Day 45

I woke up chilly this morning because we had the windows open for Brayden to have some fresh air. I noticed the quilt he had when he went to sleep was in between us so I recovered him and went into the car to write. I was hoping to get caught up on blog posts to not have to write to much the last few days before Dave leaves.

Dave looked like he wanted to get things going to leave but I climbed into the tent with the girls and told him we wouldn't be able to check in early at the hotel anyway so we stayed in the tent with them to chat for a little while. These days these conversations with them are few an far between with our schedules and their varied interests.

The kids had been looking forward to this next spot since I mentioned it in April. I was struggling with getting us across Death Valley without a 10 hour drive. There was no way I was going to camp there! So we ended up booking a hotel in Barstow for a night. Forget all the work I do daily for these guys on the trip, they just want to swim in a pool, sleep in a bed and gorge on free breakfast!

Brayden was smiling when he woke up and was hungry so that was a good sign. Before too long we were taking the 10mph hairpin turns south out of Sequoia National Park. Our first stop was Amphitheater Point - one of the CCC construction project. This spot had a lovely view of Morro Rock that we'd just climbed the day before. It looked quite a bit bigger from down here!

Next we stopped at Hospital Rock - a picnic area the CCC constructed but also a sacred place to the Potwisha as well as Native Americans before them. Here there were pictographs above the rock where the Potwisha had healed many people including several settlers in the area. There was also an area labled the "Community Kitchen" where Native Americans would grind acorns into meal to be used in different kinds of food. We'd seen this on several trails in California.

The girls were excited about seeing our next stop - Tunnel Rock. In the early days of the park people could drive under this rock. Today the road has been diverted around the rock but the girls still wanted to climb on top!

And of course no visit to a national park is complete without the photo at the entrance. We'd missed the small sign on our way in so we opted to stop for the way more interesting sign at the southern entrance!

Once we arrived at the hotel all the girls wanted to do was to see Lola and Grammie. We learned about their drive, Lola's refusal to pee in the southwest grassless islands, and her fear of elevators.  Poor Lola!

Dave was the first to shower and the kids washed their disgusting feet before putting on their swimsuits and heading to the pool. I put in a quick load of laundry in hopes it would be the last of our trip and took a much needed shower. I also plugged in all the things that needed reviving and prepped things for our early exit in the morning.

We had a Chili's about 50 feet from our front lobby so we opted for a quick dinner there instead of pizza. They don't have too much there for vegetarians but we found a few things to share and had our fill of chips and salsa.

The front desk upgraded us at check-in to a room that had a sofa bed so we were all able to claim bed space for the night. By the time I checked our route for the morning everyone was asleep so I decided to join them!

Day 44

We were awakened at 4am by Brayden who said he didn't feel well. He hasn't ever gotten up in the middle of the night on a trip so I knew this wasn't good. He said he felt better on our way back from the bathroom but I gave him a sick bag to take back into the tent just in case. I didn't go back to sleep again and was glad I gave him the bag at 6am. The kids had rarely been sick on the trip and now each of them had been sick on this one - yuck! Being sick is never fun, but on vacation in a tent has to be pretty bad.

He said he felt a little better when he got up a little later so we packed backpacks again after a quick breakfast. We met Grammie and Ryan at our visitors center to drive to our morning ranger hike. We decided to drive today because we wanted to get back a little quicker to fit in an afternoon hike.

On our way to the parking area we made sure to go under Tunnel Log - a sequoia that fell about 300 years ago. We were early to the hike so I took some time to read about the High Sierra Trail. This trail was 60 miles across the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Mt McKinley at more than 14,000 feet.

The hike to Tharpe's Log was easy and quick. The ranger stopped a few times to tell us a few things but most we'd already learned in our time there already. I was elbowed again as the kids spotted the ranger who is following us everywhere.

Laney was most excited to see the one-log cabin so Dave handed her the camera. According to historical accounts Hale Tharpe created this home inside a downed sequoia tree so he could bring his cattle in the summers to graze in the meadow just outside the front door. He befriended the local Potwisha Native American tribe who showed him all around the Giant Forest and Morro Rock. One more settlers came to the area they brought disease that killed most of the tribe while the few that remained left the area completely.











