drivers who thought their model was unassailable.

Trade-In Current Car

Fast forward to the past couple of weeks. We decided to trade-in our Ford, which had incredibly low mileage and was in top condition for a 2012 car. We sold the VW to a friend a few years ago who was in a bind. We received a letter from Ford, which I also verified with our dealer, that they were willing to pay up to 110% of Kelley Blue Book (KBB) for our vehicle.

I make an appointment and show up with the car. I did my research on KBB and NADA with conservative estimates for what Ford could offer me. I also had a trade-in value estimate from where we were buying our new car. I figured out the tax implications, etc. Bottom-line, I knew the number Ford had to give me to make the deal happen.

Of course, they lowball me. I expected that. What I didn’t expect and what caused me to just walk out with saying “thanks for your time” was that when Bill Pierre Ford gave me the number they wanted to pay, I grabbed my phone because I had NADA and KBB pulled up. The salesperson says:

"Don't bother getting the information from your phone. The info there is always wrong. What I have from Kelley from my machine is correct."

Oh really? I get that you weren’t going to go with the number that KBB said on the higher end but to call KBB’s website into question with the hopes I wouldn’t check it and just accept your number? Wow. I guess this intimidation tactic must have worked before? I tweeted at KBB and of course they politely said that the salesperson was full of crap.

The end result of that was that we didn’t dislike our Ford. We just wanted something different and until that salesperson, we had nothing but positive things to say about Ford. Yeah, not anymore. The trade-in happened at an attractive price where we bought the car, so all’s well that ends well - more on that in a bit. But Ford is dead to us.

Buying The New Car

I was pretty confident about what I wanted to buy – make, model and most of the options – but I wanted to test drive it obviously. One of our close friends recommended test driving a competitor so I did that first.

I went to BMW after making an appointment. The salesperson kept trying to tell me on the test drive that the options that I was interested in were not that important. Oh ok. Thanks. I guess I don’t know what I want at all because “you know what I want”. Maybe it’s because you have the perfect vehicle in the showroom for me to buy with the options already in place. Gosh, I'm so smart (not really).

I told the salesperson I would follow-up as I was checking out the nearest competitor. He responds by saying that the car I “want” is priced at XXXXX MSRP. Hmmm. I ask is that what he is offering the car at because his email is vague except for the dollar amount and MSRP. The response is “Oh, of course I wish I could sell cars at MSRP but that isn’t realistic so we sell the car at MSRP with X% discount.” Ah right. Make me pull stuff like this out of you. Don’t just give me a number to negotiate with. Now we’re done because you actually attempted to sell me a car at MSRP and you want to sell me a car with features that I could care less about. THIS IS WHY PEOPLE HATE BUYING CARS. NO RESPECT FROM DEALERS SO IT’S CONTENTIOUS, DEFENSIVE, OFFENSIVE SIMULTANEOUSLY!!!

Now off to test drive the car I want. I had put in some data and was already quoted an “internet discount price”. It’s getting close to the “end of the year” where new models are coming in for 2016 plus we’re close to the end of the month. We get a price on the trade-in, which was probably helped by Ford’s “strong interest” in my car. Get some things negotiated and within 24 hours, we have a deal.

But it’s not smooth sailing because our salesperson tells me that even though we (THE CUSTOMER) have a time crunch that he may not be able to get us through Finance as quick as we would like because they can’t predict “end of the month” traffic. More BS. So then I go on Twitter to warn our new dealer what happened to VW when they screwed me on my signing time frame.

Magically, everything gets sorted but our dealer wants feedback and to make the survey say “10, 10, 10”. I say that when someone has an appointment and you don’t honor it that it is unacceptable. He gave me a bunch of excuses why that happens but ultimately it is the typical “You’re making your internal logistics problem MY problem. I don’t care. Fix it.” Stop worrying about your survey scores. It was almost as nauseating as a former manager at Microsoft telling the team how to fill out the annual MS Poll. Yes, this happened.

Takeaways

I still have a couple of things to sort out but ultimately this ended up pretty well for us. That said, I feel like buying a car is like signing yourself up to fight with someone because ultimately car salespeople aren’t interested in a win-win. They are interested in doing whatever they can to rip you off. That is what I learned. 

I'm not saying that I am an expert in buying/selling cars but I can tell you that the whole process was exhausting/frustrating and that's what these dealers count on. This time, I was more prepared, secured a better deal, etc., but these people just want to extort what they can from you. We encountered a bait and switch situation with Lexus in Bellevue, so we will never buy a Lexus from anyone again.

When Tesla and other companies like Beepi start gaining more momentum, I can’t wait for this business model to go down. Kind of like yellow cab drivers extorting passengers and having horrible customer service. J

Malbec, Mojitos, Monica Lewinsky, Savings Crisis=Gender Crisis, #HeForShe, Women Being "Likeable" and Homeless Youth

Things have been busy in Beck land since our return from #PatagoniaCaminada. While most of this post deals with mostly current events that are fairly serious, we consider ourselves lucky that we get to learn more about these issues and asked how we can contribute towards fixing these problems.

We had to consume the final wine we picked up at duty-free in Argentina when we had to dump Argentine pesos, so we had a Malbec tasting with some friends the other night comparing ones from Mendoza (Argentina) to the US. It was fun and then I tried to recreate an Argentine Mojito that we had at Oviedo in Buenos Aires. I am not a mixologist, so while the creation was ok, it needs some work on my end. Of course, we paired the Malbecs with steak because that seemed to be very Argentine!

I had the opportunity to attend 2 events last week that really hammered home the importance of being genuine when presenting to an audience. The 2nd one was for an organization that I was previously heavily involved with and have gone through a significant reboot. It was Sallie Krawcheck, the Chairwoman of Ellevate, that hammered the point home of the savings crisis being a gender crisis.

The basics - women earn less then men, women outlive men, and women do not earn social security contributions by being a "stay at home mom". Ellevate, formerly 85 Broads, is trying to change the dialogue about this and I am pretty excited about it. It seems timely given other initiatives around giving women more of a voice. I heard Sallie speak on Friday morning and she was candid, self-deprecating and thoughtful in her responses to questions from the small gathering. I was absolutely pumped after meeting her!

Currently we have the Ellen Pao lawsuit against one of the oldest and most respected venture capital firms out there. Much of the testimony is around "how likeable" Ms. Pao is and that the feedback was she was either too pushy or didn't speak up enough in meetings. It's a common problem for women but the concern is that will male dominated industries shy away from hiring women so they don't have to deal with being more respectful to members of the opposite sex? This is in spite of evidence that companies perform better with women in senior executive positions. Remember when Obama said to Hillary in their early debates that "You're likeable enough, Hillary"? Does someone want to define "likeable" as a characteristic for a performance evaluation?

Speaking of the Clintons, the first victim of cyberbullying - Monica Lewinsky - gave a FANTASTIC TED talk on bullying. Admittedly, I mocked her back in the day and in looking back, not a proud moment for me. She talked about why she decided to speak out now and one of the people she mentioned was Tyler Clementi, a young man who committed suicide because of cyberbullying by his college roommate.

Emma Watson continues to put herself out there around testifying at the United Nations for the "#HeForShe" initiative. She continues to draw many kudos for her advocacy to change the dialogue. Clearly her social activism from being Hermonie Granger has translated into something much more significant.

The other event I went to last week was for YouthCare, one of the top non-profits in the Pacific Northwest. They focus on teen homelessness, which is a significant problem here. Many reasons exist for this and I had the opportunity to learn about this issue in more detail in co-founding and being the Executive Director of Upower. I wish it was "just homelessness" but it expands to so many other areas, including sexual exploitation to children as young as 12 years old. 

YouthCare arranged for a surprise guest speaker to talk to the 1300+ people in attendance at the luncheon. He is better known as Macklemore, but also known locally as Ben Haggerty. Like Sallie Krawcheck, his remarks were candid, self-deprecating and thoughtful about his own struggles and his luck with his family being instrumental in changing his life for the better. He talked about how many of the youth served by YouthCare do not have that system and why the work they do is so important. More needs to be done and we'll leave it at that.

One of my goals from when we returned from #PatagoniaCaminada was to read more books and not be consumed by the 24-hour newscycle. Last week, I finished "All The Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr. Well I started it last week and I couldn't put it down so it was finished in about 4 days. It's fiction but anyone who has read any non-fiction works from that timeframe can do some extrapolation on their own. Get it on your Kindle or at the library if you haven't read it already.

Celebrating Int'l Women's Day -- Margaret Thatcher: From Grantham to the Falklands.

Much of life comes back to "The Godfather" so I'll start this post with:

"I believe in America. America has made my fortune."

I'm proud and thankful to be an American. I was before 'PatagoniaCaminada' but my pride increased during this past adventure. The rural scenery was fantastic but it's nice to be able to drink water from the tap and have an abundant supply of toilet paper for starters.

The flip side of being in a somewhat remote part of the world was the luxury of minimal internet access, which we used to post daily updates on our adventures in South America. It also allowed me to focus on not drinking out of the proverbial "firehose" of current events and actually read some books.

It's something I hope to carry throughout 2015 because I really enjoyed focusing on the story at hand for a change.

On the trip, I managed to finish 4.5 books. The last one was dense, full of detail and took awhile to get through. It wasn't for lack of interest. The book, "Margaret Thatcher: From Grantham to the Falklands" by Charles Moore, had so much information that you had to read and re-read due to the access the author had. I decided to pick a book on this topic due to our visit Patagonia and the Falklands War wounds still being fresh in the minds of the Argentines in the area. My interest was piqued after watching an episode of "Top Gear" and remembering it was still serious business the last time I was in Argentina in 1998 (the Falklands War was in 1982 in case you didn't know).

Before I had a chance to read the book, I asked our Argentine guides throughout our visit about their thoughts on the Falklands. Most said that it was a desperate attempt by General Galtieri to divert attention from many of the problems associated with his military dictatorship. All were sad that a fair amount of men who were not officially part of the military were ordered were to fight. Many of those men were killed and their families were never given proper respect afterwards. Protests continue to this day every week in specific locations, especially in Buenos Aires in front of where President Kirchner works.

The gist of what happened in the Falklands War was that Argentina tried to reclaim those islands from Great Britain. Margaret Thatcher, who was the Prime Minister of Great Britain at the time, basically said "no way" and sent in troops to get them back. She didn't have a ton of support when she made that gutsy call in the early 80s.

When Baroness Thatcher passed away, I posted on Facebook that she was "a person who was less concerned about keeping her job as opposed to doing her job. This quality is something that pretty much every politician in the US lacks." I will modify 'politician' to 'elected official'. We continue to see evidence of sustained "schmuckitude" (trademark pending) from our elected officials on every level. But citizens, including me, continue to believe in America and trips like the one we just took reinforce my gratitude of living in a democracy.

My thoughts on the book are that it was meticulously researched, which is why it took so long for me to finish. The mindsets of key decision makers during critical times during Baroness Thatcher's career were amazing to follow. I was overwhelmed by how much sourcing Mr. Moore did to ensure he had a comprehensive way to tell the story. Disclaimer: It was an authorized biography and he had an agreement with her that he would not publish it while she was alive. 

While I learned a bit about her during the film "The Iron Lady", I feel the movie gave her the short end by choosing to focus on her dementia as opposed to the many barriers she broke down on the way to becoming Prime Minister as well as the decisions she had to make. Many despised her politics, but she had a true "courage of her convictions" and loved Great Britain.

Until today, I had no idea about 'International Women's Day'. I finished Moore's book this morning about one of the most controversial elected leaders in history, who happens to be a woman. An unexpected coincidence. After reading the book, I am even more impressed with what Baroness Thatcher dealt with on her rise to being Prime Minister as well as when she was PM. I am fairly confident that she would likely be horrified about the concept of 'International Women's Day' based on everything I have read about her.

Here's my beef with days like 'International Women's Day', 'Mother's Day' or whatever the current trend in social media with 'World Chocolate Day' (sorry, darling):


"How about trying to celebrate the things that matter to you everyday (like your mother for example)? Why do you need Facebook, Hallmark, Twitter, etc. to celebrate these things?"

I'd really like to see a day when we don't need to celebrate 'International Women's Day'. How about just celebrating meaningful contributions from everyone? Or treating all leaders the same, regardless of their gender. 

I am not naive. Prejudice exists. Just look at the Ellen Pao suit against Kleiner Perkins. Be aggressive but don't be forceful and a bunch of other contradictory sexist crap. But women would be better served if all sexes were treated equally and we didn't need a call out for a specific day (IWD). If a person accomplishes something great, celebrate them. If a person commits a horrible offense against society (President Christina Kirchner of Argentina), prosecute them. 

