Once around the Rose Bowl Walking Loop to get the heart rate going.

In traditional fashion, this month’s walking group – small but mighty – got going early with a 8 am jaunt around the Rose Bowl walking loop.  The beauty of the morning was comparable to those brilliantly gorgeous Rose Parade mornings which entice half the world to move to California.  We got our heart rates up with the 3.5 mile walk leaving us plenty of time to make our way to Bungalow Heaven for our scheduled walking tour.

Bungalow Heaven in a cluster of homes built in the 1920s and 30s.  The homes are in a 16-block area in Northern Pasadena consisting of more than 800 homes, mostly constructed in the small craftsman style of the middle class.  Eight homes were open for viewing and complemented by knowledgable docents providing history of ownership and renovations.

Making our way through the tree lined streets with something in every corner of our sight lines, we toured seven of the eight homes, each offering a unique glance at the lifestyles of the era.  The tour highlights are best told through a few photographs.

At the top of the list for favorite house of our group – this Spanish revival beauty.

The craftsman style was the prevailing design for homes on the tour.

The gardens took our breath away.

Ever seen a fried egg flower? Now you have.

Pink flowers!! Of course.

The Bungalow Heaven Home “Tour”ists.

Just outside the frame of the above picture was another highlight of the day…complimentary cookies.  These cookies were put out to taste test and entice us into buying the Bungalow Heaven Cookie cookbook – which most of us did.  Some truly unique recipes are inside – including the “to-die-for” Lime Pistachio!

Can’t wait to try some of these recipes.

Following our cookie fest at the end of the tour, we left our heavenly surroundings and landed in downtown Pasadena at the AKA Bistro to enjoy a delicious lunch. In fact, it was so good, that our food connoisseur extraordinaire Linda B declared it one of the TOP Pink Bragade lunch places of all times.  A true honor indeed as we’ve been to some pretty delectable places over the years.

Pinot Noir on the menu for lunch!

AKA, after putting up with a series of delays in our reservations,actually gave us our own private room. Hmmmm, perhaps because we were in our exercise get-ups? 🙂

Another excellent Pink Bragade adventure came to a close with a quick trip to LuLu Lemon (guess who suggested that?) and a special treat — the culmination of the City of Pasadena’s Ferrari Festival.  Thus we ended the day playing witness to dozens of classic sports cars of the rich and famous revving their way out of town…in this case a fire-red Ferrari brigade!

The dozens of Ferraris on display along Colorado Blvd cleared the street as we walked back to our cars.