Vanocni vecere - Christmas dinner 13. 12. 2009

This year I am going to be in Africa at Christmas, so I had my early Christmas dinner with friends a little bit earlier. We had traditional Czech fried carp, potato salad, Christmas cookies, gift exchange, and watched Czech Cindarella and Russian "Mrazik" :) I had great time!
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Tento rok budu v Africe pres Vanoce a tak jsem usporadala Ceskou vanocni veceri s kamarady o neco drive. Meli jsme tradicniho smazeneho kapra, bramborovy salat, vanocni cukrovi, vymenu darku a divali jsme se na Tri orisky pro popelku a Mrazika! :) Byl to super vecer!
FOTKY

Metallica 12.12.09

Just a couple of days before Christmas Metallica ended their tour in San Jose! It was great and LOUD concert!
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Jen par dni pred vanoci Metallica ukoncila turne v San Jose. Byl to skvely a HLUCNY koncert!
FOTKY

Emigrant Wilderness - Relief Valley 24.-25.10. 09

The weather in California has been very warm this year so we - Jeff, Eric and I took advantage of it and went backpacking to Emigrant Wilderness. I was there about two weeks ago with Petra and Miro, but in this two weeks the fall made beautiful changes! The tree colors were amazing! Eric had in mind to reach Granite Dome, but Jeff and I expected more relaxed backpacking. And we won :) By 4 pm we found nice campsite, made fire and enjoyed evening with conversation and wine. On Sunday we hiked a little bit on rocks above us, but we were far away from reaching Granite Dome - at least we have excuse to come back. After lunch with great views we went back to the campsite, hiked to the car and around 4 pm were leaving wilderness.
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Pocasi v Kalifornii je neuveritelne teple tento rok a tak Jeff, Eric a ja jsme toho vyuzili a jeli do Emigrant Wilderness. Ja jsem tam byla asi pred dvema tydny s Petrou a Mirem, ale za ty dva tydny podzim udelal nadherne zmeny! Zbarveni listi na stromech bylo uzasne! Eric chlel zvladnout vylezt na Granite Dome, ale Jeff a ja jsem chteli vice odpocinkovy vylet. A taky jsme vyhrali! Kolem 4 odpoledne jsme nasli pekne misto na stanovani, udelali ohen a uzili si vecer konversace u vina. V nedeli jsme si vyslapli na skaly nad nami, ale byli jsme daleko od dosazeni Granite Dome - alespon mame vymluvu proc se vratit zpet. Po obede s krasnymi vyhledy jsem sli zpet ke stanum, pak zpet k autu a kolem 4 odpoledne jsme odjizdeli domu.
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Vancouver 14. - 18. 10. 09

My trip to Vancouver had two main reasons – visa and friend visit. I had to go to US consulate to get my working H1 visa in my passport, but it could have been in many different places, since my very good friend Iva lives in Vancouver, the choice was easy. I arrived to Vancouver Tuesday around 11 pm. It was small adventure since that day was in Bay area such a storm and heavy rain, and I was really surprised that the flight had only about 45 minutes delay. Wednesday morning I had 9.30 am appointment for my visa interview. The whole procedure was so difficult that it took couple of hours to get to talk to somebody, but I got my visa without any problems so all the wait was worth it! I had to come back again on Friday to pick up my passport, but till then I could enjoy Vancouver. Afternoon I spent mainly in Stanley Park, which is nice big park near Iva’s place. Unfortunately on Wednesday and Thursday Iva had school after her work, so we didn’t have much time to spend together. On Thursday I went to hike up Grouse Mountain, which is peak close to Vancouver, it should have nice views, but it was quite cloudy. Friday was raining quite a lot, so I stayed at the apartment in the morning and helped Iva with some school work, then picked up my passport and did some souvenir shopping. In the evening we went for a drink with Petr, one of her friend. On Saturday Iva had again school and it was raining a lot, so I spent the morning working on my computer and then later I came to meet her at one shopping center. In the afternoon we went for hike with Petr and some other friends, where we managed to get soaking wet. We ended up the day in swimming pool and then Petr invited us for nice Slovakian dinner and movie at his place. It was great! Sunday was my departure day, and we only managed to go for short walk in Stanley Park. Then I went to airport to catch my afternoon flight.
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Muj vylet do Vancouveru mel dva hlavni duvody – visa a navsteva kamaradky. Musela jsem jet na Americky konzulat, abych dostala me pracovni visa H1 do pasu, ale to mohlo byt na spouste ruznych mist. Protoze ale moje jedna z nejlepsich kamaradek bydli ve Vancouveru, vyber byl jednoduchy. Do Vancouveru jsem prijela kolem 11 vecer. Bylo to male dobrodruzstvi, protoze ten den v San Jose a okoli byla velka bourka se silnym destem a ja jsem byla skutecne mila prekvapena, kdyz let mel jen 45 minut zpozdeni. Ve stredu v 9.30 jsem mela byt na americkem konzulatu abych si pozadala o visa. Cely proces zabral par hodin ale nastesti, kdyz jsem se dostala naradu, tak vse probehlo bez problemu a tak cele cekani stalo zato!. Musela jsem si zpet pro pas prijit v Patek, ale do te doby jsem si mohla uzivat Vancouveru. Odpoledne jsem stravila v Stanley Parku, coz je pekny velky park blizko mista, kde Iva bydli. Nanestesti ve stredu a ctvrtek Iva mela po praci skolu, a tak jsem nemeli moc prilezitosti neco spolu podniknout. Ve ctvrtek jsem se vydala na hour Grouse, coz je kopec kousek od Vancouveru, je z nej pekny vyhled, ale bylo docela zamraceno. V patek docela prselo a tak jsem zustala rano v byte a pomohla jsem Ive s nejakou skolni praci, pak jsem si vyzvedla pas a koupila nejake suvenyry. Vecer jsme sli na sklenicku s Petrem, jednim Ivinim kamaradem. V sobotu mela Iva zase skolu a zase hodne prselo, tak jsem stravila rano pracovanim na pocitaci a pak jsem se potkala s Ivou v jednom nakupnim stredisku. Odpoledne jsme vyrazili na prochazku s Petrem a dalsimi dvema kamarady, a tam se nam taky podarilo se dokonale promocit. Skoncili jsme v bazenu a pak nas Petr pozval na velice dobrou slovenskou veceri a film u nej doma. Byl to skvely vecer! V nedeli jsem odjizdela a tak se nam jen podarilo vyjit si na kratkou prochazku ve Stanley parku a pak jsem jela na letiste na muj odpoledni odlet do San Francisca.
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Kennedy Lake - Emigrant Wilderness 10. - 11.10. 09

