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Oregon Trip

"If you show somebody their future, they'll have no future.
You take away the mystery, you take away hope."

Wow, it's been a while since I blogged. I've been really busy with other things that I didn't get a chance to update my blog. I guess that only tells one thing... I spent less time in front of the computer and more  outdoors. That's right!!! It's summer! The sun doesn't set until 8:30PM, I will take advantage of the sun as much as I can. Well, let me start talking about my trip to Oregon. If I were to describe Oregon in one word in the month of March, I would say...."FREEZING". But I enjoyed it since I don't really get to experience 12inches of snow and zero degrees temperature. 

I am not sure if I can remember every single detail that happened during the trip but I'll try my best. The trip was scheduled from March 30 - April 3. The night of March 28th, I looked in the mirror and had the urge to shave my head. I stared in the mirror for a few minutes and finally opened the cabinet, grabbed the hair clipper, a mirror and began cutting my hair. But of course, something had to go wrong!!! I couldn't line up the back of my head. Here's the bad news, the bad news is that the time was around 10:30PM. The barbershops were all closed! The good news is... I just saved a bunch of money by switching over to Geico! LOL.. Here's the real good news, my friend Jeff was still awake and he agreed to fix my hair! So I drove to his place so he could fix my hair. It looked really nice except I looked like a thug from the projects. Even I got scared! LOL. But that's not the point of this blog, so I'll stop talking about my hair and begin talking about my trip.

- The night of March 29, Richard and I drove up to San Francisco.. Okay, I'm not gonna lie, he drove! lol. 

- We left at midnight and arrive at his brother's apartment around 7AM. We had a few stops.

- We rested for about an hour and got in the car and off to Oregon.

- The drive was about 7 hours but I slept most of the time.

- We got a little lost but after about 30 minutes, we finally found the place we were staying. I forgot the name but it's something that ends with Creek. lol

- We started unloading and we decided to checkout the little restaurant across the street from the cabin. Their pies were amazing! Richard had Boysenberry pie (He got it because it started with Boy. LMAO)

- We checked out the creeks around the cabin. I felt at home! Lots and lots of trees! I like the great outdoors so I really feel relaxed when I'm outside surrounded by trees. 

- After about an hour, we decided to head back to our cabin. 

- Our cabin had no cellphone reception! No Internet! at least most of the time!

- The next day, we decided to go snowmobiling. I've never been on a snow mobile so this was really fun!

- At first, the guy renting out the snow mobiles didn't want to rent it to us since it's a bit dangerous. The weather was unpredictable and the snow was really thick and mostly powder. He was scared that we might end up in the lake. So he told us that the only way he'll rent out the snowmobiles was that if we had a tour guide. So we all agreed since we were already there and wanted to get on a snowmobile. 

- Our tour was about 3 hours, I think. I can't remember but I know it was pretty long! (that's what she said!. lol)

- Our tour guide was really good! He allowed us to free play in the meadow for about 40 minutes. He also let us borrow his snowmobile. That thing hauls! I went all the way up to 50mph. I was scared to go any faster since it felt like I was going 100mph. The snowmobile can go up to 120mph.

Here are the pics of our snowmobiling adventure!

Oregon Snow Fun

This is getting pretty long so I'll have a part 2 of this trip :)

Mt. Baldy Hike

While you are young,
While you have time,
While you have energy,
When you have the opportunity, try it!
even if it's not for you,
the important thing is you are trying.

We planned this hike within a week and we really didn't know what to expect but a 7 hour strenuous hike to the top of Mt. Baldy through a trail called "Devil's Backbone".  Anyway, we had a few drinks the night before and planned on going home early to get some rest and also get our stuff ready for the hike the next day. But did it happen? lol.. Nope, we ended up coming home around 1:30am. The first thing I did was emptied my Camelback and packed it with some warm clothing, first aid kit, knife, survival kit, warming blanket, and water proof matches. I also went online and searched for Topographical maps of the San Bernardino Mountains. The maps I found were a little bit blurry but it's better than nothing right? haha. Then I looked at the clock and it was already 3:30am.. I needed to get up in a few hours. I setup my alarm at 6:30am so we can be on the road by 8am.

