I still can't believe were actually going! So here's our plan. Leave early tomorrow morning and eat lunch/late breakfast in Lone Pine. Then Drive up to the portal and finish getting our gear situated. We plan to be on the trail NLT noon so we can reach Trail Camp before it gets dark to set up camp and cook dinner. We bought a stove thing that we will be cooking with and have dehydrated lasagna and sweet and sour chicken as meals. We are also bringing bread, olive oil and parm. cheese. Desert will be cookies. We'll be camping at 12,000 feet so I think its going to be rather cold. Glad I bought that mummy bag! We plan to get up early (about 4am) to reach the summit in the morning. Then we make the 11 mile trek back down to the bottom, go eat a nice dinner, and drive home! Its definitely intense but will be so worth it. I asked my mom to call first thing Tuesday morning to make sure we made it home okay. So 22 miles in 2 days and we'll reach an altitude of just over 14,500! I am bringing my xt and 2 lenses, so there should be lots of photos.
We spent last night going to the stores to get all our last minute stuff we needed. It really does take a lot to get ready for a backpacking trip. Now we'll be ready for Grand Canyon though.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Mt Whitney, Here We Come
OMG…so things are really going my way lately!!! We were planning on doing a practice backpacking hike this wekeend to prepare for the Grand Canyon hike. So, I just had Dave call the Mt Whitney permit office to see if anyone cancelled for this weekend! You have to have a permit to hike Mt Whitney. It's a very controlled area. Anyway, they just had 6 permits come available….so we are hiking Mt Whitney (the tallest peak in the continental US) this weekend!!!!! Glad we did Half Dome ealier in the year. I can't believe were going! I'm so freakin excited!!!! about 6000 feet elevation gain and 21 miles in 2 days.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Olympics and Thailand
Friends/Family:
Gosh, it's almost that time. Some of you have expressed interest in going to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games with us in Vancouver. It's about that time to really think about it. Tickets go on sale in just a few months. Plus Dave and I will need to look into lodging. If you are really interested, please let us know very soon so we can keep you in the loop and keep tabs on how many people want to come. This is something that requires lots of advanced planning. Trust us...the Olympics are a blast. While we were in Torino for the 2006 games, Dave and I promised each other we'd go to the 2010 games. We had so much fun in 2006!
----------------------
So have I mentioned how excited I am about Thailand...yeah I think I've about killed that point huh. It's going to be a great and long trip. Looks like we're going to leave on Christmas day and hope for a not so crowded flight. We'll be coming back on Jan 13th! One thing I know we are going to do right away is take a Thai cooking class. These are apparently very popular and we thought it would be something different, plus then we can cook Thai food at home together. Dave also wants an opportunity to bath an elephant! can you believe you can do that....they teach you how to feed and care for elephants! How cool!
Gosh, it's almost that time. Some of you have expressed interest in going to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games with us in Vancouver. It's about that time to really think about it. Tickets go on sale in just a few months. Plus Dave and I will need to look into lodging. If you are really interested, please let us know very soon so we can keep you in the loop and keep tabs on how many people want to come. This is something that requires lots of advanced planning. Trust us...the Olympics are a blast. While we were in Torino for the 2006 games, Dave and I promised each other we'd go to the 2010 games. We had so much fun in 2006!
----------------------
So have I mentioned how excited I am about Thailand...yeah I think I've about killed that point huh. It's going to be a great and long trip. Looks like we're going to leave on Christmas day and hope for a not so crowded flight. We'll be coming back on Jan 13th! One thing I know we are going to do right away is take a Thai cooking class. These are apparently very popular and we thought it would be something different, plus then we can cook Thai food at home together. Dave also wants an opportunity to bath an elephant! can you believe you can do that....they teach you how to feed and care for elephants! How cool!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
The Verdict Is In
Dave and I just got back from the AV Fair. We went over mainly to see how our photos did in the competition. I ended up walking away with three awards. First in the wedding category for Sarah and Brandon's photo, second for one of my poppy flower photos, and second for my Costa Rica frog photo. Some of my other photos didn't win at all....and one of those I thought for sure would win. But I think it may have been a bit to non traditional for the judges over there. I need to remind myself these contests are always very subjective. Dave's did not win...and I was shocked! His was by far the best out of all of them in his category. Again it either wasn't traditional enough or maybe they thought it was to good for the amateur category. It really did amaze me at some of the things that did win....some of them had poor composition others just were not exposed correctly. Oh well... at least I got three awards this year.
