Category: Around The Globe

Road Closed, Record Lows, Plan D!

20 miles, 9 hours, 4,000 foot elevation gain, 24 hours of NO PEOPLE, roads closed, snow, record lows, having to go with Plan D! All Priceless! 🙂

Wow, what a weekend. It all started on Thursday night when we decided to have a last minute Pumpkin Pie party. So Sirin, Kris, and Jason all came over to my house and we baked a pumpkin pie, sat around talking and drinking wine! What a great night! It was Sirin’s last weekend in her apartment! :'(

Friday I got up early and headed to work got a TON of stuff done before everyone else showed up and then headed out to Santa Monica for a meeting. Had a great meeting there with a new contractor and then changed and off to Fresno to pick up Nick. Got there about 2:30ish and off to Yosemite. We get to the main gate at 4:20 and the wilderness office in Wawona closed at 4:30, so we booked it down there and get there just as they were about to close, thankfully Nick knew the girls in the office so they were very very helpful, sadly they JUST closed Tioga road up to the Meadows a few minutes before we got there! We ask them to give us a permit for that area anyways and we’ll just hope that they open the road in the morning.

On our way down to the valley it starts snowing pretty good and we stop a few times, pick up some supplies because Nick forgot all his food at home, found the Backpackers campground, setup camp and then headed to the Lodge for dinner. My hottie desk clerk was still working there from this spring! Yum! I got to talk to him this time too! 🙂 After dinner we headed back to the campsite, made a fire and sat around talking for a few hours.

Saturday morning we get up, pack up and head to the Wilderness office, find out that Tioga road was STILL closed and they weren’t expecting it to open till after 1 or 2pm. Glacier road was closed as well, but they were expecting it to open around 10am. So we get a new wilderness permit for some hiking along glacier. We were just going to hike along the rim of the valley and camp up there. So we putz around the valley some more and then head up to Glacier road. Get there right at 10 and the road is still closed. We talk to the ranger at the gate and he said he wasn’t expecting it to open till 1 or 2 now. We didn’t want to wait around just to find out it won’t open at all, etc. So we dig out the map and start looking for alternatives. Finally decide to head out to Hetch Hetchy.

On the drive up there we stop at Tioga road just to check and it was STILL closed, we ran into a guy that we had met at the wilderness office and talk to him for a couple minutes then continue our drive up to Hetch Hetchy. Get there and get a new wilderness permit for the trail we had decided on up to Miguel Meadows. The rangers were very helpful and told us that even though EVERYONE was coming up to that area now that the other two were closed we were the ONLY people getting permits for our trail. GREAT news! So we finally get hiking about 1pm and it was just wonderful out there. By 2pm we were up the trail pretty good and we saw the last of the people we’d see for the next 24 hours! It was wonderful! We get up to the top of the ridge and come across this sign that says we’d already gone 4 miles! Crazy! We really booked it up the first part. So we slowed down from there as we hiked through the meadows.

About 4 we came across an abandoned ranger cabin and decided to put down camp there for the night. We dropped off our gear and explored the area a little bit then headed a few more miles into the park to get to Lake Eleanor. It was about 8 miles round trip to the lake edge and back and only 5 miles to the lake over look. Sadly I was getting a HUGE blister on my foot so we had to turn around. Got back to our camp site and gathered some wood and started a nice big fire, ate dinner and then sat around talking about anything and everything the rest of the night! The cabin/shed provided a GREAT wind barrier because we camped in between them, I’m glad we did too cause it would have been FREEZING even more if we hadn’t had that barrier, you could hear the winds howling pretty damn good! The forecast was for gusts to 50mph!

