Tuolumne Meadow and First Sight of Half Dome

Right after entering Yosemite National Park it is beautiful. This meadow is the start of the very large Tuolumne Meadow. We stopped to stretch our legs and breathe the fresh Yosemite air.

My sexy man looking sheepish.

Always so serious...

The weather was so nice we had the windows rolled down and my sunroof open (see pretty view above).

Mono Lake

Our trip was a complete sucess, full of adventure, sight-seeing and 100% me and Andrew time : )

After six months of not spending more than a weekend together this now almost 2 week time with him is pure bliss.

Outside of the California city of Lee Vining is Mono Lake a must see if you're in the area and appreciate things that keep you wondering about the natural world around us.

The sign says it all, if you can't read it all check out
Mono Lake's Website










Mono Lake is super salty, I can't remember if it was 2 or 3 times saltier than the ocean. But, of course, we had to taste it! Don't worry the sign said we could. It was slimy in our hands and ooh man. Salty. If you needed to gargle, this is the lake for you.

The walk down was really easy, on a boardwalk and sand along the beach. We were there around 6:30 am and already there were photographers taking advantage of the gorgeous morning light.

Overall, Mono Lake is worth the side trip out of Yosemite or before getting to it. The East entrance is only about 20 minutes from the lake.

Tainted

I picked up this book at the library and starting reading it yesterday...and finished it yesterday.

Tainted by Brooke Morgan was a pretty good book. I wasn't expecting to like it at all. I grabbed it off the shelf and read one line from the description on the back. I was just desperate for something to read and too lazy to search any more.

I was pleasantly surprised, this book had me thinking several different things, never sure what was going to happen and kept me reading to find out if everything was going to be ok.

I don't want to give away spoilers. It starts with a shy 20 something Holly who meets a very attractive English guy on the bus and starts a romance with him. When he finds out Holly has a five year old daughter, Katy he blows her off. But fate brings them back together and things take a turn for the "happily ever after" and then when Katy's biological father shows up again, things take a turn for the worst.

In a way I never expected.

Easy read, and worth it.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

I love stories about women, especially the fictional ones who live in worlds based on fact. They pull me in, I can't help it. This is one of those stories that pulled me in. When browsing Barnes & Noble last week I had no idea what book I wanted and was just looking for a cover that caught my eye, reading the back and setting them back down.

Until I saw this one.

And I remembered I liked The Kite Runner...the book didn't have a description, just editor revies all of them good.

So I finished Khaled Hosseini's second book A Thousand Splendid Suns about a week ago and absolutely loved it! If you liked The Kite Runner, you will love this. I like this one even better.

A Thousand Splendid Suns follows the life of 2 Afghan women living seperate and then very connected lives. For the same reasons I liked The Kite Runner, I loved this. It gave light to a lifestyle from a part of the world that I don't know a lot about.

Even better is that it's told from the perspective of women, which I am always more interested in. Awesome job considering it's done by a male author. It's touching, sad, suspenseful, full of love and violence. I suggest it if you like stories told by women, about people's lives and culture.

Backpacking Gear

So, as you might know in about 10 days Andrew will be graduating from Phase 1 of his Tech School and will be off to California to complete even more training.

On the 18th, 19th or 20th, (date yet to be decided) will once again be driving down to Texas, hopefully for the last time! From there Andrew and I will drive out to California together.

It will be a pretty straight drive and our last two nights before arriving at his new base will be spent in Yosemite National Park. Woo Hoo!!

Of course, this is all military permiting, that nothing changes and he still gets 5 days to arrive at his next base.

While there we plan on doing a little trekking and had to buy some new supplies, of which I am VERY excited about. I love camping/hiking supplies.

This is Andrews pack (above) it's pretty much a 2-day pack that will help us carry any extra supplies we might need.

And my pretty blue pack. Very comfy, hydration pack included.

These are my birthday presents from my mom. An extended camera strap with padded shoulder strap! Very good for me, so I can keep my camera ready at all times. And a Gerber Gator 2 in 1 axe and knife. The knife tucks up into the handle of the axe.

This angry Decepticon (yeah that's a Transformers reference) is Andrews multi gift from my mom. It's a Basic graduation/Birthday/Tech school graduation gift. He's been drooling over it for a while. It's a Leatherman Skeletool CX (stock photo from REI.com).

So along with all our rocking gear we got some sweet survival stuff that I am too lazy to take pictures of...but the list includes but not limited to:

• 2 ponchos (mine is clear, Andrew's is bright blue)


• A flint


• Water purifying tablets


• Cord


• Compass


• Waterproof map of Yosemite


• A 2 day 3 people first aid kit

Most of those things will probably not be used, but when hiking anywhere you should always prepare yourself for the worst! Trust me, I watch that show "I Shouldn't Be Alive" proof that when you aren't prepared bad shit happens.