It’s past midnight and I just returned from the temple after sending my prayers and wishes for this new Lunar Year, the year of the Horse. So first off, Happy Lunar New Year! I’m wishing all my fellow readers, supporters, friends, and family great health, wealth, success, laughter and incredible love.

My hiking is just one of the many personal goals for me this year, on top of personal photography, balance and exploring…..and the list goes on. The week has been a roller coaster of emotions for me, with changes at my day work, changes in my home life, and with my mom’s health. It really isn’t all bad, some wonderful ones if you think of it from a different perspective. But it all just happening at once this week, like boom! Take that Hoami! I kid you not, I had a breakdown. Did I just say that! Yes, I seldom share such personal feelings publicly, but it’s real and it happened. I won’t go into the gritty details such as how I can be an ugly crier. In all, I got through my blood rushing emotions. Today is Lunar New Year and I look at my photos from a hike a few weeks ago and fall in love with life all over again.

Checking off my list of hidden gems in San Diego, Ann, JJ and I explored the Ho Chi Minh Trail in San Diego. ( Go figure, Ho Chi Minh Trail blog on Lunar New Year? ) The trail was a total gem. I’m all about the journey and the end result of a hike, and let me say it was fun and beautiful. As it states on the site:

“Known mostly by surfers and UCSD stoners, Ho Chi Mihn Trail got its name in the 1960’s when suffers and students from UCSD named it for the Ho Chi Minh Trail of Vietnam war infamy. It is full of wild life, bizarre stand cliff formations from the ocean wind gusts, and a nasty stinky stream which runs to the ocean. But best of all are the “Sand Steps”, which are a group of small sand cliffs which have been carved out by erosion from hikers’ feet over the years. Trail leads to a opening in the ravine down to Black’s Beach. Bring clothes you don’t care about, you could fall in mud!”

oh, and yes, I fell in mud. 

Ann brought this fun Mamiya Universal Polaroid Camera, and it was so fun to shoot! What a great prop for this day. ah, Black’s Beach. Beautiful. I have this theory, surfers see people with cameras and secretly pose for it. Or maybe it’s just me. Thank you Surfer man for posing or not posing I should say.JJ was a big hit on the trail. Everyone loved him. I can squeeze him to death.These pretty long feathered looking ……plants, caught my eye immediately. They are really neat looking! omg. Is my hair even brushed? What was I thinking going in public like that? oh yes. Get to the hike and photograph other people. Love, Hoami