Waterfalls in Yosemite

It has taken a bit, but I finally am getting to this blog. It was hard to decide on which pictures to include so there are a bunch. The pictures, however, don't do justice to how beautiful it was last weekend.

We took Moria's car which was a good thing. There is no way we would have able to fit all of our camping gear, firewood, and food into the trunk of our car. Here is Moria trying to rearrange things so she could actually see out of the rear view mirror.

We've decided to make it a tradition to stop at the Sonic in Tracy on the way to Yosemite. Gotta love that Happy Hour.

We made it to our campsite in plenty of time to set up camp before dark. We stayed in Hodgdon Meadow which was right by the entrance to the park about 25 miles from the valley. We weren't able to get reservations in the valley, but we ended up being really happy with the campsite.


Everyone made fun of my tiny lantern, but they all ended up being impressed by the amount of light it put off and we used it quite a bit. Since we had a bear locker we weren't as confined to the amount of food we could bring. We ate in style with spaghetti, green beans, and garlic bread heated over the fire. For dessert we naturally had s'mores. We got up fairly early on Saturday to fix breakfast so we could get to the valley to start our hike. For breakfast we had a delicious meal of bacon, eggs, toast and coffee. It is moments like these that I really enjoy car camping.

After lathering up with sunscreen we headed to the valley on our quest for waterfalls. We were in luck because it had warmed up and it was a high melt weekend.

Here is the first waterfall we saw while driving into the valley.


A beautiful view.
Here we are on our way up Happy Isles Trail towards Mist Trail and Vernal Falls.
Here we are on the steps going up Mist Trail

Vernal Falls!! It was gorgeous! I love this picture with the rainbow.

We quickly found out why they call it mist trail. The mist felt pretty good after hiking, but it was pretty cold!! Our layers went on and off quite a bit. Here is a view of the top of Vernal Falls.

We decided this would be a good place to stop for lunch. We enjoyed the classic PB&J, beef jerky, trail mix, and apples.
Next we continued on the trail to go and see Nevada Falls which was the main inspiration for the trip. Brian has had an Ansel Adams poster of Nevada Falls in his apartment for the last couple of years and we've been dying to try and find the same place where the photo was taken.

Before making it there though Kevin wanted to give us a "senior picture" type of photo. I hope you crack up as much as I did!!

Kevin decided to take a "short cut" up the the next part of the trail, but unfortunately he got stuck on one part. He really didn't want to climb back down so we formed a human chain to get him up the last part.
Finally we made it to Nevada Falls. Words can't really describe how beautiful it was.
We did our best to try and a picture from the same spot as Ansel Adams, but after looking back at the poster we still didn't quite nail it. Oh well....

We decided to not hike up to the top of the waterfall. It would have taken us a little while and we thought it would be more fun just to head closer to the falls and goof around for a bit. With the mist and green everywhere it truly was other worldly.
You can see Kevin heading up to get even closer. His goal was to be able to touch the waterfall. I thought it would be fun to do so we made our way up closer.
We were able to get pretty close. We didn't get to touch it, but then we decided since we were covered in mist we technically had touced the waterfall. This appeased Kevin. I had a picture from even closer, but there is so much mist Kevin is blocking half of the shot to keep the mist from soaking the camera.After we'd had our fill of Nevada Falls we headed back down. We did manage to catch a glimpse of Yosemite Falls on the way.


Once we made it down to the valley we stopped in Curry Village to take advantage of the fact there are showers there. Not bathing is the one thing I don't like about camping so I encouraged a stop in the village. It felt great to get cleaned up. There is also a small grocery store there so we grabbed some more bacon for Sunday breakfast.

