Our Backpacking Trips

so i’m back from death valley. after being out in 100 degree weather for 2 days with no shade what so ever, i have finally developed somewhat of a tan… with minor sunburn. so here is how it went:

me, mo, and kala left LA around 5:30 pm on friday and headed towards the hottest place on earth… literally. the drive took 4 1/2 hours, its almost the same distance as if i were to go to vegas… except death valley has less slot machines and keeping hydrated is the key to staying alive out there. we planned on camping out at stovepipe but that campground was closed, which sucked because stovepipe is only 2 miles away from the sand dunes. the sand dunes was our first place of interest @ 5:30 am because we wanted to catch the sun rise due to the fact that shadows will be casted making the dunes not so flat on film. since stovepipe is out, we had to drive to the next campsite… which was 20 some odd miles further down. by the time we found an available spot and set up camp it was well past midnight. i had the hardest time falling asleep… i’m still debating if i fell asleep at all on friday night. the night temp was very plesant so we didnt put on the rain fly and the roof of the tent was mesh so we could totally see thousands of stars out in the night sky… it was beautiful! next morning once mo’s alarm went off we left our base camp and headed towards the sand dunes. here are my pictures documenting our whole entire trip… well most of it anyways:

here is mo and kala

hiking in sand is hard work… we worked up quite a sweat that morning hiking from dune to dune getting the perfect shot.

look closely… i wrote something in the sand

*wink*

awww

then the sun got too high and the dunes lacked depth so we headed off to the next point of interest:

badwater!

that white stuff i’m walking on is basically your typical table salt

i was curious so i put some in my mouth and yea… it was pretty salty

salt crystals

next point of interest:

exactly what the sign says. but it no longer looks like the picture… probably due to erosion, well thats my guess.

next point of interst: Artist Drive

its basically a mountin that is in shades of green and purple… like an artists pallet.

and i dont know why i am standing like that

Adventure Dog is looking emo

then we headed back to base camp for lunch, little break, and an all out super soaker war (super soaker war not pictured). it was 100 degrees on saturday and we were burning up. so i changed into my bathing suit and we cooled each other down by shooting each other with super soakers for about 30 mins. then i dumped a gallon of water over my head… it felt soooo good.

after a cat nap we rolled some vanilla flavored tobacco but mo’s turned out looking like something exploded…haha this cracked me up.

then we changed into our running gear, packed up everything and started our 2 hour drive to the racetrack. we parked the car by the explosion crater, which was right before where the off road starts and did a 3 mile run in 90 deg temp @ 5 pm… it was crazy!

*bump bump bump*

we saw a destination sign decorated with tea kettles, we had to stop for pictures:

thats us… +kala… i left out her name, i am a bad person.

by the time we got to the only camp site  by the race track it was already dark. luckily there was only ONE more available camp site, the other FOUR were taken. the racetrack campsite is extremely small due to its remoteness. racetrack valley isnt even really in death valley… the racetrack has its own valley. we set up camp, cooked dinner, drank monster/vodka, and did some trick photography. i will post those later. we planned on waking up at sun rise again to take the best photos. with alcohol in my system i slept very very well.

the next morning:

this is the mountain-ish rock that i will climb to take the next shot

that speck… is mo

we got our shots and the sun got too high, so we headed back to base camp 2

by this time kala (aka Adventure Dog) is dead tired. its probably 8 o’clock in this picture and she’s knocked out on our sleeping bags. she is the biggest sleeping bag hog ever. whenever we lay out our sleeping bag kala jumps on it and just crashes. she wont get up unless we force her to… i guess she likes down bedding.

after breakfast (coffee and cup o’ noodles) i join her.

we chilled in the tent for a little bit, then it got too hot. messed around camp some more then around noon we packed up everything and it was time to go. but before we left the racetrack valley, we stopped by the racetrack again to get pictures of the famous “moving rocks”:

and the train is never late:

then kala takes a dump right on the fucking racetrack… but i decided to make the best of it:

so i made it artsy fartsy! this is when mo goes “why are you playing with shit?!”. yea… then i got rid of it.

racing rocks + mo… mo is coming in last.

then that was the end of the race track. i was sad to leave. the trip is almost over. i really really really didnt want to go back to LA. there are still so much to do here in death valley and sooo many more pictures to take. *sigh*

but lucky us the land rover took a shit! so we hitch hiked to nevada…. um actually i lied. the rover is fine and this picture is posed.

