OK, its been a while but I found the receipts for the gas purchases the other day and I just wanted to post that info in case someone is thinking about doing a trip like this. Now prices have fallen a bit, so I imagine a similar trip would be less expensive but this gives you a good idea of what we spent.
Date Gallons $/Gal. Total
5/31 - 31 gal - $4.06 - $125
6/2 - 28 gal - $4.06 - $107
6/5 - 33 gal - $3.80 - $125
6/6 - 32 gal - $3.88 - $125
6/12 - 23 gal - $4.30 - $100
6/14 - 50 gal - $4.04 - $200
6/15 - 32 gal - $3.98 - $125
6/16 - 66 gal - $3.83 - $251
6/19 - 35 gal - $4.90 - $170
6/24 - 34 gal - $4.40 - $150
6/24 - 30 gal - $4.10 - $125
6/25 - 48 gal - $3.62 - $173 (topping off for RV return)
Total spent on gas: $1,776. That is a little more than I had budgeted for. We favored filling up more frequently instead of topping it off. I would say we filled the tank between half and three-quarters full. Otherwise you are just carrying more weight and remember, gas weighs about 6 lbs. a gallon. That extra 20 gallons is like adding another person on board.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
RV Home Yet?
Whew! What a trip. Definitely worth it. We all had a great time and would do it again in a heartbeat.
We got the RV back in time, emptied and clean. Had a bit of an issue with some damage on the bumper. Please note that the insurance deductible will be high with an RV rental. Like $1,000. We were on the hook for far less than that but still it stings getting hit with another bill at the end of your trip.
Another tip: book the Vegas hotel rooms earlier than the day before. The Electric Daisy Carnival rave was suddenly cancelled in LA and moved to Vegas on the exact same days we were pulling in to end our trip. this meant that most hotel rooms were booked (attendee estimates were around 150,000) and those that were left were jacked way up. Another big sting at the end of the trip.
We stayed at the Mandalay Bay and spent most of our time at the pools. The kids really enjoyed the lazy river. It is probably one of the best places to take the young kids in Vegas. It is kept clean, the lifeguards do a good job of keeping the other guests in line, and it has everything you would need for a family.
Those couple of days went by stress-free and we got on our plane without incident. As we flew back home the stress of work and home responsibilities started trickling back. Now the trip is a memory but one that we won't soon forget.
I do have a couple of observations now that I have been back for a couple of days:
1. My commute feels wayyy shorter than when I left.
2. Every car should have captain's chairs for the driver's seat. Seriously. When you drive your car you probably rest your left arm on the window sill with your hand on the wheel. The armrest on your right is low and you probably can't reach the wheel while resting that arm. But with a captain's chair both armrests keep both your hands on the wheel. Do you know how much longer you can drive when you don't need to hold up your arms on the wheel? A lot further.
3. It is easy to fall asleep at the wheel in a captain's chair.
4. My truck feels like a Miata. I'm zipping all around the beltway, parking in ONE parking space, and it only costs $60 to fill it up! I'm free!
Thanks for following along on our trip. I think Teresa will be adding her own thoughts here very soon. I am working on computing the total gas costs. I will have that info posted in the next day or two. We had a great time but are happy to be back with our family and friends.
Next trip: RV to Alaska!
We got the RV back in time, emptied and clean. Had a bit of an issue with some damage on the bumper. Please note that the insurance deductible will be high with an RV rental. Like $1,000. We were on the hook for far less than that but still it stings getting hit with another bill at the end of your trip.
Another tip: book the Vegas hotel rooms earlier than the day before. The Electric Daisy Carnival rave was suddenly cancelled in LA and moved to Vegas on the exact same days we were pulling in to end our trip. this meant that most hotel rooms were booked (attendee estimates were around 150,000) and those that were left were jacked way up. Another big sting at the end of the trip.
