5.8 Earthquake

Below is the official news post for our most recent earthquake. I was at work in the Capitol Tower when it struck in Hollywood. (on 4th floor) The building swayed and jolted for about 10-15 seconds, and I decided between diving under the desk or running down the stairs to outside. By the time I even got to the stairs it stopped, but I went down anyway, as you never know how long any of the aftershocks or waves will last. I was not the only one, as many people were in the parking lot, not anxious to go back up. However, it was about it. A few smaller aftershocks were recorded in Diamond Bar, near by Chino Hills, but for the most part, no dammage reports, just a lot of "shaken up" people.


CHINO HILLS (KABC) -- A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit late Tuesday morning two miles southwest of Chino Hills in San Bernardino County.
The jolt was felt from Los Angeles to San Diego, and slightly in Las Vegas. It caused buildings to sway and triggered some precautionary evacuations.
No damage or injuries have been reported as a result of the earthquake.
The quake struck at 11:42 a.m. PDT. Buildings swayed in downtown Los Angeles and San Diego for several seconds.

Bass Lake

Over the 4th of July I went up camping to Bass Lake, near Oakhurst, CA with my good friend Michael and his boyfriend Andrew. We had a great time. It was a group campground in the Sierra national forest with a group of about 110 gay men. It was very relaxing and a great time for everyone. We were out on the lake most every day.
Many people brought boats, So we got to do some boating and wake boarding. That was fun, in addition some great swimming in the mountain stream fed lake. We also had the opportunity to do some great hiking up in the mountain streams that fed the lake. It was amazing and very beautiful. One of the parts of participating in the camping was volunteering a day for cooking. We took the 4th of July and were on the tam for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the day! It was fun, and we all had a good time in the outdoor kitchen!

It was all to fast and all went by so quickly before we had to head back down to LA for the 5 hour drive. It was not too bad, as we missed most of the heavy traffic, leaving at a late enough hour. The trip was great, and the area was superb, only a few miles from Yosemite national park!

Limekiln State Park

Our neighbors George and Greg had such a good time camping last time, they decided to go again, this time they picked the spot. (we also invited our other neighbors Brian and Dennis as well as their friend Kate) They chose a great place up the California Coastline, along the Pacific Coast Highway, about 40 Miles north of San Simeon is the very first Costal Readwood grove, in Limekiln State park. We left on a Sunday AM and drove up the 101 freeway, and the PCH with a stop along the way in Paso Robles, for a quick stop for some wine tasting at a vineyard. We then stopped in Cambria for a nice lunch at a cute roadside cafe/restaurant. It was fun, and nice and cool along the coast. We found a great campsite under all the redwoods and then started to explore the hiking trails and the beach area were we were camping for the next two nights. A very wonderful bubbling stream ran right through the campground to the ocean, and hiking trails all the way back to the waterfall deep in the redwoods where it all started. It was amazing hiking all the way back in the woods. The park is named Limekiln for the fact that early settlers found a great deal of lime in the rocks and ovens are still there from where they smelted the lime out for commercial use in cement making. It was very interesting to see! We all had a great time, and ate and cooked like crazy, as we all enjoyed the beautiful surroundings very, very much. We had a great drive back with a stop along the coast to see the elephant seals on the beach area where they lounge and in their protected habitat. We also stopped in San Luis Obisbo for a great lunch and a little walk around the very beautiful downtown of such a nice coastal town.