Camping Recap 7.31.08

We took off on our 8 week camping trip on May 31st and made it back yesterday - 60 days. We loved the fact that we were able to finally see & experience California at our own leisure. We had a great time, saw some beautiful scenery, ran from an awful lot of fires, had both good & bad days & learned a lot!

So time for some interesting stats... We traveled over 5,400 miles, fueled up a whopping 36 times, used 306 gallons of gas & paid an average of $4.54 a gallon. Our most expensive gas was at the gravity fed pumps at 5.75/gal and our least expensive was $4.11 in Reno, Nevada. We camped at 12 different campgrounds - meaning we put up & took down the tent, aired up the matress (350 pumps of the foot pump each time!), rolled up the sleeping bags, packed the truck...you get the picture. And that doesn't count the times we stayed at a hotel which totalled six.

We paid for most of our showers - most about 25 cents a minute for hot water. We ate most of our meals on the campstove, had campfires most nights, met some wonderful people - other campers, the campground hosts & rangers. We had two coolers - one that held all of the cold stuff & the other held water/wine/sodas. We brought several clothes that we didn't wear, but only about 2-3 pieces of camping 'equipment' that we did not use. One piece, surprisingly enough, was our lantern!! We only used it one time the entire trip! We used a smaller citronella mini tiki torch the entire time which gave off plenty of light.

Our favorite place? That's a tough question. We both loved the Big Sur & Redwoods campgrounds - but it's hard to determine a favorite all-around. The many hikes we went on were fabulous but our favorites were also in the Redwoods - the huge trees, the beautiful greenery, the coast, the cool weather. And the ranger evening programs & the hikes with a ranger were incredibly educational. The one realization was that each place was individually beautiful - each was unique & wonderful. It was also wonderful to see friends & family that Michael hasn't seen in 20-30 years and I have never met, not to mention our boating friends! The waterfalls, hikes, wildlife, trees, ranger programs, scenic drives....magnificent.

With all this beauty what could spoil it? Well, we suffered from poison oak, a $40 parking ticket in San Francisco, not having a hair dryer, having to do laundry every other day while we had poison oak, etc. Nothing horrible, just aggravations. Of course the biggest problem was that the fires of Southern California were burning all around us everywhere we went. Luckily, they only 'spoiled' the day on the 2nd half of the trip and it still wasn't a total bust. It rained only 3 days which was an amazing feat!

All in all, we had a fantastic time. We only hope everyone else has the chance to experience the places we visited.

This closes our 'camping around California' chapter of the year!! haha... now on to the next chapter.

More to follow! :-)
Rene

La Brea Tar Pits 7.29.08

We drove into town today to visit the La Brea Tar Pits. I have lived here for several years and have never been. It was pretty amazing. But the amazing part was that as soon as we arrived and were walking over to Pit 91...there was a 5.8 earthquake centered just East of where we were...and we didn't feel it! haha...

Yep, that's right...we didn't feel a thing. See, we were walking and talking, not paying any attention. When we arrived at Pit 91 everyone was filing out talking about the swaying water, the swinging chains, & how freaky it felt! Bummer...another earthquake I didn't feel. Oh well! We checked out Pit 91 - a 12 foot hole in the ground that has been excavated since 1969! It was crazy what they have found in those holes in the ground. Just amazing...animals I've never heard of and lots of them.

After the earthquake, they closed the museum for about an hour so we sat in the sunshine, listening to a guy play his guitar & banjo until it opened back up. We toured the museum and then took off & headed back to Port Hueneme - back to Roberta's House!

Rene

Venice Beach 7.28.08

We left the San Diego area and drove up Hwy 1 North, passing through those great beach cities...Carlsbad, Oceanside, Escondido, Capistrano, Dana Point (where we stopped for a quick geocache...), Laguna Beach, Newport, Huntington Beach, Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Marina Del Rey & finally....Venice!

We came here as Michael loved the area & wanted to show me the 'boardwalk'...muscle beach, pier, etc. It's full of crazies...literally. There is a boardwalk with shops on one side and merchants on the other. You can purchase beautiful jewelry, peace/love/war paintings, palm readings, aurora adjustments, tatoos, etc. And the real 'show' is the group of homeless and crazy people that gather just outside of the nice hotel that we stayed - the Cadillac Hotel right on Ocean Front Walk.



The hotel was very nice and we stayed in a room that faced the ocean on the 3rd floor. The weather was perfect - in the 80's & sunny and we walked down the boardwalk, checked out Muscle Beach (and the hot bods working out!), and found a nice place, just across the street from our hotel for dinner. We had quite a show while we ate dinner & went on up to our room. What am I talking about...show? Well, we had a guy who was playing numchucks with a scarf...for hours! There was also kung-fu fly guy...he would be walking along and all of a sudden...hi-yah! Kung fu to another fly. We listened to turf wars, and arguments for no good reasons.