With respect to President Kirchner, everything that I have read about her and the situation currently dominating news in Argentina has been anything but complimentary. Yes, she is a woman but my hope that as an elected official in a "democracy" that she is treated in the same way as a man. Almost everyone in Argentina suspects something very nefarious is involved with the death of Alberto Nisman and that she had something to do with it. And sadly, everyone we talked to in Argentina doesn't think the real truth will come out with respect to the entire history related to the bombing that Nisman was investigating. This is why I continue to be thankful to be American.

[Rant over.]

By the way, we did take some notes on wine tasting. I'll post those and notes on other books read over the course of the trip in a few days.

20 Feb: El Chalten (ARG) --> El Calafate (ARG) --> Perito Moreno (ARG).

Marc woke up this morning feeling the full effects of yesterday. He is definitely a trooper and everyone in our group has been so kind to offer meds to us to facilitate Marc's recovery. Fortunately today was mostly a travel day with a minimal amount of walking, so a good day for Marc to rest up.

Outside of Marc's illness, the group was feeling the effects of doing almost 27 miles of hiking over the previous 2 days (here and here). We checked out of our hotel and the group ventured to El Calafate, which is now a booming metropolis compared to when I was last there in 1998, for lunch and to get some cash. Speaking of which, El Chalten is completely different and Ushuaia has grown from 8000 inhabitants in 1998 to 80,000 in 2015. Wow.

After lunch, we headed to Perito Moreno Glaciar on Lago Argentina. The overcast skies actually helped us out in terms of bringing out more blue in our pics from the glacier. It is really hard to capture on film how vast Perito Moreno is. Trust me, it is. We saw the glacier from both lake level on a cruise and on the walking platforms, so it was good to get pics from both perspectives.

While in El Calafate, we picked up some local chocolate for the patient. So on the ride to the estancia that we are staying at, he started chomping. It seemed to help Marc's mindset, so that's positive. We're staying at a full working ranch that I immediately remembered from my trip in 1998. It's a gorgeous landscape over Lago Roca and Lago Argentina.

A word about yesterday's hike. I had a feeling that the hike was one of the ones I did in 1998. I remembered it sucking big time. Now part of it was a brutal climb but a major part of it was because of how out of shape I was back then. For better or worse, it was as I remembered it in terms of how steep and how relentless the final climb was. BUT.... we had sunny skies yesterday as opposed to when I did the climb in over twice the time in 1998. And I was really proud of my effort yesterday around not stopping until I got to the top. So there's that.

Keep on reading. Marc and I enjoy reading your comments, especially as he battles the untimely chest cold. Thanks for sending them in.

Bringing 2013 To A Close (Oh, and Becks Are Now Employed).

It is amazing that 2013 is almost done. Fortunately for Marc and I, it was mostly a pretty phenomenal year and we are incredibly grateful for that.

We had the Australian Walkabout for 3+ months, which was an awesome experience and way more worthwhile than we ever could have hoped for.

We watched our parents get healthier and defy their respective ages. We also made our brother-in-law a CrossFit convert after he resisted for so long. :-)

We hosted another successful "Open That Bottle Night" (after we did one in Australia!!!) and JDRF dinner, and we had "Beck The Halls" storm back into our lives with a vengeance! Our families and our friends continue to make us chuckle and to be supportive of our endeavors.

We had visitors from all over, including 4 of our nephews and nieces. We got to spend Thanksgiving in NY and Christmas in SoCal, both of which were so much fun.

We mostly remained injury-free to pursue our fitness activities around swimming, running and CrossFit.

The decision to close Purple Teeth Cellars. Yes, this is a positive thing because we were able to close the business down on our terms so we can focus on other projects going forward.

We both found jobs that we are excited about (more below). It was worth taking the time off and then taking our time to find opportunities that we are passionate about.

And most importantly, we are both healthy and very thankful for that.

Some of the "not so great" things in 2013 include:

The broken hand and recovery with the "purple claw".

3 of our close friends being diagnosed with some form of breast cancer. Fortunately they all seem on the road to recovery. But HUGE dislike here.

The Yankees and the New York Giants 2013 campaigns (ok, this only negatively impacts one of us for this one and truthfully - not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things).

So in reality, it was a very good year for the Becks.

I'll let Marc decide if he wants to talk about his role, but he is happy and excited which is all that matters to me.

About 3+ months ago, I asked a close friend if she wanted to move forward on an idea that we had only talked about in passing. She said yes pretty quickly, which was pretty exciting but a little scary.

Reason it was a little scary was that this is a completely new space for me. We have created a non-profit called "uPower" that will focus on getting underprivileged kids in Seattle to after-school fitness activities. My role is "Executive Director" - aka the "GSD" person. The initial emphasis will be working with local CrossFits here in Seattle and pairing up with local schools.

It's been a busy few months trying to get this off of the ground, but we have made a ton of progress. You won't find a website yet as that is still in development, but behind-the-scenes... trust me, I have been busy working with my co-founder on building the best infrastructure we can so we are hopefully in a position to scale this concept properly. 

I am fortunate to have an awesome Board of Directors to help me out so we can move this concept forward. We are lucky to have a network of people who can connect us with experts as we get more educated on a myriad of topics. And yes, it's a whole new subject matter for me but I am embracing the challenges ahead.

So with that, onward to next year. Hoping for all of you to have a wonderful 2014!

'Schmuckitude'!

[NOTE: Given that this is mostly a political post, it should be noted that this only represents the thoughts of Jill. Marc's thoughts will remain his, unless he chooses to share.]

I don't think it is an actual word according to the Oxford University Press, but if 'physicality' can somehow become a word and be overused by every sports analyst, then 'schmuckitude' certainly has its place.

I would argue that basically any elected official, particularly the ones who spend at least part of their year residing in "the other Washington" deserve an "overachieve" in their 'schmuckitude', with a couple of notable exceptions. BTW since I live in Washington State folks, DC is "the other Washington". And it certainly seems appropriate given that I assign failing grades to both the executive (yes, Obama gets an 'F' for his bullying and temper tantrums) and the legislative branches for their lack of leadership and understanding of the woes of the average citizen. 