Once we made it back to our campsite we got the fire going again so we could get dinner ready. That night it was Hot dogs and Sausages, beans, rice, and more s'mores. We mad friends with the guy camping next to us. He was camping solo while his wife and daughter were out of town. He'd been camping by himself for a few nights so I think he enjoyed the human conversation. Justin stayed for awhile so we must have been okay. When he went to bed (he was getting up early to head to Tahoe the next morning) we found out that he snores REALLY loud. Probably as much as Joseph Kent does :) We were amazed by how loud he was and had a good laugh about it. It was a good thing we met him before that or we may have been slightly annoyed. Luckily for me I found a set of earplugs in my backpack from studying days so I didn't have any trouble falling asleep.
Sunday morning was wonderful! More coffee, bacon, breakfast sausages, and PANCAKES!! We bought the Bisquick jug that you just add water to. It was really convenient and tasty!!Our camping stove we bought worked fantastic and we will definitely be using it again.

We had to make a pit stop at one of the vista points on the way home for one last group shot. It is a little crooked, but I didn't my best balancing the camera on the hood of the car.


We stopped once again in a small town (Oakdale possibly) to eat at this pizza place that we ate at on the way back from last trip. Mountain Mike's. I like the traditions we've started and I look forward to visiting Yosemite again. The waterfalls were amazing and I couldn't have asked for a better trip!

Big Wheel Race

This last weekend Kevin took part in a Big Wheel race in San Francisco. I bet you are wondering exactly what I mean by this. Well, it is pretty much what you would think. Grown adults buy kid's Big Wheels and proceed to race them down the steepest hill in the city. Does this sound a little bit crazy to you?? That is because it is. Luckily for me I had to work last weekend so I was not able to be there to witness my husband and friends on their dangerous ride.

I didn't want Kevin to take the camera with him in fear of our camera being broken in a crash. He probably wouldn't have taken any pictures anyway. I did get a few shots of Kev on his Big Wheel before he left though. I thought you might enjoy them.

Do you like his helmet?


I couldn't help but laugh a little seeing Kevin on this tiny little bike.

It will be no surprise when I tell you that Kevin's Big Wheel broke at the very beginning of the race. Luckily he still make it down the hill and in one piece. He only had a few minor scratches on his palms. Kevin had a blast and is trying to convince me to go next year. We will see....


Here is a link if you want to watch some of the race. Kevin is there around 2:36min in. Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uum2KymuoBc


The cool thing is that after the race you can donate your Big Wheel to the firefighters. They take all the bikes and fix them up (since obviously many of them get banged around). Afterward, they give them to some charity so a kid can have a Big Wheel. I thought that was pretty cool and I'm glad that all those broken bikes wont go to waste!!

In other news...
Tomorrow we are leaving for our camping trip in Yosemite. I am so freakin' excited that I can hardly stand it. We are heading out after lunch and camping for two nights in the valley. It is supposed to warm up a little bit this weekend which will be nice. It was cold and snowy last weekend. I will be taking lots of pictures and I will try to be good and get them loaded early next week.

Game Night

There is nothing super exciting to post about and I don't have any pictures, but I thought I'd give a quick update anyway.

We've mostly just been working and living as usual. We did have a game night with friends last night. We played Cranium, a Charades game, and Singstar. Acting stupid and laughing is usually a recipe for a fun evening.

We are trying to schedule a trip home to Kansas in May so hopefully in the next week or so we will know if we will be able to come over Memorial Day. It has been way too long since we have made it back and I don't think we can stand waiting much longer.

Other than that it is just day to day as usual. Oil changes, rotating tires, smog checks, car tags, taxes, bills, laundry, cleaning, blah blah blah. Not much fun, but very necessary. In a few weeks we are going to heading back to Yosemite. I've been dying to see the waterfalls and it is almost a perfect time to go. We wont be doing the major backpacking like last time. It will be a more leisurely camping trip with mostly day hikes. I will most definitely be taking tons of pictures then so it wont be such a boring post.

Amy's B-day in Phoenix

On Saturday I flew to Phoenix to surprise my friend Amy for her birthday. I'd had it planned for about a month with the help of Dustin who also lives in Phoenix. It was also great because I hadn't seen Dustin since our wedding when he flew in to be an usher.

Dustin told Amy that a friend of his from KU was flying in and asked if "he" could tag along for her birthday celebration. Dustin managed to convince Amy to come to the airport and go out to lunch with this friend also. As I walked out to the car Amy said to Dustin "Is that Cara?......" When Dustin replied, "Why I think that is Cara Copp" I think it took Amy a second to realize that we had planned this together. I was so happy that we'd managed to keep it all a surprise.