Unfortunately, the show continued deep into the night. And the arguments got louder & louder. In the morning, we went to the same restaurant for breakfast & took off for the La Brea Tar Pits.

Just one more day on our trip...bummer... :-)
Rene
{GMST}33|59.382|N|118|28.470|W|The Cadillac Hotel in Venice!|Venice Beach{GEND}

Leukadia 7.27.08

We had a wonderful visit with Michael's family - enjoying dinners on both evenings & spending some quality time with Gracie & Nolan. They're such good kids, so happy & animated. We just love spending time with them. We played with tinkertoys one morning before going to the pool & then back for lunch. Michael's Dad was not feeling well but we're glad we were able to see him one evening. Michael's Mom is struggling with her husband Pete and advanced Alzheimers. It's difficult to see her struggle and we feel helpless about the situation. And yes, it was HOT!! Michael's Mom, Muriel, made a wonderful chicken dinner and even baked a carrot cake! We were so spoiled there (as we always are!) and are bummed we can't spend more time there.



We left Palm Springs on Saturday morning & made it to Leukadia, a town just North of San Diego. Michael has an old buddy here that we met up with for a neighbor's party & then back to their place for drinks. It was awful nice of their neighbor to have a party just for us....complete with live band and dinner/drinks. We had a great time with them & it was nice catching up.

I had too much to drink last night and spent most of the morning recovering. We took a walk on the beach & went to lunch at this great place called the 'Wakei Cafe' that we visited yesterday as well. We had a nice leisurely walk down the main street checking all of the little boutique stores along the way. There are lots of surf shops, hawaiian stores, & small cafes. The place is great.

Tomorrow we're headed to Venice Beach. We're looking forward to checking out the crazies there.

{GMST}33|04.267|N|117|18.297|W|Staying at the Leucadia Beach Inn|Leucadia (San Diego){GEND}

Palm Springs 7.23.08

On the road again….just can’t wait to get on the road again…seeing places that I’ll never see again….I can’t wait to get on the road again. We left Vegas and are heading to Palm Springs (another HOT stop) to visit Michael’s family. As we’re on the road, we’re playing the familiar ‘Name that Rental RV’ game…screaming out “CRUISEAMERICA”, “EL MONTE RV”, “ROADBEARRV” or “TRIPLEARENTAL”. And just for the hell of it “UHAUL” if we see one too. We’ve been amazed at the number of rental RV’s we’ve seen this trip. They must be doing a good business. And waving at all the other Jeep owners. See, it’s a responsibility of all Jeep owners to wave at other Jeep owners. Have you heard of this?! Here’s a good website on it… http://www.jeeptalk.org/jeep_wave.php There’s an entire scoring area that just boggles my mind but being jeep owners, we do our best to acknowledge other owners on the road.

Of course when you’re driving through the desert, there’s bound to be oddities you have a hard time explaining….one was a random tree with what looked like hundreds of shoes tied to it! Weird...

We're staying with Michael's Mom and will visit with his Dad & sister/brother-in-law. We're always excited to see our niece & nephew Gracie & Nolan. We'll spend a few days here begin the journey back to Port Hueneme.

Rene
{GMST}33|46.056|N|116|23.205|W|Michael's Mom's house in Palm Desert!|Palm Desert{GEND}

Hot Dam! 7.22.08

We have both been to Vegas 100 times and have never made it to Hoover Dam so this trip was all about going there. And it didn’t disappoint. We arrived there around 1pm or so and yes, it was hot…112 in the shade. There were pretty tight security measures in place – we had to go through a security checkpoint first and then were told we couldn’t park in the covered parking garage as we had the propane tank on the back of the truck so we had to cross over to the Arizona side of the dam & park in the sun. But we had a better view from there so it wasn’t awful. We took the ‘Discovery Tour’ which allowed you into 7 areas of the Dam, including a trip down to the hydroelectric generators.





The architecture, engineering, story of how the dam was built, and the scenery was amazing. It was definitely an engineering marvel. We spent several hours there & checked out many of the sights including the winged statues to honor those who died during the building of the dam - only 96 which is amazing, and we too turn rubbing the toes for good luck.





There were a good number of people there, but I was amazed to hear the average number of people on a daily basis was just 2,200. That number seems low to me. We met a great couple traveling to California & chatted with them for most of the tour. It’s been great to chat with so many good people on this trip. The one thing that just amazed me was the thickness of the dam! Michael loved being able to go down into the ‘belly’ of it & seeing the original diversion tubes, hearing the water surge below us, & seeing the huge generators. It was quite spectacular!



