La Casa/The House

FRENTE/FRONT:

SALA/LIVING ROOM:















































COCINA/KITCHEN:

DORMITORIA 2/OFICINA:

2ND BEDROOM/OFFICE:

MASTER BEDROOM & BANO/BATH:

























PATIO:

DECK & VISTAS:

ATRAS & GARAJE/BACK & GARAGE:

Best in Show

We headed north to the dog show today, up in Venture CA. We met a few breeders and then went to their houses to meet some dogs. The pictures aren't great, but it will give you a good idea of what they look like. Basically.....gorgeous!

This is Joey. He is a 6.5 month old black lab. He was super playful. He played fetch with us for awhile and was totally into meeting new people. He was a total love! Not hyper, but had good puppy energy! He still has his puppy coat and pure FUN!

This is Duke. Duke is 2. The breeder is selling him becuase they were going to show him, but one of his balls didn't fall ;) He is 95 pounds of pure lab! He was a little full of it, but he had been in his crate for a couple of hours while the owners were at the show. I thought he had a glimmer of naughty in his eye which made me like him, yet..... :)

"The Black Lagoon"

After more than 3 hours and nearly 5 miles of treacherous hiking we could finally see it. Dropping over 100 ft along a vast rock wall, was Hanakapi’ai Falls. Awesome setting.

We hurried to jump right in to the dark (not dirty) lagoon. Goose bumps covered our bodies at first contact with ice-cold surface. Still we had to go all in. We started swimming toward the crashing waters, our chests tightened up as we neared the falls; not only because of the cold, but at the sudden thoughts racing through my head. I’ve never seen "Creature from the Black Lagoon,” but that’s all I could think of as we approached. Was 'something’ watching us from below as we kicked across the surface? Waiting to pull us into the abyss? Looking down didn't help answer that question... the water was black.

We reached the base of the falls and looked at each other. With a simple glance we both agreed: Let's get back on land ASAP. Our swim back must have rivaled olympic times in the 50 meter freestyle. Upon reaching the rocky shore, we looked back and confirmed our uneasiness. Adding to it was the fact that we were the only 2 people there... Nearly 5 miles into a deep jungle valley, 2000+ feet above sea level, surrounded by only trees and hundreds of feet of vertical rock. Any screams for help would be drowned out by the thundering waters, and would go unheard if the 'creature' emerged. Only the circling birds above would be witness to our untimely ends.

Thankfully there was no 'creature', not that we encountered anyway, and life continues happily. We enjoyed lunch in an idealic setting... on some large rocks overlooking Hanakapi'ai Falls. We dried up and decided it was time to start the 3+ hour hike back to the trailhead. It was clear we should try to get out of the wild before the sun went down. Wouldn't want to have to worry about the "Predator" hunting us along a dark jungle trail.

Where in the World am I?

I often like to play a game. I close my eyes, open them and quickly try to figure out where I am. Lets play.

When I open my eyes and I am sitting in a Starbucks that has snowflake stickers on the windows. Elvis is on the radio singing a Christmas carol about 'bringing his baby back to me' - I have never heard it. Everyone around me is either texting on their phone or playing a hand held game. The couple to my left is Asian, the couple to my right is British. But overall it is a pretty even mixture of races. There is a McDonalds across the street with Milkshake posters covering the glass windows. So much so that I can't even see inside - they really are pushing the milkshakes. It is 88F out.

Where am I......
Really I could be in any major city in the world. It it just to hard to tell.

I Felt the Earth Shakin' Under my Bed!

Ok, I am super behind on postings and I promise to upload pictures and get on the ball.

However, we experienced our first earthquake this morning at 6:15. I can't say that I actually felt it, but I woke up to a crashing sound. I thought our apartment was being broken into. I did get up to startle the perp.....but it was the earth shaking and there ain't nothin I can do about that! Our first experience with the "Shaky State".

Settling In

Well, it's been a few months now and we're starting to get a little more comfy in our new surroundings. However, due to extensive traveling for work and friends' weddings back East, we've been away more than we'd like (friend disclosure: Not that we didn't want to go back and be there for the weddings, of course). Then again it has also allowed us to see a lot of friends and family which we may have not been seeing for a while.

Anyway, we're finally back for the forseeable future. We've really made the South Bay (Manhattan, Hermosa and Redondo Beach) our little SoCal world. Though we are technically part of L.A., you wouldn't really know it by our lifestyle... at least not yet. We don't really drive much like the other 11 million people in L.A. do everyday. We walk or ride our bikes pretty much everywhere we can with exceptions of course. Traffic is as bad as they say, so we avoid getting on the freeways at all costs.

We're learning where to get the little things done that you take for granted until you move somewhere completely foreign and new to you. Like: what dry cleaner to go to? Where to get our hair cut? What grocery store? Favorite bars/restaurants? Where's the cheapest gas (actually... that's nowhere in LA)? What gym to go to? Should I go running on or along the beach today? ETC...

Slowly but surely we're making this place home. Now that we're more settled we can try to share our new digs with you some more. Our own little Melrose Place is finally starting to feel like home. (pictures to come...)

Memorial Day in Yosemite N.P.

So we had planned to head up to Napa Valley to visit our friend Michelle for the weekend. Unfortunately, Michelle had to work more than she thought and we wouldn't be able to spend much time with her. So we had to scratch that trip for now and instead decided last minute to go camping in Yosemite National Park.

We arrived at the Yosemite gates 7 hours after leaving L.A. with no campsite reservations… on Memorial Day weekend (not a good idea). It was already dark and no camping would be possible that night. So we bunkered down into the first available hotel outside the park entrance.

We rose early the next morning and drove an hour and a half into Yosemite Valley. We crossed our fingers and hoped that one of the first-come-first-served sites on the valley floor would have room. The drive in is incredible. Magnificent views, waterfalls, El Capítan, Half-Dome, you name it. So much of what we'd been reading about was finally visible in person… it did not disappoint.

When we finally arrived in the valley, we are told by several rangers that all the campgrounds were full and going standby would be our only hope. Gomez-2: #15 on the list... not bad we're told. Our chances were good. At 3 o’clock we returned to learn our camping fate - we missed our chance at a campsite by ONE spot! Camping was not to be this weekend. Another hotel stay was in our future. At least we needn’t worry about being mauled by bears, and we did learn a valuable lesson of planning ahead for next time.

Around the camping disappointment we did take advantage of our trip. We hiked up the John Muir trail to the top of two of Yosemite's famous waterfalls, which peak during springtime. We got soaked at Vernal Falls, before drying off over lunch on some sunny rocks halfway up the falling waters of Nevada Falls.

On our way out of the park later that evening, we hiked up to see the Giant Sequoia grove. Though it was getting late we decided to do the full hike to the top and were rewarded with some alone time among a forest of giant Giants in the setting sun. It was fairytale-like... you really had to be there. Hopefully, the pictures do it some justice.

That pretty much marked the end of our first trip to Yosemite. Never again on a holiday weekend, and never again without camping reservations. But we will meet again one way or another. Enjoy the pictures (coming soon…)