This weekend I planned long time ago, I was supposed to go backpacking with Eric as part of our “getting ready for Kilimanjaro”, but he managed to hurt his back a week before so it looked that I will stay at home. Luckily Petra and Miro were planning to go backpacking too and they suggested that I can go with them. We went to Emigrant wilderness, which is between Yosemite NP and Lake Tahoe. I haven’t been here yet, so I was glad to visit new place. We decided to go on Saturday early morning (I got up about 4.30 am) and we managed to be by trailhead around 10 am. Actually earlier than our usual start if we drive on Friday. The hike wasn’t very challenging, about 8 miles, some up, but mostly leveled. It had some nice views and we met quite a few people on horses. When we got to our destination – Kennedy Lake, we also saw a couple of cows. We found nice place for camping, built tents, made a fire and enjoyed great evening by nice hot flames. In the morning we didn’t want to go straight back to the car, but since we slept little bit longer then we supposed to, we didn’t have much time for extra hiking. Our ideas where to go were different, so Petra and Miro tried to climb up to the slope above our campsite, I went to rocks further pass the lake. We decided to be back by 12.30 so we leave the lake by 1 pm. The hike back took us longer than we expected and we arrived at our car around 6 pm.
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Tento vikend jsem mela naplanovany uz hodne davno, mela jsem jit na turu s Erikem jako cast nasi pripravy na Kilimanjaro, ale Erikovi se podarilo si vyhodit zada tyden predtim a tak to skoro vypadalo, ze zustanu doma. Nastesti Petra a Miro planovali jit do hor taky a tak me navrhli, abych se k nim pridala. Sli jsme do Emigrant wilderness, coz je mezi Yosemitama a Lake Tahoe. Jeste jsem tam nebla a tak jsem byla rada, ze uvidim neco noveho. Rozhodli jsem se vyjet v sobotu brzo rano (vstavala jsem asi v 4.30) a zvladli jsme byt na zacatku tury kolem 10. Bylo to vlastne drive nez nas obvykly start, kdyz vyjizdime v patek. Cesta nabyla moc narocna, asi 13 km, trochu do kopce, ale vetsinu po rovine, krasne vyhledy do krajiny a potkali jsme i nekolik lidi na konich. Kdyz jsme dorazili k cili – Kennedy lake, videli jsme take nekolik krav. Nasli jsme pekne misto na kempovani, postavili stany, udelali ohen a uzivali si krasneho vecera u teplych plamenu. Rano jsme nechteli primo vyrazit k autu, ale protoze jsem spali trochu dele nez jsme meli, nemeli jsme moc casu na turu navic. Nase napady kam jit byly odlisne, a tak Petra a Miro se pokusili vyskrabat na kopec nad mistem kde jsme stanovali, ja jsem sla na skaly za jezerem. Dohodli jsme se ze budeme zpatky do 12.30 abychom pred 13 hodinou odesli od jezera. Cesta zpatky nam trvala dele, nez jsem predpokladali a tak jsme prisli k nasemu autu kolem 18 hodiny.
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Yosemite - Young Lakes 19.-20.9. 09

