Sandstone Peak, Santa Monica Mtns

Saturday I went out for a hike and decided to try a new trail with my brothers dog Todd. Using my new handheld GPS I headed down Hwy 1 and up into the mountains to Sandstone Peak.

The Peak, Mt Allen, is at 3111 feet and offers awesome morning views. You could see at least 5 of the Channel Islands, all this and it's December!

Taken on top of Mt Allen, Anacapa and Santa Cruz Islands in the backgroud.


Just some great views and I can not wait to come back up here, but for now I am trying to load up my GPS with as many waypoints and tracks as possible. So no repeats for a while.

Mishe Mokwa Trail sits in the valley created by Boney Mountain and Sandstone Peak; one of the unique views is Balance Rock.

Get out and enjoy our bounties!

Hong Kong, Part Doh!

I was not stateside for Thanksgiving, spent the long holiday in Hong Kong finishing up a project started two weeks ago. But don't feel bad for me (which I know you don't ;-) ) I was luckly enough to get out and about on this short trip.

Spent a bit of time at this place... the hot tub on the 76th floor of the W hotel. Nice view of Hong Kong island and very nice on the sore muscles.

Work uses a local IT vendor for onsite support of a mutual customer, they took me out to dinner Friday night. We ended up driving just north of the city to Sai Kung.

Outside the restaurants are all these aquariums with the catch of the day; crab, cuttlefish, clams, some type of shrimp that looks more like a lobster, and some de-lic-ious scallops was on our menu.

Not sure if these were for dinner.

Best part of this trip was going for a hike to Lantau Peak; start on the right on the road and ended up at the buddah statue and monastery.

Lantau Peak is the highest point on Lantau Island, adjacent to the airport, top left corner of the picture.

This is a view of Lantau Peak, far left, from near the road I started on. I was told this was a tough hike but it showed me some spectacular views.

The Hong Kong area had hundred of miles of trails, well made and well maintained. Allong the way are covered picnic areas and benches trail side to take in the view.

At 3075 feet is the top were a temporary shelter was built years ago for any unfortunate soul; luckly it was a gorgous day for me.

It was so steep coming down the backside; some steps were up to knee high on me.

Near the end of this section of the trail was a dedication called 'The Wisdom Path'; large split logs that had inscriptions of a ancient text (not ancient itself).

The last part of my hike brought me to the Tian Tan Buddah statue and the Po Lin Monastary.

This is the best picture I got of the buddah... the lighting when I was up underneath it did not lead to many interesting shots except for this one.

As you can see this buddah is telling me to stop and then flipping me the bird. What?

The whole area around the monastary was called Ngong Ping and had a gondola from the top down to a station near the airport. The views were awesome and gave me a few monments to look back on the trip.

Back to the rat race!

Thanksgiving... giving thanks?

One of my best friends blogged something yesterday that made me ponder; oh yeah, I ponder... sometimes! See http://cautionadultsatplay.blogspot.com/

A few years ago, I remember looking up the details of what thanksgiving was all about; did you know President Lincoln set forth a proclamation back in 1863 making the last Thursday of November, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens? Check out http://www.classicallibrary.org/lincoln/thanksgiving.htm for the genuine document. I don't remember that from school.

My favorite memories of Thanksgiving range from making hand turkeys in school to those awesome leftover sandwiches packed with stuffing and dripping with gravy; try making a shepherds pie, they're real good too! Back then I did not know what to be thankful for, school just told us that the pilgrims and the Indians had get togethers, but left out all the religious notations that Lincoln wanted us remember. My family always said to be thankful for our blessed lives, health and family. Again, not quite what Lincoln had planned for us, but that is OK.

Over the years, I have spent several Thanksgivings away from family and friends, which has brought a more meaningful understanding of this and all holidays. Thank the Lord, for which none of this is possible; thank your parents, siblings, family and friends, for they are your bond to humanity; be thankful for the hard times, because without them the good times just wouldn't be that good; and finally be thankful you live in the greatest place on earth... with all it's flaws, you could have been born where you do not have rights, privileges and chances to be who you are now.