Sunday - April 18, 2010

- My alarm went off at 6:30am but just like any other day, I hit the snooze button. Finally got up around 7am.

- Called everyone to make sure they were awake and ready to go. Their phone rang a few times before they picked up. Except for Vera! WOW!!! 

- I took a shower and got ready within 15 minutes. It was around 7:30.

- I double checked my stuff and checked the weather report and said that it was going to be in the 30s and low 50s

- Around 7:40, I received a call from Richard asking if we had already left. If not, he will be joining us.

- First person to arrive was the last person I expected to show up... guess who?.... Vera! Wow... again.. haha... 

- A few minutes later, everyone arrived at my house and ready to go.

- We ate breakfast at Jack and the Box.. We wasted a good hour eating at this place I think.

- After that, we headed to 7eleven to get our snacks, water, etc.

- Finally on our way to the mountains. I think it was 50miles away from Burbank. 

- After 40 minutes of driving, we finally arrived at the Visitor's center to purchase our mountain adventure pass. 

- Here's where the bad news came... The ranger had informed us that we are not allowed to go up to the top of Mt. Baldy unless we have crampons and ice picks. The Devil's Backbone trail is the size of a regular table and if it's full if ice, it is going to be slippery and dangerous!!! Luckily, there were alternate routes we could take to get to the 2nd highest peak, which is the Ski lodge/restaurant. I think it was a 4 mile hike one way with an elevation gain of almost 2000 ft. from Mankers flat (the parking area).

- Since we were already there, we might as well make the best of it and go wherever we can go.

- We finally arrived at the parking lot at Mankers Flat.

- We grabbed our gears and started hiking towards San Antonio Falls

- After a few minutes of walking, we arrived at the falls and took pictures. My socks got wet but oh well, that's expected going to places with water. 

- After taking a few pics, we started our journey to the top. There were snow patches on the trail but we were determined to get to the top.. haha. "If there's a will, there's a way!"

- After hiking up for 5 minutes, "some" of us needed to take a break since "some" of us are not used to hiking. lol. I'm not pointing fingers...i'm just saying. 

- I think we took close to 10 snack breaks before we reached the Ski lodge. (We could have taken the ski lift going up to the lodge but we were there for the exercise and the experience so why take it right?)

- After a couple of hours hiking up, we finally reached the top.. by this time, all of us had taken the extra layers of clothing we had earlier. I was wearing shorts and a tank top. 

- Here's the funny part, we couldn't find the exact trail to get to the lodge so we made our own trail. We ended up at the slopes where people were snowboarding, skiing, and tubing. Everyone of them were wearing jackets, gloves, ear muffs/beanie and we were wearing tank tops and shorts. hahaha.. Only in California!!!

- We finally sat down at the restaurant and ordered our food. The price of food was expensive!!! I think a can of coke was $3! and a burger was $12.. Oh well, we needed to fuel our body to go back down.

- We got there just in time to see the last few minutes of the Lakers game. They won! yey!

- Then we took our time eating and by the time we finished, it was already 4pm. So we decided to head back down. 

- We took a different trail on the way down. The trail was very steep and slippery but it saved us a lot of time. It must have saved us at least 30 minutes of walking. 

- After an hour and a half of walking (maybe more), we finally reached the bottom and headed home. 

The hike was definitely fun! It's nice going with a bunch of people because it makes a difficult hike easier because everyone is having fun. My goal for 2010 is to hike as many mountains as possible. In June, we are going back to Yosemite but this time we are hiking the half-dome. No excuses!.. That hike should give us enough practice to hike Mt. Whitney in October. I also plan on doing a few local hikes in the San Gabriel Mountain within the next few weeks if my schedule permits.

Click the album below to see the rest of the pictures

Mt Baldy Hike

Crocker Club - Michelle's Birthday Celebration

"When you were born, you were crying and everyone else around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you're smiling and everyone else is crying."