Brayden still wasn't feeling well so he walked back to the parking area with Grammie while the rest of us continued down the trail to Chimney Tree. The heartwood of this tree was burned out but the bark still remained. We all easily fit inside it was so big!

Our next stop was Morro Rock. This rock has been popular to scale since only the Native Americans lived in the area. Back them people scaled the granite rock by climbing in the cracks between rocks. Once it became a national park they added wooden stairs to the top. These stairs were rickety and had issues with rot from the snow during the winter. Finally an architect was called in who created steps carved into the rock or made of concrete. They snake around the rock to maintain the integrity and shape of the rock for visitors to enjoy.









We lucked into one of the 10 parking spaces and grabbed the camera for the climb. Brayden opted out so he sat in the shade by the trail head still looking miserable. The rest of us made the 400-step climb to enjoy the view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the foothills of the park. We even spotted some of the hairpin turns we would be taking the next day when we left!

The car ride back to the campsite did Brayden in so he decided to lay down in the tent for awhile. Dave bought him some Gatorade to see if he could keep it down for awhile. The rest of us ate some lunch then Grammie and I got ready to hike a trail to Topokah Falls. Dave stayed behind with the girls and I was hopeful he would be so kind to do our laundry while we were gone.



The trail to the falls was beautiful although a little bit warm. We are used to hiking mostly in the forest and there were big open sections in the sun. The river we hiked next to was refreshingly cold though!

There were lovely meadows about every 1000 feet that grabbed my attention off the trail. The mountain we would be hiking to popped up into view in one of the meadows as well. The bees were happily buzzing to every single flower in the meadows so you could hear a constant buzz all around.

About an hour into the hike we made it to the falls! I was so warm I thought about swimming but wasn't thrilled about hiking back wet. The water fall was running well but I can only imagine how strong it was in the spring!










I said goodbye to Grammie at the trailhead and was greeted by the girls on my walk back to the campsite. They had been having fun with their Rip It journals while I was gone. Brayden didn't have as much fun since he got sick again. We tried graham crackers and bottled water to see if that would be better. Dave was (HOORAY!) away doing the laundry! I was able to finish my book before we made some veggie chili for dinner. Brayden requested a grilled cheese and we were all hoping he was starting to feel better.

The girls asked if I'd felt the water in the river and I said I had but I wanted to go put my feet in after the long day of hiking. They and Dave joined me for an extremely cold and refreshing soak. Ryan and Laney even got all the way in to their shorts!

Laney had enough after a minute or so but Ryan loved exploring the river. She found rocks for everyone and threw the ones back she didn't like. She might as well have gone swimming!

We had a visit from a few younger mule deer while we were eating but they didn't stay too long. We ate quickly because we had another program to get to tonight. This one was about the CCC in Sequoia so we were all very interested in going. Brayden even felt relatively well enough to go.

We have learned a lot at several parks about the impact the CCC had on the infrastructure and buildings in each park. We've also seen numerous buildings attributed to the hard work of these young men. It was no different in Sequoia with roads, walls, and buildings built by these guys.

This ranger's program was unique because she took us on a drive through the park and showed exactly what projects the CCC accomplished during their few years in the park. A few of the stops we would be making the next day on the way out of the park were on the list. Sequoia credits the CCC as making the biggest contribution to the park in its history. Shortly after the program started our friendly ranger that we see everywhere sat next to Laney. We joked after the program that she would be hanging out at our hotel next!

We forgot to bring headlamps to the amphitheater so we tried to walk real close to a few other people until they turned off to their site. This park was incredibly dark at night! The moon wasn't up yet so we slowly walked back until we saw our familiar neighbors.

About 30 minutes after we said goodnight Brayden was up not feeling well again. Dave offered to switch tents with him and that seemed to make him feel a little better. We tried a couple different things before he eventually got sick again. About an hour later I heard him breathing heavy finally asleep. Tonight was his night for using 2 sleeping bags but we ended up proping him up with one of them so I forfeited my hammock underquilt for his feet. I was hoping I'd be ok with just my sleeping bag and wearing a sweatshirt!

Day 1

Even though I didn't start actually packing until 3 days before our for-sure-leave-date, this was quite possibly the most prepared we have been since our very first trip 5 years ago! After going back and forth and back and forth trying to figure out if we should get out of town early before Alberto hit, we finally decided to wait until our planned date. As per our tradition, we met Grandpa at Bagelheads for breakfast to say our goodbyes and so I didn't have to cook!