We left there & headed for the Downtown area of Vegas as, again, we have never seen the Freemont Street Experience. This is a 1400 ft long arched steel canopy along the street that has a light & sound show with 12.5 million synchronized LED lights. We stayed for two shows, the first was Don McLean’s song ‘Bye Bye Miss American Pie’ complete with animated pictures & bright colors.





It was nice and again, our necks were sore from looking straight up. All along Freemont Street were the old hotels that have been there forever – Golden Nugget, Vegas Vickie kicking up her heels on top of a strip club,





and a cool place called the Neonopolis where they have rescued some of the older neon signs from the graveyard and have them lit & displayed.


We even took in a cruise while we were there! We headed back to the hotel for one more night of luxury & prepared for our journey West again. We are going to Palm Springs next to visit Michael's family then ahhh....back to the coast!

Rene

Vegas Baby! 7.21.08

We zoomed through Death Valley as we were worried it would be horribly hot....and it was! Luckily though, we took off super early and at 7am, it was in the 70's...by 8am, it was in the 80's and suddenly at 9am it was over 100. We stopped in Furnace Creek which is aptly named and checked out the Borax Museum and then zoomed the rest of the way into Vegas.

We're staying at The Palms, just off the strip. We got a killer deal on our room - I guess in July they're begging people to stay. We purchased 2 nights, got one free plus a $30 dinner credit, daily admission to the spa, & when we arrived we were upgraded to a Jr. Suite....it's bigger than our boat! And after 3 weeks of campgrounds....we appreciate it so much. No bugs, no hike to a bathroom, TV without worrying about power issues, all the Internet we can stand...it's kinda like heaven. haha...

So the last couple days has just been doing well....What Happens in Vegas....stays in Vegas! Gambling, gambling, & shows. We've been relaxing & keeping plenty busy at the same time. We went to The Comedy Stop last night & walked up & down the strip all day. It's HOT here!! Suprise, suprise! haha...

Tomorrow we're going to Hoover Dam...we've both been here 100 times and have never gone. Can't wait!!

Rene
{GMST}36|07.279|N|115|11.643|W|Vegas at The Palms!|Vegas Baby!{GEND}

Computer Back Up! 7.19.08

Woohoo! The laptop problem is fixed. Microsoft sent down a patch that installed on our way to Sequoia Canyon. This patch conflicted with my firewall - Zone Alarm. A quick call to Microsoft confirmed the problem & got it all fixed. Whew! That was a major stress to me the last week. So keep tuned! We have lots of updates to post...

Rene

South Inyo County 7.19.08

We toured the area today, having a nice, mellow but fun & informative time.

It was hot early this morning - already in the upper 80's by 8am so we had a quick breakfast and got outta there! Our 1st stop was at the Interagency Visitors Center for some info on Death Valley. We met a great USFS Ranger who told us all about the area and things we should do & see today. Our 2nd stop was at the Lone Pine Film History Museum. It turns out we're camping just beyond a place called the 'Alabama Hills', crazy rock formations that are a favorite location for television & movie companies.



Over 300 films & numerous commercials have been shot on location here. The terrain is very weird - odd granite formations jutting & crumbling from the earth and with the Eastern Sierra mountains in the background. The Lone Ranger, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Zorro, Gunsmoke, the Zane Grey Movies and more recent movies - Gladiator, Maverick, & Ironman. Now of course, these are the only films I had heard of but there were more that maybe you recognize....Nevada Smith, An Eye for an Eye, Waterhole No. 3, Oil for the Lamps of China, I Died a Thousand Times, The Blazing Sun, Pack Train, Sinister Journey, etc. Have you seen any of these?

There were also hundreds of Cowboy & Cowgirl actors filmed here...John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Roy Rogers, Tim Holt, Tex Ritter, Gene Autry, Steve McQueen, Fatty Arbuckle, & William Boyd just to name a few.

I'll admit that the majority of films were well beyond my years, but I'll tell you, the museum was fabulous. It still gave me a nostalgic feeling looking over the artifacts, pictures, movie posters, & hearing the songs of the singing cowboys. Most of the items were from the 1920's - 1960's and were exquisitely maintained.

The 3rd stop on our trip was to another Visitors Center in the little town of Independence. There, they had a fantastic display of old pictures and artifacts from the Japanese War Relocation Camp, Manzanar. Let's just say, I was stunned. I have only read the info from the Guide Books about Manzanar and had no clue about what I was going to see! I was just amazed. I can't imagine this same thing happening today. I know times were different and we had just been attacked as a country...but am amazed that we sent "all persons of Japanese ancestry" on the West Coast to these concentration camps. Given just hours or days to prepare to leave and only being able to bring with them what they could carry - these people lost homes, businesses, & possessions. Amazing.



