Hiking GLACIER POINT

Glacier point has a magnificent view point of the Yosemite Valley. Here you can almost see the glacier that was here and that melted down some thousands of years ago. The way the valley is shaped, the way the rocks are positioned tells you a lot about the glacier that was here. And the view of the Half Dome is breathtaking. It is like a postcard sent directly from the creator. It will never disappoint you. And here it is some picture of from Glacier Point ...and these are Nene and I. We take some pictures after a faily long hike. I think it took us more than 4 hours to get up here ...You can get here wither hiking or by car. We got here hiking from the Yosemite VAlly using the "4 miles trial". The day was really stunning, and those are a couple of pictures that I took along the way...... what can I say? Yosemite is really a jewel. Everybody deserve to see this National Park. If you can just do it. Don't wait for the next life ... :P

Hiking NEVADA FALL

Nevada fall is an other amazing waterfall of Yosemite National Park. And of course we went to see it. It is a short hike from Vernal fall. But still a lot of people don't do it. Not a lot of people around makes it even nicer. And here are some of the picture of our hike. The waterfall has much more water than Vernal fall and you can see it ...But the hike up there is really really nice. What you will love if you come to Yosemite is the shape of the rocks, that have seen slice on their skin milions of years of glaciers ...

Hiking VERNAL FALL

Yosemite National Park is famous for a lot of good reasons. One of them are its waterfalls. In spring they are all over the places and they are really wonderful. And if I am not mistaken Yosemite falls are the highest falls in North America. Unfortunately in winter most of the falls don't have much of water. But still they have something to show ... so for a short hike we decided to go and see the Vernal fall. Very easy and very short and very nice hike but also a very very cold hike. It was all in the shade of the mountain. Here are some pictures that we took ...and this a reflection in the lake that is giving the water to the waterfall ...... I love nature and I love the National Parks ...:D

Hiking NORTH DOME

Here we are. Finally ready to go for some hiking in Yosemite. For the first day we have decided to go to an easy / moderate trail. North Dome. In something like 3 hours hiking we are supposed to get on top of the North Dome and from there see all the Yosemite Valley and just in front of us the magnificent Half Dome. And from there in an other 2 hours we will be back. 5 hours, not bad for the first day. The weather was great. Not too hot and not too cold. Here are some of pictures of our small adventure. This is the last part of the trail. Finally going down. The rock down there is the North Dome ...

And those are pictures that we took from the summit. The gorgeous rock in the background is the Half Dome. That is a hike that I wanted to do, but I didn't do yet. We were planning to go up there, up the season is too cold. There is ice on the trail and the rangers have closed it ...

And this is the a part of the valleys that are in the park. Very very nice. This was used to be all covered by a huge glacier. Now the glaciers are not here anymore, but we can see how it did consumed the rocks ...... very nice and easy hike .... we love Yosemite ... :D

YOSEMITE VALLEY

I know, if you are familiar with the world class pictures that professional photographers take everyday in Yosemite National Park, you won't really impressed by those pictures. I was not really lucky with the light. Anyways, this is how we saw the wonderful Yosemite Vally. It is really a mother nature masterpiece ...And this is this El Capitan. One of the biggest piece a granite in the entire world. How big? It is an impressive 3,000 feet (910 meters) vertical piece of granite. And here is where professional rock climbers from all over the world are challenging each other ...... maybe, in my next life, I will try rock climbing ... :D

YOSEMITE SUNRISE

We drove all the way from LA to Yosemite NP in the dark. We were really afraid that the "first come, first served" campground was going to be filled very fast. At the end it didn't really happen. But it was nice to get here at sunrise ...First thing that we did, we did set-up our VE-25. A little bit exaggerated to use an expedition tent for a Yosemite NP campground. But better than the old one, not waterproof anymore. So here we are. 7AM setting up our tent in the Yosemite Valley ...... we are very proud of it. We really like it ... :D

THANKSGIVING in YOSEMITE

The plan was pretty simple ..."for Thanksgiving let's go camping and trekking in Yosemite National Park" ... at the end NeNe, I, Rhoda, Sheila and I will go ... and believe me ... 5 people trekking camping and trekking for 4 days can really eat a lot ... so Nene and I decided to go to make some shopping at Costco. And this is the result ...And actually this is not all. More food is in the fridge. Mmaybe we have exaggerated ... but better to have a loaf of bread more rather than less ... especially after a day of trekking ... :D

WE HAVE A NEW HOME

We have a new home. Actually it is not really a home. Actually it is better than a home. It is a shelter. More precisely it is a shelter tent. I dreamed about it for weeks now. And it was really nice when they delivered the tent to my door. So here it is our new home, it is The North Face VE-25 summit tent. And we tested it in my living room in Hermosa ...... this is really a classic for the mountains expedition. And we decided to buy it because the tent that I have is not really waterproof anymore and moving to Seattle ... I am sure that we will have more rainy than dry days. And hopefully we will do also some serious expedition with it ... the first expedition will be in Yosemite National Park ... :D