Thailand!
We are getting so excited about Thailand.I think Dave wants to eat Hot and Sour soup like every day! I am excited about the fascinating scenery and awesome activities. Kayaking. snorkeling, elephant riding, and lots more...I so can't wait. Check out some of these photos I found on National Geographic and Lonely Planet.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
To The Pool!
I'm writing this down, and hopefully I'll stick to it. Not that I don't want to do it , I just know I have so much to do at home and I'm afraid I'll talk myself out of it. But I need to make sure I take time for myself.
Tomorrow....I am back in the pool! The newest pool in our area has lap swimming from 12-2...and I plan to be there. In the next week or two I'm hoping to join the masters swim team, but I don't know if I want to get back into for a bit before I start the practices. I'm in great shape, but swimming is a hard workout. I so can't wait to get my suit, googles, and swim cap back on. Who knows maybe I'll be at a meet soon. :) I really do miss it. I was a hard core swimmer when I was younger. The place that I did winter swim team has actually sent people to the Olympic trials. But that was part of what pushed me over the edge and made me quit. I just didn't enjoy it anymore when I got to that level.
Tomorrow....I am back in the pool! The newest pool in our area has lap swimming from 12-2...and I plan to be there. In the next week or two I'm hoping to join the masters swim team, but I don't know if I want to get back into for a bit before I start the practices. I'm in great shape, but swimming is a hard workout. I so can't wait to get my suit, googles, and swim cap back on. Who knows maybe I'll be at a meet soon. :) I really do miss it. I was a hard core swimmer when I was younger. The place that I did winter swim team has actually sent people to the Olympic trials. But that was part of what pushed me over the edge and made me quit. I just didn't enjoy it anymore when I got to that level.
Vacation Planning
OMG! So scrap Europe….we're going to Thailand!
How awesome! We've been chitchatting over email with our friends about places to go on vacation in Dec- Jan. There were some great places mentioned, but I think the consensus has now been Thailand! Good thing I like Thai food! We are planning on going Elephant Riding…how cool is that! I can't wait. It'll be a totally new Continent for Dave and I.
How awesome! We've been chitchatting over email with our friends about places to go on vacation in Dec- Jan. There were some great places mentioned, but I think the consensus has now been Thailand! Good thing I like Thai food! We are planning on going Elephant Riding…how cool is that! I can't wait. It'll be a totally new Continent for Dave and I.
Monday, August 18, 2008
My nephew, Ashton
We were lucky this weekend...my nephew had a soccer tournament less than a mile from my parents house, so we got to see a couple of his games. His team came in second in the tournament.
Why Me?
So I'm sitting here eating my breakfast at 9:30 am trying to wake up so I can go into work. We got home at 2:30 am last night. I'll give you one good reason why....more flight issues! Seriously why do I have so many problems when I fly. I have been through countless delays, stuck in two foreign countries, had several cancellations, lost bags on xmas eve. It seems like I can not fly without some sort of issue. Its funny because Dave says he never had issues flying until he met me. It must be my luck!
So here's what happened. On the way out Thursday night we were delayed due to thunderstorms on the east coast. Ok not horrible, just means I can't get to sleep until later. I'm okay with that. Weather doesn't bother me to much, because that is out of everyones control. Then we get on the plane, plane leaves the gate, and drives around the tarmac for a while. Then the pilot tells us that we need to go back to the gate due to a mechanical issue. Thankfully they got it resolved and we didn't have to switch planes. So we did actually make it to DC on Friday morning, just tad bit late (hours late).
Then there was yesterday. So we arrive at Dulles, look at the board and see our flight says delayed but no estimate on time! That of course says to us that bad things are about to happen. Once we get through security the board changed to cancelled...again due to a mechanical issue. Actually they said it was mechanically challenged! So this is a 777, therefore the line to rebook your flight is huge. I told Dave we'd probably be better off calling the 800 number. So we get rebooked but into a different airport. There were no flights to LAX until the next day. The United reps told us they would provide transportation to LAX to get our car. So we agree to fly to Ontario because we really needed to get into the LA area that night. We take a flight to Denver and then on to Ontario. So at about midnight we finally arrive in Ontario. We are then informed that there is no one there to authorize transportation for us to LAX. So Dave spends 15 minutes on the phone with customer service while I talk to some lady at Baggage services. She has the nerve to tell me that they won't do ground transport because we VOLUNTARILY changed our flight. What are you talking about! Come one...like we wanted to end up in Ontario. That pushed me over the edge. I was calm until them. Two United reps before this told us all we would have to do is talk to United agent at Ontario they would look up the flights and see what happened and give us ground transport. Well, this lady was not willing to help us what so ever. They totally gave us the run around. The airport people said the 1-800 people had to approve the transport and the phone people said she had to approve it. Ridiculous! The supervisor on the phone finally tells us if we rent a car they will send us each united vouchers for $150. So we rent a car...which cost us $70 because all they had was an eclipse. Drive 45 minutes to LAX, pick up our car, drop off the rental and drive over an hour home. So that's how we got home at 2:30.
