by request...

we took this photo last night after bumping in to some friends at levitt pavilion for the free kids putamayo show.  after the photo was taken, a few of these people asked - "is this going to end up on the sky is big?"

of course.

guest photographer #3: skywatching by bicycle

i was happy to get a few photos from my good friend (and fellow bearded bicycler) andrew.  i hope you like them as much as i do!  first up is a photo of the lovely pasadena sky with the newly bloomed jacaranda tree above.

really cool image.  i'll have a few more of his photos over the next few weeks.  and as usual, if you would like to be a guest photographer on the sky is big, send me your pasadena photos!

more skywatching photos from around the world can be found right here.

refueling on a bike trip

the great thing about human-powered vacations (riding a bike everywhere you go) is that you get to consume a large quantity of additional calories to keep your body moving.  part of those additional calories came from a couple of brewery stops - a meal at the relatively new breakwater brewing (photo above), and a visit to stone brewing company (photo below) where we saw the new bottling line filling up cases of stone ipa.

biking on old highway 101

one of the most interesting things about riding the california coast from los angeles to san diego is the interesting routes that are carved out for cyclists.  the image above is of my friend andrew riding the bike path that has been built on old highway 101 - a road that used to be the main way to drive to san diego before the 5 freeway was constructed.  this road has been unused for so long (by cars that is) that trees and plants have grown up through the pavement.

i happened to snap this photo right as the amtrak train was passing through.

bike trip, 2011

i've taken a few great bike trips over the years, so when my friend andrew suggested that we spend our spring break riding our bikes, i was all ears.  you may remember andrew from my california league ballpark bicycle tour from a few years ago.  andrew suggested riding some california coast, and when we figured out how much time we had, we decided to head south, hit up some regional breweries, and ride the amtrak train back home.

we left on monday, and as you can see from the photo above, we ran in to some rainy weather.  i will post a few more photos from our journey over the next few days.

head on out for a bike ride with friends

if only it would stop raining on the weekend.

enjoy your super bowl sunday! i'll be making these for the big game.

rollin' into south pasadena

we got two 30+ mile rides in this weekend. one of them took us over the bridge which crosses over the 110 from highland park to south pasadena (where this photo was taken).

andrew and the cicada

meet andrew. he likes bugs. likes them so much that he's been working on a phd in entomology. he found this little guy shedding his old skin on the morning of his brother's wedding (the wedding which i was involved in back in pennsylvania... it's been a busy summer, try and keep up) and decided to let it crawl around on his shoulder - eventually leading to the bug reaching his face (andrew says it's because they try and reach the highest point of whatever they are crawling on). hope you aren't too squeamish!