But Senator John McCain had a great quote today. He said, "Leadership, I must fully admit, was provided primarily by women in the Senate." And of course, Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) deflected the compliments with saying it was "truly collaborative effort," adding that all in the group deserved "kudos" for working on the deal. McCain joked that he had won "a small side wager" from Collins in the course of their negotiations. Hmmm. Maybe more women are needed in positions of power. 

I was sad when Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) had decided not to run for re-election as she had been another common sense member of the Senate, but she had enough of the extreme partisanship that has taken over both parties in Congress. The good news is that she has been active on Twitter and on other social media trying to hammer home that Congress should use common sense for the good of the American people. I hope she is effective.

So goody. The Democrats say they won and the Republicans will bring up many of these issues in 3-4 months (sans Obamacare, which does nothing to solve the real problems with our healthcare system). We'll get to go through this again! Yeah, President Obama and Congress! Continue to embody 'schmuckitude'! Oh by the way, you all suck.

Speaking of women in positions of power, I enjoyed reading this interview with Condi Rice about her recently announced role with the selection committee of the new College Football Playoff System. Regardless of her politics, she seems just as qualified as anyone to be sitting at that table given her background, yet it is still sad about the sexism that exists regarding her selection.

Switching gears ever so slightly, this Q&A with Roger Federer cracked me up. Between this and this interaction with a fan a couple of months ago, he is my all-time favorite male tennis player.

Had a great time with friends over the past weekend. My awful golf game showed up (my good one never does), but I got to be outside, and laugh with Marc and friends. Life is good.

And finally, Mr. Rosen -- I also love David Burke Townhouse. Thanks for sharing your story and your humor with a wide audience. It brought a huge smile to my face reading about you.

“When I was a little boy, I wanted to be a baseball player and join a circus. With the Yankees I’ve accomplished both."

Who said that? Quick, quick....

Well, it was apt at the time it was said (~35 years ago) and it seems really appropriate now. The quote was made by Graig Nettles, while playing for the Yankees in the late 70s. Sportswriters, followers and players referred to the chaos surrounding the team as the 'Bronx Zoo'.

Now we have what one writer called the 'Bronx Zoo 2.0'. I don't appreciate cheaters, but I dislike NOT following 'due process' even more. The situation with A-Rod has just devolved into such absurdity that no one knows what to believe. But what if the A-Rod situation (replacing Reggie Jackson) was happening with George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin alive, and reprising their roles in the 70s, except with Twitter accounts? Now that would be awesome.

Numerous baseball players have complained that A-Rod gets to play while he appeals an unprecedented suspension. But they seem to forget that THEY voted on the collective bargaining agreement that grants players to RIGHT to play during an appeals process. So if they really want this to stop, they can call upon their union leadership to open up the CBA and change the process. Until then, they are sore losers since, somehow, the Yankees have started hitting again.

Last night's game was beyond awesome after Dumpster decided to be the moral arbiter of MLB and plunk A-Rod. BTW, it only took him 4 tries. Maybe Dumpster (funny how autocorrect was working last night on my phone and iPad) can ask David Ortiz about his failed PED test that he promised to get to the bottom of if he is so outraged. Anyway when A-Rod clubbed a home run to deep center, I was pleased. After Dumpster loaded the bases soon after, got pulled, then received a standing ovation walking off of the mound, I jumped for joy when Brett Gardner knocked in 3 runs on a triple.

BTW those runs got charged to that pitcher who had just received the standing ovation. Nice job, Boston fans. Yanks ended up winning and Dumpster got the loss. Golly, hope that loss doesn't affect playoff placement for the Red Sox. ;-)


We also had some more VIPs visit in the name of Marc's parents along with our nephew and niece from SoCal. They stopped in for a couple of days en route to Alaska, so it was good to see them. Marc got to play tour guide and show the kids the local, fun places. And I got to showcase some healthy cooking ideas for Dee & Bruce in between some meetings. 

In other news, my runs are progressing. I had a solid track workout and will be able to move on to mile repeats tomorrow. Never thought I would be excited about that, but that's what happens when you're injured for a bit. I did some hill work on both Saturday and Sunday with mixed results on my times, but helpful from a mental perspective as I got to work out some frustration from earlier in the week. The workouts have increased in intensity for both Marc and I in swimming (MB), running (JB) and Crossfit (both) over the past few weeks, so by Sunday afternoon at an engagement party for close friends, we were gassed and made an unfortunate early departure.

Good times on many fronts. That said, when I recommended to Marc to take a 'recovery week' like Coach T prescribed for me this week, he jumped at the suggestion and said, "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." So there you have it. An easier week on the workout front for Marc and I this week. Thankfully.

Phil the Thrill.

I wouldn't say I am a huge golf fan, compared to say baseball or football (US), but after taking up the game once I moved to Seattle, I definitely started to appreciate it more. I never was a fan of Tiger Woods. He just always seemed to be arrogant and a poor sport, especially given how much success he had playing golf and how much money he made as a result. The events in late 2009 only cemented my disdain for him. His conduct on the course has finally become a topic for discussion, which was well overdue since it seemed like sportscasters just kissed his rear for fear of angering Tiger. Oooh.

My beloved grandmother, Mollie, was a Phil Mickelson fan. I remember watching the US Open with her in 2002 on Father's Day when it was played just down the road from us at Bethpage Black. I somehow became a Phil fan on that Sunday afternoon even though he lost to Tiger. He just always seemed like he knew that he had it really good and knew his role was to golf and entertain the fans. And he played to win, and not just collect a paycheck.

Phil can be maddeningly frustrating to watch. Winged Foot. Merion. But when he pulls something out of nowhere, you get just as rewarded. His win yesterday at the Open Championship was a shock and thoroughly enjoyable. And he has done something Tiger hasn't - Phil knows how to win majors from behind. 

I have no idea what Phil is like in private, but I know that he realizes his job is to be with the fans and thank them for supporting the game, in addition to golfing. I like that. I LOVE that he doesn't slam his club down when he hits a poor shot, swear incessantly after a mishit, and doesn't treat interviewers like garbage when he has a bad round.  So congrats, Phil, and I know Mollie had a celebratory G&T "upstairs" in your honor.

Of course we have the other side of the spectrum in bad behavior in Ryan Braun, who finally admitted to taking PEDs. I hope the sample collector who Braun demonized and caused to lose his job sues the pants off of him. Braun was so adamant about the collection process being flawed and blaming this person that one can hope that karma comes back to Braun's checkbook. Speaking of reformed cheaters, I always wonder if Lance Armstrong ever apologized to Emma O'Reilly after making her life miserable?  

