Point Reyes

Last weekend, Jeremy and I went on a hike in Point Reyes National Seashore Park. It was the second time we had gone there and we enjoyed it just as much as the first time! We started off thinking we would hike around 10 miles or so... and it ended up being almost 16! We are SORE but we enjoyed the path :) Enjoy the pictures below!

Jeremy at the beginning of the day :) So handsome!

Nice view down the coast

 As we continued to hike up to the ridge, we started hiking in heavily wooded areas. We came across this barrier... and had to figure out the best way through it. Its normal to find logs or branches that cover a path, but we had never come across a group of trees that had fallen to cover the path.

 We found a way!

 Toward the end of the hike (ie when we were exhausted) we hiked down to this waterfall. We could have gone all the way down to the beach, but it was very rough terrain and the so called path had been completely washed out. We decided on a rain check.

 We saw lots of banana slugs on the path! We also saw a coyote and several newts, but I didn't have a good shot of the coyote and I forgot to take pictures of the newts.

 This is one of the lakes we passed

 Happy Hikers!

 Pretty purple flowers along the path

 

 Another blockage... this one was a very big tree that looked like it was being held up by some not-so-sturdy-looking branches

 

 See what I mean?

Another lake :) 

 And more flowers

 It was amazing walking along this path that stretched out in front of us. To our left were beautiful green hills. To the right -> the beautiful blue ocean. The sun was shining and we had a nice cool breeze to keep us from getting too hot. This path wasn't too popular either.

 You can see the dark brown along the beach is where there are rock tide pools. We didn't hike down there (we were still exhausted and this was at the very end of our hike) but perhaps next time. I'm sure we could find some starfish or sea urchins down there!

Keep checking for new posts since we are in the mood for adventures!

Over the last few months...

Jeremy and I have enjoyed several adventures over the last few months, making it a bit difficult to remember to blog about them. oops! Since my last post in October, we haven't gone on any hiking adventures, but we have had several visitors :) In December we spent two weeks with family back in Illinois and it was fantastic! We are back in to the rhythm now of normal life and are about to start traveling a bit more. Here are some pictures as to what we have been up to over the last few months.

Last Halloween's Queen and worker bee :) 

 

 

Jeremy's sisters, Holly and Amy, came out for a nice weekend visit. We had a great time together! 

 

My mom came out for a weekend and we went to one of the Stanford football games with Solid Start

 

Last November Jeremy and I went to a Weekend to Remember conference. In addition to learning more about each other and how to have a great marriage, we got to enjoy this little cafe for breakfast a couple of times. Lots of yummy food! 

 

Before going to Illinois, I did some fun Christmas food decorating with some girls from Solid Start as well as my small group. These were as delicious as they were cute! 

 

Then it is HOME for CHRISTMAS! We arrived to some fresh beautiful snow!  Brayden and Alana loved watching dad shovel the back porch :) I loved having everyone together!

 

 

Jeremy's and my Christmas present to each other wouldn't fit under the Christmas tree this year :D 

In addition to a new car, we got a new cottage! It has been perfect for us! 

For Christmas my mom gave me some cake decorating supplies and I have put them to good use! 

To start off February, my parents came out for a visit. We had great weather, and I think I am starting to convince them to move out to Cali. Great weather, great people... what else is there?

Yosemite and HALF DOME

15 miles? check. 

9 hours? check. 

4,800 ft elevation change? check. 

successful ascent and decent of the crazy half dome cables? check!

Last Saturday, Jeremy and I headed out for Yosemite National Park for our adventure to climb Half Dome. We had put a lot of time into training for this trip (we climbed Mt. Diablo - 13 miles and Mt Tallac - elevation 9,000+) because we knew it was going to be a pretty tough hike. Follow along our adventure of the weekend and Half Dome through the pictures below. 

Jeremy and I at Sentinel Dome eyeing our challenge for the next day

And the big day begins! This was what our sky looked like when we started the hike at 6am. 

 

Some lovely switchback stone stairs as we are headed up to Nevada Falls

 

This is the back side of Half Dome... the dip there is where we will be heading up on the cables

 And we can see the finish! Its a little ways away yet, but we are getting close!

 

See the cables?

 

Here is a better view

 And we are off! Its getting kinda slick since so many people have traveled this same path, the granite is somewhat polished. I wish I had a harness during this part!

 It was pretty steep. Good thing we had bright orange gloves to help us hold on!

 

WE MADE IT! PHEW!

 

 This is the lovely view toward Yosemite Valley.

 Not very impressive top of Half Dome... the view out was much nicer.

 The view toward the back side of Yosemite looking south east.

 Some other people coming up. Thankfully it wasn't that busy on Sunday so we didn't have to wait much on the cables.

 Headed back down. We've got this!

 I had to use multiple strategies going down... sometimes using both cables... other times using only one side... its tricky because you are passing lots of people in a very small space. And no one wants to move out of your way and let go of that cable.

 Some perspective. We started at the bottom of that valley, climbed around the back up to the top of Half Dome, then came all the way back down in 9 hours. Pretty amazing!

 

Jeremy and I aren't sure what our next big (or small, we like to write about those too) adventure that is coming up. Hopefully you will hear from us sooner rather than later :)