and i made walnut-blueberry bran muffins today...
muffins!
Monday, July 30
where's dan kim when ya need him?
i'll get to the reason for the title in a second... so dan kim, sit tight.
so, today was the day i picked to have my bike ride from holland to grand haven. so i drove down to holland, almost all the way to the state park, and then i parked off to the side of the road at one of the beaches (at one 168th)... then i pulled my bike off the back of my car, put my helmet on (of course) and headed down lakeshore ave (which runs all the way to downtown grand haven).
the weather was amazing today... i think i need to say it one more time... it was amazing! not a cloud in sight, but it wasn't really humid or anything, and there was a very nice breeze going on.
the bike path (the pic is part of it that goes over pigeon lake and is really neat) is really nice as well. nice and wide, not attached to the road, and it goes through some incredible neighborhoods... some of these house, well, most of these houses on lakeshore are pretty sweet, and not only do they have lake view, some of them even have tennis courts.
lake view AND tennis court.... deadly combination.
one of the houses was so nice, that i stared at it for a little too long and i went off the path into a large patch of shrubbery... i freaked out but remembered what correcting my mistake did to me last time (remember my good fall in front of my chem teach) so instead, i just rode it out. and thankfully, no one was driving by, although it would have made them chuckle... this girl on a bike knee-high in shrubbery.
and the path has a good variety of little hills, a few long hills, and there is this one really short and steep hill... i pumped and pumped, and about 4/5ths up the hill, i couldn't do it. so i stopped. but to cover up my wimp-out, i happened to conveniently wimp-out right at a for-sale sign. so i pretended to be interested for a second, and then biked off.
so after i arrived in downtown grand haven, i parked my bike in central park and walked on down washington to my favorite little bakery, great harvest company... half a sandwhich and a big cookie... you can't go wrong!
then i decided to walk down to the water, and to my surprise, there were a ton of people. turns out that the coast guard festival is going on! and the BIG coast guard boat was coming in... it's big. so i sat on the grass, and waited for the boat to pass by (which it never did, since it parked about 300 yards down the channel) but as i was just sitting there, two things happened:
first. there were three little boys, about the age of 5 (triplets) and they were playing baseball with a plastic ball... and minus the baseball bat... don't ask.
anyway, they were throwing the ball around, and i just laughed. i looked away to see if the boat was making any progress, when all of the sudden i hear this absolutely devastated cry, and i look to see one of the triplets (named brayden according to those around him) standing at the edge of the boardwalk, looking down into the chanel, and yelling as tears stream down, "IT WENT IN THE WATER!!!! *scream* IT WENT IN THE WATER!" and as his mom consoled him with a meager "we'll buy you another one" he replied with "IT'S NOT THE SAME!! I WANT THAT ONE!! IT'S MY FAVORITE ONE!!!! IT WENT IN THE WATER!!!"
and that's when i thought to myself, where's dan kim when ya need him... had i had his number, i would have called him up and told him the emergency... he's proven successful in the event of a ball going in the water... do the words "catalina" and "volleyball" ring a bell??
poor brayden could have used dan's skills, and poor brayden cried for 10 minutes after that, still uttering in disgust "it won't be the same."
this is a pic of the parked coast guard boat...
second: a boy named jared. as i was sitting on the grass, still waiting for the coast guard boat (which was still parked) i observed how this little boy (maybe 7 years old)kept on trying to tip over this stroller with a little girl in it. he wore all blue, had big glasses (a lot like my bro steven had in his younger years) and a blue denim hat on (matching to the one that his mom was sporting). the little girl was not his little sister, but the daughter of his mom's friend (amazing what you can figure out just by people-watching). jared kept on trying to push the stroller, his mom kept saying no, and eventually the mom's friend put on the brakes on the wheels. then i watched this little boy (who by then i figured out was named "jared" by the constant "no jared"s coming from his mom) try to push the stroller, realize something was different, and then un-brake one of the wheels, try to push again, but not figure out that he had to un-brake both wheels. he tired of this after a couple of minutes, looked up, and saw me sitting on the grass. i smiled, he smiled, then he ran over and sat down right next to me... smiling and squiniting through his big glasses: "hi!" i laughed and responed "hello there." he then points to my backpack... "what's this?"
