Day 39

I woke this morning excited to check out the view of the lake with Lassen Peak. Unfortunately I missed the sunrise so the peak was already lit up with us still in the dark at the lake. I enjoyed my bagel walking on the trail this morning checking out the view.

We are all spoiled with Dave here as he helps the kids pack up their tent and me with cooking and clean up. When it's just mean mom everyone sets up and packs up their own stuff. Must be another reason they look forward to his visits so much!

We got on the road pretty quickly with me & Dave looking forward to the rest of the drive through the park. There was a hike to Lassen peak so I knew we would be seeing it again at some point.

We rounded a corner by a beautiful meadow and there it was! We pulled over to take a picture and the kids spotted a thick snow drift across the street so they had to all climb out and play.

I stayed in the meadow to try out the water in the stream and enjoy the view. I bravely stepped into the water up to my ankles. Within 3 seconds I was in pain from the frigid water - so much pain all I could do was yell, bend over, and hold my knees. I climbed up the bank to look around if anyone saw what a wimp I was.

Grammie climbed out of the RV  with Lola for a walking break and I told her how refreshing it was that she should join me. She called my bluff and said she would after she saw me step in. Of course I did and before I could complete the sentence, "See? It's refresh...!" I was doubled over in pain again and climbing back out. You can take the girl out of Florida....



When we got back on the road Brayden and Ryan were glued to the car windows looking for the next snow spot they could find. There were lots of drifts on the side of the road but no place to pull over. They especially loved the caves the creeks made through the snow. Around a series of s-curves Grammie left us and we stopped for snow. The kids were slipping and sliding all around on flip flops.

Our second snow stop just happened to have a gorgeous view of Lassen Peak with a glass-like lake in front of it. Lake Helen was clear and blue-green reflecting the mountain and trees on the other side.

While we took pictures of the scene, Brayden and Ryan took off to slide down a small snow hill nearby. They could only last a few minutes before their hands and feet started to hurt from the cold. I told them if we didn't keep going we would never make it to our next stop! We found Grammie waiting for us at the visitors center near the exit.













We stopped to enjoy the exhibits on energy and volcanoes. Ever since our very first trip we have seen the works of the Civilian Conservation Corps and this park was no different. They had a notebook used by a road construction crew with a drawing of the road around Lake Helen we'd just traveled. Their hard work was still there after almost 100 years.



















We had a long drive ahead of us so once we got back on the road we didn't stop except for brief gas fillups. Well, of course with Dave along with us we also had to stop for ice cream. He found us a homemade stop in Sacremento that had rave reviews. It was 2pm on a Thursday when we arrive and the place was packed! That's when you know it's going to be good!  It was 103 outside but we found a shady spot to gobble up our ice cream before it melted. Grammie had a little bit of help with hers.






The temperatures were hoverying in the low 90s once we got close so I didn't mind that we were going to arrive and setup a little later in the afternoon for sure. Way back in March when I'd made our reservation for Yosemite in the first minutes they were available I was super excited to be staying in the park at a much sought after spot. Once Grammie started making reservations she discovered a mistake I'd made so we ended up having to stay just outside the park. Reservations for Yosemite are gone within minutes the first day they are available.

Our bare-bones spot was in the Stanislaus National Forest about a 20-minute drive from the entrance to the park and about 10 minutes from Grammie's spot. We set up quickly and opted for a snack dinner to avoid cooking in the sun - definitely not my favorite.

At some point on our drive the kids discovered we had a hitchhiker in the car with us. Brayden felt something crawl down his neck and assumed it was Ryan trying to annoy him. Ryan felt something crawl across her arm and they both screamed when they realized it was a roach. One of the problems with having to store all our food in bear boxes at campgrounds is that the smaller creatures can get in even if bears cannot. It seems this guy decided to explore our crumbs and got taken along for a ride! Ryan tried to catch him but he eluded her Tupperware trap tactics. You could tell Brayden was nervous because he kept talking about it and talking about it. He even lifted his feet off the floorboard of the car as if that was going to help. They named him Neck Armstrong. We tried to capture him again after setting up but he was too quick.

Brayden mentioned there was a lot of activities at Grammie's spot so we headed that way next. The kids raced down to the mini golf course first for their version of the Holey Moley show. They had been looking forward to this place all day! Dave and I played shiffleboard until it was too dark to see and the kids were finished.
































Grammie and I tried to plan out our next day since we had some quiet. We wanted to make it into the park on the day it would be the least crowded for our time in the park. Yosemite is notorious for traffic jams and lack of parking after 9am during the summer. We opted instead for a shuttle bus that picked up at her campground to lessen the stress and maximize our time in the valley.

The adults were all exhausted from the long day so we declared it time to retire to our sites. We were going to have a busy day tomorrow and had plans to be up early!

Day 38

I was up early ready to pack up our canvas houses and hit the road for our next spot. We had a relatively easy drive through small towns and national forest so Dave drove while I tried to catch up on editing pictures and posting. We decided to skip any stops and head straight to Lassen Volcanic National Park to enjoy the area. It seemed like the kids might need a down day to relax and play too. We entered California with a very different, quiet reaction than the first time about a month ago. While I am looking forward to being back home the reality is setting in that it will be in less than 2 weeks!

Our first stop in the park was the visitors center for the park movie and hiking advice.  The movie was interesting teaching us more about volcanoes. This park is one of the few areas in the world where all four types of volcano can be found—plug dome, shield, cinder cone, and stratovolcano. It also doesn't have any glaciers but instead has 14 permanent snow fields. Lassen Peak is the largest plug dome volcano in the world. There are also mud pots and other hydrothermic features in the park that we would drive by the next day.

As we drove through the park I was hoping to get a get view of the peak for a picture. Since we weren't hanging around for a day to hike I wasn't sure that I would see it again after the entrance. It did peek out from the trees at one stop.

Dave and I are curious why this isn't a more popular national park. It was small but definitely has a lot to offer. I was disappointed we were only staying here one night and I will absolutely be back!

We were definitely returning to warmer days so after we set up the kids decided they wanted to swim. The lake next to our campsite looked refreshing and was sprinkled with people swimming and paddle boarding.There was a perfect log floating in the lake where the kids got in so they were able to put their log rolling practice to the test. Except for Ryan accidentally falling in no one actually swam as the water was quite cold, especially in the shade.

Our site was still hot in the sun so we decided to walk to Grammie's site to cook dinner. There was a nice trail between our campgrounds around the clear little lake the kids tried to swim in. It also had a tiny little view of Lassen Peak.  I was excited for a picture in the early morning with a quiet, calm lake and maybe even a little sunrise colors the next morning!

Grammie had us a nice fire ready after dinner where the kids made s'mores and we talked about our plans for our next stop - Yosemite National Park. It was one I was looking forward to except for the sheer amount of people that would be there.  We had a long drive ahead of us the next day so we decided to get some sleep and pull out early in the morning. I was excited to drive through the rest of the park in the morning!