East Coast Trip 2012 part 1

Planes, trains and automobiles...

 

B and I headed to the East for his college friends' wedding. Since he works in the travel industry, he listed me as his significant other and we were able to fly for free. The catch is, we can only fly into New York which meant we had to rent a car and travel four states across, something that I am not against. =)

 

 

It was awesome being able to say that I have "been" to those four states, well, at least to geotag myself in Facebook. I got a kick out of the comments my friends were saying!

 

 

From New York to West Virginia

 

Lake Cheat... a manmade lake. Is that why they called it Cheat?

 

The wedding took place in a beautiful green farm. The whole wedding looked like you would find it in Pinterest!

 

DIY flowers

 

Morgantown, West Virginia

We only stayed for one day in Morgantown. It is a college town so it had some sort of diversity. But with all college towns, one thing is prevalent: the freaks come out at night. haha! Students were getting their last summer days in by drinking and partying. I went to a couple of drinking holes there. Didn't take pics with my phone, hence, none will be posted here.

 

 

 

Before we headed out, we went on a hike at Cooper's Rock. It was a beautiful walk in the woods, an elevated hike and into the top of the mountains overlooking the beautiful green canyon. It was truly breathtaking.

 

I should go help him but i am afraid of heights.

 

Travelling across states with my mango Nikes.

 

I found this guy. I left him there.

 

Booty Shaping

Top of Los Pinetos trail. Oakwood. Pic by me

This past Saturday, I have been shown hell and heaven. Bryan took me to a trail not too far from my parents' house. In fact as a kid, I used to go to these mountains for school field trips.

The Los Pinetos Trail is by far the hardest trail I have done so far. So many times I wanted to quit because it was super steep and hot. Bryan was really good at knowing when to gently push me or stand back and let me deal with the battle of trekking up the trail.

The first part of the trail was chapparel. This is the part of the mountain where more sun is shining down so the vegetation is more dessert and apt for dry climate. I saw lizards and snakes. Tons of bees and flies that seem to play kamikaze dives into my cheek.

Because it was hard I didn't take too many pics so the following pics are by Bryan.

Wildflowers and brush

Chaparell and Oakwood

Looking like Sleeping Dragons

As you go farther and farther up, the incline gets easier and cooler. An oakwood forest tops the mountain. It was so beautiful, walking underneath the canopy of branches. It was so quiet and the only thing you can hear are birds and your feet on the ground.

Pic by me

Because this was an intermediate trail, there were less people and no families. I am truly happy to have at least finished the trail, reaching to the top and feeling the breeze. Trekking down was just as hard because if I went too fast, I would be slipping all the way down.

Bryan thinks it is time for me to invest in actual hiking boots.

Griffith Park

Kat was Spitty-less this weekend so we decided to go to Griffith Park for more inclines. After finishing Los Pinetos the day before, Griffith Park is now cake!

But it still hurt, and I was so super sore from yesterday's hike.

There is something about reaching the top and looking at the view. It is the reward that I look forward to. You can see how far you have come and learn that when you push forward, at whatever pace, you will eventually get to your destination.

I realize that in every hard trail, I will hate it but I will keep walking forwards and I will be open to the lessons. That the pain is temporary and rest comes after the work is done.

Along with losing five pounds and strong muscles, I have a couple more goodies from hiking and training outdoors. 

I treated myself with new mango colored Nike LunarGlide +3.

and a new tan! going to enjoy being golden brown because when fall hits, i will lose all the melanin again.

Wisdom from one of my childhood idols. 

15 miles - DONE!

I now reached 15 miles a week in my training. Not too bad considering that last month I didn't do much other than the sporadic trip to the gym.

It really helps that I am outside, in the sun and with friends. Being on the treadmill and the ellipticals are great but they are not giving me a total body work out nor are they training my body for everyday practical movements. I need to train my body not only to by working efficiently but effeciently outside of the confines of a controlled environment.

It's easy to run on a treadmill with TVs in every angle of your line of sight, a well-charged iPod and air conditioning.

I need to work my body in the movement and conditions that are unpredictable and out of my control.

I need to be outside.

Eaton Canyon

Bryan has been supporting  me in my health endeavors. He took me to an area he often frequent when he was living in Pasadena. 

It was a pretty cloudy day and I didn't mind. It was better than being 80 degrees and up!

Cloudy days

A pretty wild flower.  I have no idea what it is but I have never seen it before.

Bryan is a hiker and is  familiar with being out in the canyons. I couldn't keep up with his long strides. He'd have to stop and wait for me from as I jog up towards him. I have a weak ankle (injured it when I used to play sports and it never healed right) so most of the time I was getting familiar with the terrain. 