We were on the road by 7:30am and headed to our next first day tradition - Priesler's Pecans in Ft. Deposit. The kids had been anxiously waiting to read their new books on their Kindles and listen to their newly downloaded music so I had a quiet first few hours of driving.  They weren't too happy when I said they couldn't have the travel candy Dave had bought them until I mentioned we'd be stopping at the jelly bean place.

Unfortunately, the kids have been ruined by Bean Boozled. Ever year we'd driven this route we stopped at this same place to pick up a 1/4 pound scoop of jelly beans for everyone to gorge and share. Just the site of chocolate pudding, juicy pear, and strawberry banana smoothie jelly beans had all three of them holding their stomachs with memories of eating dog food, boogers, and dead fish instead. They decided instead to get candy legos and gummy worms.




Once we hopped back on the interstate I realized I'd forgotten to top off my gas tank with the always-cheaper Alabama fuel so we found a stop with a Redbox machine as well to grab a movie. With this being our first day it was our longest drive so it was a good time to grab The Greatest Showman and sing loud as we logged the miles.

The drive was beautiful most of the day until we made it just north of Atlanta. There were dark clouds everywhere and we were slowed with heavy rain about every 30 minutes. I was just hoping we were driving through what had already past our campground!

After a 45-minute winding drive up and around the mountain we finally made it to our campground and got to work setting up. I'd checked the forecast at the registration desk so I knew there would be rain for about the next 36 hours so we decided to all stay together in one tent. I'm a little gun-shy when I know rain is coming after the windy downpour in the middle of the night last year when we ended up in Grammie's RV!

When we pulled into our site we noticed a group of 4 guys having a little trouble setting up their tent next door. They were giving us quite the stink eye once we were all set up and ready for the night!

We took a walk down to the lake to check out the area then cooked a quick dinner. Our neighbor's companions showed up with what looked like enough supplies for a week of partying. This was going to be a long two nights!

We'd picked up some firewood and the kids requested some marshmallows so we ran back up to the trading post to grab some but they were already closed. On our way back to the campsite I missed the turn and we ended up near the trails I had on our list for the next day. With all the rain coming we decided to hop out and go ahead check them out.

Brayden was happy to see some signs noting some Civilian Conservation Corps done in the area and in this park. We scrambled up the trail first to check out the Cool Springs Overlook with a 180-degree view of the valley below. I couldn't even fit it in a panoramic picture!












Brayden spotted a bird having fun in the wind currents!

Next stop was the once operational fire tower that had recently been restored as a historic building. We talked all about how parks treat fires differently these days and the kids remembered a lot of what they'd learned in Yellowstone and Glacier the year before where fires were active around us. Notice the heart-shaped rock a little above the windows!

On our way back down we visited the stone wall archaeological site. There were a bunch of legends and stories about the purpose of the walls from astronomy to protection. The kids enjoyed thinking about standing in a place where people once built and stood a thousand or more years ago. We often seem to stumble on this wonderful historic places!

Once we got back to our site and finished the dishes I spotted a great spot for some camp ball. We quickly found our supplies and decided on 3 innings of regular play followed by a home run derby if we could finish before dark. Laney and I were teamed up against Brayden and Ryan this go round.

The first inning Ryan and Brayden had a little trouble fielding and we scored 3 runs then struck out Brayden twice keeping them to only 1 run. The next inning I hit one of Brayden's meatballs across the road for another run. The third inning they held us and popped out for a so-far score of 4-1. Brayden finally got in his groove to hit the furthest home run.

Once we got back to our site I noticed the beautiful glow before dusk by the lake so we all took a short walk over to see if we could see anything. We saw some giant snails along the way and hung out by the water for a little while before heading back.

After one long day we all brushed our teeth and retired to the tent for a game of Trouble and reading. We are finally wrapping up our last chapters of Nanny Piggins! By the time we finished the lullaby of rain started on the tent roof.  Our neighbors were full of gusto so we laid there trying to sleep through their arguments and drama around the campfire. Once it started steadily raining their campfire was squashed so they left for a dry spot somewhere. I was only hoping I could get some sleep before they returned!