First we grabbed lunch and dished out all the details of our awesome plan and just plain caught up on life in general. Amy was house sitting for Dustin's Dad so we headed over there to hang out and get some pictures.


Even at our wedding I didn't really get to see Daigle that much and it was great that the three of us could be together again after way too many years.
My best buds from High School!!!

We were heading to dinner and then the club that night so we had to get beautiful. It was fun getting all glammed up to spend some time with my girl.


We went to a sushi place called 'Stingray' and it was delicious.
At the club we managed to get in without having to wait in line or pay a cover and that was definitely a bonus. We had such a blast!!!
After our evening out ended Amy and I grabbed some Mexican food and hopped in the hot tub and just enjoyed being able to spend some time together.

The next day we grabbed some pizza at a great restaurant called 'Oregano's'. I ate at this place with Amy when I was down in Phoenix years ago helping Amy move back to Kansas. We just chilled the rest of the day until dinner. Then it was time for my short trip to end. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I don't have any time off available yet. Luckily it is a fairly short flight and we are in the same time zone.

Luckily Amy is coming out here in July so we will get to see each other soon. She'll be staying for longer so we'll have a little more time together.

Boxer Lab Ski Trip

Two years ago, Kevin's lab had a ski trip up at Lake Tahoe. I wasn't able to go because of classes, but Kevin had a blast and was determined to make another ski trip happen. Kevin did most of the organizing along with some help from a few fellow lab mates. We rented a house up at Tahoe and headed up on a Friday night. I had to work until late, so a car full of us didn't get there until after 1pm. We headed to bed asap so we could get up early enough to make it to the slopes. Only 5 of us were skiing or snowboarding while everyone else went snowshoeing.

This was supposed to be a "tough" picture, but of course Kevin decided to be goofy. I think I look pretty hard core though....


We tried again for a pleasant picture, but the sun forced us to squint just a little bit...


Isn't he cute?

Another tough ready to ski picture!

Here is a group shot of the 5 of us that headed for the slopes. From left to right: Bettina, Luke, William, Kevin, and me!
I wanted to get a nice shot of the view from one of the lifts. Unfortunately I couldn't seem to get one without another lift chair in it, but it is still a great view!
When we got back to our rental house that night, Kevin's lab mate Minsub was hard at work preparing us a home made Korean dinner. He wasn't able to ski due to a twice torn Achilles and wanted to do something for the group.
We ate so much delicious food that night and we were so incredibly full. Just thinking about the food from that night starts to make my mouth water! Thanks Minsub!

Later that night we played a few games. One was "Wolfin" a game similar to "Mafia" if anyone has heard of it. We played several rounds and had many great laughs.
One of the Boxer lab members, Bob, had to head back on Saturday night so we had to get a group shot before he left. It took about 5 shots before we got a decent one, but I think we did pretty good.

Left to Right Top: Bettina, Luke, Laura, Brett, Mark, Bob William
Left to Right Bottom: Prasad, Kevin, Minsub, Brett, Cara


Later we had homemade hot chocolate and I loved the presentation so much I had to get a picture.
During one of our "Wolfin" rounds, William and I ended up being 'wandering spirits'. Here is our interpretation.

Luke used his musical skills to entertain us with a clever song.

On Sunday a few people headed back to the slopes, but the rest of us finished cleaning up the rental house. We hit the road and headed back to Stanford. We had such a wonderful time on the trip. Hopefully next year we are able to have another ski trip and even more people are able to go.

Lunch with Li

I've been on a bad stretch of not posting. There are so many things to do and I often let blogging fall to last on the list. Now that I am finally uploading pictures onto my computer I thought I'd catch up.


A couple of weeks ago I met with my friend Li for lunch. We hadn't seen each other since graduation in Sept. and after having seen each other 4-5 days a week for almost a year it has been a little strange not seeing her. It was great catching up on each others lives and I'm hoping that we don't wait as long before next time.


Our waiter wasn't really available to help us out with a picture so we sort of had to make due.