Prepping for Half Dome

The goal is Half Dome in the beginning of May.

Alright step 1: More Hiking!

This spring has already be awesome and I can not wait for a long summer of new hikes.

I can't wait and thought has me wanting to hike every day, but right now I am nice and sore from two days of new adventures, Fossil Trail and Jackson Falls. Yeah, yeah I know where are those at.

Fossil Trail is part of Old Boney Trail that links Danielson Fire Road to Sycamore Canyon Trail. So I know part of the trail but it was nice to try something new. The wild flowers are absolutely insane, but I decided to only show one here and it is the Golden Poppy.

Well it is not called Fossil Trail for cave paints. (another hike too!) The are several rocks right in the middle of the trail that have absolutely pristine fossils of shells; they look like Scallop shells.

Well that was Saturday and on Sunday I did an old faithful... Punch Bowls. Gotta say it has even got worse than in high school with all the trash and graffiti. No locals 'hanging out' though while I was up. The goal was not the pools but a bit further up the Santa Paula Canyon to Jackson Falls.

This was a good hike to start the real training. Took my brother's family dog, aka 'Todd', for the trek. The Trail has really taken a beating; the slide on the fire road a few years ago is impressive.

Of course I am not going to hike all the way up passed Punch Bowls without stopping by. No I did not jump... it took a bit just to stand over to take this! And beside the trail going up is the same for the rest of the pools.

The canyon has some spectacular views; this one, is just above the last pool of Punch Bowl. The trail quickly climbs up the western side of the stream and presents you this awesome canyon wall. Jackson Falls is hidden around the next bend and the views only get better.

Get out and enjoy the "global warming"!

Take a Hike!

Where have you been lately... Me? Well just the other day I went for a hike while I had some free time on a business trip. My co-worker, Alex, and I found a nice trail just outside of Vancouver Washington. The goal: Hamilton Mountain.

This is the actual path that we took; I found a way to upload my GPS tracks onto Google Earth. Fitting since it was G-Earth that I found this hike in the first place.

Neat trail, we saw plenty of H2O: rain, streams, snow, waterfalls, ice...

Yes that is me wearing shorts, like you had to ask! The legs did not get cold, but I should have had a better jacket to keep a little dryer.

This last photo is the shear cliff that we hiked down next too, the old adage is SO true: a picture does not due it justice. But I still have to post it... the vertial face you see is atleast 150ft and there was a deep gorge between where we were standing. Awesome!

Get out and enjoy the our country!

London Calling... what does it want?

Well another trip to London and a visit to something I have continually missed on previous trips. God forbid that I actually learn something when out and about!

Being a freak about hiking, maps, GPS and such, it is surprising that I have not visited the National Maritime Museum earlier and more often. The significance you ask? Well it is not just the location of the Prime Meridian, but also home to the Royal Observatory, Royal Naval Academy and other exhibits including a Planetarium.

This site is where we (global) have designated to be ground zero of all maps (Prime Meridian)

Royal Observatory

Royal Navel Academy

Prime Meridian, at the top of the of the picture you can see a small black circle; this houses a laser that projects the Prime Meridian. The picture below show the laser at night. (Taken near one of the hotels I stay at, just opposite of the River Thames)

Public Standard of Lengths was posted at the observatory gate sometime before 1866, as noted on of the plaques. Here you can verify the accuracy of your measuring devices, although these are not the "official".

I also paid a visit to one of the more well known London Breweries, Fullers. Nice cask brews of very traditional English Ales.

To bad the their pub was closed on the weekends, but I was able to pick up a few mementos at the gift shop. The day also gave a few opportunities to take a few pictures of one of my favorite subjects, trees and branch/sky silhouette.

Frankfurt... home and namesake of the hot dog

Well I have finally update this blog and it is 'bout time.

We I am just finishing up a +2 week European business trip and it all started in Frankfurt, Germany. Crisp, cool air and an abundance of beer, applewine and sausages to permanently preserve any living creature for an eternity... seriously!

The city is nice to view from an architectural view too... well at least from my untrained eye, but I like it!

From the traditional German village

And the newer plazas...

To the modern high risers.

Boy do they loved meat out here. After working all day in the office, the team (~12) headed out for some dinner and drinks. We headed to a traditional German restaurant, where our leader told the waiter to just bring out some food.

I saw this platter and thought, wow that is a lot of meat... that should feed all of use. Yeah then two more waiters came out with the same platters! Oh what succulent and flavorful pork, gammon and mixed sausages; they were awesome.

I was fortunate to be able to escape the city one day and headed south to Stuttgart, home of Porsche; my boss Darryl, was the one that suggested the idea to go to the brand new Porsche Museum. The history was cool but the display of cars was simply amazing. Everything from the cars you see today, the birth of the Beetle and down to fire trucks Ferdinand Porsche build in beginning of the 1900s.

Classic American Roadster!

...and the Iconic 911 Turbo

And I was not joking about the Fire Truck!

New Kitchen... OK refreshed is more like it!

So I have finally started on some of the projects around the house and the first to be tackled was the kitchen. So dark, dated and absolutely nasty! But what to you expect from something that was designed and built in the 70s... guess that does not say much about me, eh?

Now I still have one item that needs to be replaced or refresh for the time being and that is the lights, oh how I loathe them!

But take a look for yourself...



Cleaning up also make the place look better, but the before pictures are from the weekend I moved in.



This is only a temporary fix til I have the money to truly update my kitchen... I still hope that is sooner than later, but at least now I am not repulsed by the site of it.