Moving back to being positive, I had a good week on the running front. I actually hit my assigned paces/HR zones on my runs this past week, so I am incredibly pleased. The work is paying off, but we have so much more work to do to get me where I need to be for my race. My stretching program is helping and more routine, so that is good. I definitely got inspired watching my former coach race and place 2nd in her age group in yesterday's Lake Stevens 70.3 Ironman.

Moving on to food, we were able to hit Crush for dinner -- one of Marc's faves. We chatted with Jason (chef and owner) about his new restaurant, our visit to Quay in Sydney and the awesomeness of the Big Green Egg. Really great restaurant with the food and service, plus we opted to sit at the bar so we saw some of the interesting prep they do in the kitchen.

I signed us up for a Gluten-Free Doughs class (focused on pasta) at the Pantry at Delancey. It wasn't Paleo-oriented but it was good to learn a few more tricks when working with non-traditional flours when making pasta/dumplings from scratch. We only wished that the class started at 5:30pm instead of 6:30pm because we didn't eat until 9:15pm, which is a tad late for us. I don't think we're at the "early bird special" stage yet, but still... we're not in NYC either. That said, I am somewhat inspired to experiment some more on this front with Paleo "doughs". Stay tuned for more in this space after last year's sweet potato gnocchi (success after FIVE attempts!)

I also attempted some other dishes in the kitchen last week. Two of them are Paleo versions of existing recipes from 'Avec Eric' by Eric Ripert and 'Simply Ming One Pot Recipes' by Ming Tsai. A third night consisted of a meal from 'Practical Paleo' by Diane Sanfilippo so obviously no versioning required to make it Paleo.

Per Se. We finally made it.

As a result of surgery for the broken hand, the visit to New York post-Australia had to be postponed about a month. It was unfortunate because we already had a table secured for Per Se, a place that I have been wanting to try for a LONG time. 

When I called the restaurant and explained the situation, they were actually really cool about it and placed me at the top of the wait list for when I was going to be in NY. We recruited Lisa and Jarrett to join in the fun, and we purchased a sports jacket for Marc so he has one (funny, he will be wearing it 3 times in 4 months!). Fortunately they were able to get a babysitter for the occasion, and off we went. And the "purple claw" got to join in the fun!

I posted all of the pictures up on Facebook, but I have to say that I was concerned that it wouldn't live up to the hype - especially for the cost of the meal. While I don't see myself paying that kind of money for a meal in the near future (inflation adjusted obviously), I will say that the food, service and the room were pretty spectacular. We received a tour of the kitchen after the meal, and they accommodated the dietary preferences of the table without any issue.

It was a fantastic meal, but the wine mark-ups are significant, bordering on absurd. I'd probably bring a great bottle or two from my own cellar and pay the corkage. I don't know if that makes me cheap but it is a huge pet peeve of mine to pay 4x-5x the amount that I can get retail.

30 March : Sydney

Our first order of business was some Skype time with Lisa, +Jarrett and family to show them our fabulous view. The only problem is that the lighting in the morning here is somewhat intense in the direction of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. It's better in the afternoon and at sunset (which is what really matters anyway).

After this, we walked over to the Andrew Charlton Pool which is on Woolloomooloo Bay on the east side of the Royal Botanical Gardens. This pool is the cleanest and best overall of the three 50 meter pools I've been to in Sydney. Obviously, the N Sydney pool overlooks the Harbour Bridge and Opera House but the locker rooms were suspicious (I wore sandals at ALL times). Bondi has the ocean view and the nice waves crashing in, but that water is COLD (and this is summer temperature).

As I swam, Jill went for another run. We then had a leisurely lunch and stroll back to the hotel on a different path (for me) than I had been on before. Guess what that means? New angles of the Opera House and many more photos. I cannot stop.

We hung out at the pool for a while again. +Jill wanted the end of our travel time here to be maximum chill and we have truly done this.

We then walked over to the lookout at the bridge pylon which was included in our bridge climb the other day. I think we would both tell people to just pay the $11 per person to only do that and avoid the climb. Why? Hey, I had my camera with me to freely take any and all photos. Cool. More opera house (among other things). They also had plenty of history in the structure too so the info the guide tells you on the climb is basically in here.

On the way back, we checked out the "farmer's market" that was closing down and we may have found tomorrow's breakfast patisserie. Jill then felt compelled to show +Lisa the view in better lighting.

Dinner was at the Bridge Room. Jill had booked the previous night via Amex months ago and they had accepted the reservation despite the establishment being closed for Good Friday. They spent weeks trying to contact the Amex person who booked it to let us know but that person no longer works there. Many places were closed. Last minute notification. Jill was not pleased.

The result of her displeasure was a meal on the house tonight. I ended up with the signature dish for a starter which is a Comte cheese souffle wrapped in prosciutto with figs and pomegranate seeds and some other nice stuff. Delicious. In the end, Jill had them charge us a dollar so we could leave a generous tip because the place was fabulous.

28 March : Sydney

We awoke hungover. We closed down a rum bar and had to be let out by key from the bartender overnight. I wanted to avoid pharmaceuticals so we we went to Max Brenner Chocolate Shop. I got coffee and waffles with chocolate syrup and ice cream. I felt sooooo much better after consuming that.

We then packed up for another beautiful day and a ferry ride to Manly for day two of beach time while we can get it. [In other words, Seattle beaches just aren't the same.] +Jill went for a run while I scoped out lunch spots and sat on the sand.

We ended up eating on the 3rd story of a building on a patio overlooking the beach with some great food - tasty burgers. Most of lunchtime was up there alone and above the beach street chaos. I also went for my second chocolate of the day. A Maltesers chocolate milk shake. Yum.

Jill got a take away Kit Kat / peanut butter shake that was also good that I ended up consuming the significant portion of and boy was it filling.

After walking around the beach more, we caught the ferry back. BTW, more opera house photos were taken on the ferry (both directions). It's an addiction. We hung out at the hotel pool which has been the plan here in the last days before going back to the states.

Our hotel has a relatively new restaurant with decent reviews that uses wood and smoke on almost every dish so we went there for dinner. Delicious! The only downside of the day was the chocolate dessert had too much fruit for me so I didn't order it and my chocolate streak was ruined at the third meal. Probably for the best given the prior chocolate consumed on this one.

