Travel Blog Posts
Young Lakes
Published: July 25th 2010North America » United States » California » Yosemite National Park » Tuolumne Meadows
July 25th 2010
We've been on all the famous hikes through Yosemite Valley but this was the first time to be outside the valley and in Yosemite Wilderness. We backpacked out of Tuolumne Meadows for what we planned to be a two night trip. We hiked to Young Lakes via the Dog Lake trail, and came back via the Glen Aulin trail. The Dog Lake trail starts out pretty steep for the first 1.5 miles or so until you get to the junction to either go to Dog Lake (which we did not) or continue on towards Young Lakes. As we continued the trail began to flatten out and it was some easy hiking. Not only was it easy it was one of the most beautiful trails I've ever hiked. Lots of creek crossing with a couple open meadows ... read more
Sequoia National Park
Published: January 12th 2010North America » United States » California » Sequoia National Park
January 12th 2010
Sequoia in the Winter (January 2010)- Absolutely beautiful. Took a three day trip staying at Wuksachi Lodge going snowshoeing and seeing the biggest tree in the world, The General Sherman, a Sequoia tree. We decided to snowshoe the Topokah Valley Trail up to Tokopah falls going against advice of park officials because they said it was dangerous ice(isn't that way we have snowshoes on?). It was about a 3 1/2 mile round trip. The falls was amazing being mostly frozen over but still flowing under the ice and visibly flowing at breaks in the ice. A lot of the popular places in Sequoia like the tunnel tree and Crystal Caves are closed in the winter, but the trip is worth it to see the half frozen falls and untouched snow covering the ground, its also a ... read more
Point Reyes National Seashore
Published: January 12th 2010North America » United States » California » Point Reyes National Seashore
January 12th 2010
The first week in December 2009 we left blindly on this trip not knowing much about the place, hoping we would find a good place to sleep, the back country camping permits were available, and trying to beat the first big winter storm for California, succeeding in all three minus a little rain on the hike out. This place is awesome though, anyone that likes coastal scenery and wildlife this is the place to see it. Unfortunately I forgot the camera so theres only a few pics from our phones but it is beautiful. Although we spent only two days, you could spend a week seeing everything. You can hike, bike, camp, kayak, and swim (in the summer) in this place. While there we saw numerous deer, a couple bobcats, and obviously a bunch of elephant ... read more
October 25th 2009
Arrived at our hotel, Kia Ora and went snorkeling out front our hotel. It was kinda cloudy water but we saw a huge “Giant Morey Eel” and a bat ray, along with plenty of fish. Amy almost got bite by the eel having stood right next to it then putting her face in the water and it was within a few feet of the eel. Later we went on an outrigger canoe, which wasn’t very exciting, then swam in the pool and went to dinner with a Polynesian dance show at the hotel. I woke up and ran to Avarotu which was about 5 miles away one trip, very hard run cause it was like 95 degrees out. I ran to get dinner (pasta, which we were gonna cook in the coffee maker again.) Got ... read more
October 25th 2009
We stayed at Bora Bora Pearl Resort. Arriving in Bora Bora was amazing. We stayed on an overwater bungalow which was awesome! The Pearl is great for snorkeling off your balcony because is has a reef nursery with tons of fish and it has a reef under every bungalow's glass coffee table. At night if you just hang out on your balcony with the lights on the water you can see stingrays and sharks swim by your room! It was incredible. We started the next day early with a 4 hour Land Rover “Safari” around the island. It was beautiful. The roads were narrow, dirt, rock, and really steep. They took us to a view point (really a communications antenna station), to a pearl farm, old WW2 cannons left there by the U.S. and to an ... read more
October 25th 2009
We went to Moorea, Bora Bora, and Rangiroa for our honeymoon. I would recommend French Polynesia to pretty much just couples or scuba divers. There is little to no night life, the islands are very relaxed, but the snorkeling and diving was amazing. We arrived at our hotel, Moorea Pearl Resort. Walked down the road and went to a few shops and got food at the grocery store. Made noodles with tomato sauce in the coffee maker for dinner, awesome! Be ready to either do this or spend a ridiculous amount of money on food. Over $100 US dollars for the hotel buffet dinner. There are many options to see the island. We opted to rent a little 4x4 Suzuki “Jimmy” (Sidekick) and went exploring. There was a short cruise along the shoreline road and we ... read more
August 2nd 2009
Grand Cayman has all the adventure you could ask for. You can visit hell, really you can. You can swim with stingrays that could eat small children, be stung by the deadly lion fish, and if you take a few swim strokes off shore you'll find yourself floating over 5,000 feet of water. Then there is the land, where you can get lost in the dense jungles with snakes, spiders and insects that fly away with unsuspecting tourists like yourself. Well, that is all pretty fabricated lies about the island, but partially true. There is a city that is officially named "Hell" due to the unique rock formation that the lava has formed, definitely a good place to visit if you like different rock formations. The stingrays are big and you can hand feed them, but ... read more
September 14th 2008
September 2008: Went to Portland, OR to raft the White Salmon River, see the Columbia Gorge River Area, and explore the city. We rafted the White Salmon and hiked a few trails of the Columbia Gorge area. Amazingly beautiful. The White Salmon is a small river that flows down from Mt. Adams(in Washington) and flows into the Columbia River. It was really fun but the water was about 40 degrees so it was cold! We did the half-day rafting trip in the morning and hiked around the gorge the rest of the day checking out a few waterfalls, ending at the famous Maltnomah Falls. If you're ever in the Portland area, Columbia River Gorge is a must. Take the Columbia River Highway east and there are tons of waterfalls (77 to be exact) and hikes to ... read more
September 6th 2002
September 2002 Waking up with a mosquito net around your bed isn't the most ideal mornings for most of us, but then again it's better than the alternative, hundreds of mosquito bites all over your body. Unless of course you end up like one of the girls, Kelly. Mosquito nets may keep most of the little pests out, but what happens when a few get inside...all they have left to feast on is you, and Kelly ends up with over 100 bites on just one arm (I stopped counting after that). It's a miracle none of us got malaria considering the Brazilian authorities confiscated our pills thinking they were drugs. If you've never been to the Amazon you should go. Take a boat up the river for a week or so, see the local people, experience ... read more
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