That Yosemite Summer

After a raucous going-away/graduation party that ended in a drunken stupor of familiar bodies strewn about the house, the following morning was dedicated to a much needed breakfast with the best of friends and copious amounts of orange juice to alleviate the hangover. My imminent departure was met with last-minute, tear-stained hugs followed by bouts of hysterical laughter.

I'm not going to lie, it was a daunting task to be leaving behind the comfort of family and friends that had my back no matter the circumstances. I can't even express the amount of times that my shenanigans had gotten me into a situation where I needed my close friends to bail me out. That being said, I knew that my friends were, in essence, there for me no matter the distance. The amount of support and endless love that I had received (and luckily continue to, to this day) left me feeling confident about my endeavor.

Truth be told, it was a long arduous, dehydrated journey for me. I left much later than I wanted to (not until midday) filled with endless stops to get my bearings and pick up last minute necessities. I didn't even end up leaving the Inland Empire until sometime around 1pm, which made my trip quite long.

I didn't reach the park entrance until about 8pm. I was greeted by a cheery park ranger at the entrance. I informed him that I was arriving into the park to work.

"Is this your first time coming in?"
"Yup."
"Welcome!" he happily declared. "Go right on in!"

Exhausted and thrilled to have arrived, I didn't realize I still had about another hour left on my journey. I was set to work in Wawona, which is a mere 5 miles from the Southern Gate entrance that I had just passed through. But first, I had to stop by the Yosemite Valley, another 35 miles and the heart of Yosemite National Park for a weeklong orientation. For someone at this point severely exhausted and not particularly used to driving through mountain roads, this was an ordeal. I remember stopping at least three times just to get my head straight.

But eventually, I got there. I gazed up at El Capitan bathed in the moonlight, the largest granite monolith in the world and a favorite for climbers and gleefully noticed all the headlamps atop it's face, climbers' setting up shop for the night, continuing their climb the following day. It was the night of the Supermoon, I remember vividly loving the view of the roads and forest being illuminated by the moonlight. I learned after the fact that such a thing as a moonbow exists and that this would have been a prime opportunity to view it at the base of Yosemite Falls. I never did get a chance to see the moonbow that summer due to scheduling conflicts with work and eventually it was warm enough that the seasonal falls (including Yosemite Falls) had dried out. I do vow to return and see it, one day!

The first week was filled with endless encounters with new people, each that I absolutely adored. I tell you, it takes a certain kind of person to drop everything and live in a national park for a summer. There was an instant sense of camaraderie and acceptance that I have yet to discover anywhere else. There is without a doubt a sense a family that comes about amongst the employees. Never was there an instant in which I went anywhere within the park that I wasn't welcomed with open arms.

It's an interesting sensation being cut apart from all connections. I think given the circumstances of being away from society and most of us being without any means of contacting friends and family outside the park further encouraged us to just... live in the moment. The experience was almost like a no holds barred summer camp experience for adults.

My roommate and I, who were holed up in a small and hot room with three bunk beds (that's SIX people, count em, and a whole lotta bags) met up with some fellas who inarguably had some of the best temp housing setup yet so we decided to just squat with them. Two people to a room!? Yeah, you do the math.

On one of those first nights we all we started to hear a steady drum beat. We ended up following the drum out towards the Merced River where we encountered a small gathering of other employees, just hanging out and having a good time. On our way back later that night as we drunkenly stumbled back to our employee housing I remember a majestic stag crossing our path, it's antlers raised high and it's eyes illuminated by the red light of our headlamps.

This was it.

We were in the wild.

x

>> THE CATALYST

But hey, lets start from the beginning....

Mid-March of 2013 I finished my last class of at UCR. I spent the next few months working odd jobs like being a baby photographer or tutoring kids while I waited for the ceremony to roll around.

Somewhere along the way one of my oldest friends and I planned a trip to the Grand Canyon. It's funny, the plan was to do it on a whim. Planning to do something on a whim sounds kind of funny, doesn't it? Anyway, one of our other friends kind of laughed in our faces and wanted to one-up us; he said instead we should all go to Yosemite for a hiking trip and if we had time on the way back go to the Grand Canyon.

We're all a pretty laid-back, adventurous sort so we didn't really care. We were in good company and knew it was going to be one hell of a time.

Little did I know how much good would come out of it...

We spent two nights camped out with beautiful sequoias and ponderosa pines surrounding us. The weather was absolutely perfect, it being a beautifully sunny yet crisp few days and all. We spent our days exploring the Yosemite Valley wilderness that was available to us, we were in complete awe for the duration of our stay.

For the first two days there were arguments among us about doing The Mist Trail which goes all the way to the top of Half Dome, which is the standard for what most people imagine when they think of Yosemite. The argument was, well, the hike was 14 miles round trip. Besides the friend suggesting this hike, we weren't really much hikers and the idea of doing 14 miles seemed mind-boggingly impossible. Luckily, there was this older couple sharing a space with us that told us it wasn't as bad as we were making it out to be and just do it. So we did it. Well, a portion of it...