"that's just my backpack, it carries my stuff."
he points to my empty cup which formerly held my smoothie... "what's this?"
"well, that's my cup."
a momentary pause.
he puts his feet out in front of him, and points: "feet! i have feet."
"why yes you do."
"feet feet feet feet feet."
"uh, yup."
he ran off to go investigate the triplets, but his mom grabbed him and tried to bring him back to the bench... as he passed me and pulled on his mom's arm and sat right down next to me again.
"i want to sit here!"
his mom laughed and said, "okay, go ahead and sit there with your new friend."
all i could do was laugh... it was so much fun.
he sat next to me for the next five minutes, but he didn't say a word... instead he sat cross-legged with his elbows on his knees and his hands propping his head up, and stared at me.
and then he left.
what a charming little boy.
after i realized that the boat was parked, i decided to head back to my bike and get on my way back to holland.
on the way back, there was a different hill that i couldn't get up, but no for-sale sign that i could use as a cover up. but that first hill on the way to grand haven, going down hill on that thing, without pedalling at all, i cruised down and hit a top speed of 27mph.
SWEET!
so, from holland to grand haven and back???
42.5 miles!
the most i've ever done in one day... pretty stinkin sweet!
and i am going to be SO sore tomorrow.
ciao for now my friends!
so, today was the day i picked to have my bike ride from holland to grand haven. so i drove down to holland, almost all the way to the state park, and then i parked off to the side of the road at one of the beaches (at one 168th)... then i pulled my bike off the back of my car, put my helmet on (of course) and headed down lakeshore ave (which runs all the way to downtown grand haven).
the weather was amazing today... i think i need to say it one more time... it was amazing! not a cloud in sight, but it wasn't really humid or anything, and there was a very nice breeze going on.
the bike path (the pic is part of it that goes over pigeon lake and is really neat) is really nice as well. nice and wide, not attached to the road, and it goes through some incredible neighborhoods... some of these house, well, most of these houses on lakeshore are pretty sweet, and not only do they have lake view, some of them even have tennis courts.lake view AND tennis court.... deadly combination.
one of the houses was so nice, that i stared at it for a little too long and i went off the path into a large patch of shrubbery... i freaked out but remembered what correcting my mistake did to me last time (remember my good fall in front of my chem teach) so instead, i just rode it out. and thankfully, no one was driving by, although it would have made them chuckle... this girl on a bike knee-high in shrubbery.
and the path has a good variety of little hills, a few long hills, and there is this one really short and steep hill... i pumped and pumped, and about 4/5ths up the hill, i couldn't do it. so i stopped. but to cover up my wimp-out, i happened to conveniently wimp-out right at a for-sale sign. so i pretended to be interested for a second, and then biked off.
so after i arrived in downtown grand haven, i parked my bike in central park and walked on down washington to my favorite little bakery, great harvest company... half a sandwhich and a big cookie... you can't go wrong!
then i decided to walk down to the water, and to my surprise, there were a ton of people. turns out that the coast guard festival is going on! and the BIG coast guard boat was coming in... it's big. so i sat on the grass, and waited for the boat to pass by (which it never did, since it parked about 300 yards down the channel) but as i was just sitting there, two things happened:
first. there were three little boys, about the age of 5 (triplets) and they were playing baseball with a plastic ball... and minus the baseball bat... don't ask.
anyway, they were throwing the ball around, and i just laughed. i looked away to see if the boat was making any progress, when all of the sudden i hear this absolutely devastated cry, and i look to see one of the triplets (named brayden according to those around him) standing at the edge of the boardwalk, looking down into the chanel, and yelling as tears stream down, "IT WENT IN THE WATER!!!! *scream* IT WENT IN THE WATER!" and as his mom consoled him with a meager "we'll buy you another one" he replied with "IT'S NOT THE SAME!! I WANT THAT ONE!! IT'S MY FAVORITE ONE!!!! IT WENT IN THE WATER!!!"
