MTB 101

We're back in school! Katherine and I are taking a class at UT. (It's OK Aggies....so far, Katherine has not spontaneously erupted into a ball of flames while on UT's campus. I was actually a little worried about that!)

Ok...back to the class...so we signed up for a Mountain Biking class offered through the "informal classes" at said school. We had our first outing last Saturday and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. We weren't sure what to expect with this. The class compliment is a total of 4 people, 1 other girl and 1 other guy. Our instructor, Debbie is a very experienced MTB Girl....she makes it look easy! She took us through some basic riding techniques in the parking lot, assessed our riding positions and bike setup and we were off to the trails of Walnut Creek. We've been to Walnut Creek before and had a pretty good time, but we also knew from our previous experience that these trails could pose a few challenges. Ok, I have a bone to pick here. According to all the maps and info I've seen online, Walnut Creek is supposed to be an "easy to mid-level" ride. I'm not so sure about all that; there's some tough trails out there! Actually, this time was easier than the last and I'm sure it's just going to get better. We had fun with our first lesson. I crashed this time. I was going down a steep rocky hill and just didn't negotiate the crevices with the finesse they demanded.
This picture just doesn't illustrate the degree of dirt, muck, and blood...hehe...


I think we are going back to Walnut Creek to ride the 11 mile loop next Saturday and then some tougher trails await in a few weeks! Stay tuned for more gnarly action...

Lake Travis Scuba Charter

This past Saturday we met up with our new dive buddies, Donna and Charlie at Lake Travis for a day of boat chartered diving. This is something we haven't done before on Lake Travis and it was cool to hit some spots only reachable by boat. This was a definite change from crystal blue waters and sea life in Cozumel, but it was a great day to get wet with friends and enjoy the lake. Lake Travis Scuba was a nice operation sporting a smooth riding pontoon boat with a comfy dive deck. We decided to make it an all day event and made 2 dives in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. I picked up 10 cylinders of air to accommodate Katherine, Charlie, Donna and myself. The Xterra was sitting pretty low...That's a lot of tanks!



We started off at Oasis Wall, which is where I found a pristine unopened bottle of Bud Light. I'm not sure if anybody ever drank it but a couple of guys on the boat looked pretty thirsty...Dive 2 was at the old Scuba park. This dive site has lots of boats and other assorted stuff sunk there for divers to check out. We found a large houseboat in about 60 feet of water. The lake was still pretty cold at that depth.



We went back to the marina for lunch and to pick up another diver and headed back out for some diving. We went to Starnes Island and then made a second trip to the scuba park. During the Starnes dive, Katherine found a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses, I found a lead weight for a fish line, and Donna found a diamond hoop earring! I guess Donna wins, Katherine second....and I found a piece of lead....

Katherine and I sat out on the last dive at the Scuba park to relax on the boat and swim around a little. All in all it was a nice day on the lake. Here's a few more photos.

The four of us aboard the "The Giant Stride"


Katherine modeling the Sunglasses she found at Starnes Island!


Your's truly...

Yup...we're foodies....

This blog will be famous one day for our culinary skills! First, we present Grilled Salmon with Charred Corn Relish. This dish was a spectacular combination of flavors. First, you can't go wrong with grilled Salmon. The corn relish was extra flavorful thanks to the way the aromatic basil and sweet balsamic vinegar mixed with everything else in the corn relish. It's a taste I've not experienced before.



The corn relish recipe:
-Soak 4 ears of shucked corn (on the cob) in large bowl of cold water for 20 minutes
-Remove and pat dry
-Coat corn on all sides with Olive Oil cooking spray, and season with 1/4 tsp. each of salt and pepper
-Grill about 15 minutes or until charred on all sides
-Remove cobs from grill and cool slightly
-Slice the kernels from the cobs and transfer to a medium bowl
-Add a pint of halved cherry tomatoes, 2 Tbsp. each of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar, 3 Tbsp. of thinly sliced fresh basil (We used ours from our herb garden) and a 1/4 tsp. each of salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly
-Let the relish sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving
-Top your grilled Salmon with the relish and enjoy!

Thanks to Bobby Flay for this delicious recipe.

Next up, for dessert we have decadent Brownie Goodness.

We discovered an easy to make, low fat, low calorie brownie mix that tastes incredible. It's called "No Pudge" and it's available at H.E.B. and other fine food stores near you! We mixed up a batch of No Pudge using Fat Free Greek Yogurt. Then we topped it with Cool Whip, a little drizzle of chocolate syrup, some freshly sliced strawberries and a sprig of fresh mint (again, from our garden!) as a garnish. Wow, this was so good and fairly friendly to anybody watching your calories. Take a look at this!

Cozumel Baby!

Katherine and I embarked on our annual dive trip from Friday May 23 thru Saturday May 30. This year we decided to hit Cozumel Mexico which is renowned for it's wonderful diving. We got a super deal on everything from the flight to the accommodations. I wish we would have taken some pics of the place where we stayed, but we just totally forgot. Lucky for us the internet exists and you can just check out the link right here. The Coral Reef Inn was a really neat little hotel a few blocks from the beach. It's kind of a bed and breakfast in the way it's set up, but the kitchen is for guest use....in other words, grandma ain't cookin' up pancakes and grits here, but there is an open air kitchen on the 3rd deck veranda.

As this was a diving vacation (is there any other kind?) we dove from Saturday thru Wednesday which left Thursday and Friday to explore the island. We met up with another couple from East Texas named Charlie and Donna. They were a lot of fun to hang out and dive with! The diving was definitely great as advertised. The reefs are still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Wilma, but the marine life is still bountiful to say the least. We saw 5 sharks, 2 turtles, several sting rays, some ridiculously monstrous lobsters, big groupers, octopus, squid, and lots of other fun sea life and creatures. The current on some of the dives was pretty strong so that made for a challenging workout routine if you decided to stop or go the other direction.

We've decided that Cozumel is the king of guacamole and ice cream.....oh man...Da Lindo's Ice Cream...In general, we ate pretty well over there. There are some great restaurants on the island.

So, as previously mentioned Thursday and Friday were reserved for non-diving activities. On Thursday, we joined a group of people on a Trimaran charter. As soon as we departed it started to rain (par for the course for a Katherine and Zach vacation!). It rained pretty heavy as we traveled to a little cove on the North End of the island, but it finally cleared up before we got there. Once we anchored in the cove we donned our mask and snorkels and went for a little snorkel over a few coral heads. We hung out on a secluded beach for a while until lunch was served back on the boat. It was truly impressive what these guys cooked up on that little grill on the boat. We had some killer guacamole (see above), fajitas, chicken wings, fresh fish, and all the expected condiments. After lunch, we got to go on "spinnaker rides". This is kind of like para-sailing, except that the boat is anchored and we are basically just catching the wind like a kite. Katherine had fun with it, but when I got on "the wind died down"....yeah, right....I think we all know it had more to do with the fact that the sail simply wasn't suited for somebody of my "stature" :)

On Friday, we rented a little car so we could head out on our own. There is basically only 1 road around the island so the only opportunity to get lost was in town! We stopped off in El Cedral which was a tiny village with some Mayan ruins. Then we went to have lunch on the East Side of the island at a place called "Coconuts". That was a fun little place with some pretty good food. We backtracked a little bit to the South side of the island to "Punta Sur". We visited the Punta Sur lighthouse and scaled the stairs to the very top (you know, where the big beacon is). That was pretty cool with incredible vistas in every direction. The East Side is a lot more "wild" in that it is undeveloped for the most part. The surf is much rougher and not very friendly for swimmers, boaters or divers, but it sure is nice to look at. There were some beautiful beaches and views to enjoy.

Here we are!


Katherine on the Trimaran


The Spinnaker Ride


Miraculously, we survived this Shark attack.....close one!


Grey Angelfish


Golden Tailed Moray Eel


A Trunkfish


A "qulited" filefish...(we made up the "quilted" part in the name)


Katherine reading the underwater map


Yellow Tailed Stingray


Katherine having fun at the wheel!


Zach pretending to take charge in a storm!


One of the beautiful scenes from the East side


A Geiser on the East Side (as seen in the movie "Fool's Gold". Watch it if you don't know what I'm talking about)

Katherine's Bi-Athalon

Usually, when you combine swimming and mountain biking you add a running event and "voila", you have a triathlon. We must have missed the running event somewhere, but my sweetie nailed the other two. :) We were riding at Walnut Creek Park in Austin along a river bed. We came to a ledge about 4 feet above the water and only about 1-2 feet wide. I dismounted and picked my bike up to walk along the edge. I got about 4 paces when I heard the sound of a bike loosing traction, followed by the sound of rock vs. pedals, followed by some incomprehensible verbal clamor. I turned my head just in time to see Katherine airborne and landing in the stream that she was riding along just seconds before. She was trying to negotiate the rather difficult rocky terrain and getting ready to follow my lead and jump off of her bike when disaster struck and she was unable to dismount the bike before it dismounted her! She's fine, so don't worry. The fall was tall enough to give me a scare when I heard the ruckus behind me, but short enough that the water was a nice soft landing for her. Here's the photos....

Part of the trail....



The offending ledge



After we fished her out of the stream...





Katherine's is the orange one!

Chirp Chirp goes the Begonia?

It's been a while since we've updated our blog, my friends. A lot has happened since we last met. First, we'll start off with our new fluffy friends. Katherine and I had the pleasure of watching fresh baby birdies grow from Day 1 until they "flew the coupe"! Katherine was tending to our plants as she does nearly every day when she found a surprise. A nest had been built in our hanging begonia plant on the front porch! Now, I'm not a bird watcher, so I have no idea what kind of birds these are, but it was really cool watching them and photographing them grow and transform over about a 10 day period from little blobs into actual feathered birds capable of flying and taking care of themselves. For humans it takes about 20 years, for birds....10 days....amazing. Here is what we saw on Day 1, May 3 2008.

Not much to look at yet. It's hard to make out the details, but what you see there in the first photo is 5 very recently hatched baby birds.

Fast forward to Day 6, May 8 2008


You can see the beaks have formed and the heads are a little more defined.

Day 7, May 9 2008


Day 10, May 12 2008

It's amazing how these little fellows have grown in 10 days. This is the last shot I got of them before they found their wings. During their stay in our Begonia plant, we checked in on them everyday. We had a huge storm with high winds, so I moved the hanging plant to a more protected part of the porch so they wouldn't get blown away with the wind. We found out that Begonia's can handle several days with little to no water (we couldnt very well dump a bunch of water on the little birdies). It was a really cool thing to witness up close.