Bike to Work Week – Did you participate? I managed two days last week, Tuesday and Thursday. Transportation Secretary Ray La Hood says more people in the Washington D.C. area signed up – a 20 percent increase.  Portland’s Department of Transportation put out the latest cycling numbers last week, and it shows a 3.3 percent increase in 2012 over 2011.  Overall, since 2000, Portland has seen a 211 percent increase in the number of people riding.  Meanwhile, along Portland’s bike boulevards you are seeing new speed limit signs. 

Big Apple Biking – New York is getting ready to take the wraps off its new Bicycle sharing program.  Reporters there have tested out the new wheels.  The program ‘rolls’ out the 27^th of this month

Bike Racing --- The Human Powered Challenge is coming up this weekend out at PIR, and you have to see it to believe it.  Check it out here:

And if you’d like to watch the races, you can find out more information here:http://www.ohpv.org/HPC/index.html

Traveling On – Good news if you like the Azumano Travel Show, but can’t always make an appointment to listen Saturday morning at 6 am or Sunday at noon to listen on AM 860 KPAM.  Now, you don’t have to!  You can catch us on podcast.  Its simple, go to the podcast section of our website, and look for the Azumano Travel Show (we’re at the bottom).  You can even subscribe, so you don’t miss a single adventure.   

This week …. on the Azumano Travel Show, we make a trip to Sweden and a Midsummer party.  We bubble away in a hot tub on a barge through Burgundy,  discuss the high cost of your baggage and “Break Bad” in Albuquerque.  We also ask the question – what would YOU do if your seatmate hogged all the elbow room.  All of that coming up this weekend. 

Traveling back in Time – The Oregon Zoo has a big birthday coming up, 125 years!   And the folks at the zoo would like to see your photos from the past.  They are asking for contributions for the big celebration.  If you have pictures you’d like to share, contact the zoo.

Closing “The Office” – The nine year run of one of my favorite shows comes to an end tonight.  We’re saying good bye to all the folks at Dunder Mifflin.  I know they aren’t real, but they’ve sure felt like it at times.  Here’s a fun list of 50 of the best office moments – and one of my favorites: 

Bye.....

Traveling On -- This week on the Azumano Travel Show we take you off the beaten path in Australia and journey to the western coast and the Ningaloo reef.  Everybody has heard of the Great Barrier Reef, but this is the smaller, less well known younger sibling.  Its also perhaps more spectacular and less of a tourist trap.  But you really have to want to go there.  The drive can be up to six long hours over dusty roads with temperatures over 100 degrees.  The snorkeling and kayaking is off the charts.  We also get some great tips for summer vacation planning, and check out a six story tall bath toy.  All of that coming up on the Azumano Travel Show, Saturday at 6am, Sunday at noon, on AM 860 KPAM

Traveling to San Francisco – What a fun trip we had for the three game series in the Bay area, watching my husband’s beloved Giants.  They swept the Dodgers.  I got a chance to practice my photo skills with a new lens extension and we tried out a fantastic restaurant.  We stayed at the “W” on Howard Street, off Third. Lovely hotel, but we did feel a bit “unhip” & dowdy staying there.  Average age of those checked in, I’m thinking, was probably 25-30.  Plenty of Giants fans around though, so we weren’t totally out of place.  The best part of our stay, aside from the view from the 18^th floor, was the wonderful Chinese restaurant we discovered.  One of the bellmen suggested “Fang”, just a few doors down.  It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had.  Chef Peter Fang offered to put together a meal for us, when he noticed we were having trouble making up our minds about entrees.  Was I ever glad I agreed to that!  Try it when you are in San Francisco. 

Happy Mother’s Day – Enjoy your weekend with your family….I leave you with mommy and child cuteness from the animal world!

Traveling On – The Azumano Travel show is coming up this weekend, Saturday at 6….Sunday at noon.  One of the most interesting people we talked with, Andrea Sachs with the Washington Post.  She had an interesting problem; no passport and she really wanted to get away.  What to do? Andrea, being a travel writer, is also creative and knows how to use a map.  Find out more here: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-04-18/lifestyle/38644995_1_u-s-virgin-islands-guam-mariana-islands

 We also give you the chance to let out your inner rock groupie, find out how to make the best (and in some cases, shortest) vacation videos and go green with hotels. 

San Francisco – Heading down the Bay area this weekend for the Giants – Dodgers matchup.  But baseball will fill our evenings, we have our days open.  We may go play at Golden Gate Park (its one of our favorite stops) and walk along Baker Beach (another of our favorites).  I also just read about a bookstore I intend to check out “Book Passage”.  It features mainly travel books.  There’s also quite a Cinco De Mayo celebration in the Mission District that we may check out.  Its fun to just go down to the City By The Bay.

Cheap --  What would YOU be willing to give up for a hotel discount??  A new survey shows you’d have to pry our digital devices out of our vacationing hands.  We’d sooner give up our Mai Tai’s than a mobile phone.  And when it comes to our camera, that’s something we MUST have.  I can understand.  Its part of the fun for me, going on vacation, to snap pictures.