Now the funny part (ok, so not so funny part) Dave had a 6am United flight this morning out of Palmdale to San Fran. That was why we had to get back on Sunday night. I joking told him they were going to have a mechanical problem as well! So he got 2 hours of sleep. The United agent at Dulles was going to rebook him into San Fran. but he didn't have any clothes for the week. So he decided to stick with me and come home.
Ahh... well at lest we're home, right!
So here's what happened. On the way out Thursday night we were delayed due to thunderstorms on the east coast. Ok not horrible, just means I can't get to sleep until later. I'm okay with that. Weather doesn't bother me to much, because that is out of everyones control. Then we get on the plane, plane leaves the gate, and drives around the tarmac for a while. Then the pilot tells us that we need to go back to the gate due to a mechanical issue. Thankfully they got it resolved and we didn't have to switch planes. So we did actually make it to DC on Friday morning, just tad bit late (hours late).
Then there was yesterday. So we arrive at Dulles, look at the board and see our flight says delayed but no estimate on time! That of course says to us that bad things are about to happen. Once we get through security the board changed to cancelled...again due to a mechanical issue. Actually they said it was mechanically challenged! So this is a 777, therefore the line to rebook your flight is huge. I told Dave we'd probably be better off calling the 800 number. So we get rebooked but into a different airport. There were no flights to LAX until the next day. The United reps told us they would provide transportation to LAX to get our car. So we agree to fly to Ontario because we really needed to get into the LA area that night. We take a flight to Denver and then on to Ontario. So at about midnight we finally arrive in Ontario. We are then informed that there is no one there to authorize transportation for us to LAX. So Dave spends 15 minutes on the phone with customer service while I talk to some lady at Baggage services. She has the nerve to tell me that they won't do ground transport because we VOLUNTARILY changed our flight. What are you talking about! Come one...like we wanted to end up in Ontario. That pushed me over the edge. I was calm until them. Two United reps before this told us all we would have to do is talk to United agent at Ontario they would look up the flights and see what happened and give us ground transport. Well, this lady was not willing to help us what so ever. They totally gave us the run around. The airport people said the 1-800 people had to approve the transport and the phone people said she had to approve it. Ridiculous! The supervisor on the phone finally tells us if we rent a car they will send us each united vouchers for $150. So we rent a car...which cost us $70 because all they had was an eclipse. Drive 45 minutes to LAX, pick up our car, drop off the rental and drive over an hour home. So that's how we got home at 2:30.
Now the funny part (ok, so not so funny part) Dave had a 6am United flight this morning out of Palmdale to San Fran. That was why we had to get back on Sunday night. I joking told him they were going to have a mechanical problem as well! So he got 2 hours of sleep. The United agent at Dulles was going to rebook him into San Fran. but he didn't have any clothes for the week. So he decided to stick with me and come home.
Ahh... well at lest we're home, right!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Wednesday Randomness
1. We'll be going away again. This time I'm photographing a backyard wedding in Maryland…my own brother's wedding! Can you believe it…he's getting married! We fly out just for the weekend. I'm looking forward to snowballs (Not Snow Cones..yes there is a huge difference) and Steamed Crabs with tons of Old Bay! Yummy! The things I can not get in Cali. I had to order a new camera bag to get all my gear out there. And guess what, it comes on Thursday. Guess what day we leave…Thursday! Guess I'll be repacking real quick. What I'm not looking forward to…East Coast Humidity! Yuck! One of the many reasons why we'll never live on the east coast again.
