ALL PLAY AND A LITTLE WORK...

DISCLAIMER: MY POINT AND SHOOT DIGICAM HAS FINALLY BITTEN THE DUST. ALL PHOTOS AND VIDEO WERE SHOT WITH MY PHONE. WHILE THIS PAINS ME, I STILL THINK YOU'LL GET THE IDEA OF JUST HOW BEAUTIFUL THE SCENERY WAS. OK, CARRY ON...


the view off of the pacific grove bike path on the monterey peninsula

drove up to monterey with simko thursday to work on a shoot. i get to travel quite a bit for work, nothing too far off and exotic, but to some gorgeous locations nonetheless. this was definitely one of them. when i travel, if i'm really lucky, i can steal away for an hour somewhere and get a run in and see the sites on foot. most of the time though, i'm relegated to the hotel gym. if i have enough lead time, i'll search out the local ymca and go for a good swim workout, usually for free or no more than 5 bucks. i suspect my travel schedule is going to be my biggest challenge in this im training. there's usually very little notice of when or where i'm going, and obviously the bike will suffer the most, so if anyone's got some more travel advice, i'll gladly take it!!

simko called to let me know we'd be driving up (about 5 hours) and that the magazine had assigned us a huge suv, but we'd be shooting digital with an off camera flash, so about three small bags of gear. he's a golf nut and a former triathlete having lived in san diego at the time of the sports inception there. his idea was to leave early thursday and get up there in time for him to tee off about 2:00 or 3:00. he suggested i bring my bike along for a ride!!! are you kidding me?? i really get to bring my bike??? YESS!!!


simko teeing off at the pacific grove municipal course in monterey

simko picked the pacific grove municipal course to golf at. this happens to fall right on the bike course for the triathlon at pacific grove that's put on by the same race directors as wildflower. i've heard such great things about this race and was so excited to be able to ride the course!!! but then i learned that a full 18 holes can take up to 4 hours to get through (i'm completely clueless about golf). pac grove is an olympic course. i'd be done with that ride in no time. so then i investigated further and found a route for the entire monterey peninsula. first i rode south through the prettiest and most posh part of the peninsula, passing golf course after golf course and mansion after mansion. it was super windy, the windiest ride i'd ever done. i've heard of people being nearly blown over, especially when speaking about kona, but i nearly blew over for the first time!!! then i went north to the more secluded sand dune beaches.


the cliffs along the route at pacific grove


the ocean view from the top of a pine grove climb


the sand dunes to the north

man oh man am i one lucky girl!!! 37.3 miles of gorgeous coastline. and i'm getting paid for this!!! another one for the "next time you catch yourself complaining" chronicles...shoot went super smooth, we ate like royalty, then a nice drive back home. more on what i did the day after we got back in my next post....

NO.
IT.
DOESN'T.
SUCK.
TO BE.
ME.

for full slideshow click here: