Matthew Supert

Our third day in the park was our first full day in the Valley. This would have been my day to do the Half Dome, but I unfortunately was unable to obtain a permit to do the hike. What we did instead was hike up the Mist Trail to the Vernal Falls and then ultimately the Nevada Falls. These were both pretty rigorous hikes, but the first portion of the Mist Trail was paved for the first mile or so. I was actually pretty amazed at how many people I saw who seemed unprepared for the hike, wearing sandals and tank tops. 

We ultimately made it up to the Nevada Falls and there was a really nice pool at the top of the water fall to cool our feet off. On our hike down we decided to take the less steep John Muir Trail. This was brutal for Megan and the trip  took quite a while down since it really bothered her knees. 

We also visited the Awahanee Hotel, which is the beautiful hotel in the valley that everyone who has money stays at. 

That evening we went on the stargazing tour, which put us on a bus from the valley back up to Glacier Point. Yes, I did go there a lot. The star gazing tour featured a great tour of  the night sky. We were only able to stay until about 11:00, but you could just barely begin to see the Milky Way coming out. I wish we could have stayed until 2-3 AM though when the Milky Way really comes out. 

You can see all of my photos over at Flickr

Day two in the park had us transferring down to Yosemite Valley. My initial intention on this day was to drive down to the valley and then hike up to Glacier Point. After looking at some maps and seeing some recommendations I noted that it would be quicker for us to just drive up to Glacier Point since it was on our way. This ended up being the ideal solution, especially since Megan's blisters were bad. We were able to get to Glacier Point fairly early in the morning and avoided most of the crowd. We were not disappointed by the view. 

Next, on our way back down the mountain we stopped by Taft Point and Sentinel  Dome. Both of these hikes were very light, approximately 1.1 miles each and both again rewarded us with some great views. They were well worth the hikes and probably my favorite parts of the trip. 

That evening we may our way into the Valley and then checked into Curry Village, with three nights to be spent in the Valley.  

You can see all of my photos over at Flickr

Finally I have had the opportunity to get all of my photos uploaded online from my trip. 

The first two nights in the park we spent at the Wawona Hotel. This was a gorgeous hotel that was built around the turn of the last century. It had a really nice quaint  feel to it and it was one of these places that it is surprising that there was even electricity. It all made for a really quiet experience though. Everyone had the windows open to their rooms and all of the guests were out and about in Adirondack chairs. 

Our first full day at the park was at the Mariposa Grove. This is the most famous grove of Redwoods in the park. We decided to hike the ~6 mile trail from the hotel to the grove. In retrospect I would not have done this again and I would not recommend people to do this in the future. It was not a particularly scenic hike and unfortunately Megan got some major blisters on day one. In the future I would just recommend people to take the shuttle and spend their energy instead hiking up to the vista point in the Mariposa Grove. 

The Wowona Hotel also had an excellent dining room and we had two very nice dinners while were staying there. I had pot roast and trout on each of the nights and the second night I had pine nut pie for dessert.

You can see all of my photos over at Flickr

This past weekend we had the opportunity of having our niece spend the night and this gave Megan and I the perfect opportunity to go out and buy some more games from our favorite game shop, The Wandering Dragon. We of course ended up buying a lot more than we possibly could have played, but we bought the following games.

• Forbidden Island
• The Red Dragon Inn
• Zombie Dice
• Dragon Dice 
• Eye for an Eye

We started out the evening by playing Forbidden Island. I knew as a cooperative game that this would be easy for everyone to play and we ended up having a blast with it. We played two games and had a great time. The next day we also played some Zombie Dice while we ate lunch. 

Later on Saturday I tried to play Dragon Dice with Megan. We sort of got the gist of it, but the rules for the game were pretty terrible. I ended up having to go online the next day to watch some Youtube videos on how to play Dragon Dice. If you are looking for some good videos, these guys over at Youtube have made some really nice videos. In the the end I think the game can be a lot of fun. There is an incredible depth and scalability to this game that I really like. It can be as simple as the starter pack that I bought or much more complex. I find that intriguing. 

