Tuesday, April 26, 2005

LA Visit for My Birthday

So I am back from Los Angeles. I flew Northwest and arrived last Thursday. I left Monday morning, and woke up at 4:30 a.m. to get to the airport. I have to say, Northwest is pretty stingy. They sell little box of food that only has snack food for $3 instead of sandwich or anything substantial. It was a good thing I brought my own food.

Anyway, on my birthday morning, Saturday, I dragged my parents out for a little hike at Charmlee Wilderness Park. This park is in Malibu and is about 30-40 minutes away from where my parents live. It's not a long or strenuous hike (it's actually too easy to be called a hike), but a beautiful hike because of wildflowers during spring and the panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean. Fortunately, we didn't run into any rattle snakes. I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of a rabbit (brown) that scampered past us. It was a gorgeous, fog-free day, and I loved soaking in the view of the ocean. I miss it!!

Early next morning, I made my sister drive me down to the beach and spent the morning browsing through our Sunday newspaper, sipping our boba drink (ahhh I miss those too), eating our donut holes, and just chilled out for a while. I never said I was a health nut. I chased the waves and a sandpiper, trying to get a closeup. It turns out, we parked our car a little too far down... because we missed all the surfers further up North! Good surfers always make riding waves look so easy. ;)

All in all a great weekend because I got to see everything I wanted, spent time with my family, and shopped like a fiend at Camarillo Premium Outlet Store. =P

I may go see "To Kill a Mockingbird" in Monroeville or Indian burial grounds this weekend. If anyone actually knows the name of the flowers I took pictures of, I would love to know. I'm not diligent enough to research. =P
Ducks in my parents' swimming pool.

First of many flowering plants at Charmlee Wilderness Park.

There were lots of yellow flowers.

And purple flowers. No, I don't know any plants' names because I'm not a botanist! Sad because there were lots of wildflowers.

These flowers all around the hiking trail, on the side, out in the fields.

A close up of the yellow flowers.

My mom and my dad hiking ahead of me towards the Pacific Ocean.

An open field that we hiked by to get to the vista point.

I mistook these bugs for roaches and freaked out for a while.

Purple flowers springing from the bush, with Pacific Ocean in the background.

White flowers that were about to bloom in full.

There was an empty reservoir where somebody created this symbol with stones and rocks.

More flowering bushes, all cluttered together.

See the path down the middle? More to go to get to the full vista point. But the view from the midway point, open fields canvassed by the ocean, was still a sight to see.

Red flower. There weren't many of these.

The bushes behind the yellow flowers blocked a view to the open field.

My mom and my dad turning.

Pacific Ocean peeking through between the fields.

Another kind of purple flowers.

A full view of the Pacific Ocean. Down below is the Pacific Coast Highway. A shame that houses stand between the fields and the ocean.

Close up of blue flowers.

My mom and my dad taking a little rest.

My mom and me in the middle of the flowering field and ocean in the background.

Ahhh. This is what I love about Southern California.

Fuzzy little thistles hold the white flowers up.

It's not a cactus but a very unusual flower.

I enjoyed a Sunday morning by the beach. Can't really see Santa Monica but it's down there.

This is Topanga Beach, I think. They all blur together.

Dogs enjoy the beach too.

A sandpiper kept getting away from me but I got a picture.

And a parting shot. Posted by Hello

My Office Mates and My Boss

Well, my clerkship is almost coming to an end; I started August of 2004. My colleague, Anthony, started June of 2004; his last day will be this Friday. Our entire office all went out to lunch to wish Anthony well. Front, left to right, are: Anthony, Joi, Justice See, Deanna. Back, left to right, are: me, Chenoa.
From left to right, front: Anthony, Joi, Justice See, and Deanna Posted by Hello

Monday, April 18, 2005

Reading, Disney on Ice, and Relaxing

Last Saturday afternoon, I went with my co-workers and their kids to see Disney on Ice. Totally corny and cheesy, but I liked the show (well, since I do like to watch figure skating, I'm probably biased). I didn't think that I could take pictures so I didn't bring my camera. Turns out, there were flashbulbs going off throughout the show. Some of the skaters didn't quite land their jumps but overall, it was pretty entertaining especially for the kids. At one point, they had Lion King song "Hakuna Matata" with Lion King characters on ice. It brought back memories of my law school days, when a classmate of mine sang "res judicata" to it. If you are not a lawyer, don't worry, you aren't missing much; it's just a concept in civil procedure that once an issue is decided, it's final. But the latin words sure fit well with Hakuna Matata song. ;)

Unfortunately, the outing took place at 3 p.m., Saturday. So I didn't really have time to go anywhere on Saturday and I was way too lazy to figure out where to go on Sundays. It doesn't help that not a lot of things are open on Sundays. So I enjoyed a nice relaxing, sunny weekend, catching up on some readings. I have this goal of doing another blog listing all the books I read with essays/critiques of them. Hopefully, I will get to start it this week. I finished "A Pale View of Hills" by Kazuo Ishiguro and "The Kite Runner" by by Khaled Hosseini over the weekend. Both were beautifully crafted books; A Pale View unfolding tension and drama through its deceptively understated dialogues and The Kite Runner through its heartaching plot line.