Crawled into the sleeping bag about 9pm and I went straight to sleep. I had my mummy bag completely closed up so my entire body was all the way inside the bag. The overnight low was around 15 degrees! About 4am I woke up and because my bag had come open a little bit and my nose was FREEZING. Nick was awake as well so we talked a bit and then watched the starts! Sooooooo beautiful! Shooting stars everywhere. I got a little bit freaked out there for a bit though cause I kept hearing branches breaking and stuff! lol. Fell back asleep and woke up again around 7am. Sat in the bag for a while because it was so cold outside. Eventually got up, broke down camp, ate breakfast, explored the area a little more and found that there was an old barn not to far from us, then headed back to the car.

It was so sad heading back that way. I wanted to just keep hiking farther and farther back into the park! We didn’t see a single person till we got back down to the base of the trailhead. It was so sad seeing those first people again! LOL. Got back to the car and headed back to Fresno.

The drive back to Fresno was really nice, stopped into Wawona again and talked to the wilderness permit people again found out that Tioga road was STILL closed and never opened and that Glacier point had JUST opened Sunday morning so it’s a very good thing that we didn’t just sit around and wait for them to open. Though I do kinda wish we had got there before Tioga had closed, we would still be stuck up there! How fun would that be! lol.

Got back to Fresno, dropped Nick off and then headed back to LA. It was so sad driving home! 🙁 When I arrived home Sirin had left her lights on and her windows open, I saw her apartment all empty and was sad that she was gone now!

Overall it turned out to be a GREAT weekend up in Yosemite and I can’t wait to do another trip soon!

New Chapter Begins!

A new Chatper begins today. A new job, an ex forgotten, a new life.

This past weeekned has been amazing for me. I spent it in Houston with some really great people. It was amazing how welcome the guys and gals that I met there were.

I rolled into town late on Wed evening. The flight there was fine, i had the front row of the plane and tons of leg room. Really hot guy next to me and he slept the whole flight. I watched two movies which i can’t recall now.

Checked into the hotel which was also good. Headed out from there to meet up with David. We went downtown to some wine bar. it was very cute and met up with his friends Hillary and Jessica. Hung out there and had a few glasses of wine and chatted it up. After a while there we headed out to Hillary’s house for dinner and then out to a gay bar for Karaoke. They sang, I did not. It wasn’t very busy, but we had a really fun time. Headed back to the hotel after that.

Thursday I got up and was supposed to meet this guy to go to NASA, but he over slept so I just went alone. I had a really fun time. It was cool to see the old mission control and what not. But i wish that you could have seen more of the behind the scenes stuff. I guess there was a more detailed tour, but there’s only 13 spots on it every day. Of course they were sold out. After that I sent to the San Jacinto Monument, which was alright. Headed back to Houston after that and met up with the guy and we had dinner before he had to work. After that I headed over to Hillary and Jessica’s place and we went to this HUGE Wal-Mart of liquor! Amazing!!! From there we met up with David and did something? What did we dooooo!? I can’t recall! 🙁

Friday I got up and headed out to Brazos Bend state park and had a great time. I didn’t get to hike around as much as I would have liked to, but that’s because I have a cast on! I think that’s a good excuse. I hung out there for a while, then headed back to the Hotel, showered and then went over to meet up with Emily, Jim, and a few other people who’s names are escaping me. We went to this HUGE festival thing downtown and had a really fun time listening to bands and what now. Went back to Jim’s place and watched the fireworks which was nice. After that I headed over to Hillary and Jessica’s where David, Josh and a few others were at. We all drank way to much, sang, played rock band, talked and had a WONDERFUL time! I didn’t leave there till 4:30 and then went over to this other guys house and we cuddled and slept. It was nice!

Got up at 8:30 on Saturday and met up with David and we did all the art stuff in Houston. That was nice. We went to this one Russian Exhibit in which he had painted these HUGE canvases BLACK and then covered the interior of a church with them. Geeee, what’s that represent?! haha. We broke for a few hours and I went back and napped. Met up with him and Josh again for dinner and then went out to a few bars that night. Again a very very fun night! Got home around 2:30 and crashed.

Today I got up at 9 and packed then went out to brunch with David and Josh again then we just went around the city doing random stuff till 3 when I headed to the airport. I got on an earlier flight so that was nice and just got back to LA.