This new information made us go & visit the actual site of Manzanar. We toured the visitor center which was fabulous. It was probably the best visitor center we have seen yet. Lots of information, laid out well, with lots of interactive exhibits. Incredible.



We took off from there & went up to the base of Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States at 14,497. Now we did not climb it...just drove to the portal at 8,365. We were told there was a great restaurant there but it turned out to be a shack shop that only sold one thing...hamburgers. We also took off looking for the waterfall that was in the area. We walked down a path where the water was flowing & looked for this so called waterfall. We found a small one about 5 feet and figured that was it



but as we walked back we just missed it by a couple feet! haha. It was a beautiful waterfall & we sat & watched it for what seemed like hours.



It was mesmerizing and such a beautiful day and since we were at 8K feet...was nice & cool from the 105 degrees down the hill.

It was early evening when we headed back down the hill and since the laptop was still not working...we decided to go into town again for some more work on the fix. The Internet Cafe was open & luckily I found that Microsoft had sent down a patch that conflicted with my Zone Alarm firewall and shut down the Internet. Frickin Microsoft!!

I had lots of updates to post & spend most of the evening until we were thrown out of the place working on the internet. Whew! Was I relieved to get it fixed!

Tomorrow we're headed to Vegas...yeah baby! haha...
Rene

Lone Pine Campground 7.18.08

We made it to Lone Pine after a 6 hour drive down & around the Sierras. We went through Visalia, Bakersfield, & up to Lone Pine. The campground is nice although this is one campsite we didn’t pick very well. It was a walk-in campsite, meaning you have to hoof in all the equipment & leave the jeep in the parking lot. We talked to the nice camp host & he allowed us to change our site number. After we drove around the park about 4 times, we finally settled in a campsite made for an RV with a bit of shade. It’s hot today – in the 100’s and shade is a necessity. After we setup camp, we decided to check out the town of Lone Pine & find dinner there. We found a wonderful Mexican restaurant called Bonanza & sat among the locals for supper. Across the street was an internet café so we ducked in there just before she was closing & quickly scanned our e-mails & I downloaded the fix (hopefully) to my computer issue. Wish me luck!

P.S. As I sit here in the dark typing this…there is some strange critter that’s yelling at me (or so I imagine as he’s making all kinds of noise!) from the bushes just beside me & the moon is coming up over the mountain range. It’s a perfect full moon & the light is super bright just before it crests the peak – it’s beautiful. The stars are popping out like popcorn in the sky – you know how popcorn pops – one, two, then twenty, fifty, & hundreds in the bag? That’s how the sky looks….at first I can only pick out one or two, but the next time I look there’s twenty, then fifty, and finally…millions of stars up in the sky peering down at us. What could be better?!

Rene
{GMST}36|35.844|N|118|11.064|W|Camping in Lone Pine Campground!|Lone Pine Campground{GEND}

General Sherman Hike 7.17.08

No stop in Kings/Sequoia Canyon would be complete without seeing the world’s largest tree – the General Sherman tree. Ol Gen’l Sherman isn’t the tallest, the oldest, or the widest but is the largest by sheer volume & weight. Here’s his amazing stats:

Height – 275ft
Weight – 11,385 tons!
Circumference @ base – 103ft
Age – 2,200 years
Diameter @ base – 36.5ft!

That’s one huge tree! I wouldn’t want to be anywhere around it when it falls. We listened to a Ranger as she explained all the stats & tried putting it into perspective for us – it’s as heavy as 11 gray whales & larger than the statue of liberty. These trees are simply amazing. They’re so tall your neck gets tired from staring straight up for so long!

We took off from there to a hike along several trails in the area. We started on the Congress trail, switched to the Crescent Meadow, to the Huckleberry, to Tharp’s Log, to Log Meadow, & finishing at Crescent Meadow again. It was about 3 hours & we estimate it to be about 4 miles or so. We took it easy & enjoyed the area.

The trees were just monstrous – out of this world big. You look like an ant to these trees.
The wildflowers were georgous – all the same colors as before but seemed to be more vibrant today. The meadows were surrounded by bright green ferns that seemed to go on forever. I was a bit disappointed as we were heading up to the parking lot after walking all of those backwoods without seeing a bear! Or any wildlife really when lo & behold…just 100ft from the parking lot (of course!) a small black bear appeared & rummaged through some downed trees then took off into the meadow. So cool.

We jumped on the shuttle & headed back to Lodgepole center for a quick bite of late lunch & a shower before going back to camp for the evening. Tomorrow we are going to our campground near Lone Pine. We’re looking forward to the new scenery!