and that's when i thought to myself, where's dan kim when ya need him... had i had his number, i would have called him up and told him the emergency... he's proven successful in the event of a ball going in the water... do the words "catalina" and "volleyball" ring a bell??
poor brayden could have used dan's skills, and poor brayden cried for 10 minutes after that, still uttering in disgust "it won't be the same."
this is a pic of the parked coast guard boat...
second: a boy named jared. as i was sitting on the grass, still waiting for the coast guard boat (which was still parked) i observed how this little boy (maybe 7 years old)kept on trying to tip over this stroller with a little girl in it. he wore all blue, had big glasses (a lot like my bro steven had in his younger years) and a blue denim hat on (matching to the one that his mom was sporting). the little girl was not his little sister, but the daughter of his mom's friend (amazing what you can figure out just by people-watching). jared kept on trying to push the stroller, his mom kept saying no, and eventually the mom's friend put on the brakes on the wheels. then i watched this little boy (who by then i figured out was named "jared" by the constant "no jared"s coming from his mom) try to push the stroller, realize something was different, and then un-brake one of the wheels, try to push again, but not figure out that he had to un-brake both wheels. he tired of this after a couple of minutes, looked up, and saw me sitting on the grass. i smiled, he smiled, then he ran over and sat down right next to me... smiling and squiniting through his big glasses: "hi!" i laughed and responed "hello there." he then points to my backpack... "what's this?""that's just my backpack, it carries my stuff."
he points to my empty cup which formerly held my smoothie... "what's this?"
"well, that's my cup."
a momentary pause.
he puts his feet out in front of him, and points: "feet! i have feet."
"why yes you do."
"feet feet feet feet feet."
"uh, yup."
he ran off to go investigate the triplets, but his mom grabbed him and tried to bring him back to the bench... as he passed me and pulled on his mom's arm and sat right down next to me again.
"i want to sit here!"
his mom laughed and said, "okay, go ahead and sit there with your new friend."
all i could do was laugh... it was so much fun.
he sat next to me for the next five minutes, but he didn't say a word... instead he sat cross-legged with his elbows on his knees and his hands propping his head up, and stared at me.
and then he left.
what a charming little boy.
after i realized that the boat was parked, i decided to head back to my bike and get on my way back to holland.
on the way back, there was a different hill that i couldn't get up, but no for-sale sign that i could use as a cover up. but that first hill on the way to grand haven, going down hill on that thing, without pedalling at all, i cruised down and hit a top speed of 27mph.
SWEET!
so, from holland to grand haven and back???
42.5 miles!
the most i've ever done in one day... pretty stinkin sweet!
and i am going to be SO sore tomorrow.
ciao for now my friends!
Sunday, July 29
is it weird...
is it weird that i talk to myself?
is it weird that when i talk to myself, i actually hold both sides of the conversation?
is it weird, that i use a different voice for one side of the conversation?
is it weird that the different voice is a lower, huskier voice with a slight british accent?
:)
is it weird that when i talk to myself, i actually hold both sides of the conversation?
is it weird, that i use a different voice for one side of the conversation?
is it weird that the different voice is a lower, huskier voice with a slight british accent?
:)
as simple as that
it's the simple and unexpeted blessings that make my day...
i went to mars hill church this morning, and i must say that i think church is the area in which i am making a rather large change. so, anyway, i don't really know anyone at mars hill, so i am still trying to meet some people (however, the 5 second greeting time has been making it a little tough). this morning, i was a little, eh, and during the 5 second greeting i got a hand shake in and was about to sit down, when someone grabs my shoulder and says, "cristina!"
i was SO shocked to hear my name... and so i eagerly turned around to see who in the world it was.
turns out it was one of the teachers from valley! excited to see a familiar face, i practically exclaimed, "oh my goodness!! how's it going?" but then our 5 seconds were up so we agreed to talk after the service.
