Thursday - Saturday

Did the Palomares Loop on Thursday with Phong, Thanh, and Tommy. Doing this just made me realize even more how much slower I got coming back from the Philippines. Before I left I was able to do this on the BIG ring and this time I had to settle with the LITTLE one. But it was fun regardless. I was still able to smoke a few roadies, one of them on his Pinarello, his bike could have probably put me through a few years of college.





Post ride recovery meal
Salt form my sweat
After the ride I took a quick nap and I planned on going to SF and I ran into Jeff. Then Jeff, Justin, and Ron decided to come along. I finally got the chance to go shopping. We then ate at Lefty O'doules. Well they did and my beer never made it out. We then stopped by Castro Valley Bowl to say whats up to Kenji and a few people. There I finally had my beer.
Saturday I worked all day and my Mom told me I had to go to this Filipino party thing. I was literally the only one my age. So I just sat there and watched all the old filipinos dance. Makes me definitely take up ballroom classes if I ever get married.



Even though I was the only one my age there. The food was still good!
Oh and this is the outcome of the Palomares Loop... -___-

Almost 2 weeks

I think this has been one of the longest times I have not put up a post on here in almost 3 years? I think I got so used to not having internet in the Philippines. Well we did but it wasnt that fast and everyone spent their time outside. That and my nights at home have been pretty busy that I usually dont even have the time to open my laptop.

But anyways. Heres a little photo dump:
Yosemite.



Spider at work.
Canyon rd?
ACLS class.
Lunch.
Alcohol.
Happy Birthday to my cousin Johnathan.
Rummikub = Headache
This lego case this little kid made.

Makeni

New watch day! Thanks ninang
Lunch
Too hot.
Smashed muffins tastes better
Coyote Hills at night.
Praying Mantis!

Yosemite Half Dome: On the way up and on top.

Last week Phong asked me if I liked hiking and I answered with a "yes." He then asked me if Id like to hike Half Dome with them... but at NIGHT. I thought that this would be way more fun than the regular hike with the sun out cause that's what everyone else does and this will give us a different kind of experience and how many people do you know would do this?

It definitely increased the danger level with bears and rattle snakes being active at the time we would be hiking. We actually almost rescheduled to do it in the day time but eventually decided to go through with it.

Here we are getting ready.



Beginning of the trail.

HUGE ants.
8.2 miles to the top.


Couldnt take that many pictures throughout the way cause it was pitch black. There was no moon in the sky but that meant we were able to see more stars and the milky way! Also a whole bunch of shooting stars throughout the night.
Also because we were running late on our schedule. We were on a really fast pace and caught up with some hikers that started before us. But these two, Judy and Gloria, decided to stick with us all the way to the top.

Thanh getting a cramp and Phong giving him a massage. Cute right?
Finally at the top. This is the pile of loaner gloves. You need them to climb up the cables or your hands will be messed up.
The cables sucked for me because my shoes had no grip and I just kept slipping and all I was basically using were my arms/hands and I was starting to cramp. But I eventually made it up. Here we are waiting for the sunrise.
At this point I was basically crawling my way to the top cause my legs were cramping in all different places.
Waiting.
Here we go! This was actually pretty cool. You just see a burst of light break through the mountains.

Everyone rushing to get their cameras.



Sleeping.








Here are pictures from the famous "ledge" that everyone takes a picture on when they reach the top.







These last few shots were stolen from Thanh and Aria taken with their DSLRs.


Group shot!
This was such a fun experience. Even though it was very painful it is one of the most rewarding feelings once you get up there and see the view. All that hard work just paid off. We did the hike in a little over 4 hours which is suppose to take 5-6. Cant wait to do this and other hikes again!