This weekend had really helped me to get over Const. I’ve realized how much of an asshole he really is and meeting this GREAT GREAT AMAZING group of people in Houston was so perfect timing. I really want to write more about how I feel about this, but I am to tired right now.

I’m also very very scared about starting the new job tomorrow!

Ok. I had a lot more I wanted to write, but I am tired. Perhaps I will come back and update with more details!

Night!

PS. Hillary Woest
Jessica Frinsco

Yosemite National Park!

My legs…. HURT!

I’ve been in Yosemite park since Wed and I have had so much FUN! That place is just gorgeous! I wish that I could spend months there camping and hiking through the back country and just sitting on the rocks overlooking a waterfall and reflecting on life. There were many times when the beauty of that place brought a tear to my eyes.

Wed night Christian came over and brought all his shit, we hung out that night and finished getting the group stuff ready and had a few drinks. Got up Thursday morning and picked up the rental truck and then everyone showed up at my place around 9. We loaded up and headed out. The drive there was pretty easy really, we only stopped once, but got LOST in the town that we were in and could NOT find the way back to the freeway! Once we got into the park I was so excited to just get there. I love flying around all those curvy roads, the people in the back seat though were getting sick. Opps! We got into the park about 3:30ish and quickly unpacked and then did a quick 2 mile hike up to Mirror lake. I fell in. 🙁

Friday morning we got up early and cooked breakfast. We were going to do the Panorama Trail so went up to the lodge to get tickets on the shuttle bus but they were all sold out till 1:30pm! Decided not to do that and went on the Upper Yosemite Falls trail instead. The sign said it was only 3.2 miles, so we figured it’d be pretty easy, little did we know that in those 3.2 miles you gained 3,000 feet in elevation! It was very hard for most of the group. Half of them turned around about half way to the top. Even I had lots of problems the last 3/4 mile. Between the steepness of the trail and the elevation I could hardly breathe! But it was really worth all the work to get to the top and see this amazing waterfall just flying over the edge of the cliffs. We hiked a little bit past there, then stopped at the river bed and filled up our water bottles for the hike down.

Got back from that and made dinner then a few of us went to a talk given by Ron Kauk where he showed Return to Balance: A Climbers Journey which had some amazing shots of him climbing and of Yosemite in general. It was really neat to see. I talked to him after and got some pointers for my next trip up to Yosemite where I could do some easier climbing. After that I had to run to the Village to do some work and then back to the campsite for bed.

Saturday morning we got up VERY early because our bus for Glacier Point left at 8:30am! We got everyone up and breakfast cooked and on the road just in time! The bus driver was really funny and was telling stories the whole way up there. We got there and looked around a little bit and then started our hike down Panorama Trail. This one ended up being around 10 miles total and 5,100 descend and about 1,900 ascending. We got to see some amazing views of the falls throughout the park. Some of which were Illilouette Fall, Nevada Fall, Vernal Fall and ended along the VERY steep but wonderful Mist Trail.

Part of the group turned back once we hit the mist trail. Which was probably a mistake, because they then had a 4 mile hike ahead of them, instead of just the 3 very steep miles that we had. The Mist trail was just amazing though! We got back an hour before the rest of them did. That night Nick and I headed up to Tuolumne Meadows to watch the sunset… The meadows are at 8,600 feet above sea level, it was 41 degrees when we got there and there was still pockets of snow! But we were crazy and went SWIMMING in the river! 🙂 Ok, I was in the water for about 1.5 seconds before I jumped out screaming like a little girl. Nick was more manly and was in for about 4 seconds total! It was wonderfully refreshing though after the long day of hiking we had. We spent a few hours in the meadows and really enjoyed the sunset. It was just amazing.

Got back to camp late that night and we all sat around drinking and talking and having a great time… Got up about 7 on Sunday morning and Sirin made breakfast for everyone which was delicious. Packed up camp and we were out of there by 10am! Got back to LA around 3:30 and unpacked.