my mood went WAY up, just like that... it's kind of hard to explain, but ya.
by the way, the chances of sitting in the same vicinity of eachother is very slim at this church (big church)... so ya, pretty cool.
so we talked a bit after the service... she'll be out here for a few more weekends, so i'll have someone to sit next to next service :)
i'm surprised she knew my name though, cause i never had her as a teacher... but it was really cool.
i went to panera after church... i must say i am loving that place.
then i got home, unicycled a bit... i am loving the unicycle (if i hadn't said so already).
i'm going to figure out dinner now...
ta ta
i went to mars hill church this morning, and i must say that i think church is the area in which i am making a rather large change. so, anyway, i don't really know anyone at mars hill, so i am still trying to meet some people (however, the 5 second greeting time has been making it a little tough). this morning, i was a little, eh, and during the 5 second greeting i got a hand shake in and was about to sit down, when someone grabs my shoulder and says, "cristina!"
i was SO shocked to hear my name... and so i eagerly turned around to see who in the world it was.
turns out it was one of the teachers from valley! excited to see a familiar face, i practically exclaimed, "oh my goodness!! how's it going?" but then our 5 seconds were up so we agreed to talk after the service.
my mood went WAY up, just like that... it's kind of hard to explain, but ya.
by the way, the chances of sitting in the same vicinity of eachother is very slim at this church (big church)... so ya, pretty cool.
so we talked a bit after the service... she'll be out here for a few more weekends, so i'll have someone to sit next to next service :)
i'm surprised she knew my name though, cause i never had her as a teacher... but it was really cool.
i went to panera after church... i must say i am loving that place.
then i got home, unicycled a bit... i am loving the unicycle (if i hadn't said so already).
i'm going to figure out dinner now...
ta ta
Saturday, July 28
million dollar idea...
as i was out front this afternoon, unicycling around the circle driveway (i went three in a row!!! crazy!!!) i thought about my blog.
in the past, my pop has pointed out that a lot is in this blog... over two years of stuff... pictures, stories, random words... there should be a way to back it up in case blogger should ever shut down and my blog *gasp* should ever cease to be. although it's not a pretty thought, i've opened up to the fact that this one day might be true.
so, back to the unicycling and thinking (which is a hard thing to do at the same time)...
as i was going down the driveway part, it hit me... the million dollar idea.
there should be a program that converts your blog, into a book!!!
people would totally pay for that!
think about it, the blog is preserved and it's put into a really cool book...
so that was my million dollar idea... i was so proud of myself, and i was sure that people would pay for that.
so after that unicycle session, i headed in and hopped on the internet (actually, i hopped on the sofa and went on the internet).
well, i know for a fact that people would pay for that...
cause there's a program already out there.
so, instead of being bummed that i wasn't the first to think of that idea and would not be the one proffiting from it, i downloaded the program and became an author.
i cristina, have authored my first book entitled ":) 2006".
since my blog (obviously called ":)" )is rather large with almost 600 posts, i've decided to break up the books in to years. 2006 is my only complete year so far (i started in february of 2005), and 2007, quite obviously, isn't over yet.
it took me a long long long time to get the book done, but i must say that it looks SWEET. 208 pages, all custom formatted to look like my blog... i took 30 minute unicycle breaks every once in a while. {sidenote about my unicycling: i am getting very comfortable on this thing... it's is so INCREDIBLE! i am having so much fun just hopping on and going around... i can just go and go and go... makes me happy :)
i am really proud of it.
and this site that you do it through, its a site that people use to make books in general, so actually, after you make, it's sold in their bookstore. so technically, some random person could buy my blook (blog book). it's not too bad a price (since i baught paperback, or "soft back" as they call it) but i wouldn't buy some random person's blook for that price.
here's my cover... it's a square book, so here, it looks like a cd cover, but it's cool.feels good to be an author.
i am almost done with 2005, so by the end of tonight, i will have authored two books :)
did a lot today, uncicycled, wrote two books, got to play tennis..
speaking of tennis, the lights don't work at the park, so at aroun 9:30pm, when it started to get dark, they mentioned how they couldn't see a thing. i just laughed and thought, this is nothing compared to a few of our last matches last year in high school.
in that one match, where we were pretty much playing by the little light connected to the pe house... but otherwise, we were better off closing our eyes and playing by echolocation.
good times, good times.
good night y'all
(oh ya, and this post will be in my 2007 book!)