Rene

Grant & Cedar Grove 7.16.08

Today we drove up through Grant Grove to Cedar Grove, and then down along Hume Lake back to camp.

The Grant Grove to Cedar Grove drive is considered one of the most magnificent in any national park, including Yosemite. The drive takes about an hour and views from the drive are spectacular – roaring Kings River with all of it’s creeks that feeds into it, rugged peaks, steep granite cliffs, waterfalls, & windy roads.



We started at Grant Grove & stopped to see the General Grant Tree, the 3rd largest in the world, a memorial to U.S. Soldiers killed in war, & the nation’s Christmas Tree. On the 2nd Saturday of December, they have a grand celebration here yearly. The General Grant tree has a base of 40ft in diameter! It would take 20 people holding hands to circle the base. It’s sheer size makes it the 3rd largest tree, by volume, in the world. It’s a sight! The hike was only 1/3 of a mile to the tree & several around it and then we headed on down the road.



We stopped at Kings Canyon Lodge where the gas station was one of America’s Oldest double gravity pumps is still in use! Built in 1928, the tanks are above the pumps which fills the pumps, and when it’s pumped into the vehicle, it uses gravity as well. The novelty of it all made us add 10 gallons – at $5.75/gal! Yikes!



We stopped at Grizzly Falls and had a great PB&J lunch, then on to the Cedar Grove area.



We hiked out to Muir rock, a large, flat river boulder right on the river where John Muir would bring Sierra Club field trips & give talks. There was a family of about 20 who were daring each other to jump into the frigid water below & survive the rapids! Everyone did fine – even the youngest boy who did NOT want to jump in but succumbed to peer pressure.

That took us to the roundabout appropriately called ‘Roads End’ and we headed back. This time we stopped at Roaring River Falls, a 5 minute walk to a 40 ft spillway that falls into a granite bowl. It also looks like the water is carving out a super smooth journey!


We decided to take a different route home, through Hume Lake. The Hume lake area is beautiful! Although…it’s filled with kids as it’s a Christian camp. They were everywhere! It sure looked fabulous and Michael noted that he would have liked to come here when he was growing up!



Back at camp it’s Macaroni & cheese night as we’re trying to use up all of our remaining staples we brought along.

Rene

Moro Rock & Crystal Cave 7.15.08

Although groggy & a little hungover, we were up and around this morning & headed into the Giant Forest area for an 11am Ranger talk on the top of Moro Rock. Just like Yosemite, Sequoia/Kings canyon has shuttle busses where you park in one area & they’ll shuttle you from place to place. We parked at the Giant Forest Museum & rode the shuttle to Moro Rock. Moro rock is a granite dome that overlooks the deep canyon of the Kaweah River’s Middle fork. It’s a ¼ mile climb up some steep steps (around 300 of them!) to the 6,725 summit and some of the best views around. The Ranger spoke of….I don’t remember…I must have been hungover. Michael remembers him talking about the different ‘Life Zones’ – High Sierra, Conifer, & Foothills – and what grows in each zone, how plants & trees adapt to live there, & the climates of each. He also talked about some of the problems that the plants & trees were having – acclimating to the increased ozone and how it’s destroying them. It was a good Ranger talk.




This is the Sentinel Tree at the Visitors Center - 257 ft tall!!



We climbed back down the steps & took the shuttle back to the museum. There, we walked around the ‘Big Trees Trail’ – a one mile loop of sequoias, wildflowers,



& Round Meadow – a lush forest meadow.



I’m starting to believe that looking at these huge sequoia trees so often makes me lose perspective on just how large they are. I see the numbers and compare them to trees around, but it’s easy to see them as just another large tree.



We drove over to a picnic area called Pinewood for a picnic lunch & then drove back to camp as it was getting cold & rainy looking again and I was not dressed warm enough. After picking up some warm clothes, we headed to Crystal Cave, where we had a 4:15 tour. We opted for the ‘Discovery Tour’ as it was longer than the regular tour and there were only 16 people max. When our tour started – it was just the 2 of us! A few minutes later, 2 more people joined and still we enjoyed the tour with just 4 people….nice.

Crystal Cave is the only cave in the park that’s open to visitors. There is quite a hike down to the cave, and our guide pointed out all of the different plants & trees, showing us how to identify them. A waterfall at the Marble Fork Kaweah River Bridge marked the beginning of the cave



and a very cool spider web gate guarded the entrance (I asked if it had any significance…and was told it was just the whim of the builder at the time, nothing special at all.)



Inside we spent 2 hours exploring a cave with stalactites (hanging from the ceiling), stalagmites (shooting up from the floor), columns (where stalactites & stalagmites meet & merge), rushing water carving out the marble below our feet, cathedral ceilings more than 40 feet high in places, stalactites that formed in a ribbon shape that lined the ceilings and looked like curtains,



pools of water (I forget what he called them!) that looked like brain coral out in the ocean,



teeny tiny spiders that have adapted to living in the cave, underground & overhead chambers & much, much more.