It was so wonderful being up there, sleeping out under the stars and just hiking and enjoying nature. I cried a little bit as we left, and then again as we were coming over the pass into LA and seeing all the smog and the cars again. I hate smog and cars. I just want to sleep under the stars and enjoy nature!

All the photos are available here. And you can view our google earth tracks/photos here.

Const is in Houston!

Road trip to Houston!!!

This past week I have been on a road trip to Houston! Constantine has moved there for the next 6 months! 🙁

So Tuesday was not a very good day for me. I had a 4 hour meeting I had to prepare for, and I had to prepare to be out of the office for the next week and a half (I am in training this week). So I email all my clients and tell them that I will be gone, most of them were like. “Ok whatever”. Well one of them emailed me back and was all bitchy and was like. “I was expecting things to be done this week! blah blah blah. So I had to come pu with a way that I could work while traveling. I installed Windows 2003 on my external drive so that I could use Parallels, then installed MsSQL so that I had the DB. Then I had y 4 hour meeting which ended up only lasting 2 hours. Got done with that and it was noon and I wanted to go home. But As soon as I got back to my desk I had three clients IMing me wanting help with shit! UGH! Very annoying. I ended up getting out of the office at 2:30. Rushed home because Const said he’d be there in about 2 hours (when I talked to him at 2).

Get home and shower and pack real quick and what not… And then ended up sitting around till 6 when he finally got there. We went out to dinner with Sirin to Hennessey’s for burgers.

Got home that night and just hung out at the house and watched TV. Got up at 8 on Wed and had breakfast at this new Crepe place in Redondo Beach. We had a HOT french/russian/vietnamese waiter. He was really ncie too, we talked to him for a while and what not. The food was excellent! I would highly suggest going there and checking it out. It’s on the corner of Ave I and Catalina.

Got in the car and headed out after that. I plugged in my external drive (one of those portable ones that’s powered off USB) and worked away for a few hours. About the time I was finishing up, the hard drive suddenly says it’s been disconnected…. IT was still connected to me!!! So I unplug it and plug it back in… “Please initialize this drive”!

WTF! So I freak out because this drive has ALL my windows installations that I use for work, and training and playing and testing and everything else! PLUS It has ALL THE INFORMATION I need to be able to do work on this trip! VERY ANNNOYING!

The rest of the drive wasn’t too bad. 530 miles that day. Some VERY pretty wild flowers and stuff along the way. Got to the hotel and it was amazing. It was basically a HUGE apartment. Hung out there for a couple minutes and then went to dinner at an Asian place.

Thursday we got up at 8:30 again and we were on the road by 10. 550 miles that day. Lots of VERY VERY boring flat lands. Const spent hours calling all the apartments. I am SOOO jealous of these Texas apartments. 2 bedrooms with granite and hard wood floors and all this sweeeeet shit for WAY LESS then what I pay for a crappy 1 bedroom! Some of the places even have FREE starbucks coffee and fluff and fold service! UGH! That night we watched a comedian called Daniel Tosh. He’s very very funny. You should all go check it out.

Friday, 1610 miles later we MADE IT! 🙂 We got here and ate dinner at this very yummy Steak house called Smith & Wollensky got to the hotel and figured out plans for Saturday and then watched Americal Idol!

Satrday we got up at 8 and headed out to this place called Le Peep for breakfast. I got the blueberry pancakes which were not that good. But Const got bannana nut waffles which were delicious! After that we started looking at apartments. I think we went to like 10 different places. The second place we saw SMELLED soooooo fucking bad! GROSS! I wanted to puke when we walked into the stairwell to the apartment! The 4th place was just amazing! Very industrial with concrete floors and exposed duct work and what not. HUGE tub. It was SO CUTE! All the other places were really nice as well. At the end of the day we headed back to place number 4 to put down the money and what not. We get there and some guy is putting the deposit down on the apartment Const wanted. :'( So we went back to the third place which was also very nice and he got that one. I sure hope he will like it.