Friday, July 27
Thursday, July 26
for the sake of chronology...
skip the posts below and go to "postponed" and then work your way up... thanks!!!
LEADING AT VEDAUWOO
so, this is it, probably one of my favorite things on the trip... i got to sport lead!!!let me explain a bit about sport leading, and it's differences from top roping. first of all, the leaders had to sport lead in order to set up the top rope which everyone else climbed on.
top roping is when you have a system set at the top and the rope is threaded through the system and the two ends of the rope go down to the bottom... the climber ties in to one end, and the belayer the other... so when climbing, the rope you are climbing on is always above you, and if you are tired or if you fall, you can just sit on the rope, and you won't go anywhere...
sport leading, however, is different. on a lot of rock sites, there are bolts bolted in to the rock. in sport climbing, you equip yourself with a bunch of quickdraws, tie the rope to yourself, and then climb, bringing the rope up with you. as you come across bolts, you put in the quickdraw, and then put the rope through quickdraw, and then climb on to the next bolt. there are specifics and details about doing this
process, so it requires a lot of quick thinking and practice. but as you see in the pics, the rope is not above, so you can't take breaks, and falls are twice as far as your last bolt. so ryan pulled me aside and gave me a private lesson on how to lead climb, and then after much practicing on te ground, it was off to the first climb... which is the first three pics.
(by the way, the black rope you see in the pics is just a fixed line sitting there... has nothing to do with my leading :)
in the first pic you see me grabbing a quick draw, and in this pic you can see me grabbing the rope to pull it up and put it in the quickdraw...
then it was off to a bit harder of a climb... about a 5.8... this one was so awesome... more diffictuly and more technical on this climb. you see in the pic where i am making my knot all the quickdraws on my harness... i also had 6 more on the side too... i felt so cool with all the gear on me :) and you can see tara in the background (one of the leaders) who belayed me on this one... lead belaying is also really cool (i learned that at our first time at vedauwoo)... requires much more interaction, and the giving and taking of rope.
climbing on lead!!! sweet!
nice mantle action right there!!!
sweet pic... that's ryan at the top... he told me that my first two leads were flawless!
he told me i looked comfortable and confident, which is needed for leading... it is just so much stinkin fun!
nice mantle action right there!!!
sweet pic... that's ryan at the top... he told me that my first two leads were flawless!
he told me i looked comfortable and confident, which is needed for leading... it is just so much stinkin fun!this is a good pic to explain leading... you see i put the quickdraw in, then i yell "clipping" and my belayer gives me slack, and then i clip in and yell "clipped" and she takes... and then i climb higher... so awesome!
i am SO addicted to sport leading now... love it!
and then after a day of climbing, we ate dinner and then took off to drive through the night back 
to michigan... 18 hours!!! crazy... so here's a picture of the group, and that's it for my wilderness trip! thanks for reading!
to michigan... 18 hours!!! crazy... so here's a picture of the group, and that's it for my wilderness trip! thanks for reading!SOLO (and on the way out, and two pics from jackson)
so this was my solo spot (where i spent 8 hours on my own doing some good stuff like reading, writing, praying, reading, more writing, a nice little nap...) my spot was this little peninsula that jutted out in to the lake... pretty sweet!
i spent a lot of time in my sleeping bag for the cold at first, but then eventually to just stay away from the mosquitos. but what an amazing place, huh? imagine waking up to that after a nice little cat nap!
plus, i could see freemont peak from where i was... crazy to see how big it is the day after climbin it. there is a little mountain right in front of it, but between the two mountains is where the saddle is (this isn't a really good pic of it)... but basically the mountain in the dead center of the pic is it... i think.