We learned so much! The cave was 50 degrees and was well lit by lights & a walkway that was installed over 50 years ago! There was one room we entered where our guide shut off all of the lights and just let us experience what it would be there in total darkness. It was crazy dark – even after about 10 minutes of total darkness, we still couldn’t see our hand in front of our face, or anyone/thing else. That total darkness & when everyone was quiet and all we could hear was the dripping of water inside the cave was my favorite part of the tour. Michael loved almost everything but especially the so-crystal-clear-it-looks-blue water as it was carving out the granite and the ribbons in the ceiling. So if you’re headed out here…definitely put this on your list to do…it’s spectacular!!

The hike back up the hill was a good one! It’s a quarter of a mile….straight up! They say it’s the equivalent of climbing a 30 story building. But alas, we made it! Again, it was raining (it’s been raining all day!) so instead of going straight to camp, we went back to the Lodgepole Center and ate….gulp…chicken fingers & fries. Mmmm….junk food!! Haha…

Back at camp it was after 8pm so we read our books – Michael’s on book 2 of the Eragon series and I’ve been reading a book called “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert - in the tent until bedtime.

Rene

Lodgepole Visitor Center 7.14.08

We woke up to a fabulous morning – blue skies with puffy white clouds above, the stream lulling us away into that place of total relaxation, the scene of beautiful green fir & pine trees, & down along the river are white, red, yellow, orange, & purple wildflowers. It’s truly spectacular.

Once again we managed to blindly pick another great campsite. We’re at the Stony Creek Campground and our site is right along the creek. We were lulled to sleep with the bubbling brooke sound last night…hhmmm…

The great thing about the rain is it really brightens up the scenery! Heck, even the Jeep & tent look so much more happy having some of the dust, pollen, & grime rinsed off. Although our ‘leak proof’ tent…isn’t. It leaks in about 4 areas of the tent unfortunately, but luckily we can center the bed and it doesn’t get it wet.

We’re taking advantage of a lazy day, heading into the Lodgepole Visitor Center to do a bit of laundry & shower. We arrived around 12:45…luckily! Cause the showers closed at 1pm – 3pm for cleaning. Showers were $3.25 for 8 minutes of water. We started laundry and went to the visitors center and general store to check them out. After laundry was done & we had our ice cream snack we went back to the campsite.

We started playing dominoes as the table is perfect here. One bottle of wine later and it started to rain so we quickly packed everything up & headed for our tree cover to wait it out. The water to the bathrooms just up by us was shut off because of a leak so we had to hoof it up to the other bathrooms. Michael went over to offer his assistance/sympathy that they men were working in the rain to fix the leak. When he walked up, one of the men looked at him and asked his name. “Michael”….no, your last name….”Ditton”. Turns out the man, SGT Harvey Williams, recognized him as they were called up for Iraq and were in the same Army unit, the 729th Trans Co from Fresno. What a small world. They chatted a while and we came back to the camp…still raining. So what should we do? Have another bottle of wine! Haha… Yep, the first bottle went down so well we decided to have another and watch a movie on the laptop. As you can imagine, after two bottles of wine I was pretty toast and fell asleep during the movie (which was OK since it was a stupid movie anyway).

Rene

Sequoia Canyon – Stony Creek Campground 7.13.08

We were up bright & early this morning and packed up camp and was on the road again. I figured that on the way, I could take advantage of the wireless & update the website since we’ve been without internet since going into Yosemite. Well, in Reno, apparently there were some Windows Updates downloaded & began to install which I didn’t want as I had other plans, so I cancelled the install. Big mistake. Now I can't get on the internet at all. Shit!! I don’t know how I’ll get it fixed and have the next 8 days to stew about it cause there’s no cell service or internet anywhere in the park. Grumble… Hopefully when we’re in Vegas I can get to an internet café and research the problem and hopefully get it resolved quick!!

We stopped at a little pizza joint on our way into the park for lunch & had a great pizza & salad before continuing on.

We made it to the park around 3pm and setup camp just in time for an afternoon shower. Rain! We heard thunder in the distance (which I miss a ton growing up in Kansas – it just doesn’t thunder in Ventura) while setting up, but it seemed far away. It rained for about 2 hours, maybe more. We still had to check-in with the campground hosts and used the rain as a good excuse to run up there. We chatted with them for nearly an hour, telling stories, favorite places, & they showed us their favorite Yosemite photos. When we returned to our site, we pondered whether to have cold cereal for dinner (it was still raining) but decided to setup the grill under a tree & cook dinner there.