Saturday night we went out to a bar called “South Beach” which was tons of fun! Dancing and drinking and what not.

Sunday we slept in and then went shopping for stuff for his apartment. Got some really cute plates and what not from Pier 1. I think once I am back to LA I will go buy 2 more sets so that when he gets back we’ll have a 4some! haha. We went and saw the movie “Jumper” which was pretty good. After that we went back to the hotel and laid in the bed for a couple hours before my flight. I wanted to just bawl, but I held it back… I just realized that I forgot to get one last picture of us together there in Houston! Awwww. Anyways, we left the hotel and tried finding food on the way to the airport. That was one crazy adventure. We ended up in some GHETTO Popeye’s and got chicken. Seriously. I mean GHETTO! Got to the airport and it was very sad, but I held it together. I can’t wait to see him again.

Napa Valley Trip!

I love three day weekends…

This past weekend we had a great time. First was Jason’s birthday party on Friday. We had a great time, but left early. I felt bad about leaving so early, oh well.

Saturday morning we got up early and headed out to Napa Valley. On the way up there we stopped at Pinnacles National Monument. The drive from the freeway to the monument was tons of fun. But we only spent about an hour there. It was pretty and I’d like to spend a little more time there.

Got up to Napa late that night, went out to eat and while we were
eating this girl next to us saw that we were looking over maps and stuff and talked to us about the winery she worked at called Mumm Napa.

Sunday morning we got up and headed out at 9ish. Our first stop was a few parks and what not. First was Bothe-Napa Valley SP. It was a nice park, but nothing exciting. After that we headed to the Old Faithful of California. That was also fun, but again not that exciting. It was neat to ee though. Then we headed to the petrified forest. Here’s a pic of Const at the Petrified Forest:

From there we headed out to the winery’s! First was Sterling, which was probably my favorite in terms of the overall experience. First you arrive and take a tram ride up the side of the hill to the top of the winery. You are greeted with your first wine tasting and then you go on a self-guided tour of the winery. Here’s a shot of the HUGE wood barrels they ferment the wine in:

As you make your way through the winery you get to try a few different wines, on the balcony you get some wonderful views of the valley and you can just chill and talk and drink your wine.

Once you get through the winery you can take a seat in the main building and you get to try three more wines. On the day we were there they had some AMAZING Truffles there as well from a company called Truffle Gateau. I HIGHLY suggest going and buying some of them!

After this place we headed out and and drove to Burgess Cellers. Apparently you needed reservations or something, because the guy seemed very confused that we just walked into the door that said “OPEN”. So we just left. Headed from there to Sutter Home, which we went to because I really liked the building. Tried a few wines, but nothing I really liked.

Headed from there to V. Sattui Winery. This was another GREAT winery. But only because of all the foods and cheese they had at the shop. Oh my god. The cheese was wonderful! We also ended up buying 6 bottles of wine from them. From there we headed to Mumm beacuse of the girl we met. We didn’t taste anything there, but saw the art gallery and bought two small bottles of wine just for the hell of it

Our last stop of the day was Peju (only because it was basically the only one open past 5). I really enjoyed the modern art they had outside, inside we found this great pic which is just exactly like Tuxedo!! How cute:=

We got a great guy to taste with and basically a private tasting room because they were so busy! We bought two bottles of the Provence wine which was really good.

But this whole wine tasting thing. I really don’t get it. “In this wine you’ll taste hints of bannana and mango and this and that and the bottom half is a little bit sassy!”. Umm, really!? WTF!

We went home and were just so tired from all the tasting that we went to the hot tub and then just ate dinner and hung out at the hotel for the night.

Monday we headed home and stopped at the Golden Gate bridge for some pics.

From there we headed south to the Winchester Mystery House. This place was really cool. Very crazy stuff.

Of course, you can download our Google Earth Tracks here or you can download our GeoTagged photos here.

And photos of the trip are all here.