Another weekend backpacking! The great Californian weather invites for outdoor activities, so this weekend Honza and I went to Yosemite for the weekend. We got permits for hike to Young lakes, which are three small lakes about 7 miles north from Tuolumne Meadows. We made it to the third one, the highest one, which had the greatest views. On Sunday we climbed little bit further for better views and Honza even went to "cool down" in the lake. The hike back was mainly downhill so around 3 pm we were back by our car.
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Dalsi vikend kempovani! Uzasne Kalifornske pocasi jen laka k aktivitam v prirode, a tak Honza a ja jsme jeli do Yosemit na vikend. Dostali jsme povoleni ke kempovani u jezer Young, coz jsou 3 male jezera asi 11 km severne od Tuolumne Meadows. Zvladli jsme to az k tomu tretimu, ktere melo nejhezci okoli. V nedeli jsme jeste vylezli jeste kousek vys abychom se rozhledli po krajine a Honza se dokonce i schladil v jezere. Cesta zpet byla vpodstate jen zkopce a tak jsme kolem 3 odpoledne byli zpet u naseho auta.

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Deer Lake - Trinity Alps 5.-7. 9. 2009

Long weekend = backpacking trip! This backpacking trip was a great example that plans are made only so we can change them later! The first planned destination was Thousand Island Lake in Ansel Adams Wilderness, but about week before the trip we found out, that the permits are all gone. We changed our destination for Hoover Wilderness, where we could get permits just before the hike, but the day before leaving we were also told that the area is quite full of smoke from fire from Yosemite, so about one hour before leaving for the weekend we decided for one backpack in Trinity Alps. Petra Fantova, Petra Vyjidakova, Miro, Martin, Ryan, Lakshan and I left around 9 pm on Friday for about 5 hour drive to Trinity Alps. Around 2 am we found a spot by road near our destination and in the morning we picked up our permits and around noon started our backpacking trip. We had to climb about 4000 feet in 6 miles, and since everybody in our group was in different shape we split on the way. Petra F, Petra V., Miro and I climbed up the hill first and since it was cold we decided not to wait for the rest of our group. We just made arrows so the other group (without map) know where to go and finished the hike to the Deer lake. Unfortunately we didn't see the other three guys until the next day. As we learned later, Martin, Ryan and Lakshan didn't see our marks and took the wrong path. When they realized their mistake it was quite late so they stopped and camped by a stream. One of the downsides of this unexpected adventure was, that the guys were carrying tents where Petra V. and I should sleep, so we had to spend the night just under the sky. After we met the next day, we just made short day trip to Summit lake and move our camping to the guys' spot since it looked a little bit nicer. The third day we said bye to the mountains and descend back to the car. After stop at Reading for pizza dinner we got home around midnight.
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Prodlouzeny vikend = kempovani v prirode! Tento vylet byla prikladna ukazka, ze plany se delaji proto, aby se mohly pozdeji zmenit! Nas prvni planovany vylet byl k jezeru Thousand Island, ale asi tyden pred odjezdem jsme zjistili, ze uz nejsou povoleni pro kempovani v teto oblasti. Zmenili jsme nas cil cesty na Hoover wilderness, ale den pred vyletem jsme se dozvedeli ze oblast je plna koure od pozaru v Yosemitech, nakonec jsme se asi hodinu pred odjezdem rozhodli pro Trinity Alps. Petra Fantova, Petra Vyjidakova, Miro, Martin, Ryan, Lakshan a ja jsem vyrazili v 9 vecer asi na petihodinovou cestu. Kolem 2 rano jsme nasli misto u silnice kde jsme prenocovali, rano jsme vyzvedli povoleni na kempovani a kolem poledne jsme vyrazili na turu. Museli jsme se zdolat 1200 m prevyseni v 10 km a protoze kazdy mel trochu jinou kondicku, tak jsme se trochu rozdelili. Petra F, Petra V., Miro a ja jsme se vyskrabali na kopec jako prvni, ale protoze byla zima, rozhodli jsme se, ze nebudeme cekat a jen jsme udelali znacky, aby druha cast skupiny (bez mapy) vedela kam jit a dokoncili nasi turu k jezeru Deer. Nanestesti jsme zbyle tri chlapce uz ten den nevideli. Jak jsme se dozvedeli pozdeji, Martin, Ryan a Lakshan nevideli nase znaceni a vydali se spatnou cestou. Kdyz si uvedomili svou chybu, bylo uz pomerne pozde a tak zustali u jednoho potoku kempovat. Jednou nevyhodou tohoto necekaneho dobrodruzstvi bylo, ze kluci meli stany, kde Petra V. a ja jsme mely spat a tak jsme musely prespat pod sirakem. Pote co jsme se potkali druhy den jsme udelali jen kratky vylet k jezeru Summit a pak prestehovali nase kempovani ke klukum, kde bylo o neco hezceji. Treti den jsme se rozloucili s horama a sesli zpet k autu. Po zastavce v Readingu na veceri jsme dojeli domu kolem pulnoci.
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