Travel Tales

  Kimo and his little buddy Yoda have gotten in the habit of taking a photo in front of some tourist icon while they are on vacation. Since Christmas is being spent at the beach on South Padre Island, Texas it seemed only natural to look for a sand castle or the like. Yoda apparently sees the danger before Kimo does with the giant shark mouth about to swallow them. Guess he thinks nothing could be as bad as those green space aliens from the last trip.

What I don't see can not hurt me.

A Toasty Oven

  Cold days make you long for a good warm fire and something tasty to nosh on. What better combination than a wood fired brick oven, a little yeast dough and a some tasty toppings to make a great tasting pizza. A comfy spot to sit and how can you beat that for a winter evening. This particular combo comes from chef Dario Mar at Apeizza y Vino in Southlake but the oven makes me want to perfect my rough incarnation in the yard. Makes you realize why the Italians have been perfecting the craft for so many years.

Stretching a little dough by hand.

Chef Dario Mar loads the oven.

A finished Margharita pie.

Norwegian Cold

  Mother nature was not the only one that threw a chill over the Birds of Prey race course in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Below zero temperatures and snow falling was to the liking of Aksel Lund Svindal who threw his own chill over the rest of the field winning the FIS seasons second downhill in the newly modified course. Faces taped to protect from the cold, only one practice run but it did not stop him from flying.

Aksel Lund Svindal setting a chilling pace.

American Ted Ligety getting out of sorts.

Manuel Osborne-Paradis of Canada cutting a tight line.

Slovakian speed blur.

Erik Fisher running the GS line.

Swiss skier Sandro Viletta trying to get an edge down.

Men Practice flying

Canadian Benjamin Thomson making the trees blur.

Aksel Lund Swindal of Norway has the place wired.

Bode Miller airing it out.

Carlos Janka of Switzerland trying not to be his namesake "Iceman".

Florian Scheiber of Austria says "oh sheisse!"

  After a couple of days of cancellations of training runs for the men's Downhill in Beaver Creek, Colorado due to wind and then an over abundance of snow. On the third try they finally were able to pull it off giving the racers a view of the new hybrid course. The temperature started out at minus 30 degrees celsius and definitely did not warm up much over that forcing the racers to wear extra layers and many sported unusual methods of preventing frost bite on their faces. Canadian Eric Guay set the fastest time leading up to tomorrows actual race. Best of luck to them all since the temperature is not going to rise much on Friday.

Not the Status Quo

Sunny skies and great conditions for racing.

Jessica Lindell-Vickarby powers around a gate enroute to a win.

The United States new hopefull, Mikaela Shiffrin.

Mikaela Shiffrin reacts to her first GS podium finish.

Old guard Julia Mancuso struggled today.

Canadian Erin Mielzynski had here first points scoring finish.

Mikaela Shiffrin, Jessica Lindell-Vickarby and Tina Weirather.

  A new day brings an entirely new look to the Raptor course in Beaver Creek, Colorado with completely new results. The darling of the week, Lara Gut of Switzerland ended up going out in the first of two Giant Slalom runs and the standout racers from years past had their own difficulties. The podium was filled with young rising stars and Americas next hopefull, Mikaela Shiffrin, the hometown hero who finished a very close second to Swede Jessica Lindell-Vickarby with Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein in third. Continued praises of the course which will be the star of the 2015 World Championships that will be held in the United States for the first time in fifteen years on the new venue.

The Eagle Flies Again

  The second speed race on the new Raptor course in Beaver Creek and the results are the same, Swiss phenom Lara Gut wins her third race of the year in the Women's Super G. The technical, fast, and swerving course was to the liking of the Austrians as well with the next three fastest times but runner up Elizabeth Goergl was disqualified with skis that were too wide in front of the bindings. Leaving Nicole Hosp in second and Anna Fenninger in third on a gloriously sunny afternoon.

Lara Gut gets low in Beaver Creek.

Lara Gut coming thru Kestrel.

Another eagle for Lara.

Speed blurs.

Anna Fenninger of Austria, concentrating.

Laurenne Ross of the United States making faces.

Fly Like Eagles

  The FIS Ski World Cup has returned to Beaver Creek for the 2013/2014 season with the women running a downhill on the brand new Raptor course which parallels the original Birds of Prey course. With Lynsey Vonn of the USA injuring her knee last week in a training run, the course fell under the wings of Swiss skier Lara Gutt who took the win from the eleventh starting position and held on the the inaugural win on the only American downhill on the schedule.

Christening the new course.

Andrea Fischbacher jumps Redtail.

Lara Gut dominates the Raptor.

Fabienne Suter of Switzerland takes off.

Formula 1 and Another Win

  And for the eighth time, Sebastian Vettel wins a race in 2013. From the pole to the finish there was never any question of who the most dominant car was on Sunday after noon at the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Sebastian Vettel tips his hat.

Lewis Hamilton leads Mark Webber and the rest of the field.

Sebastian Vettel, all alone.

Distractions for the masses.

Daniel Ricciardo blurs by.

Formula 1 Qualifying

  The green flag flies and the qualifying begins and ends the same way the season has gone with four time World Driving Champion Sebastian Vettel on top. Lewis Hamilton and t

The flag drops

Nico Hulkenberg heads out past my shadow.

The new and former world champion.

Lewis Hamilton is perplexed.

Fernando Alonso and the Ferrari looking for speed.

The start girls know what to do.

he rest of the field are perplexed on what to do to topple the Red Bull onslaught. On a lighter note, the start girls will be sporting cowboy hats.

Formula 1 in Texas

  The world's premiere racing series came to Austin for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit Of The Americas in Austin, Texas. Sebastian Vettel has already clinched the 2013 Drivers Championship in the blazingly fast Infiniti Red Bull he has taken to the past three titles. He kept the parade going with the fastest times in Friday's practice session. Just have to see if he can do the same in the race on Sunday.

The Mercedes cars head to the track

Heikki Kovalainen driving a Mercedes

Sebastian Vettel in his conquering Red Bull

Bright Texas sun

Jean-Eric Vergne heads thru the esses

The Circus Comes to Town

  A few pictures that I like from the NASCAR AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. The place is huge, and the management knows how to compliment the regular circus to really accentuate the fanfare.