Catching up

Dim sum with family in Cupertino. Bryan, Sophie, Jenny, Uncle Johnson, Uncle Peter, Uncle Peter's wife, Papa Ku, Mama Ku, Lei, and Kathy

Mary and Uncle Johnson

Grandpa and Grandma Ku, rest in peace. You both are very loved and missed.

Gate of Heaven Cemetery

Paying our respects

Lake Merritt in Oakland, CA

Gnarly tree!

Cousin Torryn and Aunt Gloria doin work!

Plank on the new couch!

Torryn's new couch that John and I put together!

Cousin Lindsay's pup, Xyla

Clean Pilot!

Ok, it was time to explore San Francisco, and here was the grand tour!

Lake Muir, just north of San Francisco

Quintessential Golden Gate Bridge pic

View of San Fran comin off the Golden Gate

Golden Gate. Plus some sculptures. And a dude with his dog. So Cali.

One of the many San Fran hills!

See how the angle of the sidewalk is different from the angle in the background? Hill!

Look at this crazy street!

Top of Lombard St

Follow the red brick road

Weee, that was fun!

San Fran

More of San Fran

Now entering Chinatown

Cool lantern. And look, I caught birds in the sky!

So not surprised by this in Chinatown

More Chinatown

Lanterns :)

SF trolley

SF houses

Whoa house

*Chirp*chirp*

Japanese Tea Garden in the Golden Gate Park

Hummingbird!!

View of San Fran from Twin Peaks

View of Golden Gate Bridge from Twin Peaks

Hey, San Fran!

That island back there is Alcatraz!

The flowers on this tree look like pink toilet bowl brushes!

Oh my... No no no.....

Mickey's got some competition for Sorcerer's Apprentice!

Cool graffiti in the Mission

I stayed with my aunt Kathy and cousin Lindsay in Palo Alto. Lindsay borrowed a dehydrator from a friend and has been ALL into it!! I'm so glad I was around to share my dehydrator knowledge, and to learn some new things from her too!

Kathy's clay pot chicken. Super simple and delicious!

Dehydrated watermelon, one of my favorites! It's seriously like candy. Try it, you will love it, I promise. If you don't, gimme!!

Decorating my mini guitar

Linds and I made wontons after she took me to my first Bikram Yoga experience!

Cuz that's how we do!

Lindsay, Kathy, and moi. Stayed with them for a couple weeks and had an absolute blast! Wish it didn't have to end!

Came across these grassy rolling hills on the way to Sacramento

Went from one aunt's house to another aunt's house! My cousin, Torryn, came back home to make pasta with me with the pasta roller I gave her for Christmas! Here are a couple homemade pasta dough balls!

Spinach ricotta filling for agnolotti

Torryn rollin some pasta sheets out

Agnolotti and bow-tie success!

Cooked agnolotti

Homemade agnolotti with homemade tomato sauce. C'est magnifique et délicieux!

Awesome dinner

Ok, so now I'm finally caught up!

On my way from Sacramento to Yosemite this morning, I came across this.... this... area........ I quite literally loled!

Outskirts of Yosemite. There was a fire around the rim of the park in December.

Pretty trees

Fire aftermath

To my pleasant surprise, entrance to Yosemite was free today since it was a holiday! Score!! Plus, no fire damage here, only a bounty of beauty!

Purty view

Cool tree

Hiking around was a lot of fun!

Tunnel

 

The trusty Pilot in front of El Capitan

Cool tree!

Can you spot the two deer in this picture? I actually saw a coyote too, right after I got in the park. It was just trotting down the road!

Deer

Bridalveil Fall

Due to the drought, all of the falls are considerably smaller than normal, which meant that you could get a lot closer to them since there wasn't a rushing river at the base. Pretty neat!

Carvings of past Yosemitites

El Capitan!

Hootie couldn't miss Yosemite!

Lower Yosemite Fall

Rock climbers at Lower Yosemite Fall

The very calm and small base of Lower Yosemite Fall

Got real close to this one!

Can you spot the climber?

Such a serene view

Getting up here was so fun! Was like rock hiking :)

Don't get wet, Hootie!

Relaxing

I like the repurposing of trees into benches. I wanna make one :-P

I absolutely loved this view coming out of Yosemite. There were just layers and layers of mountains. So cool :)

Loved all the moss on all these trees!

Phew, you made it through this entire post?! Props to you, my good sport! I'll try to not get so backed up again. What a trooper you are for getting through it! Hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them :) Sequoias tomorrow!!