Nature — Blog — Velvet Mixtape

(Listen to the playlist for the full experience)

This may make you question my authenticity as a Californian, but I'd never been to Yosemite during my 10+ years of living in California. And it was about time I changed that. The perfect opportunity arose when some of my friends got the permit to hike Half Dome. Was I up for it? No, I am deadly afraid of heights. And I was not the only one hesitating amongst our group of friends. So some of us decided to make this into a "glamping" (glamorous camping) trip while others fought for their lives, climbing up the notorious Half Dome Trail.

So what did our glamping trip looked like? Well we only had one full day, the day when everyone else went up on that deadly hike, and that day went like this: Sleep in, make ourselves a delicious breakfast, do yoga in the cabin, go on a relatively-short walk (Lower Yosemite Falls & Swinging Bridge areas), swim, eat lunch, take a nap, read, play music, and BBQ. If that sounds like your kind of trip, then friend, you are reading the right post.

Yosemite was as beautiful as I had imagined. Witnessing the greatness of the nature is always such a humbling experience. We are so vulnerable before the huge mountains, wild animals, and weather conditions, aren't we? Sometimes I would just stop and look around to soak in the world around me. And that alone was such a healing and restorative experience.

But what was especially great about our glamping trip was that though I didn't get to work out my body as much, I really got to work out my mind and heart. I got to sit on our patio and just journal, meditate, pray, read, and listen to music. That kind of retreat is so needed sometimes, isn't it?

We cheated and made s'mores in microwaves. But hey, who's going to say no to s'mores done ANY WAY?

But of course, the best part of the trip was when the whole gang got to be together. Turned out the Half Dome Crew had a miserably long 20-something mile hike that was both exhausting and frightening (so no FOMO on my side, thank you). When they returned to the cabin as almost-dead bodies, we the Glamping Crew welcomed them with some delicious food. And we just all got to eat, drink, and laugh together, and nothing could be better.

On a side note, it was so heartbreaking to see just how bad the drought has been affecting the nature. A lot of the trees have either withered or burned, and it was so devastating. The trip made me become more serious about saving water, because there's nothing more real than the nature slapping you in the face with reality.

Summer cabin trip hack: If you have leftover watermelon at the end of the trip, blend it up to make watermelon smoothie for the last breakfast before heading back home

Summer is finally coming to an end, and I am very sad about that. I will miss the sweet, sweet watermelons, the perfect weather of summer nights, all the awesome trips, white wines, BBQs, and everything else Summer lets us enjoy. But these great memories of the summer will sustain me until the next one comes around (hopefully). Goodbye for now, Summer!

(Listen to the playlist for the full experience)

It feels a bit ironic to share this now (I'd kind of lost the timing), but I thought it might be a refreshing post in the midst of the heatwave.. so here we go.

Sometimes, life calls for an adventure. Adventure is different from disaster, because most of the time, it's somewhat voluntary, and it usually comes with a reward. And this post is about a short adventure I had.

I arrived at Mount Davidson early evening on an extremely foggy day, with two people I had just met (long story). We had met in a semi-professional setting (we were out there to shoot together, since they're professional photographers), but when I got to the closed-off entrance to the dark hazy trail, I have to admit I was a little scared.

They both looked at me, slightly concerned. "Sorry, we didn't expect it to be this foggy. If you feel uncomfortable, you can stay out. But we're going in anyway..." Clearly there was no one on that trail. Perhaps there were wild animals, perhaps dead bodies. What if these people were murderers?! I heard the creepy music from the podcast "Serial" in my head. I pondered the offer for a few seconds, then eventually agreed to join their journey.

This is unusual, because I'm usually terrified: not over certain things, but just terrified in general. I have multiple phobias. I have all kinds of anxieties. But for some reason, my heart was in. So in we went.

Obviously nothing happened to me, and that evening ended up being one hell of a memory. The eerie silence, the blurred images through the fog, the weird combination of fear and excitement.. It was surreal.

Fog can be scary. You can't see what's inches in front of you. But once you step into the fog, you realize it's not so bad. If anything, it's calm, soft, and quiet inside the fog. This particular experience made me wonder how much I've been missing out because of my fear. How many times did I step away from something because I was scared? What is there to fear so much about uncertainty?

If you're ever in San Francisco on a foggy day (which is NOT hard to come across), go for a walk to Mount Davidson. It'll bring you the kind of peace and quiet that you don't get to experience often. I saw later that there was even an iconic cross at the top of the hill - an area to be explored on a less foggy (and slippery) day.