Friday Funny -- You may remember the St Louis Rally squirrel who appeared and ran across home plate at Busch Stadium during a play off game in 2011. Here we have his older, beefer brother!

  Enjoy!

Personal Doppler – I became my own weather system this morning.  I rode my bike to work for the first time this year.  It was chilly!  How chilly was it?  So chilly I managed to create frost on the front of my jacket by the heat created from my own perspiration! It is May first, which signals the beginning of National Bike Month and here in Portland, our very own bike month. 

There are a number of activities coming up, free breakfasts, the first Sunday Parkways ride, and clinics on bike safety.  You can find out more here: http://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/article/394915

http://www.bicycletimesmag.com/content/national-bike-month-begins-today%E2%80%94here%E2%80%99s-how-celebrate

And if you are searching out the best routes to ride, try here: http://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/39402

For getting around traffic detours and roadwork, try this: http://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/41922

Softball update – So loving this sunny weather we’re having.  It makes softball viewing so much more pleasant.  Last night, my mom and dad came across the river to watch our daughter’s game.  You should have seen the sheepish grin on her face when she saw them on the sidelines.  She also got her first hit –and although that didn’t score a run, it did score another big grin.  Our girl was thrilled, it didn’t matter that it was caught.  (That darned pitcher was in the way!)  She informed me on the ride home that she wanted to play next spring FOR SURE.  Her team is awesome; they do little cheers from the dugout as their teammates get up to bat and seem to know a ton of rhymes.  How they learned all of them, I have no idea.  And they are learning teamwork on and off the field.  What I really love is their coach and their manager is moms.  There are dads helping out with coaching and umping.  But the one on one help is women helping girls learn how to play and grow.  We never had ANYTHING like that when I was a kid and I love watching how its helping our girl grow.  She’s already gained so much confidence – you can see it in the way she carries herself on the field, and off.  Its such a pleasure to watch her grow.  I don’t have much to do with her developing into such a wonderful young woman – I didn’t give her life,  I have to give her mom and my husband credit for that…and we’re all doing what we can to help her evolve.  I can tell you, it means a lot to be on the sidelines, cheering them on.  If you have the chance to root for a kid, just do it!

Come on in – Read this today from Lifestyle columnist Cathy Hastie.  She lives in the Richmond neighborhood in S.E. Portland and discusses the cost of new apartment development there – many are being built without parking.  There is quite a lot of consternation in the neighborhood and throughout the metro area about this.  Hastie puts the argument in a way I hadn’t considered before, the pro’s and con’s of being awesome and how we have to weigh that out.  Isn’t there room for us to share our awesomeness in Portland?  That’s basically what she’s asking.  Check it out, she makes some thoughtful points. 

Sunshine – I am so happy to see the sun SO many days in a row.  It does lift my spirits.  Something about the sun makes me have enough gumption to get off the couch and forgo those “Law and Order” reruns that seem to call my name in during a typical dreary rainy afternoon.  The last couple of days I’ve gotten outside to ride my bike for the first time in months.  I’ve been a little shy, since the unfortunate accident (see two broken ankles, September).  Its taken a long time to get back up to snuff for me.  And I’m a bit fearful about being out on the open road again.  Anyway, its been great to be back out again.  One thing I’ve discovered – ROADWORK! It seems like its going on everywhere.  My usual cut through spots now has detours set up.  Is there a good app for figuring these things out?  This one is pretty good for figuring out bike routes. http://www.ridethecity.com/portland

Softball – another reason to be grateful for the sunshine, our daughter can play softball in warmer weather.  Last year we froze our butts off, watching our son play freshman baseball and Babe Ruth.  So far this season has been much pleasanter!  I’m actually looking forward to throwing out a lawn chair tonight and taking in the game. 

Star Wars – And here’s your Friday Funny…this is purrrfect.  Pay attention to the green dogs in the back ground.  Woof Woof

Traveling on  - This week on the Azumano Travel Show we go to a couple of VERY luxurious resorts for fun in the sun with one major difference: children.  We go to Bora Bora with travel writer Celeste Moure and her one year old.  Yes, you read correctly, she took a small child to paradise with her and had a blast. 

We contrast that with the experience Kitty Beane Yancy had at a an inclusive resort in the Caribbean where there are NO children allowed, but everyone has a butler.  Which place would YOU rather stay?

We also check out hotspots in New York, Berlin and elsewhere, in search of the world’s best nightclubs – and give you tips on how to stay save money and see more in Costa Rica and Vietnam.  Plus we tell you about which airport has a cell phone waiting lot with food carts and wifi.  Tune in to the Azumano Travel Show, Saturday at 6am, Sunday at 11am on AM 860 KPAM.

Grand Canyon Adventure – I’m about to go traveling on, in a few weeks…taking a trip to Spring Training in Scottsdale and to the Grand Canyon.  We’ve been to Spring Training before, so we know what to expect there.   I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon, and I’m looking around for suggestions from listeners on “not to be missed” experiences.  If you have any more me, drop me a line and tell me what you enjoyed most.  We will be in the Canyon area in mid-March.