this was the next night, and the clouds looked amazing, as usual!
this is me giving a thumbs up in celebration of wearing a new outfit! haha
cool
this is me giving a thumbs up in celebration of wearing a new outfit! haha
cool
after getting out of the winds, and stopping in 
pinedale
(all the civilization you need) we headed 45 minutes west to jackson where we would stay for a night in this free camp site that was in the middle of the buffalo reservation... so these last two pics are 1) breakfast in the tetons and 2)buffalo in the tetons. as we were driving in, there was a buffalo 10 feet from my window... AMAZING!
pinedale
(all the civilization you need) we headed 45 minutes west to jackson where we would stay for a night in this free camp site that was in the middle of the buffalo reservation... so these last two pics are 1) breakfast in the tetons and 2)buffalo in the tetons. as we were driving in, there was a buffalo 10 feet from my window... AMAZING!after jackson, we headed back for vedauwoo, which i had been waiting for all trip long becuse at vedauwoo, where we would be climbing again, is where i would have one of the best firsts ever...
that comes next!
SUMMIT DAY (fremont peak-- 13,745 feet)
wow, we look fairly awake for it being 4:30 in the morning!!! it's not really safe to be on a summit past noon, so you need to get an early (really early) start in order to get up and off by noon.
a few benefits for waking up that early... 1, it's cooler temps, and 2, you get to watch an incredible sunrise as you hike up!!!
fremont peak, looming ahead of us.
this is the group of us on the saddle... the saddle was a hard place to get to, but we had NO idea how physically demanding the last 2000 feet we had remaining would be...
amazing view... you can see i have a jacket around my waist: layers were constantly going on, coming off, and going back on again because we'd get hot hiking, and then stop for a break, like at the saddle, and the temps would be really cold and the wind would be blowing... shortly after this pic, i put my jacket, hat and gloves back on (which came off about 200 feet up the summit)
that is summerice lake... we were going to pack about 3 miles from our camp to this lake after our summit, but we were so exhausted, so we just stayed put for the night.
now the next few are summit pictures... after a full morning with over 3000 feet in elevation gain, we made it to the summit... it took some crazy scrambling to get to the top... hand over feet hiking, or 4th class stuff... 5th class is climbing with ropes, if that gives you an idea of what 4th class is. however, once we got to the summit, the other side of the peak was a sheer overhanging rock face, dropping down to one of the largest glaciers... fremont glacier. it's huge!
here's the group of us, stinkin cold, but so amazed at the fact that we were at the top... incredible view, incredible feeling being that high... you could see well over 400 miles in each direction.
this is my "normal" summit pic... you guys already saw my fun thumbs-up one... ins't that glacier awesome!
another cool shot from the top!
isn't that amazing?!?!?!
getting down was a whole deal... as we said, the summit was only halfway, we still had to get back down and back to camp... no elevators or anything :)
this is one of the less steep spots, but you could imagine going up that...
so yes, those are the summit pictures... one of the coolest things i've ever experienced... definietly an acomplishment on the group's part. and when we all got to the top, there was this metal tube (which you see to the right in this epic picture) that has a bunch of summit journals that you get to sign. so, each of us signed, and all our names are now sitting at the top of fremont peak, 13,745 feet above the world.:)
postponed
looks like there's supposed to be thunderstorms on and off for the day, so i'll be postponing my bike ride for now... there is sunshine in the forecast starting on sunday. i have no problem waiting... i've got all summer :)
something hilarious i would be pleased to share with y'all.
i've been on a roll with finding funny magazine/newspaper covers... and this one just rocks.
men's fitness magazine... andy roddick...
at least, andy roddick's head, that is... i am not so sure about the body haha
i have to put up the quote andy had about this cover of himslef:
I spent the last few weeks in Austin really focused on my training and getting
back into shape...but pretty sure I'm not as fit as the Men's Fitness cover
suggests...little did I know I have 22 inch guns and a disappearing birth
mark on my right arm. I saw the cover for the first time when I landed after
Rome...it was pretty funny...I walked by the newsstand in the airport and
did a total double take ...I can barely figure out how to work the red-eye
tool on my digital camera...whoever did this has mad skills. maybe Rafael Nadal wants his arms back?...if you can manage to stop laughing at the cover long enough, check out the article inside, the photo shoot on the boat was pretty cool..and I recognize the person in those photos..."
i laughed pretty stinking hard, and i know a few of you that will.
funny how you can spot the fakeness so fast when you know who the person is...
i am going to work on getting the rest of my trip pics up now... so stay tuned!