one last stop: Scotty’s Castle

by this time we’re already dead tired and kala’s beginning to refuse to come out of the car with us. we took a short nap on the lawn of the castle before we went to go check out the structure.

spirl staircase. this officially marks the end of our death valley trip. it took us 5 hours to drive back to LA. after 2 days of not showering, the first thing i did when i got home was drop all my gear and headed straight into the shower. as much as i miss being in death valley and didnt want to come back… it feels good to be home.

i attended a neighborhood watch meeting yesterday at my neighbor’s house down the street. so as of last night… there is a neighborhood watch group on my street! yay! it turns out 4 of my neighbors has been burglarized and they’ve had it with the hoodrats. there was even a sheriff present at the meeting giving us a crash course on forming a neighborhood watch group. i’m assuming due to the bad economic conditions theft rates has risen especially in the heights. according to the sheriff, the heights is a really really safe neighborhood but recently car and house break ins has risen over the past 6 months or so. to be honest… there is really nothing good to steal at my house. the newest addition is the washer and i dont think that can be easily hauled out. any other “valuables” i guess would be my computers and game systems but all that is located in my room. if you been to my room, you’d know its like a battle ground. you’d need a map to navigate and a quality compass wouldnt hurt. it basically looks like a world war III battle ground. if anyone even remotely tries to get in from my window… i hope they dont seriously injure themselves in the process, it would suck if some guy tries to break into my room but i end up having to call the ambulance for them. what would suck even more is if some guy breaks into my house, looks around and cant find anything to jack and ends up feeling sorry for us then drops a $20 on the dining room table with a note that reads: “man, you guys are ghetto-er than me, here is a $20 please use it as how you see fit – mr burglar guy”

yesterday afternoon the 3 of us (me, my brother and dad) were all hanging out in the back room of the house chillin’. then we started talking about some of the silly/stupid things we did when we were a kid. i laughed until there were tears in my eyes. it was that funny. i dont know if i shared these stories with you guys or not but its something def worth laughing about.

everything happened in 1st grade. when i first moved to the united states from taiwan. i didnt know a word of english and i was a huge fob. i remember 3 events very distinctly:

1) “My Very First Assignment” – it was the first day of school, each of us little kids had our GIANT name tags taped to the top left hand corner of our desks. the teacher passed out our very first in class assignemnt. she said something to the class – something i didnt understand because i didnt know english – then every one started writing. so… i did the first thing that came to my mind… i copied the whatever the girl next to me wrote. so i wrote “Alic…” then the teacher came over and said “no no” – she pointed to my name tag, then pointed to the paper where i attempted to write “Alicia”. okay i got it, so i wrote some one elses name on my paper. *FOB Strike One*

2) “The Spelling Test” - we have weekly spelling tests. on weds, mrs. hurfurt (my first grade teacher) gives us a “pre test”, but if we get 100% on weds we dont have to take the final test on friday. since it was our VERY FIRST spelling test she let us “cheat” on the weds test… like have us practice what its like to take an actual test. so we could look at our cheat sheet for the weds test. the 3 words that we had were: can, man, run. on friday, for the final test, we had the same words… BUT NO CHEATING this time. but of course i didnt know know. so i… “cheated”. of course i got caught and mrs. hurfurt made me put away my cheat sheet. i didnt study because i didnt know i had to, so of course i got an F on that test. i felt so bad. so i went home with those 3 words and took it up to my dad. told him about the spelling tests that we’ve been having. he helped me study those 3 words (can, man, run) all weekend. he tested me forward and backwards. for a kid who doesnt know a word of english… this was very difficult. i studied even monday through weds morning. then came the “pre test” on weds. before the teacher read out the words, i immediately wrote down “can, man, run”… all spelled correctly on my paper. i was so proud of myself, for sure i got 100% on the pretest and i didnt have to take the final test on friday. then i got my test back on thrusday… i got another F, the teacher pulled me aside and explained to me why. it turns out “can, man, run” were LAST week’s words. this week we got a new set of words. *FOB Strike Two*