CALIFORNIA THIN AIR

San Gorgonio, CA is the highest peak in Southern California. It measures 11,502 feet (3,506 m) above sea level and it is part of the San Bernardino Mountains. NeNe, Olive, Sheila, Rhoda and I plan this trekking for the last 3 months. One attempt failed, in September, because of the first rain of the season. A second attempt, in October, while I was in Nepal failed because during the night NeNe, Sheila, Rhoda and Oliver were attacked by bears. A really scary adventure! Lucky them that they are still alive. An other attempt, while I was still in Nepal, failed again because Oliver, Sheila and Rhoda got here too late to make it back to the car with daylight. So this time is our 4th attempt. The first one for me. But I really want to get on top. I don't have too much time left here in LA. Soon we will move to Seattle. And I really want to get up there. So this time we planned everything all right. Wake up was at 3.40AM. We left Hermosa at 4.00AM. And by 6AM we were at the trail head, ready to go. We took the Vivian Creek trail, and the sun was not out yet, though ...

And these are some of the pictures that I took on the way up. I think it took us 6 hours to go up and 4 hours to go down. A pretty long day for us ...And this is the summit. When we went there we found this American flag ...

The trekking is nice, bit it is not that exciting. It is very much Southern California style, very dry and with not a lot of green vegetation. Maybe I got a little bit spoiled in Nepal. But this really looked like a hill to me. It had also some challenge. The last part, above the 3,300 meters was harder because we were coming from sea level. We definitely felt the change into thinner air ... it was good the feel it. For a moment I felt like I was in Nepal ... :D

WAY TOO MUCH STUFF!!!!

I started to pack my stuff for the upcoming move to Seattle. And I was shocked from the enormous amount of stuff that I own. I thought I was going to fill few boxes and here I am where the few boxes that I planned to use are just enough for my CDs. What amazed me the most are my shoes. These is just part of the shoes that I bought since I lived here to Hermosa back in October 2003. 13+ pair of shoes!?!?!?!? And I mean, I always use flip flop. I can't believe it! I mean, I thought I didn't buy anything in the last 4 years. Just few TShirts and jeans. And I found myself with hundreds of TShirts! I spoke withe some friends who had to move in the past, and they told me that they had the same shock ... there is definitely something wrong with us, if we can't even understand how much stuff we buy ... :o

Put FLOWERS in your GUNS

When I saw this picture a smile bloomed on my face. I didn't know such a picture existed. The author is Bernie Boston. And he became famous with this picture ... ... apparently it has taken in Washington DC back in October 1967, during a peace rally. What happened to us? Why are we afraid to do it again?

MAKING MAGIC with FLOWERS

Each one of us has some gift. Christina, has a lot of them. And one of them is definitely this incredible ability to make magic with flowers. The way is works is this. Loy goes to the farmers market and buys a bunch of flowers. Christina stops to his place and with the patience and the eye of an angel creates amazing bouquets. This is what happened at the end of our "pizza party" on Saturday ...... at the end she gave the bouquet to NeNe ... and I have to say that I really love this picture. I called it "the flower girls" ...

PIZZA PARTY

The mix of celebrations for my return from the Nepal trip and for my departure have officially started. In the weekend Loy shoot small all friends party in his place. We called it "pizza party", but I guess that a more appropriate name should have been "make your own pizza party". Loy bought all the ingredients and he left us his kitchen. And we went a little bit crazy preparing pizzas. And surprise surprise, all pizzas came out pretty good. Justin had definitely a lot of fun. But really all of us had really a fun time. It was such a joy to see all together again all my friends. And thinking that I will leave them soon, made me appreciate more how much i love them. And how much friendship is bringing into our life every single day. Love and friendship are truly priceless. And pizzas of course are the best way to celebrate them ... ehehehe ...

MY ROOM for RENT

It is all for real. Just the time to come back from my Nepal vacation and it is time to move again. And this time is for good. NeNe and i are moving to Seattle. I spent 4.5 years in LA, 4 of them here in Hermosa. And it is not easy to move out of here. It is strange to think that my room is for rent. But it is true. I am not sad. I am actually glad that I was so lucky to live here for so long ... and i am sure that also in Seattle I will find new friends and I will be as happy as I was here. So here are the pictures that I put today on craigslist. The title of the ads was ROOM for RENT. HERMOSA BEACH, CA. 2 BLOCKS FROM THE BEACH ...... lucky you if you will get this place ... :D