Mountain Valley Ranch - Medford, Oregon

Dear friends I have been away for a about a week for an awesome and relaxing vacation in Oregon.  I will do my best to give a recap of the incredible experiences that took place. 

Sunday 9/14
We left LA around 3 and pushed our way up for 6-7 hours to Cupertino to stay over for the night at Kuan's.

Monday 9/15
We woke up at 630 and dined at the Original Pancake House. We ordered a gargantuan apple pancake that had 3000 calories. It was ridiculous, but to split it 9 ways it meant only 300 calories per slice. -___- Took off from the sweet home of Apple Computers Inc. and 7 hours later we made it to Medford, OR. Bought the groceries we needed at Costco and made it to Chuck's ranch by 5. We unpacked, prepared for dinner, and enjoyed a relaxed time in the cabin. It's pretty crazy how it's all solar powered and the water is pumped from a fresh spring.  

Tuesday 9/16

Waking up in a tiny cabin with 7 other guys in pure wilderness is a one-of-a-kind experience.  We spent most of this day just checking out the ranch walking around the property.  We got to swim a little bit in the pond, but it was way too cold. Ate dinner at Fish Lake and spent the rest of the night relaxing and talking outside.

Wednesday 9/17

This day was dedicated to rafting down the Rogue River.  We left the ranch around 11 and visited Amy's house.  From there we headed towards Eagle Point rented the rafts that we needed.  We planned for the full day ride which is 3.5-4 hours long. @_@ The water was freezing and the rapids were not that intense, but we had an unbelievable time because all of the danger we put ourselves in.  We were trapped under two trees and were pinned down by the branches.  Jason freed Dave and I as if we were 9/11 victims. It was pretty crazy because it was an all-naturale, uncontrolled course. Even if it was a class 1/2 course it put all those water rides at amusement parks to shame. We ate dinner then went back to the ranch to celebrate Christine's birthday.  Happy 20th! We had a good few rounds of Naked and called it a night. The homeboys however had their own action in the cabin playing for imaginary winnings in blackjack.

Thursday 9/18

Jackie, Christine, Shaina, Tiff, and Victor left early in the morning and the rest of the guys woke up nice and late and spent the day relaxing because of the tiring rafting adventure.  We cooked lunch and I got to ride the ATV around a little bit.  ATV's are awesome, but I never knew they were kinda expensive.  You also need a lot of land that you can just tear up. One day... Anyway, we then decided to go shooting, and pulling that trigger was so exhilarating. We shot skeet with a 20 gauge shotgun and another 22 rifle.  Later that night we cooked dinner and Amy's family came up and it was cool to share our experiences from China with them. We cleaned up and called it a night for the next day we were to leave bright and early.

Friday 9/19

We headed down from Mountain Valley Ranch and decided to stop in Berkeley instead of San Fran.  350 miles later we arrived at Hubert's apartment and he took us on a tour of Cal.  Berkeley is a pretty cool city, reminds me like an Ivy League/East Coast school, but just in California.  The people there are a little artsy and out there, but I think they're more real than a lot of the Orange County heads I see in Irvine.  I had the impression when I was there that Berkeley was like the complete reciprocal of Irvine.  Minimal chain restaurants and stores, pedestrians, busy, and small streets.  I see a lot of culture in Berkeley, which was pretty cool.  After we decided to eat at Zachary's which is a Chicago style deep dish pizza place.  It was pretty cool because we ran into JennKo there and Sarah Jay met us up.  We said our goodbyes and headed back to Cupertino to catch our z's and to wake up in the morning to work our way back down the 5 to LA.

The trip was really a lot different than I expected and I had a lot of fun and deep conversations.  Relationships were built and strengthened and what I went to Oregon for (a vacation) I definitely got.  Bring on the school year. I have a lot of responsibilities and commitments I need to keep, but I'm taking things slow and so far I feel good. My future to me seems a little unclear, but I'm really trusting that He would reveal more to me ask I seek Him.