3) “Going To the Bathroom” - its not easy being “the new kid” and not knowing a single word of english makes it even harder. so… i had to pee one day and all by myself i found the freggin bathroom to release my bladder. yay! i returned to the same bathroom quite a few times through out the week to take my daily piss until one day… i ran into a little boy in the bathroom. um, yea… i was just as shocked as he was. my first thought was “oh my… americans ‘hao sui bian’ boys and girls go to the same bathroom?”, it turns out… i was in the wrong bathroom. he pointed down the hall where another restroom was located, oh okay… i get it now. this explains the mystery of the urinals on the wall. *FOB Strike Three*

oh by the way… happy earth day!! i planted 2 trees yesterday!! =)

so you’ve heard, my washer has been on the outs for quite a while. my laundry hasnt been really done for like about 4 months. i have clothes on my bedroom floor piled up to my waist. i’ve been wearing the same skinny jeans for 1 1/2 months straight. so like about a week ago my dad busted the washer for good, the did the last load. the washer completely died after he was done, the damn thing wouldnt even hold the water. when i’m trying to fill it up in the beginning, it would just leak out from the bottom, flooding my garage. so the next me and my dad went to home depot, i picked the most expensive and fancy looking washer i could find and said “i want that one”. it was a 4.0 front load, high efficiency, energy saver, digital washer. we put in the order right away but it was out of stock and wouldnt be delivered until a week later. so finally, the damn thing delivered yesterday!!

my brother came home from work and helped us set up the huge thing. my dad did the first load. the timer on the panel said 1 hr 12 mins. so the 3 of us watched the washer run for about 45 mins. we were acting like we’ve never seen a washing machine before and we’re so facinated by the spinning motion. it was basically entertainment. weird and pathetic, but it was damn funny. my brother even took a picture of all the excitement.

wow my hair is getting really long…

before professors become tenured at Carnegie Mellon, they sign a contract that forces them to give a “last lecture”. this “last lecture” is very hypothetical, ie. what if you die tomorrow, what would your last lecture be to your students?… you know hypothetical. so this professor named Randy Pausch is a professor at Carnegie Mellon who has pancreatic cancer with 12 tumors inside of his body. the doctors cannot operate on him. Pausch has a few more months to live before he dies. He is 37 with a wife and 3 kids. so his “last lecture” is LITERALLY THE LAST LECTURE. i highly recommend that you guys take 1 hr 20 mins out of your day to watch the CMU version of the video (and 10 mins to watch the oprah version of it – there are additional info). it has to do with life… how to achieve your dreams. how to look at things in a different prespective, when you think something has gone to shit, look at it in a different way… it wont seem that bad. i mean seriously… do you want to live your one life miserably? heck, i know i dont. i absolutely love his useage of “the brick wall” because i’ve hit so many of those and i still keep ramming my head into it…

 
oprah version

the actual CMU version.

i found you a girlfriend. *wink*

oh.. and please keep both hands on the keyboard.

“…everywhere like such as.” – is not a complete sentence.

side note: the “asian countries” dont need your help hon.

LOLz

well… i paid a visit to the pomona animal shelter after class today. there were SO MANY homeless dogs, cats, and one goat. the dogs are so unhappy, seeing them depressed makes me depressed. i wish i can take ALL OF THEM home with me. at least i wasnt the only person looking to adopt, there were other families too. i think a yellow lab was successfully adopted today… good for him!!! i took some pictures with my camera phone… because i couldnt help it. as miserable as the dogs look…. they’re still adorable as heck! when they see me, their eyes light up and their tails wag, and i’m just going around saying “hai” to everyone.

this little guy is like 4 weeks old

i really really really liked this guy. he’s about the size of kala and bailey. he’s not a “toy”. he’s got really messy hair and he’s really in need of a home.

MUGEN!!! a 5 month old rottweiler. he reminds me of my mugen

*sigh*

how silly of that little dog. he SAT ON TOP OF ANOTHER DOG for the longest time.

when i still had mugen… i could tell he’s a happy one. kala and bailey are happy ones. you can tell by the look in their eyes. but these dogs…. these homeless dogs… *sigh* they’re so sad.

it looks like there is a HUGE waiting list for Killer/Emo. i called the pasadena shelter and the lady told me the “waiting list” for #A228663 (his id number) is full and she is not taking down any more names. i am so disappointed =(

tomorrow after class i plan on stopping by the pomona shelter. i googled it and its only 2 miles away from school. so i’ll swing by and see if have any potential candidates.