We did about 9 miles round trip, it is known to be a steep hike and going up and up and up is exhausting when you're going for 4.5 miles. It was exhausting but man oh man, was it fulfilling. It took us a few hours, maybe half the day. We were goofing off, taking our time, appreciating the natural beauty around us and cooling our feet on the cold granite alongside the river.

On the way back down we were so exhausted and starving that we decided to treat ourselves with pizza and beer. Well earned, amirite? We ended up at the Curry Village Pizzeria, had our pizza and some Blue Moons when we started chatting with the bartender, Genny. I made some comment to Genny about how awesome it must be to live in the park and work there when she tells me, "It's only $16 a week for housing, you should try it!"

Do you see where I'm going with this? Once the idea was planted, I was kind of determined. I had just graduated, gotten out of a bad relationship, working crappy dead-end jobs... this was going to be my saving grace, but I wasn't going to tell anyone. There was just no way that I was going to hype up getting a job in Yosemite just to end up not getting it, I had to save face.

So I did. I spent a month going through phone interviews and waiting to hear back. Then one day I did the final interview with my soon-to-be manager. I spoke with Leila about my hiking trip and graduation and just about how much I wanted to be there. "You know, a lot of people come out here to drink and end up calling off when they're hungover..." she tried to dissuade me while I replied with a hearty laugh as I explained, "I just finished with college, I'm not going out there for the drink." Ha! I don't want to say that was a bold-faced lie, I meant it with every inch of my entire being. I just didn't realize it at the time that these people would show me a thing or two about how to drink properly.

But I digress. Leila and I completed the final interview with her saying that she had to do three more interviews and she'd call me back but that I was definitely a forerunner. I hung up excited and told my mom because moms don't count when you're keeping things from your close friends. Not an hour later I receive the call offering me the position and as we worked out the details of when I was expected to arrive the anticipation grew so to the point that when I hung up I screamed and jumped for joy and hugged my tiny little mother so very tightly and she laughed with me in excitement as she saw her youngest daughter with tears in her eyes and oh so very happy.

I'm not going to lie, leaving home was hard and heartbreaking. The last two weeks spent with my best friends was nothing short of sweet, with all of us laughing and joking; refusing to acknowledge that I was leaving until the day itself came in which we all crumpled into a heap of tears and hugging arms only to emerge not a minute later into abrupt, hysterical laughter.

I walked into my house with my tear-stained cheeks to which my mom, still so happy for me, just saw me and smiled her motherly smile knowing full well how hard leaving home for me would be.

I didn't know it just yet but I think in my gut I knew that once I left, I wouldn't be coming back home. At least not permanently and not for a long while.

>> IT'S BEEN AWHILE!

So as the title states... it's been awhile!

Really! It's been nearly a year since I've posted and it's been with good reason. It's been one crazy year:

I earned my Bachelor's of Arts in Psychology from UC  Riverside

threw nearly everything I owned into my car

drove to Yosemite where I spent the next 4 months working at this hotel

and spending my days off hiking and exploring this wilderness

road trip to the Grand Canyon


camped out in Big Sur

suffered the gov't shutdown in San Francisco

moved to Portland where I now reside and really a whole other bunch of stuff in between.

So I guess what I'd like to do now is... fill in the blanks. I'm awfully proud of what I've done this past year and immensely grateful for the friendships and lessons that have arisen out of it. What better way to chronicle than to blog about it retroactively?

Did you know that sharing past happy events is a happifier? Reliving good moments with someone kind of brings those good feelings to the forefront and helps make you happy. Gratitude and nostalgia are some of my favorite feelings, ya dig? So this is a means of sharing and reliving those happy moments and serves as an inspiration to keep moving and keep growing.

My goal is to at least once a week share some type of anecdotal story and maybe something recent along the way.

It's going to be one hell of a ride and I hope you'll stick around.

stockholm syndrome

Yesterday I picked up my dear friend Ruddy and told him he had no say in what we were going to do.

So I picked him up and off we went! My first stop was the LACMA, off of the Venice exit, which I mentioned only to have him inform me that he'd never been to Venice Beach. Well, we can't have that, can we? So rather than taking the right turn for LACMA I turned left and drove straight until we hit the Pacific. I guess he kind of had a say in what we did.

Everyone has to see Venice at least once. So we walked the streets then onto the beach in our museum-best apparel (sweaters, cardigans, collared shirts, and leather boots) from Venice to Santa Monica and back. It was... hot, but well worth it.

After we tired ourselves from the mesmerizing image of waves crashing onto the shore and were hungry enough we headed out to Umami burger to have one of the most delicious burgers around, no joke. We explored their little gallery that they had at some Fred Segal place (who apparently hearts you).

Finally we rushed over to The Getty Center to run from one exhibit to the next in the final hour before they closed.

Live is grand. Be impulsive. Live a little.