27 Mar: Sydney (NSW) --> Bondi Beach (NSW) --> Sydney (NSW) --> Bondi Beach (NSW) --> Sydney (NSW).

Marc in front of Bondi Icebergs after he swam and I ran the Bondi to Coogee trail (and back)

Ok, big day. We had the long awaited and infamous "Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb" as well as the "Revenge on Bondi Beach" on tap.

Breakfast at the hotel and as I was sorting some things out with the Concierge, I noticed +Marc talking to someone as though he knew him. Could it be we ran into someone in Sydney that we knew? Well, sort of. Some of you may remember the couple we met in Port Douglas that had the wife who was worried about getting seasick while snorkeling. Well, Marc recognized the husband and many laughs ensued. Turns out they had a great day snorkeling, which we were really happy to hear about.

We picked up week long metro passes, and then ventured out to Bondi. The last time we were there in early January, we had an unseasonal blustery and cloudy day, and our friends who lived there were very bummed. We knew we needed to get out there when the forecast was good, and sure enough, we had wonderful weather! We first hit a photo gallery called Aquabumps that +Jamie and Mel introduced us to and checked out some interesting photos.

Marc swam at Icebergs again and I was determined to do the full Bondi to Coogee run (out and back). It was more running than I had done on a single run in 2 months plus it was 32C with lots of hills. Brilliant idea, no? Well the run was beautiful and hard... But I did it. At lunch, the gal behind the counter chastised me with a dude reference and doing the run at 7am instead of midday. She probably had a point.

After that, we bussed back into town so we could be ready for the aforementioned "Bridge Climb". We had great weather and views. But without consulting each other, we both found it to be overrated. Seriously. For me, I got a much bigger rush from when I ran across the bridge when we initially arrived in Australia. And then Marc and I walked across it and we were able to get great pics ourselves. See - they don't let you take pics yourselves on the climb but then they gouge you on pics they take so you can "remember the moment". We have no problem spending money on fun and worthwhile things, but this was overpriced and overrated. I know many of you enjoyed it, so maybe it makes us killjoys or whatever, but running/walking across for us was way better and more meaningful.

Jamie, Marc and Jill at "The Corner House": Let's just say it was a late one.....

After the Bridge Climb, we showered and ventured back over to Bondi to meet up with Jamie. Unfortunately Mel was under the weather so she had to cancel. The place on tap was called Rum Diaries since they knew Marc likes his rum. Many laughs, many drinks with some food thrown in plus another rum place across the road made for a very late night for the 3 of us. To the point where we actually closed down the bar! Hmmm. Haven't done that in awhile. I am sure this will make for a very interesting morning.

But seriously.... Fun day for sure.

Thanks again for reading, commenting, liking and messaging.... It is all appreciated.

21 March : Port Douglas & The Reef

We are now close the the Great Barrier Reef which is made up of many, many reef systems all up and down the coast here. It goes right up to the edge of the continental shelf. The further north away from the population the clearer the conditions. Also being out further and next to the continental shelf helps bring in some fresher, cooler water currents.

We booked the Poseidon which carries up to 90+ people of mixed scuba and snorkeling although on our day it was 50-60. +Jill and I were picked up from our hotel along with others at other hotels on the way to the marina. It was raining which was softening the mood as people got on the bus.

We arrived on the boat and checked in which included a picture and removing shoes. We hung out as other people filled the boat and then received our safety briefing while leaving the harbour. Once that was over with, we went upstairs for our snorkeling instructions and equipment. By the time this was all done, we were more than halfway out to Agincourt Reef which is a huge 10km by 5km reef on the outer portion near the continental shelf.

The divers entered immediately upon mooring and we slipped in shortly thereafter. This was so cool and amazing to swim around in! We rented a nice underwater camera due to the fact that I've managed to drop the non-GoPro multiple times and lost at least one of the sealing doors. The downside to this company is that they BURN our photos onto a CD. Who carries around something to read those with?

Our boat took us to two other mooring sites on Agincourt because the weather out there was superb with little wind and much sun. I found our second site to be the best of the three. We took so many photos that the guy had to burn 2 CDs for us (which he deserves for forcing these things upon us). We had a blast on the boat and this was a day I've been waiting for since we set foot in Australia (and many years before)...

12 March : Mackay --> Eungella --> Airlie Beach

A good one.

+Jill and I got up and asked the hotel owner where the good coffee was located in town. He sent us a couple of blocks away and off we went. We ended up ordering something to eat and I enjoyed the coffee with a meal.

As we were about to get the bill and pay, the hotel owner dropped into the coffee shop with a carry bag to take coffee back to work. He sat down and we exchanged travel stories. He and his wife are going to Seattle in May for an Alaska cruise which is how the entire conversation started.

They are spending 3 weeks on the road in Canada (Whistler, Banff, the Canadian Rockies, etc) and the Northeast US (Boston to Niagara Falls). He also managed to tell us about the time he was driving the family in the redwoods for a couple of hours and he spotted what he thought was a lake. It turns out it was Lake Pacific - as in the ocean. He still isn't living that one down.

After we left town, we drove to Eungella National Park where some platypii are known to live and hoped for the best. Dawn and dusk are the best times to see them out and about -- or overcast days. Score! Even though it was about 11 am, we saw one of them swimming in the river in the park. I got photos. We were happy and the trip here was worthwhile!

We headed North to Airlie Beach so that we could check into a B&B and get situated for our 3 night boat trip in the Whitsunday Islands. Things did not go well.

Google maps completely sent us down a dead end out of town and the phone line was constantly busy so we could not talk to anyone. We drove around downtown several times. The town is under total street renovation so all the streets are one massive detour in a single direction. We finally just parked and started asking local businesses where the boat place was located.

So just before we walked in the door to check in, the boat owner cancelled our tour. We walk in to find this out and find out that the booking agency is separate from the boating establishment and they cannot seem to communicate things like contact info for booked guests. The boat people had no way to talk to us not that it mattered much given the timing. Have you seen +Jill pissed off????

I'll leave out the bits about going into the travel agency office and just say that we ended up with an alternative boat for the same number of nights. As of now we are just hoping for a nice experience after all of this.

