11,760 feet!

Yup, our highest hike yet. I think my previous hike was up to 11,200 feet. So I topped that by 500 feet! And This was Dave's first hike above 11000 feet! It was so incredibly amazing being at that altitude. Words just can't describe it. Hopefully my photos will help (once I have the uploaded). But wow what a view. This hike was about 11 miles round trip. We ended up at Kearsanage Pass (sp?). Basically its one of the back door entrances to Kings Canyon NP. We sat up top eating our lunch looking out over the lakes and peaks of Kings Canyon. What a sight! It was still early in the day (12:30) when we headed down. So we decided to take our time and enjoy the sights. We stopped at one of the lakes and sat on a rock in the middle of the water, then we found a waterfall further down the trail. I really enjoyed this hike and highly recommend it for anyone wishing to explore the eastern sierras.

Michele on top of the Pass

The Sign Greeting informing us that we reached our final destination!

Dave enjoying the top of the pass! and glad we doesn't have to hike uphill anymore!

More photos: http://www.schanker.smugmug.com/gallery/3228531#178372632

More Wine Tasting

So this past weekend dave and I didn't have to much planned. He decided to put some overtime in on saturday. The original plan was for me to meet him in Burbank in the evening. But we changed the plans last minute when Dave suggested we go Wine Tasting. So we got up Sunday morning and drove to Santa Barbara. We stopped at a grocery store and picked up some cheeses, meats, and strawberries for a winery pininc. Then it was off into the hills above SB. We hit two wineries before we found one we really liked. We bought a botte of Semillon and sat down outside to enjoy our food and wine. We were the only people out there so it was basically our own private picnic. It truly was a great afternoon.
We hit a couple of more wineries before we called it a day and headed home. Who ever would have thought that Wine Tasting would become something that Dave and I could share together. Before moving to Cali Dave wouldn't drink wine, now we've absorbed the whole Cali Wine experience.

Home Upgrades

Well, I have to say Dave and I have put lots of effort into our house we bought almost 3 years ago!! This week the new kraftmaid kitchen cabinets were delivered. Oh boy! I mean I'm so excited to have my new awesome kitchen with stone countertops and dark cherry cabinets. But I am not looking forward to the time and effort it is going to take. A day of destruction, about 3 days of installation, appliances strewn everywhere around the house, and then waiting an additional 3 weeks or so for countertops. OMG! So come October our kitchen should be awesome! But it's all the time in between that will stink.

So were on this house renovation kick and we went to Lowe's yesterday to finally buy our new door handles. This house was not upgraded very much and when we bought it everything was cheap brass. I hate BRASS! So Now we have silver nickel door handles to install through the house. It shouldn't take to long, but what a difference it will make.

I have also started painting our other guest room. Which will eventually be a kids room one day. So we decided that we would do something fun in there. I got a great Idea from my friends Wendy. It'll work now as a guest room and later as a kids room. We are painting squares on two walls. The squares are brown, beige, green, red, and blue. I'll post photos once its all done.

In other news, we have been making for weekend travel plans and it looks like August will be very busy. We are going to Vegas with friends or ours, Camping at Yosemite, and to San Diego and Del Mar for labor day weekend. Dave wants to go to Del Mar and see the horse races and it just happens that the Friday we are going Angles and Airwaves is playing free concert! I can't wait to see them in person. They are go awesome! But I'm biased I've been a Blink 182 fan from the start.

Cali at its Best

Wow..can you belive that in 5 days I will have been living in california for 3 years! OMG...time flies.

Friday was my day off of work and I decided to enjoy it on my own doing 2 things I love. Photography and Hiking. I woke up early and drove the 2.5 hours to a trail head near Lone Pine, Ca in the eastern sierras. The drive up was very nerve racking. As the road was about 15miles of switchbacks and it felt like there was no shoulder or anything to keep you from going off the edge. So I drove very slowly. I was okay until I was bout 5ooo feet up. The traiil head started at just over 9,000 feet. I seem to have a fasciantion with these mountains latley. I love the fact that you can easily hike above the tree line and enjoy looking out at nothing but sky and granite rock. This hike was one of the easist I've done lately since the elvation change was only about 1200 feet. Ihiked the Cottonwood Lakes trail to 5 amazingly pristime lakesand enjoyed time photographing them and just relaxing. I was gone about 7 hours and even though I was by myself I really enjoyed the day. To keep me occupied I brought my IPOD which worked really well. As last year when I hiked by myslef I felt rather lonely since I had no one to talk to. During the hike I saw Llamas, Mules, Horses (even a wild one) and Marmots! If you don't know what a marmot is it is a gopher looking thing that lives in the granite rocks. They are so cute!

