Biking & Ferraris

Last weekend we met up with Mel and fiance Andrew to go for a bike ride. Many of you have heard the story about Josh's trials in getting back to Denver for the holidays, but for those of you who haven't here is a short recap: Josh basically got stuck in LA and could not get a flight into Denver (or any city somewhat closer to Denver) for at least 5 days, which meant that he would not get home until the day after Christmas, so he decided to look into driving options. Turns out he ran into 3 Australian folks at his hotel that were doing the same thing and already had a 4-wheel-drive vehicle rented with one available spot, so he was able to hitch a ride. Mel was one of the three Australians.

So anyway, Mel and Andrew are avid bikers - they recently spent 9 days biking around the full island of Tasmania! They invited us to join them on a ride to tour the western side of the city. We met at 8:00 am and biked to Williamstown where we stopped for some brekki (breakfast), then biked up along the Maribyrnong River where we stopped and enjoyed a beer in the shade, and then the two groups parted ways and we rode back home. Turns out we had to stop once to sit in a bus shelter while the rain pelted down, but besides that it was a nice day. On the way home Kristi relaxed as we took a shortcut and crossed the river on "The Punt" - since she hasn't been on a bike since August 2006, by the end of the ride she was feeling each of the 32 miles!

That afternoon we checked out the Ferrari show on Lygon Street, which is the little Italy of Melbourne. It is the 60th anniversary of Ferrari so there were many cars on display, street vendors and entertainers, and even salsa dancing lessons! After getting our fill of the cars we enjoyed a very yummy dinner at Il Gambero, one of the local restaurants with sidewalk seating. We raved over the gnocchi and spinach/ricotta cannelloni! Following dinner, friends Sean and Jenn introduced us to a cafe that creates fabulous cakes and treats, Brunetti, where we enjoyed coffee and dessert before heading home.


If you'd like to see more biking and Ferrari pictures, check out the Flickr site.