We have 5 full days of exploring the sights of Kings/Sequoia Canyon (they’re jointly managed) and have lots planned! Stay tuned…

Rene
{GMST}33|39.820|N|118|50.176|W|Camping in Stony Creek Campground in Sequoia Nat’l Park!|Sequoia Nat’l Park{GEND}

Mariposa Grove & Wawona BBQ 7.12.08

(One more view of Yosemite Falls - both the upper & lower)

We had another lazy morning today – we both woke up when we wanted (or when the neighbors were too loud) and just lounged. I think I’ve told you that a friend of mine gave us some heater meals before we left to use on our trip. We’ve been eating them when we didn’t get fresh items at the store or when it just was not convenient to make something fresh. All of the items have been good so far – we call them mystery meat meals as you never know exactly what you’re going to get. This morning we tried the eggs & pancakes…. The pancakes were excellent…but the eggs….they were horrible. Michael managed to choke his down but I couldn’t get over the smell and went hungry. They were those powdered eggs that you just add water to. Disgusting...

We got cleaned up & took off to Wawona. On the way, we found this cute little guy - a red fox – running down the side of the road for a bit.

Wawona has a little general store that we picked up items for a picnic lunch – egg/tuna sandwiches, crackers & cheese, & a cookie for Michael. We ate while waiting for the shuttle to take us to the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoia trees near the South entrance of the park. We met the same park ranger, Ranger Alex, for a guided tour of the Mariposa Grove up to the Grizzly Giant tree. It was monstrous! One of the branches is 7 ft in circumference…almost as big as some of the trees on the ground! We enjoyed the talk very much and even though we’ve heard it about 3 times, learned a thing or two.

We meandered around the grove for a bit and then jumped back on the shuttle to Wawona. The grove of redwoods was nice, although since we’ve been to the Avenue of the Giants on the coast, I was a bit disappointed. Hopefully Kings Canyon/Sequoia Canyon will be better. Honestly, I’ve been a bit disappointed with Yosemite as a whole. Sure, there are beautiful parts (as any park has) but after all I’ve read & been told about how magnificent Yosemite is…I had higher expectations. Frankly, it sucks that the fires are burning & smoking up the place. We go up to these fabulous areas and can barely see the other side of the valley! The more people I confide this in all say I must promise to come back in the Spring or in January & I’ll see the grandeur I was expecting. Michael says he remembers it to be super crisp the last time he was here and right now doesn’t even compare to his memories. Ok…enough with the complaining…

When we chatted with Michael’s Uncle & Aunt, they made us promise to eat a meal at the Wawona Hotel as it was one of their favorites. Tonight, they had an all-you-can-eat BBQ dinner for $20/pp. The whole front lawn was splayed with circular tables & chairs and had a ton of food…ribs, chicken, steak, hot dogs, mahi mahi, and all the sides you can imagine.

We sat at a table with a couple from England & Tim, a fellow from Texas. We all had a wonderful time chatting & getting to know each other over the wonderful meal. Before we took off for the campsite we both went to the restroom before meeting up at the Jeep. (This is very important….just stay with me) The bathrooms were just beside the golf shoppe & had something wonderful in them….SHOWERS!! Our campground does not have showers & there are only 3 public shower facilities in the entire park – one in Toulumne Meadows and two down in the Village, which are all a long way away!! So I ran back to the Jeep (skipped the whole way, actually) so excited to take a SHOWER! It took Michael a little convincing but he finally gave in as well and took advantage of the oh so wonderful shower. Ooohhhh…it felt sooo good!! Haha… And even better because it was free! Well, we rationalize it by thinking we paid for dinner & a shower…haha…shhhhh….don’t tell!! Anyway, it was a great evening and perfect for our last night in Yosemite. Tomorrow…we head for Kings Canyon!!

More to follow…
Rene

Wawona & Glacier Point 7.11.08

We started off the day in Wawona, at the south end of the park, for a 9:30am ranger guided ‘Wawona History Walk’ with Ranger Alex. Michael’s dad used to work at Wawona so we were especially interested in the history of the Hotel & the men who owned it. We were treated with that & more of the history of the area. The pioneer of the area was Galen Clark who came to the valley in the 1850’s while in his 40’s and just diagnosed with Tuberculosis & given one year to live. He figured while he was here, waiting to die, he would help the area & the people traveling through. He built the first Wawona hotel, which was a mere shack for people to stay, a bridge to Yosemite Valley which he charged a toll to cross, and was instrumental in the first road to Yosemite Valley. Interestingly enough, the 1st year he charged a toll, 36 visitors came through the park. That number continued to grow to today’s visitors – a whopping 3.7 million. Wow!! Clark had the vision of the first hotel in the area but it was a businessman, Washburn, who purchased it from Clark and built it into the welcoming place it is now. By the way Galen Clark lived to be 95! I guess Yosemite agreed with him.

