celebrity sighting

Jason Mraz works out at my gym

I love his music

Chara says i have a small man crush on him...

back in black..

today was my first day back to school after an awesome summer off... i forgot just how hard sitting through a 3 hour lecture was.. brutal..

The Yosemite Video

check it out y'all

Vote for me

Hey Y'all

I'm heading back to SXSW in Texas in March and I'm in the running to run some panels at the festival.

so please take a minute to vote for my panel ideas so they will win

Ben...

Chara thinks she's going too, so you can all tag a long and we'll have us a big Texas BBQ

Day 5 - the end...

Sunrise on our tent just below Clouds Rest

The camera batter was dying at this point so we jump directly to Half Dome. Chara climbing up the cables like a champ.



It was really hot this day and we were sharing water. Thank God for this crazy man who hiked up a 28 pound watermellon in his pack for training.



oh so good... the perfect treat atop half dome



Us atop Half dome (a little bright)


When bears attack! we ditched chara's bag on the way to Half dome as we had to come back down that way anyway. we took out all the food but left the alcohol for the campnig stove. the bear got into it... crazy drunk bear


The bear also ripped up the thermarest


Thats the bear that ate Chara's backpack.


Chara coming down the mist trail, Nevada falls behind her


Vernal falls... so beautiful


the base of Vernal Falls


Chara on the bus in Yosemite valley after the hike... she liked the bus a lot

Half dome at dusk from the Valley


Us happy in our tent after the big hike


Chara is a happy camper now...


Oh the joys of real food

Thats what we did... 15.9 to Yosemite Valley, plus a 4 mile detour up and down Half dome.

Day 4 - we hike

So after climbing Lambert dome we decided to go hiking through the woods for a few days

Chara made some good ole PB&J

we packed all the food into the bear canister and hit the trail

Day 4 still going

Us on the trail... so cute... so happy oh... but then the stone stairs start...

but here's a cute lake... lets get some water


Ben filtering...
chara filtering

Day 4 cont...

Chara got graveled...

at the top of Clouds rest... Chara stretches

us at a top of Clouds Rest... Half dome in the back..


aren't we the cutest backpackers ever?

pic from the top of Clouds Rest... looking down on Half dome and the valley

End of Day 4

Flip flops feel awesome after a day of hiking. Check out that sweet dirt tan line


so we set up and started to cook dinner

me watching the water boil


chara is blowing up her thermarest. thats half dome in the back

us all snuggly in our tent...

day three

we were camping at Tuolumne Meadows which is about two hours north east from yosemite valley.. i'd never been to yosemite before, and ben had never been to tuolume before.. so we hopped on our bikes and went exploring.. after exploring, ben found a very large rock that he wanted to climb.. he swore to me that it was something like 2 and a half pitches at the most.. but of course after four pitches we hadn't even made it to the top..

exploring
 
ben getting all his gear ready.. he was very excited because he never gets to use all his gear..
 
made it to the top..
 

more of day three

resting and refuling at the top
 

getting down is so much easier
 

after climbing lembert dome
 

day two

we left thousand oaks and headed up to yosemite.. after hours of driving - we made it, set up camp, sat by the campfire and relaxed..

my first view of half dome.. ben swore to me that in a couple of days i would be on top of that rock.. i thought he was crazy..
 
ben setting up the tent
 
finally time to relax
 

day one

saturday ben packed up the prius, and we were on our way... we decided our first stop would be thousdand oaks to visit with jeff and amber and their new baby james.. we don't get to see jeff and amber nearly enough.. so it was great to visit, and eat some good food... and as a nice bonus we got to meet their little guy james.. he is very cute.. and very happy baby.. so a big thanks to jeff and amber for letting us crash at their house.. it was nice to have a real nights rest before the camping started..

our poor little prius overloaded
 

james - who is very cute when he isn't throwing up on you (yep.. got thrown up on atleast twice..)