So we walked over to dinner but checked out Fish D'Lish's "Yum Rum!" bar to sample some stuff. While Jill sipped a sub-par white wine, I sampled 3 rums and found the bottle from Venezuela called Diplomatico to be very tasty.

We headed over to dinner and had a fabulous meal at a low key kind of place and headed home to prepare for a 3 day trip about a boat that better come out on the spectacular end of the scale.

9 March : Fraser Island

+Jill and I booked the other main tour offered here since we are staying for 4 nights and we only want 1 day hanging by the pool (tomorrow). Yesterday was the "Beauty Spots" tour and today we booked "Champagne Pools". It turns out that the 2nd tour has more beautiful stopping points. The pools are gorgeous and the hike led to a spectacular cliff with nice views. The beauty spots were a hike inside a dense forest with a stream on a trail that was damaged by storms and incomplete. The other stops were the pinnacles (which have NOTHING on the Western Australia ones) and a sunken, rusting ship. What's so beautiful about that anyway?

The other nice thing about the 2nd tour is only 9 people went on the bus - so we had a smaller bus (downside is feeling the bumps) that was easier to unload and load and stay on time.

A lot of time is spent crossing the island in a 4WD bus so we can get to the East beach which is easier to drive on than the soft sand throughout the entire island. Most of the West coach beaches are off limits to 4WD for ecological purposes.

We stopped at a spot to witness the winds blowing sand inland and see how the island is continually evolving and how it was formed.

Once we got to the champagne pools, we found out we were not alone. The place is popular with all of the people that stay on the island as well as the tour companies that drive people around. The place is beautiful and the ocean waves rolling over the rocks are mesmerizing. We enjoyed our time here as well as a lunch on the sand near where we parked.

We then departed so we could do a quick (10 min?) walk up some rocks to a cliff and point with views West and South to two huge beaches as well as the champagne pools in the distance. Just before we were heading back down, a quick sprinkle formed to expedite all the people back down to their vehicles.

We cruised south on the beach for a while and intentionally passed the turning point inland because we had time. This paid off in a dingo sighting on the beach. The wild dog was watching some fishermen and hoping for something out of it. We got some photos at a distance before the trek back across the island.

After cleaning up and some down time, we went over to the main restaurant for the "Seafood Sensations" buffet we had signed up for. Do not worry about me, they said at booking time that there were non-seafood options. When we arrived and looked at the menu, Jill was sad to find out that all the cold options were seafood (nothing warm) and all the warm options were not. It was a let down on a menu billed as "Sensations". We cancelled that and opted for the other restaurant. Sadly, my meal was over salted on both the starter and main. We had a heavy handed chef. Oh well.

4 Mar : Brisbane --> Lamington National Park --> Surfers Paradise --> Brisbane

After breakfast, we grabbed a lunch to go for our hike of the day. It was reasonably pleasant in Brisbane and on the road for most of the journey. +Jill wanted to go to Mt Warning but it is closed because of all the rain they have received in the past 4-6 weeks. So we decided to go to Lamington Natl Park (Coomera Circuit) which isn't closed but happens to be a rainforest. As we got up into the mountains, it got darker, and grayer, and ... more rainy. Hence the rainforest. It wasn't too bad as we exited the car that was the ONLY vehicle parked there but as we were looking at maps and trail options in the information centre, it started dumping.

As we drove the additional 1k to the shortest option (a 2k return hike), it was coming down and I declared I would happily wait in the car while Jill walked the trail.

Jill decided to abandon this ship as well - I'm just too scarred from hours in the rain to the top of Mount Kozi. We took a few photos from the car at turnouts and descended back to sunshine, vitamin D, and the Gold Coast.

En route we stopped at a small outlet mall where Jill got 2 bathing suits and I got some new sunglasses for under AUS$175 total. Once we got to Surfers Paradise, most of the beaches were closed. Given that we were dressed for hiking and not swimming, that was fine I guess. I walked the beach while Jill did a 5k run along the coast. We ended up salvaging the day decently. I love hanging out at beaches and even more when the alternative is rain soaked walking tracks.

We walked over to Lure Restaurant where Jill ordered bugs and mud crab for her meal. Both of these shellfish require digging out the meat. Jill did a marvelous job and they gave her a bib which came in handy. I ate my entire main before the mud crab was extracted and ready to eat. So I sat sipping a glass of port while watching Jill consume the meal she worked so hard on removing from the shell.

26 Feb : Uluru / Ayer's Rock --> King's Canyon

Happy Birthday to Harv!

+Jill and I got up at the crack of early to board a bus/coach in the dark. They took us to the sunrise viewing dune of Uluru to see what happens out there as the sun comes up. We got an overcast day, so the sunrise behind was somewhat interesting for a bit, but the moment the sun came over the horizon, there were too many clouds for direct sunlight on the rock. It was still cool, but...

After this we spent about 2 hours around the rock including some walking right next to it. We failed to buy fly nets for our faces and the flies were simply unbearable. The problem with group tours is they stop and talk to everyone often and this is when the flies REALLY attack (they don't bite, but still)...

So despite Harv's wishes to "stay with the group", we kind of kept moving "in the area" on our own and looked at stuff without the people or the stopping just keeping an eye on their location.

Once the bus dropped us off, we cleaned up and checked out so we could take our next bus to Kings Canyon - all part of a 2 1/2 day tour. We did this because they have satellite phones which is the only way to communicate for several hundred km if there are any problems.

This was a long ride to an even more remote place. We were kind of trapped as there was no way of getting anywhere without the tour bus. That bus was adhering to THEIR schedule which was a bit too slow for us. We'd almost certainly still do a tour again, although perhaps we'd use a smaller company with a few less tourists. We generally could only go a fast (on any walks) as the slowest person in the group. I think we can walk faster on our hands.

We chose the 3 hour rim walk of Kings Canyon over the 1 hour canyon walk for tomorrow. We went to bed hoping for no rain because 3 hours in it did not sound like fun.

Thanks for tuning in.

12 Feb : Cradle Mountain, Tasmania

Early start to day. No I'm not talking about 6:30am so we could get breakfast right when they opened at 7am. We had a bat in our room buzzing our heads in the night. I thought it was a big moth, turned the ceiling fan on full blast to make it go elsewhere, stuck a pillow over my head, and eventually fell back asleep. +Jill thought it might be a bat but thankfully didn't speak this to me or I wouldn't have slept (and she didn't do so well).