Again this year I spend this holiday in a foriegn land and along with all the thankfuls I have already mentioned, I am thankful for the opportuinities my job has given me and the places it has taken me. Time spent away from those you care about, especially during the holidays, only makes the reunions that much more enjoyable.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

Jeff

Hong Kong... Part 1

Part One? I Know! So the story ends like this...

Right now I am still dealing with the jet lag and it sucks, and I leave tomorrow to go back... just enough time to not get a good night's sleep. NICE!

Ok enough of my wining. Lets start with a picture.

Alright this is a neat city, island, harbor, whatever you want to call it. You can hike, which I will do this next week, kick it on the beach and drink a beer, take a tram to the Peak and have dinner overlooking the city or work like me. I will definitely have to make it back here on my own time. The picture above is taken from my hotel bedroom in Kowloon, the mainland side of Hong Kong.

The night scene is pretty awesome, we had dinner up on 'the Peak' and took in all the views. You can not believe all the tall buildings; just like Manhattan, but a bit smellier and warmer. The only day my boss and I were able to escape and do anything fun was Sunday; we headed out to Stanley Market on the east side of Hong Kong Island where you can shop for every trinket and fake brand name shoes, purse or jeans you can think of. You can also just chill beach side and have a few beers and chat with other like-minded guys from Wales. Boy that San Miguel beer is good!

Well I do not have may stories to tell on this trip, but I have to talk about the hotel I stayed at. The W Hong Kong is definitely swank! I mean just check out the pool!

Located all the way up on the 76th floor the infinity pool over looks the harbor and city. The hot tub, right behind from where I took the picture of the pool, is also an infinity and was quite nice way of preparing for a day at work after getting a nice workout in the gym.

Well I will leave you with this. The building right next to the hotel had some cool architectural features, like a pool on the floor that bridges the two legs. That's right the red arrow is pointing to it. In the evening you can see the water shimmering.

Tomorrow off to Hong Kong again and will have another story to tell next week...

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a view!

I have been fortunate over the past 5 years to have a job the sends me around the world. One of the negatives is are the flights themselves coupled with the jet lag. Sitting and NOT sleeping on an 11 hour flight will take its toll, but I am not complaining. Sometimes you get to see some absolutely incredible views and I just had one of those flights.

As you know the shortest distance from one point to another is a straight line and on a curved surface such as our planet a flight path may take you over areas you may find desolate, but interesting. Take flying from Frankfurt, Germany to Los Angeles, you would not follow the longitude line but climb over Greenland to Canada then down.

I have flown this route over a dozen time and have only twice seen it where the skies were clear. Trust me when I say that these pictures do not do the view ANY justice, but I had to share them with you.

The views went on for miles, I tried to take some pictures of the glacial flows, but they only came out white... go figure! Speaking to the regular flight attendants, who were also gawking out the door window, they said that they have only seen this once or twice before; usually there is cloud cover.

Hope one day you will be able to see it!

Fall Fishing

Another October and another fall fishing trip. This year we saw early snow when heading up Saturday morning.

This is Lake Mamie, located just above the town of Mammoth Lakes. When we pulled through town it was just before noon, 18º F, snowing with a light breeze. The fishing was slow, but I was sorta glad since catching a fish would mean getting my hands wet and it was just too cold for that.

Being our 2nd trip this year, we stay up at June Lake (Gull Lake to be more precise) and drive around to different lakes, reservoirs and streams. The semi-annual trips was started years ago by my dad, uncle Dick (my mom's brother-in-law), Dick's brother Jim, and an old friend of theirs' Kenny.

For the fall trips we have been staying a large condo near the June Mountain Ski Resort on Gull Lake. You can see June Mountain way in the background, Gull Lake and the condo right behind me. I took this picture up on a ridge that sits north east. The large house that is in the lower right corner is owned by the 99¢ Store guy. Wait, here is a better picture...