The Sierras are so amazing. I just love them. I can't imagine living far away from some sort of incredible mountain range. Like some people have to have the beach, I have to have the mountins. Its so incredible to be in total peace and quiet and just enjoy nature at her best. I love how blue the sky is once you hike above the haze and pollutants. I love the lakes and how clear they are. And I love the grante peaks towering to anywhere between 11, ooo - 14, 000 feet. During this hike I went to a bit over 11, 000 feet and completed 12 miles.

More photos: http://schanker.smugmug.com/gallery/3151935#173062643

Photography Contest

As most of you know we live in the antelope valley of CA. Every year out here there is an Antelope Valley Fair. Usually Dave and I go over on a wednesday night for the free concert. Last year was Train. Since its a weeknight we don't usually go to see the exhibits or ride the rides. It's mostly beer and the concert. This year however I am entering the photography contest. I have sent in an entry form to enter 7 of my photographs in different categories. Here are the ones I'm entering.

Pisa, Italy

Pacific Ocean near Monterey

View of Golden Gate Bridge

Engagement Shot on the Beach

Wedding Prepartaions

Flowers in the rain

Castle Ruins in Scotland

Fourth of July in Southern Cali

Yeah, the 4th of July should never fall on a wednesday! Ugh, you ever feels like going back to work after a day off in the middle of the week!

Dave and I decided to scrap our 4th of July plans (wine tasting in Paso) to hang out with some freinds. We went down to there apartment complex in Santa Clarita to hang out by the pool. We had a good time hanging out with our friends its alwasy good to see them.

When evening hit we were all pretty water logged and decided to head up to the apartment and hang out and play with the new kitty! Our friends picked up a kitten at the pound and he is adorable. They named him Whiskey and he is mostly white and gray with the most gorgeous blue eyes. He was so adorable I just couldn't help but take photos.

Later Dave and I left to go catch the local fireworks show. The fireworks weren't to good, but I practiced taking some time elapsed photos.

Big Pine Creek

It's been a while since I've posted anything, sorry. Things have been very hectic. We had a last minute 4 day trip to Florida due to some family matters that needed to be taken care of. On Friday we flew back to LA after some stressful days and decided to continue on with our plans to hike in Big Pine. We met a friend from LA on friday night, got a few hours of sleep, and drove up to Big Pine. We arrived about 10am and imeediatly got on the trail. We managed to hike 11 miles roundtrip to 3 of the most beautiful alpine lakes. There is a glacier in the mountains up there and the lake is fed by the glacier so it is the most beautiful torqouise color I have ever seen. I was truly like seeing the water of the carribean or some other tropical island but at an altitude of 10, 000 feet. Our total hike covered an elevation range of about 2600 feet. This was our first hike of the summer to train for Half Dome. Im so glad we did it, it was so amazing up there. And I think this was the highest I have hiked yet. The altitude was over 10,200 feet at the third lake.

The third lake on the North Fork Trail

The water was so crystal clear and we filled up our hydration packs at the top (along with iodine pills too of course!). We managed to get back down to the bottom by 6pm and we went to set up camp. Then it was off to sit by the river with a beer and soak our sore feet. We spent the rest of the night cooking dinner and relaxing by the fire until it was time to go to bed. The next morning I walked a little with Dave to take some photos around the campsite area, which turned out to be very pretty.

Pond at Campground

River at the campground

Then we headed down the road to view Alabama Hills and the Mt Whitney Portal.

Alabama Hills

View of Mt Whitney from the Portal Road

Mt Whitney was gorgeous and I'm still determiend to do that hike eventually. I just have to find someone willing to hike it with me (something like 21 miles roundtrip and about 6000 feet elevation change!).

More photos: http://schanker.smugmug.com/Califorrnia%20Travels/155841