While in Wawona we happened upon a presentation by a blacksmith who was making trivets & bottle openers. It was fascinating to watch her take a dull piece of steel & mold it into a beautiful piece.

We drove up to the Taft Point/Sentinel Dome trailhead as there was a 2pm Ranger guided hike to Sentinel Dome. We ate lunch on the back bumper of the Jeep and still had an hour to kill so we took off for Taft Point, a 2.2 mile hike up to the top of an overlook & drop-off at the edge of a sheer 3000 ft cliff.

Again, it was incredible!! If only it was smoke free. The view down was mind boggling. You could look straight down and not see below you.

The fissures in the rocks all around the peak were insane with huge boulders that seemed to hold them apart.

The hike was incredible – lots of wildflowers growing everywhere that were beautiful.

We high-tailed it back to the trailhead just in time to meet up with Ranger Shannon for the tour of Sentinel Dome, another 2.2 mile hike. We stopped all along the way to identify pines & ingenious ways to remember their names. The white pine has needles of 5, and white has 5 letters in the name. The yellow pine has needles of 3 and you can make a Y out of the needles, and the Lodgepole Pine has only 2 needles and you can either make an L out of the needles, or make a teepee, which is the wood that the Indians made their teepees out of.

Once at the top of Sentinel Dome we were treated to a 360 degree view of the park & all its peaks. Unfortunately, it was smoky so it wasn’t as spectacular as it should have been but o-well…it was still pretty amazing.

Back at camp, we had an amazing filet mignon dinner (yeah, we’re roughing it…) and put everything away for the night. We took off for Glacier Point as there was a Ranger talk at 7:45 about fire & a stargazing session we were interested in.

On our way to Glacier Point, we came around a bend in the road to find cars everywhere! It was like an accident just happened & everyone was jumping out of their cars to help. As we drove by trying to figure out the commotion, a man in a car told us there were bears over there. BEARS!!! I grabbed the camera & hopped out & sure enough…there were two bears. All I could see at first was the larger one lumbering around the trees but a friendly observer pointed out a cub up in the trees. It was dusk & there were lots of trees and brush in the area so I only took one bad photo before the Park Rangers came by & made us all leave. But it was phenomenal! The larger one was on the ground around the trees and the young cub was up in the tree. I hope he didn’t tree himself to get away from us!

At Glacier Point, the same Ranger that did the Sentinel Dome hike with us gave the evening talk. She spoke about fire – the status of the fires in the park currently (all have been extinguished except for one, the Hill fire which was expected to be contained by 6pm), the benefits of fire & the firefalls. I found it interesting that the Park Service for the last 100 years has believed that fire is bad and have gone to great lengths to prevent or extinguish fires immediately. ‘Only you can prevent forest fires’… But what they have come to realize is that fire is essential for the health of the forests & now they are trying to right the wrong and fix 100 years of misuse. I wonder how long it will take to restore the area to what it should be.

Oh & the firefalls!! Have you heard of these? Well, from 1872 to 1968 they would build a fire at the top of Glacier Point & would push the burning embers over the cliff nightly creating a ‘firefall’. Glacier Point is at 7214ft elevation and has quite a magnificent view of the area. Michael’s great uncle told us about them the day we chatted with him & how on the final one he was told to ‘make it a good one as it would be the last’. They typically only lasted 15-20 seconds…the last one lasted for minutes. Turns out it was discontinued because it was a man-made attraction not a natural one & was ordered to be stopped. I would have loved to have seen it! It sounds amazing. Check out http://www.firefall.info/ for more stories.

After the ranger talk, the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers Association setup their personal telescopes on Glacier Point & gave a great presentation about the stars, moon, & milky way. There were about 20 telescopes ranging from huge to small & manual to fully computerized. We saw the moon, Jupiter with its rings & 4 moons, & a star called Alberio, in the Summer Triangle, which is actually a ‘true double’ - 2 stars, one blue & one gold that revolve around each other. It was not a perfect night for stargazing as the smoke & clouds obscured the view a bit, but the astronomers were incredibly informative & friendly answering any dumb questions we threw at them. They also allowed everyone to look through their personal telescopes & were incredibly informative. We had a great time chatting with them all & enjoyed the evening immensely. Some of the things I like the most about camping is meeting all of the folks camping or hiking around us. Alex & his family were one of the Astronomers we met & chatted with that evening and it turned out, were camping right across the way from us. We left around 10:30 or so and they stayed there until almost midnight! What a wonderful volunteer service they give the park.

More to follow…
Rene