FInally I had to buy the Red Dragon Inn as it has become one of my favorite games as of late and I haven't been able to find the original game in many places. When the Wandering Dragon had four copies on their shelf, I had to pick it up. 

Lastly, Megan bought Eye for an Eye, which we unfortunately need at least five people to play. It looks like a cool party game though where it has a sorto f murder mystery aspect to it. 

Last week I had the opportunity to head up to the East Troy electric railroad museum. At first I wasn't quite sure if I was going to enjoy this ride, but in the end it was a really fund day. East Troy appears to have several little historical things in their downtown area focused around an old railway. We took an electric trolley over to a farm house for some lunch, where I had Wisconsin grilled cheese along with some apple pie. We then took the train back to East Troy where we finished off the day with some ice cream at an old fashioned ice cream shop. 

View Ridelog: 07-21-12: C9Y Iowa in a larger map

Yesterday I went on a very long trip with the RTRC group and a few others. We rode our way out to highway C9Y in Iowa. Approximately 543 miles round trip. The trip was a blast and everyone in the group was great.

No motorcyle issues with anyone, but I did have a spin out myself when we stopped on an uphill piece of road that was going to be chip and sealed and only had the chip down. It was basically gravel. It's trips like this one that really make me wish I had a GoPro for my bike as some of the views along the Mississippi River were quite nice.

View Ride Log: 07-15-12 in a larger map

This GPS track unfortunately is only about half of my ride today. I found out that my GPS died about half way through the ride. I am left now not knowing exactly were we rode.

This was another breakfast ride up to Full Moon and then northwest into the Kettle Moraine area of Wisconsin. Overall we had some excellent riding and the roads were great with some fun twisties. Unfortunately, about two thirds of the way into our ride one person in our group crashed in a turn. I didn't see the crash but it was pretty bad. Her bike is likely totaled and she may have a broken leg. Unsure at this point, but it appears she is OK. She was lucky that she did not hit any trees where we were, so count our blessings on that.

So I have totally dropped the ball on updating my donations for the past couple of months, but I plan to get back up to speed on that. 

My April donation is to Rolling Dog Ranch. Rolling Dog Ranch is a rescue ranch for disabled dogs and horses. 

Rolling Dog Farm rescues and shelters disabled dogs and horses. They come to us from humane societies, animal control shelters and rescue groups across the country, literally from coast to coast. Every animal who arrives at the farm gets another chance to have a safe and loving home. Most of our dogs are blind, while some are blind and deaf, and others have neurological and orthopedic issues. Our horses are blind. Although these animals may have disabilities, they do not consider themselves handicapped. They just want to get on with life and enjoy themselves.

Actually Jack Hanna does an amazing job in this video showcasing and explaining the ranch. You can find more information about the work they do as well as information on each of the animals over at their website: http://www.rollingdogfarm.org/ 

This past weekend Megan and I attended the annual L.A.T.E. Ride of Chicago. This is a night bicycle ride through the various neighborhoods of Chicago design to raise money for the parks. It usually has a great turnout of 5,000 - 6,000 people. This year however seems to have a much larger number of people show up. I learned later that there was a Groupon at some point over the past several months.

Unfortunately it seems that this influx of people had a pretty detrimental effect on the overall event. Right out of the gate the starting times were excruciatingly slow. We were in the third group of riders and in the past the organizers generally late groups go about every ten minutes. This year the groups were let out in about twenty minute intervals, so we didn't even get out of the gate until an hour later. 

Pace for the event was excruciatingly slow. Now this is not a race, but it seems that some of the people participating in the event didn't even know the most basic of riding etiquette, riding 6-8 across the street. 

To top it off when we arrived at the rest stop half way through the course all of the water, bananas and snacks were gone. More than half of the participants must have still been on the course, so clearly there was some sort of breakdown in communication. 

Overall not the greatest of events this year, and to top things off the front brake on my bike broke right when we got there. I have a decent Trek 820 that I have had since eighth grade. The bike is in OK shape, but is at least fifteen years old at this point. I think it might be time to get myself a new casual bike for riding around town in addition to a road bike for exercise.