Mt. Whitney Trip

I never thought that I would say "Hey, I climbed the highest mountain in the lower 48 states!" And now I can say it. It was a long, beautiful, epic, adventurous 22 mile hike. The experience was unreal and the views were magnificent. The pictures that I have do not do justice for how amazing it was.

We drove up to Lone Pine, CA on Thursday and camped at 10,000 ft. to get acclimated to the elevation. At camp we met our friends Katie, Patrick, and Katie's friend Rose. We camped at a place called Cottonwood Lake where there were lots of signs that said high bear activity. Well of course that night I couldn't sleep because I was so worried about a bear getting us. I was so paranoid that when my belly growled, I thought it was a bear just knocking at our door. But the morning came and we woke up bright and early safe and sound ready to hike the six miles in to trail camp with 35 lb packs on our back. On our way up I couldn't help but stop in awe and amazed at how beautiful it was. The forest and wilderness around us was remarkable. Even as we were eating lunch we were approached by one of the locals, a mule deer. She sat down and rested only about sixty feet away from us. It was so cool.

It took us five hours to reach trail camp. I had never carried a big pack up six miles and boy did it hurt. It felt like a small child was attached to my back and was not letting go until trail camp. There were a few things that I had to experience for the first time on top of the small child on my back for six miles. One of them was a wag bag and the other was a marmot. A wag bag is a bag that is used for human waste the NFD requires you to pack out your poop. And let me tell you that was an experience in it self. I wont go into too much detail but as you can imagine it was interesting. Marmie the marmot was an interesting creature. Marmots look kind of like prairie dogs but only bigger. Marmie was really friendly and wanted to eat me. He got so close any time I was eating anything. He wasn't my favorite. The night before the summit was full of laughs and good times. We were so excited to get to the top that we went to bed really early.

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise and were headed off to summit Mt. Whitney. It took us a little over 2 hours to climb to the top. The view was out of this world like nothing I could ever imagine. We hugged and kissed and had a snack and headed back down for the rest of our hike. Because what goes up...must come down. We had decided that morning that we were going to summit and then pack all the way down. A total of 15.7 miles. The hike down was a grinder and took every bit of energy but we made it. Raul was awesome and really supportive and I wouldn't have wanted to do this without him. I was happy to do it and I would do it again! Hope you enjoy some pics.

Mt. Whitney

All of us before the hike to Trail Camp

Another look at Mt. Whitney

What we woke up to before the summit

Me on the top!!! Whoo!

WE DID IT!

Awe...so cute.

There he is....seriously, I thought he was going to pounce.

Me on our way back down to the trail head

Raul on our way up the summit...FYI, 99 switchbacks.

Mt. Whitney

14,505 ft.

4th of July Part 2

Our day two of fun started out with Raul and I eating at Nick's...OMG, two words: Breakfast Burrito. Raul's dad, Tim would love them! We then drove down to Huntington Beach where we met the whole group again. We pretty much did the same thing as the day before. It is a good excuse for Raul and I to spend two lazy days at the beach. We don't ever just go down there to relax and soak up vitamin D. We set up our camp right by the Peer so it was fun to walk over there towards the shops and stuff. There was a street fair/farmer's market in one of the parking lots and so we all walked down there to check it out. Well Chuck and I decided that we were going to have a pull up contest over at the Navy booth. We made a deal that for every one pull up I did, Chuck had to do two. I ended up doing six and when I got down from the pull up bar, a crowd had formed around us cheering us on. It was kind of crazy. I ended up doing six and Chuck matched it with twelve. So...we tied. It was fun. Then after the fun in the sun we all went back to our house to shower and get ready to go out. We went down to Shoreline Village and ate dinner at the Yard House. We had tonz of fun there. It is so pretty when the sun goes down over the water. I really think the Phoenix clan liked it.




John, Me, and Raul at Huntington Beach

Nan, Katie, Kell, and Me at the Yard House waiting for a table

Raul, Katie, Me, Kelly, Kevin, Nan, and Chuck



Pull Up Champions!

Raul and the Girlies

I'm so glad that I got to spend so much time with my best friends. Raul and I had such a great weekend and they are only going to get better from here on out. We have so many things planned for the summer. Next weekend we are driving to get my new car and I get to see my mom and dad. I am really excited about that. So...stay tuned for our fun and crazy life.

4th of July Weekend Part 1

Well the weekend started with my very best buds from Phoenix flew into LA. Raul and I drove up to where Kelly and Kevin's to hang out with them. We spent the entire day out at the beach. I made chicken salad sandwiches for lunch and Kelly ordered some pizza. We played volleyball, swam in the ocean, and laughed a lot. Raul's friend John also joined us. It was really nice because the beach was not crowded. I was actually surprised with it being the 4th and all. After we were all beached out we headed up the hill to Kelly and Kevin's apartment. Kelly and Kevin did such a great job on being hosts. We had a BBQ with lots of food. After we all got showered and aloed from our sunburns (Raul's face was pretty pink), we headed to watch the fireworks show from Marina Del Rey. It was amazing. We walked down the hill a bit to where we were overlooking the water. The fireworks were so good that when the finale was going, I got huge chills.