It is the house on the left with the circular drive way... frigg'n huge!

4 great days just fishing, relaxing and taking in the great views.

This is of Big Virginia just north of Tioga Pass, East Gate; this is also one of my favorite styles of photographs... landscape with mirror image.

And a final picture of my dad and I up at Saddlebag Lake (Tioga Pass). Without him, Rick and I would never have fell in love with fishing and the great outdoors!

Thanks Dad!

Tend to the Garden, he said!

Well this is my first time having my own garden and I am sort of digging it; pun intended!

I have been buying plants and here and there, plus my mom keeps dumping her excess day lillies on me too. To be honest I do not know all these by name, but just look at them.

Ok this one is a Hubiscus

And this one is some type of Lilly

Day Lilly

Another Hubiscus

And then there is my Veggie Garden.

I have Green Beans, Peas, Tomatos, Bell Peppers and Onions. I will be expanding this to include everything to make Salsa and Pasta sauce.

London Calling

Sup everyone? Well just another work week, but back from travel.

I was out in Ohio two weekends ago for a little work, but had some time to hang out with a mutual friend Stephi. She's one crazy chick! Her old military buddy John was also hanging out; he had just escaped Houston when Ike came rolling in.


Had to get a picture with the CL car for RyGy.... VROOM!

Then I was off to London for the week. I am in London now every few months that I normally do not take the camera out.

In the background is the O2; this is directly across the Thames River from my hotel in Canary Wharf. The venue holds concerts, restaurants and other exhibits; last year I went and viewed a King Tut exhibit. You can also see the The Greenwich Meridian Line, Longitude 0° (the laser light) from the The Royal Observatory. See the link for more details, but just look at a globe to understand.

It was a long week at the office in London so I slipped out Friday to my favorite steak house in Europe; a nice Argentinean restaurant with the best in wine, meat and sunset views.

Back here at home I was able to escape for the day and hike up to Boney Mountain... what a view!

Labor Day Weekend... all 7 days!

Hope ya'll had a great holiday weekend... yeah I know it was last weekend, but I decided to make it a nice long weekend. After travelling for work the past few weeks, I needed to close summer out with a bang.

As with past Labor Day Weekends, Ryan and I headed up to Nick's for a little fun in the sun. And as usual Nick, Sara and Ava are the most gracious hosts. Nick has all the toys for the river, lake, dirt fields and what can be stacked in his garage.

We started the weekend out on the river scooting around, pelting each other with sand and water. Always a good time.

The star of the weekend was of course Ava. She keeps Nick in line and provided us with laughs, smiles and a whole lotta props (I will explain later).

The weekend always has laughs and to help Ryan and I, Sara's friends Holly and Tish joined in the fun. Those props I mentioned before, well here are some of them.

I am still having flashbacks of our couch session... monkey, horse, backpack... I had an AWESOME time.

Ryan and I decided to combined our annual camping trip up to the Sequoia National Park with the holiday weekend. Tuesday we headed south and up into the mountains.

Our preferred spot is north of Lake Isabella near Peppermint Creek campgroup. These are primitive sites... no potable water or toilets for the laymen, but there are natural pools and water slides.

The is also the Needles fire tower, one of almost 500 towers in California back country. Unfortunately the tower was not manned (or should I say wo-manned) this trip. Dad used to take Rick and I up here to camp and fish... now I take my friends to enjoy. Thanks Dad.

Peppermint Creek is just that, a creek, but it offers a great break from doing anything. The views are spectacular and the water is nice and cool.

There are plenty of pools to choose from; some you can jump into, slide into, some have waterfall filling them and others are just big enough to sit in. Spending all day down in the pools can be quite exhausting and sometimes the sun and fun can bring out some great nights.

Here's Ryan is showing me to to fend off a bear with a wooden katana; he insists that you must show the bear you mean business... one of may successful fireside discussions we had.

Well that briefly sums up the holiday weekend. More to come later...