Iron Lakes, Zumwalt Meadow, Fresno Dome & The Bull Buck Thursday, Jul 2 2009 

So it’s been about 3 weeks and I havne’t exactly posted about the adventures we’ve had because I’ve lagged on uploading all the pics we’ve taken! I still don’t have everything from this last weekend, but I have enough to post.

Iron Lakes was amazing. I think I have posted about this, but now I have more pics!

HPIM0587This is the view from the hike in. We at about 8500-9000 ft. The air was thin but it was a great view!

HPIM0591The boys fished a little bit, although not long enough to catch anything.

HPIM0598We took a hike around the lake because we saw something in the distance…

HPIM0600An abandoned snowmobile!

HPIM0605The skies looked threatening so we headed out. Safety first!

On the drive back we hit up the Fresno Dome Campground to check out the spot and see if we wanted to camp there.

HPIM0611The view from the meadow was amazing! Seeing this made me want to climb it and see what I could see from the top.

The next weekend had us traveling to Kings and Sequoia National Parks for a trek to Zumwalt Meadow and Roaring Rapid Falls.

HPIM0618With all the recent storms we had the river was roaring from melted snow!

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We hit up Road’s End and Muir Rock. It was a gorgeous day. But the pay off was Zumwalt Meadow. The pics speak for themselves and it’s a wonderful place! There’s a foot bridge to the different vistas of the meadow so tourists don’t destroy it.

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Then it was off to hike to Roaring Rapid Falls. There had been a fire a season or two ago and in the forest from fire comes new life.

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The Falls were beautiful! And it was a wonderful day hiking! Da Mommy was tagging along and she loved it.

The next weekend we were all set for camping! Yay! We were going to hit up the Fresno Dome campground but upon arrival IT WAS FULL! So we headed a little down the road and looked at Little Sandy and Big Sandy. We found a great spot in Big Sandy and set up camp. Karen our camp host was super nice. We chilled Friday night and woke up early for some BOMB breakfast (thank you allrecipes.com) and headed to the trailhead for Fresno Dome.

The hike was great and we had a wonderful time. From the top of the Dome you could see Oakhurst and all the way down to the Central Valley. It was a panoramic view that took your breath away!

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HPIM0651Yeah it was pretty steep!

We hiked back down and went to a waterfall on the side of the road for lunch. Then it was naptime and relaxing until we were headed out Sunday morning.

On the way back down the mountain we passed by Nelder and decided to visit the Bull Buck. An amazing Sequoia that is so big it looks fake! Pictures don’t exactly do it justice. But this 2700+ year old tree is alive and well.

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The next hiking adventure planned is Quartz Mountain and the Mist Trail. (not on the same day! oy!) We saw Quartz Mountain when we were on top of Fresno Dome and the Mist Trail is a must see in Yosemite!

Sorry for lagging, but hopefully the pics have made up for the amazing times we’ve shared over the past month. If you’re in Cali, GO HIKING!!! Be respectful of nature around you and always Safety First!

TIMMY TIMMY TIMMY!!!!!!!!!! Tuesday, Jun 30 2009 

Ok so my favorite pitcher this season, and last season HAS to be Tim Lincecum. I am a huge fan. I’ve seen him pitch a few times this season (on tv, not in person, YET) and he never fails to stun. Timmy’s last outting gave him a completel game and a W against the A’s. Last night’s game was in St. Louis and the Cardinals didn’t know how to handle the NL Cy Young Award winner!

10-0! Complete game shut out with only 2 hits allowed!!! Amazing if you ask me!

Here’s the story from sfgiants.com

A sidenote, there is a massive camping/hiking post brewing so check for that this week. In order to make up for my lagging! TeeHeeHee!

Grace: Thursday, Jun 25 2009 

According to Dictionary.com Grace is:

 1. elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action.

 

 

 2. a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment.

 

 

 3. favor or good will.

 

 

 4. a manifestation of favor, esp. by a superior: It was only through the dean’s grace that I wasn’t expelled from school.

 

 

 5. mercy; clemency; pardon: an act of grace.

 

 

 6. favor shown in granting a delay or temporary immunity.

It was through a conversation with Da Mommy that Grace came up. It is not easy to be gracious or graceful all the time, but sometimes it is important to maintain Grace, especially when met with a situation that makes one want to throw Grace out the window.

We’re going camping this weekend so I’ll be MIA for a bit, but expect good times and great pics to follow!!!

