Four Mile Trail - Yosemite

Last weekend, Carrie and I met up to go hiking in Yosemite for the day. It was an early morning for the both of us; getting up at 5:30am on a Saturday is not the easiest thing to do! We met up in Manteca to carpool together. It was a 3 hour drive just to get into Yosemite. The who drive was pretty beautiful though; I am still amazed at how much the scenery changes in California, even if you only drive an hour or so in any direction.

We arrived in Yosemite National Forest around 9, which was what we were aiming for. The drive through the forests was somewhat depressing, because there had been a bad forest fire a few weeks before. You could still smell the smoke in the air and see the burnt forest for miles.

First arriving in Yosemite Valley, we were greeted by El Captain, which was quite an impressive site driving through the valley. It's a popular place for people to rock climb.


We started making our way up Four Mile Trail around 10am, a little later than we planned, but it was still cool out. It was a cloudier day than we were used to! Hiking in California is very different from back home. You're at a higher altitude, it's a lot drier, so it makes breathing a little difficult at times. The views are stunning, though! On our way up the trail, we could see this dried up waterfall that must have been rushing with water during the spring season.


Four Mile Trail gains a lot of altitude quickly. For most of the hike we were on switchbacks climbing up the mountain. We gained about 3,200 feet in altitude on this hike, and ended up at an elevation of 7,124 feet. The views off the mountain were amazing. There were no trees blocking the sights for the entire hike up. Every twist and turn up the switchbacks brought us to more beautiful sights of the valley and rock faces.


It was probably over an hour or so into the hike before we got a glimpse of Half Dome! It was such a beautiful sight, and much bigger than I pictured it being! It is impressive, and incredibly intimidating, but someday I will hike it!


At one point in the hike, we were deep into a forest. It was peaceful and quiet, with the huge trees keeping us shaded and cool. They smelled wonderful too. The forests are so different from back home, just covered by massive trees.


It took us about 2.5 hours to hike 4.2 miles to the top of Glacier Point. There were so many people at the top of the mountain, because there is a road going up it. It took away from the scenery, seeing all these tourists who just took their cars to the top. I was still proud that I hiked my way to the top of the mountain and earned that view. There are so many domes and rock columns to see from the top of Glacier Point!


Carrie and I had to pose with Half Dome in the background. It is just such a beautiful sight! On the right side of the picture are also waterfalls, that hikers get to enjoy when hiking up to Half Dome.


I still cannot get over the vastness of Yosemite, and all the rock faces and domes there are to see! It is by far one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I was in awe of the scenery the entire hike, and especially looking out over the valley and at Half Dome.


Even the hike down was amazing! We had a whole new view of how we had gotten up the mountain. This view is looking down all the switchbacks that wind back and forth to get us up the mountain. There are at least 3 in the photo below! My legs were like jello getting down, it was an especially sandy and rocky hike, so most of the time we had to be careful not to slip!


I love hanging out with Carrie. We had some great times just chatting and sweating our way up and down this mountain. I am so glad she took me on this trip, and we're definitely going to have to do it again!

Viva Las Vegas

I officially survived my first trip to Las Vegas. Needless to say, there was not much sleeping, lots of drinking, and lots of money spent, but it was worth every penny. The only thing I could complain about was the long drive. It took us probably about 10 hours to get down to Vegas, and driving home on Monday, it took 12 hours because we had to drop Eric back off at home in Cupertino.

We got to Vegas late on Friday night, settled in our hotel room at the Luxor (A giant pyramid at the beginning of the strip) and took off to go out for the night. We weren't in the mood for clubbing, so we headed over to New York New York to go to Coyote Ugly. I bought one of those 1/2 yard silly drinks, it was pretty tasty, just way too sweet!

The whole group of us waiting outside of Coyote Ugly (From left to right: Tori, John Cesar, Stephen, Eric, Max and Me).

Coyote Ugly was pretty fun, a nice way to start off in Vegas, without being too tired from that long drive. I actually went and gambled right after going out for the night. I played some blackjack while I was drunk, barely having any idea how to even play, and won 27 dollars! I then managed to lose it all on roulette - now my least favorite game.

Saturday started off more interesting than we anticipated. My poor roommate Stephen. Tori and I proceeded to tie him up in the blankets for fun, and he kind of hopped around the room, and jumped on the bed, and hit his head pretty hard on the chair I was sitting in. He then started bleeding pretty bad. It took some of the morning to figure out, hey, maybe he should go get that checked out. Max and Stephen spent most of the day doing that, while the rest of us ate at the brand new Hard Rock Cafe and lounged and swam at the Luxor pool.

When Max and Stephen made it back, we headed over to the M&M store, and walked all along the strip to check out the sights.

Marveling at the M&M wall. I was pretty obsessed with the dark chocolate M&Ms.

A shot of Paris. Spent some time there Sunday night.

Stayed at the Bellagio to play some blackjack. Enjoyed looking at the flowers inside that beautiful casino and then watch the water show.

Saturday night was pretty exciting, especially since Greta gave me great news that her and her friend Jen were traveling out to Vegas to hang out! Granted they got there pretty late, but we still all had an amazing time. I was so happy to see her! We ended up going to club LAX which was a ballin' club. I've never seen one so big and nice before! I am definitely not used to that style of club. Needless to say a 16 dollar vodka redbull was the most expensive drink I've ever purchased.

The biggest dance club I have ever been to by far.

Nothing like clubbing with one of the most beautiful girl I know!

The night turned out pretty well, another 4am morning like all the others. Sunday Greta and Jen ended up leaving pretty early, and the rest of us went walking along the strip again.

Luxor.

MGM Grand.

Caesar's Palace.

On Sunday night, we went to see Zumanity: The sensual side to Cirque du Soleil. It was a pretty good show, but man it was pretty awkward with the whole crew of us! I had fun though! Sunday night after the show, I managed to blow some more money on blackjack. I was doing so well though! I was up 40 bucks after some slots and blackjack, and managed to lose 80 after about an hour long game. Damn.

I will definitely be going back to Las Vegas at some point in my life.