This coming weekend, I am flying back home to Los Angeles. The Alabama state government celebrates Confederate Memorial Day on April 25, and I am quite happy to use the extra 3 day holiday to be back in California for a little while. :) I intend to take advantage of 8.75% sales tax in California to buy some new clothes (Montgomery's sales tax is 10%! Rather ironic to me).

Sunday, April 10, 2005

All about the Waterfalls -- DeSoto Falls, Little River Falls

Saturday started foggy but turned into a crisp spring day, perfect for spending some time outside. I drove nearly 3 hours north to near Fort Payne. Although I didn't get to spend any time at Fort Payne (sock capital of the world... athletic socks were invented here and 1 in every 7 pairs of socks sold in the US is from here), I very much enjoyed the waterfalls and gorgeous scenery of DeSoto State Park and Little River Canyon National Preserve.

I stopped by the DeSoto Falls first. This fall is located in DeSoto State Park. It's a 100 foot waterfall, with a dam creating a serene mountain lake at the top of the fall. I've never seen a waterfall that big before so I was rather mesmerized.

DeSoto State Park spans 3,000 acres, and has approximately 8 miles of hiking trails. I decided to hike and enjoy the nature first hand. Unfortunately, I also got lost (even with remarkably clearly marked blue/orange trail marks pretty much on every other tree), and got myself to hike 2 1/2 hours instead of 1 1/2 hour. I chalked it up to getting more exercise.

Then I went about 10 miles south of DeSoto State Park to check out Little River Canyon National Preserve. Little River begins from NW Georgia and NE Alabama and flows down Lookout Mountain and flows into Weiss Lake. This river was awarded "Outstanding National Resource Water" for its water quality. It's also one of the few rivers in America that flows almost the entire length on top of a mountain.

Little River Canyon is one of the deepest canyons east of Mississippi. The Canyon is approximately 17 miles long, with an average depth of 400 feet. The deepest point is 700 feet. I REALLY wanted to hike at Eberhart Point, which takes you all the way down to the Little River, and you can admire 600 foot sandstone wall once you reach the bottom. But after getting myself lost on a hike earlier that day, I was simply pooped. So I settled for taking myself on a 23-mile scenic drive along Little River Canyon Rim Parkway. The pictures I post here simply don't do justice to the breathtaking views I saw.

All in all, it was a great day, and I was quite happy to enjoy a fine spring day. Until next week!
DeSoto Falls beginning with water rushing over a dam.

DeSoto Falls continues down.

I couldn't quite capture the spectacular 100 feet DeSoto Falls. So this will have to do. Posted by Hello
Cavernous canyons ending the DeSoto Falls.

Serene lake starts the DeSoto Falls.

I hiked at DeSoto State Park by following blue trail. But I still got lost.

There were many rivers like this one on my hike.

Spring time is quite evident at the park, like this flower!

But the flowers were quite small.

I hiked the Lost Falls Trail, and this is the Lost Falls.

Standing on top of the Lost Falls.

I had to cross the stream that flowed into the Lost Falls. Posted by Hello
Boardwalk that began and ended my hike.

I took a 23 mile scenic drive, Little River Canyon Rim Parkway. Little River Falls was the first stop.

Little River Falls, kinda far but it was gorgeous.

Little River runs 10 miles south of DeSoto State Park and has carved Little River Canyon.

Hawks were gliding around the Hawk's Glide.

The Little River Canyon is one of the deepest chasms east of the Mississippi River.

I couldn't resist taking a picture with me and the canyon.

Little River runs in the LIttle River Canyon National Preserve.

A different shot of the river and the canyons.

Grace's High Fall is one of the highest waterfall in Alabama.

Eberhart Point marks the midpoint of the Little River Canyon Preserve.

This is the view from Eberhart Point.

Trees like this one reminded me it really is spring.

On my way back, I saw magenta colors peaking and blooming along the highways. Posted by Hello