The Crocker Club is located in the basement of the former Crocker Citizens National Bank building in the corner of Spring St. and 5th St. This place reminds me of those old gangster movies. 

I usually write a lot of stuff but I don't feel like writing today. I just went through 400+ pics and edited 146. 

Most of the pictures were repeats and some of them were blurry! If there's alcohol present, expect some of the pics to be a little bit blurry and if your friends get a hold of your camera, expect to see some photos that umm... yeah. haha. 

The Crocker Club definitely challenged me in getting the right camera settings. This place is dark!!!! But I am glad the pictures came out nicely and not over/under exposed. 

 Click on the album below to see the rest of the pictures in higher resolution:

Crocker Club - Michelle's Bday

See What's Coming!

"We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered. "

- Tom Stoppard

I am finally back in town and let me tell you... I had an awesome trip! I thought I was going to get sick since I went from sunny Arizona to blistering cold Oregon. If you think that the panoramic picture of Crater Lake above is beautiful, imagine standing on the crater and looking at the view with the cold wind blowing on your face and a little bit of snow fall... and most of all, it is a very quiet place. Not so much when we were there though. haha. Snow shoeing was definitely fun! but that's not the highlight of the trip. The best part was getting on the snow mobile and letting it loose and go as fast at 65mph. I will tell you the rest of the story when I upload those pics.

I have taken so many pictures and I really need to find time to edit those and share them with you. We also stopped by San Francisco for two nights and I had an opportunity to take pictures of the city and the Bay Bridge.

Here's a picture of the city at night!

Check back in a few days! I should have the rest of the pictures uploaded!

Lake Havasu

 LONDON BRIDGE | LAKE HAVASU, AZ

We all tend to trust things that are known let downs.

We trust consuming manufactured products with unknown ingredients. We trust the consumption of beef when cows have been known to go mad, pork and chicken when facts support influenza.

We trust to live by the letter of the good book (bible) that has all along been written by men of historical failures, swearing that their influences are heavily supported. We trust that a baby's breath doesn't stink. We trust our world leaders to not let us down when they're only human just as we are. We trust in our hopes and doubt our faith.

We trust animals of the wild to be our pet. We trust the boarding of an aircraft to soar the skies or the engine in a car fueled by an explosive product. We trust the air we breath, being polluted daily by factories creating more things for us to trust in. We trust doctors to make the right diagnosis or the surgeon to have a steady hand. We trust medicine. We trust electricity but fear lightening.

Believe in yourself and all your capabilities and abilities. Believe in YOU!"

One thing we tend not to trust in is ourselves. I encourage you to TRUST in YOU. Each of us was born with a gift of trust and trust coming from yourself is a sure guarantee. Believe in you and all your abilities. Trust yourself without thought or doubt, just trust in you.

My friends and I went to Lake Havasu in Arizona for the weekend. It was our second visit and I think we had more fun this year than last year. First, we didn't crash a jet ski.. Second, there were more of us.. Third, we found out that the casino sells Corona's for $2.75!!!!.. That's right!!! $2.75!

I will be going to Oregon this week to see one of the world's clearest lake, Crater Lake. I will bring my camera with me so check next week for the pics from my trip. 

I took plenty of pics from my trip this past weekend but I will not be able to upload them until next week so check back soon. 

In the mean time, click on the links below for a little history lesson on:

History of London Bridge in Lake Havasu, AZ

Crater Lake National Park in Oregon

Here's another view of the London Bridge:

Las Vegas

"Truth: You can bend it and twist it...You can misuse and abuse it...But you can never change it! "

It's been a while since I've taken pictures of the hotels in Las Vegas so I decided to bring my camera on my last trip (about 2 weeks ago). I didn't get to walk around to take pics of all of the hotels so I only have a few from Bellagio, Mandarin Bar (part of the new City Center), Aria, and Paris.

This cocktail drink has 24k gold sprinkled on it: 

At Bellagio:

Here's a link to the album:

Las Vegas 2010