2. My photos came from WHCC yesterday to be entered in at the fair for the photo contest. I think they look pretty good. Although I'm not sure I chose the best of the best of my photos. Some of them are great others I think I could have chosen better. Maybe its just my indecisiveness. Oh well, we'll see if I can win anything this year. Wish me luck. Although its not a huge prize or anything. I think between I spent on the enlargements and entry fee I would just about break even. I went to a bigger photo size this year so I shouldn't get stuck at the bottom! Dave has one entered too! His looks awesome. I totally think he'll win. It's being entered in the amateur wedding category.
3. My new sleeping Bag for our backpacking trip came this week. It's really cute and comfy. I totally think it'll keep me warm on those cool nights. It's a mummy bag, which will take some getting used to. Now I just need to order something for Dave. Then go buy a backpacking stove and some cooking gear. I'm so excited about being in the middle of nowhere in a few weeks.
4. I'm so far behind in my Photoshoots! I have weddings and family sessions to work on. Aghhh! I can't keep up at all. But I see the light at the end of the tunnel in Sept when things should calm down. Just in time for my Nov wedding! I haven't even uploaded any photos to my personal smugmug site in months from all our trips. I still have photos from March that I have never gone through. I remember the days were I would go through everything within a week of going somewhere. Now I just can't find the time. It's a good thing I have one of those personalities that just loves to be busy.
5. Reading Melissa Jill's blog this week has completely made me ready to go on another vacation to Europe! I've been everywhere that she has been this week and its making me really want a nice long vacation again. I love Europe. Especially Ireland. Dave and I have actually been joking around/kicking around the idea of living in Ireland for a year or two. How incredibly sweet would that be. I feel so at home there…maybe its all the redheads. :)
6. Now that I have been watching the Olympics (I'm addicted to the swimming since I am a former competitive swimmer myself) I am really starting to miss swimming. I was on an adult swim team in Florida. But never joined the one out here when I moved. I think its time to get back in the pool! It's been 4 years! I so miss the adrenaline rush of being up on those blocks.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Another Weekend in the Sierras
Can you tell we love the sierras! This weekend we camped near Rock Creek Lake. What a beautiful location. I knew that most of the campgrounds were first come first served, so we left as early as we could to get up there. When we arrived we couldn't get a site at Rock Creek Lake so we headed down to the next campground and managed to snag the last spot there. Whew Hooh! Especially since we really liked the campground. It was small, only 10 sites but lots of trees and right on the river. Even though it was August, it was still chilly. The lows must have been in the 30s-40s, so I slept in several layers. Being that we live in a desert climate, I just love that we can get in the car during the summer and go to much cooler weather.
After setting up camp we went up to rock creek lake to hang out for a bit.
The lake was cold enough to refrigerate my beer!
Then in the evening we enjoyed this
and this by the campfire.
On Saturday, we woke up had breakfast and got on our way. What a gorgeous hike!
We went up over Morgan Pass (~11,150 ft) and hiked down to Lower Morgan Lake. This lake was wonderful! It was surrounded by a mountain on one side and trees and greenery on the rest. We reached here around noon, so we decided it was a great location for lunch. After lunch to headed back. I didn't have my garmin this time so I don't know the exact distance, but were thinking it was 9-10 miles. Once we got back to the campground we went to soak our feet in the river. This is something we love to do after a big hike. Then it was time for dinner and campfire!
On Sunday we decided to not do a second hike. So instead we drove up the road to Bodie Ghost Town. That was quite interesting. It was friends of Bodie day...so there were all these people dressed in 1800s attire and even some covered wagons! Here is some of what I shot at Bodie.
After setting up camp we went up to rock creek lake to hang out for a bit.
The lake was cold enough to refrigerate my beer!
Then in the evening we enjoyed this
and this by the campfire.
On Saturday, we woke up had breakfast and got on our way. What a gorgeous hike!
We went up over Morgan Pass (~11,150 ft) and hiked down to Lower Morgan Lake. This lake was wonderful! It was surrounded by a mountain on one side and trees and greenery on the rest. We reached here around noon, so we decided it was a great location for lunch. After lunch to headed back. I didn't have my garmin this time so I don't know the exact distance, but were thinking it was 9-10 miles. Once we got back to the campground we went to soak our feet in the river. This is something we love to do after a big hike. Then it was time for dinner and campfire!On Sunday we decided to not do a second hike. So instead we drove up the road to Bodie Ghost Town. That was quite interesting. It was friends of Bodie day...so there were all these people dressed in 1800s attire and even some covered wagons! Here is some of what I shot at Bodie.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