A nice shot of us at the beach.


Raul and Chuck playing Wii (baseball).


Nan, Kelly, and Me while we were eating dinner.


Happy 4th of July!

Goodmorning Glory

This morning Raul, Sugar, Wilson, and I decided to go out to breakfast. There is a resterant that is over in Seal Beach called River's End and they allow you to have your dogs eat breakfast with you. Normally we are nervous to take the kids whenever we know there will be other dogs. I guess we are just over protective parents. I told Raul that it would be a good test for them and they were so so extremely good. There were even people who came up and gave them doggie biscuits. The restaurant is so neat. It is right on the beach and you can see the water. After our delightful breakfast we walked over by the water and the dogs had a blast. We climbed some rocks (Wilson had some trouble in the beginning) and the dogs got in the water. Wilson doesn't really know how he feels about the waves that come after him. Suggie loves it. She was walking and the water dropped off a bit and she slipped and got almost her whole body wet. It was a great morning and I just wanted to share it. Oh and Raul had to take this picture of his new bed. It looks like it belonged to a local but I will just let Raul think that it is his.

Just some stuff

I have some great news. My friend Jackie is going to the Olympic Trials in Eugene, OR in the Heptathlon. Good luck Jackie!!! I wish that I could go to the Trials but it just wasn't in the cards for me. Plus I have a really busy weekend followed by a jam packed fun fourth of July. Saturday I am going to the Greek Theater with one of my co-workers Myrna. We are going to see Cindy Lauper and the B52's. I am really excited to go. When I was living in Phoenix (the year before I moved to Idaho) I won Cindy Lauper tickets on 99.9 but never picked them up...so I guess this is my second chance.

Sunday I am going away to Horse Camp. I am in charge of 48 girls and a few adults. I hope to have a lot of fun but it is going to be pretty hot. Lots of water right? I get back from Horse Camp on July 2nd and then it is 4th of July Frenzy fun. My best friends from Phoenix are coming out to Cali. Nan, Chuck, and Katie. Last time they were out we had a blast. I am really happy that they are coming out. So we don't really have too many exciting things planned, just Pinkberry and the beach. That works for me. I think Kelly's boyfriend will take us surfing again and we can play volleyball too. I will let you know how things go.

Taking a step back

First of all, I want to welcome Tim and Mary to the BLOGGING world (Raul's parents). Your blog looks great. Love you guys.

I have been waiting to post these pictures. They are from the weekend that Kath was in town and the first week in June at the Girl Scouts big fundraising event Sunset in Naples. There was a silent auction where I won the "Zoo" for "Two" (Two tickets to the San Diego Zoo and the LA Zoo). I was really excited about that!

This picture was taken when we were on the Queen Mary. This is downtown Long Beach and that is our Yacht....sometimes we rent it out on the weekends. :)

When Kath was visiting we went to Shoreline village. These pictures are just of us acting silly. I really liked my hat though. Raul can look good even with a chicken on his head.

This was us at Sunset in Naples. Here you see Raul and Katie posing for the camera. We had so much fun. We rode on the Gondolas and bid on some fun stuff. Doesn't my boyfriend clean up well?

And last but not least...our Babies. When Raul was gone to Nationals we received a package in the mail from aunt Kath. We all got really fun gifts...I got two towels and more fun stuff, Raul got "BooBerry" cereal, and Wilson and Sugar got toys...by the way they loved them! Thanks Kath.

Lets play catch up in Audra's life

Last time I posted Raul was coming back from Nationals. That seriously seems like forever and it was only about a week. My summer life has finally started! We started summer camp at work and I was down at our water front property all week. Even though I had to work, it was nice to be by the water. It is not as hot. I felt like I had worked a million hours and then Saturday I went white water rafting up in Kernville, CA on the Kern River with work. My job is awesome! I get to go white water rafting with a bunch of girls. The drive was so long, we had to go through Bakersfield, so that gives you an idea about where I was. It took us about 3 1/2 hours to get there. But the day was great and we had so much fun. I didn't get home until about 9:30 pm. Then we (Raul and I) decided to go hike up Mt. Baldy. It was about 4.6 miles up and 3.1 miles down (we took the ski lift the rest of the way down) and it took us 2 1/2 hours. It was hard for me. I kept taking 20 second brakes. Raul is a trooper. He is so mentally tough when it comes to this stuff and I like to pretend I am going to die. The one thing I will say is that I never think of quiting. I am really happy that we did it as training for Mt. Whitney but Whitney is going to be a suffer fest (thanks Katie) regardless of training or not. I wore really bad shoes (I was definitely not prepared for this hike) and now have two beautiful blisters on my heels and a sunburn on my neck. But getting to the top is the best part. I had the biggest smile on my face and the view was beautiful. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures but I wanted to post it anyway. This is of Mt. Borah in Idaho just to remind you of being at the top of any mountain! Glorious!!!