Wednesday, July 25
i'm super excited...
i just picked up this sweet little map thing that marks out where all the bike paths are in grand haven and in holland.
i am going to be biking a ton now, and my car is going to get a little rest, for the most part, for the rest of the summer. pretty much all the places i go (yes, including 8th street :) i can get to by bike... i only have to carry my bike about 100 yards to get to the bike path from where i am living right now (the road i am on only has gravel on the side of the road, and it's not too safe to bike on the road).
and there is a bike path that goes from holland to grand haven along lake michigan (lake shore drive)... i am going to do that one tomorrow!
so excited, so excited!!!
and maybe if i get good enough at the unicycle...
haha
i am going to be biking a ton now, and my car is going to get a little rest, for the most part, for the rest of the summer. pretty much all the places i go (yes, including 8th street :) i can get to by bike... i only have to carry my bike about 100 yards to get to the bike path from where i am living right now (the road i am on only has gravel on the side of the road, and it's not too safe to bike on the road).
and there is a bike path that goes from holland to grand haven along lake michigan (lake shore drive)... i am going to do that one tomorrow!
so excited, so excited!!!
and maybe if i get good enough at the unicycle...
haha
WIND RIVERS (pre summit)
so these are random pics from hiking and backpacking, all pre-summit... summit stuff and the rest will come later.
parking lot before we began our adventure in the winds.
me and my hiking buddy for the first day... look at those bmw's (burly mountain women)
sweet looking clouds!
photagrapher's point is the name of this little lookout... anyone know why?
water filtering happened soooo much on this trip...
one of our many concoctions we had for food... rice with almonds, tuna, and cranberries.
we did two barefoot river crossings in one day... incredible experience!!!
we ended up just stopping here on one of our days and decided to make camp... and then...
we washed our hair in the lake... quite the experience.
this is me enjoying some of my free time... gotta love the self timer.
this is the blood sucking varmint that is responsible for the 20+ bites i recieved, half of which were on my feet... the worst place.
i have always wanted to catch a reflection picture... and boy did i get it or what???
this is a pick of lester pass... going up lester pass was the hardest thing physically that we had to do (with our pack on... the summit is a whole other thing). anyway, it gets you huffin and puffin pretty good... at one point you could stick your hand out and touch the trail in front of you, thats how steep. but once you reach the top...
look at that amazing view....
i love trail signs.
this is island lake... sweet lake, i must say.
parking lot before we began our adventure in the winds.
me and my hiking buddy for the first day... look at those bmw's (burly mountain women)
sweet looking clouds!
photagrapher's point is the name of this little lookout... anyone know why?
water filtering happened soooo much on this trip...
one of our many concoctions we had for food... rice with almonds, tuna, and cranberries.
we did two barefoot river crossings in one day... incredible experience!!!
we ended up just stopping here on one of our days and decided to make camp... and then...
we washed our hair in the lake... quite the experience.
this is me enjoying some of my free time... gotta love the self timer.
this is the blood sucking varmint that is responsible for the 20+ bites i recieved, half of which were on my feet... the worst place.
i have always wanted to catch a reflection picture... and boy did i get it or what???
this is a pick of lester pass... going up lester pass was the hardest thing physically that we had to do (with our pack on... the summit is a whole other thing). anyway, it gets you huffin and puffin pretty good... at one point you could stick your hand out and touch the trail in front of you, thats how steep. but once you reach the top...
look at that amazing view....
i love trail signs.
this is island lake... sweet lake, i must say.
look at those skies... isn't that incredible???
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