In the morning Jill sees something right next to her suitcase and asks me what I think it is. I look at it and say "a bat". Yikes. It almost landed in the suitcase. I guess the high speed fan killed it. Traumatizing.

[Editor's note: It was beyond traumatizing thinking about what if it would have landed in suitcase.]

We went to the breakfast buffet to eat before hiking an unknown amount of time. After a decent filling, we picked up our "picnic" lunches for the road. What they don't tell you is that the Dove Lake loop is some version of "Lord of the Flies" and you cannot possibly stop anywhere for any reason let alone consuming food. Slow movement was fine and I suggested we eat while walking to minimize fly interaction. This also applied to taking photos of the lake - little to no stopping.

Let's get back to the walk before lunch though. Wow! It was serene and we were out there early. No wind and very few people (maybe 10 cars in the lot and the first bus had definitely not dropped anyone there).

We walked a LOT and got to Marian's Lookout before many people were on the trail. It was a great view in spot after spot on the way up there. The last stretch involved huge steps next to a chain to assist you up (or down). Down was more treacherous. Jill wasn't pleased.

After we went down, we walked by Crater Lake. Let's just say that it's not truly a crater and no where near the spectacle in Central Oregon. If you haven't seen that Crater Lake. Go there now. By the time we got to walking Dove Lake, the people (on shuttle buses) and the flies had shown up. Beautiful but we had seen so much beauty already so now we had to eat while walking and constantly move aside as people going the other way went by or they moved aside for us.

We were beat by the time we got back but spent time updating photos from several days back on Flickr.. It's a constant battle, we take lots of new photos, then we have to update them all. The lodge booked us on a "Tasmanian Devil Feeding" tour at 5:30pm so we went to do that. The expert was knowledgeable but not skilled on the presentation side. The tour was SUPER informative and VERY technical but just a deep dive with no overview. While informative, it lacked something. I will say it was REAL and worthwhile so it's hard to complain too much. We did learn lots and got to see the devils at different development states plus feeding. We also got to see some close relatives like the quoll.

We eventually headed to dinner where the service at the lodge restaurant completely bonked (and not just us but the two other tables next to ours) but the food was decent to good. The distraction of the day though had to be when a guest came in and said there was a platypus out in the pond. Boom out I go to capture a photo. I went out twice. Very cool.

03 Feb : Adelaide --> Hobart (Tassie)

We got up at 4-something to drive to the airport so we could spent the afternoon in Tasmania. We were earlier than any car rental counters were open and just dropped the keys in their secure bin.

+Jill checked us in online and they texted each of us links to our online boarding passes to show at the gate. Security for a domestic flight was a breeze. Anyone can go through the detectors and no liquids out in bins, no shoes off, etc etc etc... They scan your phone (or paper) at the gate and hand you a small receipt that the flight attendant confirms on the plane just to make sure you went to the right place.

We had to go through Melbourne for a layover and the domestic terminal there stinks for food options. Oh well... On to Tassie.

We arrived and had a booking via Amex for Alamo. There is no Alamo rental counter. Jill was not pleased and I stayed out of the way. The Avis person was really nice, helpful, friendly and so we got lucky that they had a car. Now Amex gets to hear from Jill. Ha.

We found our place for the week, stuck a load in the washer, and headed to the pier to get to MONA - the must see "art" museum. Let's just say that  most of it is not in my appreciated style and I did (honestly) take Art Appreciation for credit at UCSB. It's just that what I appreciate is before art became abstract crap or gimmicks.

We ended our long day with dinner in the Salamanca area which is cool. Not a bad first day but sleep will be appreciated and hopefully quite lengthy.

18 Jan : Melbourne [By Bike]

The day started at 5am when Chris got up for swim squad and I got talked into it so I got up 10 minutes later. Let's just say that almost 4500 meters with a 2100 meter main set was NOT an enjoyable part of the vacation although it did feel good to get that "yardage" in with all the food and wine going on here. Fortunately it wasn't crowded because people were out doing other things and coach Ben was in one of his "nicer moods" according to Chris.

Site of Chris and Marc's "Swim Squad" workout

Of course, we biked TO & FROM the pool which is 3-4 km each way. All of this on the same day that we had scheduled a bike tour of the city - lot of activity AND biking. +Jill and Shelly went off to Crossfit. Jill to WOD and Shelly to check it out to see if she would like it. An early start for EVERYONE.

Fortunately, today was cooler than yesterday for the bike tour. Shelly joined us and off we went to meet up with the tour guide at 10am at one of the "Blue Bikes" locations in Melbourne. These things are everywhere and people can rent a bike from one and return it in another rack somewhere else in the city. There are smart phone apps to tell you how many bikes are available in a location as well as how many open spots are available in one when you are ready to return the bike.

"Pup-arazzi" in Melbourne CBD (Central Business District)

It turns out that our tour guide met us first to take us into the city center to get the remaining guests. This unfortunately led to two safety briefings as well as photo delays among other things before actually starting - we started at around 11:20-11:30. You can imagine what this did to lunch!

We started with a few nice spots by bike including a "pea patch", an inner city park for kids, and a great view of the sporting megaplex from a foot bridge that includes the Aussie Open, the sporting oval (the main attraction), and more.

Biking through Chinatown

She then guided us to (and through) a walk-only area with restaurants, shops, etc called Degraves Place. We had to walk our bikes single file because it isn't a big/wide place and it was packed for lunch &/or shopping. Once lane walked through would be fine, but she took us through pretty much all of them. Not easy and it took a while. Even after we got out of there we had to walk the bikes a lot. We then locked them up at one of the main market areas and walked around some more. It was beginning to look a lot like a walking tour. At this point I asked when lunch was: "40 minutes. Maybe an hour." 40 minutes later we hadn't stopped walking around in the market. This meant more like 40-60 minutes more of biking BEFORE lunch. The saving grace was a coffee and donut I got while we walked around.

Jill making friends. Where is Jarrett?

Once we did eat, it was actually good. We had Spanish tapas that were true and the place had a great rooftop bar to check out too.

We ended up seeing some cool stuff post "lunch", but we were worried about getting back in time to shower and get to our 7pm dinner reservation at Albert Street Food and Wine. So we broke off from the tour and took our bikes back to the closest docking station to the house.

"Snickers Bar" at Albert Street Food and Wine

Dinner was awesome there and the dessert was great. They had a "Snickers Bar" knock off that was truly delicious.