There were lots of rocks and turned up roots. There were fallen logs and boulders to look out for.

But with any hike, the jackpot is the view. In this case it was one of the Eaton Canyon Falls. 

This picture does no justice as too how beautiful these flowers were.

I will be returning back soon.

Santa Monica Beach

I took Kat and her daughter to Santa Monica and took them on my route. The beautiful part of this route is that it's sports stroller-friendly so that parents with small ones can fit working out in their lifestyles.

Afterwards, we rewarded ourselves from the 4.8 mile walk with ceviche tostadas and fish tacos. Well for the grown ups. The little one got lunch from a bottle.

HollyTrail to the Hollywood Sign

The last trail for the weekend is the one that I have not been to in my how many years (not saying) living in Los Angeles. It is a tourist spot where people often go and I subconsciously avoided.

As a person raised in Los Angeles, you tend to not go to many of the tourist spots. 

But this one was absolutely beautiful. Now it isn't as pristine as say Eaton Canyon or Santa Monica. There is a ranch there where city slickers can park their cars and ride horses. Because of that, you definitely have to watch your step.

Mel and I went there mid-day. By that time the mountain was hot and you were getting heat from the sun above and the ground below.

The incline kicked my ass!! It's so much easier to jog at the beach on flat surface. As painful as this hike was, it was something I must go througth in order to improve my lung capacity and endurance.

Walked up a bit but we were still far. We want to stand right behind the sign.

No idwa who this Muno/ice cream hybrid monster is but it was amusing. It overlooked the city of Burbank.

Never knew there was a Lake Hollywood. This was taken at the top of the Hollywood Sign.

This kid was making me nervous... Balancing on a stump over a ridge. haha! but he must have taken a dope panaoramic view!

With all this walking/jogging/running/working out, I can't help but keep this in my line of vision... Soon.

Go to these links:
Nike.com
Livestrong.com
Hiking in LA

Urban hiking

The world is different when you wake up at 530am.

Years ago, I used to meditate and do yoga and tai chi with a Buddhist monk. DaDa was visiting our country and his visit turned into a 6 month stay. We used to wake up 5am in the morning and head to the park where he would share his teachings.

There is a definite peace during that time, the transition between night and day. That buzzing silence of the sun rising in the east.

Kat and i decided to wake up early and start our Sunday with a hike at a nearby canyon.

She took me to a trail in Griffith Park. It was short, only .55 miles but it was a pretty good incline. This walk beats walking on a treadmill, by far.

It was a quiet morning. I heard the snakes slither out of our way. A jackrabbit scurry down the cliff like it was nothing.

My picture does not even show how high up we were. Those treetops look like bushes but these trees stood so tall from the oakwood niches of the canyon.

If you look at the upper left hand part of this pic, you will see other hikers/runners. You can gage how far and how steep the mountain is as the trail wraps around the hill.

What was inspirational was seeing so many older hikers out and about. I saw little old Asian couples holding hands, walking up the mountain for their daily walk. Young fathers taking their young daughters. A group of teen boys, all looking like they come from the indie rock scene of Eagle Rock, doing drills and sprints up the incline.

No real intention of using this pun, but it was comforting to see all walk of life being up so early and tackling the course.

At the top was the the most beautiful view of the city sprawl. Pollution was not too bad and the sun was very forgiving.  I love my city and all the corners and hidden treasures that only a true Angelino would know where to go.

But being a true Angelino was being tested as we came down the mountain.

As you noticed, this map shows the route we took.. an easy .55 miles up. We decided to take the long way down, thinking it will spit us up near the car.

nope.

It spit us out the other side of the mountain.. You can see in the dots where we tried to backtrack trying to find the right trail back, but also trying not to go back up the hill.

We decided to use the street and head back up Vermont.

A mile hike turned into 4.52 miles with 575 calories burned.

It was the best way to start the day. I am not complaining. I realize that this was my challenge this morning.

Kat says," I don't mean to sound too Buddhist but the world is our medicine. We can find everything we need in her."

So true.. thank you Mountain, for giving us this awesome work out and sense of accomplishment.

Pic tacken in the bottom of the mountain.

Another phenomena that I am happy to catch on my front porch..

The solar eclipse!

I didn't have time to make a lightbox so i just ran outside, closed my eyes and took this pic... and i got to see the solar eclipse at 6:26pm

Supposedly, today is the start of a new age. I have full sight ahead and not looking back.

*all pictures by me