Good Day Sunshine! Wednesday, Jun 24 2009 

Woke up early this morning and got going. Went and grabbed Jamba Juice, YUM! Put gas in Scarlett, YAY! Payed all my bills this month, WOOT WOOT! And BBQ-ing tonight with the fam, YEEEESSSSS!!!!

It’s so nice to have a good morning… oh wait, where’s my phone… you know the Crack…. I mean Blackberry??? I left it on the bed?!? What?!? NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Hahahahahhaa…. ok so while I go through withdrawls today I’ll be enjoying my financial responsible-ness, Jamba Juice, full gas tank and looking forward to BBQ which will then mean I have my phone again! Yay!

Maybe I’ll get around to getting those hiking pics up from last weekend too!

OMG! CAMPING this weekend!!! YAYAYAYAYAYA!!!

Yeah, I woke up waaaaay too early this morning! :D

Tired Monday Monday, Jun 22 2009 

This weekend was filled with Friends, Family, Hiking and WORK WORK WORK!!!

I am tired, but it’s not a tired where I am wishing I had another day off. It’s a good feeling, knowing I was able to hike yesterday and go to work after and rock it. Saturday felt good, Friday was awesome because I got to see Da Mommy more.

We’re camping this weekend so planning has begun and is in full swing.

I’ll be posting pics from our hike yesterday, we did Road’s End, Zumwalt Meadow and hiked to Roaring Rapid Falls. Beautiful day, sunburn (need lotion asap!) and a wonderful time with Halo, Da Mommy and Dr. Dave!

Happy Monday!

Da Count: Counting What You Have Friday, Jun 19 2009 

It’s become more and more obvious to me that we forget what we have and think about what we want. It’s amazing to me that I am blessed to have 2 jobs that are not horrible in the least. I am able to maintain a lifestyle with entertainment, sharing gifts with friends and paying all my bills. Sure, things can be tight here and there, but that’s life, right??

I am grateful for those around me that will give dacountme honesty and also surprise me with insight that I might now have seen otherwise. I appreciate the fellowhship I have with my friends and family. I appreciate my Mom being open and supportive of me even when I might not behave in the ways I was raised. I appreciate the dedication of my younger brother to get out there and really work hard to get to where he wants to be in life. I appreciate my older brother for building the adult life he wants to lead and accomplishing it.

Instead of being discontent, I will choose to be content right now. Sure I still have goals I want to accomplish, but I don’t want to forget what I already have.

Happy Friday!

Happy International Sushi Day!! Thursday, Jun 18 2009 

Today marks the 1st Annual International Sushi Day and a friend of mine and I celebrated with a great meal from Sushi 80’s.
sushi

Funnies: Thursday, Jun 18 2009 

Cyanide and Happiness, a daily webcomic
Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Meh… Wednesday, Jun 17 2009 

not too much going on right now. Mommy is coming in to town tomorrow for a few weeks and I’m really looking forward to spending time with her! Rogue planning is in full swing and it looks like the late night is shaping up nicely, I won’t spoil anything yet, but just know it’s being handled! Ha!

I’m tired today and so there’s not too much that’s really talkable, so I’ll wish ya a Happy Wednesday!

Weekend Hiking: A Shortie Monday, Jun 15 2009 

We packed up the Mountain Bot and went just up Highway 41 and hiked to Iron Lakes. We were trying the geo-cache-ing thing but that was at Bear Island and we didn’t know how to get to that lake. There are so many sub-alpine belt lakes up in the Sierras that it can be a little confusing. The boys had their fishing poles and we all hiked down to the lake (about 250 ft gain). It was different because although it was a short distant, the gain was really difficult to accomplish, we were at about 8500 ft and the air is super thin up there. We had to drive into this trail that was absolutely crazy, but the Bot totally rocked it! Halo drove incredibly well and kept us all safe.

Pics!!!

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Saturday I went to REI and purchased new boots and man were they awesome! Of course breaking in boots can be painful (I have one blister on each of my big toes) but well worth it. I was helped out by a sales woman Patty at REI, she was great and totally helped me out! She was awesome to work with and really put in the extra work with me to make sure I had the right boot on. It was awesome.

In other sad news, a hiker was lost on Half Dome this weekend. It is very dangerous to go hiking on an extreme trail when there’s bad weather. Thoughts go out to his friends and family for their loss and for those on the Dome when it happened, may they recover from the shock. We need to learn from the mistakes from others and practice the most strict safety practices especially when hiking a potentially deadly trail.

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