We stayed at the Mandalay Bay and spent most of our time at the pools. The kids really enjoyed the lazy river. It is probably one of the best places to take the young kids in Vegas. It is kept clean, the lifeguards do a good job of keeping the other guests in line, and it has everything you would need for a family.
Those couple of days went by stress-free and we got on our plane without incident. As we flew back home the stress of work and home responsibilities started trickling back. Now the trip is a memory but one that we won't soon forget.
I do have a couple of observations now that I have been back for a couple of days:
1. My commute feels wayyy shorter than when I left.
2. Every car should have captain's chairs for the driver's seat. Seriously. When you drive your car you probably rest your left arm on the window sill with your hand on the wheel. The armrest on your right is low and you probably can't reach the wheel while resting that arm. But with a captain's chair both armrests keep both your hands on the wheel. Do you know how much longer you can drive when you don't need to hold up your arms on the wheel? A lot further.
3. It is easy to fall asleep at the wheel in a captain's chair.
4. My truck feels like a Miata. I'm zipping all around the beltway, parking in ONE parking space, and it only costs $60 to fill it up! I'm free!
Thanks for following along on our trip. I think Teresa will be adding her own thoughts here very soon. I am working on computing the total gas costs. I will have that info posted in the next day or two. We had a great time but are happy to be back with our family and friends.
Next trip: RV to Alaska!
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Get Us Out of Here!
We are officially done.
We left early today because we had kind of a long journey ahead of us. Also, I wanted to get some laundry done. Also, I wanted to ship some things back so we didn't need to carry 400 things with us all around Vegas, and through the airport, and through baggage, etc. It sounded like such a good plan.
I got up at 8 a.m., prepped the RV, put Bryce in bed with Teresa, left Sam sleeping on the couch, and started the RV. As I drove to the dump station to empty our tanks I heard a sickening gurgle from behind me. It was loud and worrisome. I quickly stopped — I was only ten feet from our site — and walked back to see what that sound could have been. I was now also interested in that curious aroma that seemed to be getting stronger the further back I went. Familiar with this scent I first checked the bathroom envisioning walls coated with fluids and semi-solids collected over the past few days.
Nothing.
But that smell...I turned around and the shower basin was half-full of a brownish water, not unlike what you might find in the creek behind your home, if your home was built on a sewage treatment plant.
It took a few beats before what I was seeing clicked in my brain. We had so filled up the waste tanks that as I moved the RV the motion pushed the water up through the shower drain. A foggy memory of this fact being explained to me during the "Intro to RV'ing" talk I received on Day One came back to me. Fortunately this was the gray water, only sink and shower water, not the water-that-shall-not-be-named water. Unfortunately due to the premium on space in an RV, we had kept our dirty laundry sack in the shower basin. This meant a sack full of dirty laundry that was now dirtier. And wetter.
OK, not a problem. We had planned on doing the laundry as we left this camp so we could ship some of it back home. We'll dump the waste tanks, head to the laundry 100 yards away, do some laundry while the kids tour the visitor's center, and be on our way.
I returned to the drivers seat and slowly drove to the dump station. I dumped the tanks without incident. The earlier commotion woke up Teresa so she cleaned up the mess in the shower and we drove to the laundry. Oh wait, the entire complex lost power and will not reopen until 3:30 p.m! And we have bags of wet smelly laundry just waiting for the day's heat to ripen them into a big ole stink bomb. How lovely.
Where is the next nearest laundry? There is one on the way out of the park but it takes us about 15 miles out of our way. We decide to go there because I don't want this stench to go any further.
Bad decision #1. GO TO OTHER LAUNDRY.
After driving through a set of harrowing switchbacks on our way to this other campsite with a laundry, we enter a road not meant for a vehicle of this size. I continue down because I can't turn around. We scare some drivers coming up the road and arrive at our destination, Lake Hume Christian Camp. Hmm, no mention of that little tidbit on our park map. No problem, we can handle a few hundred teenage Christians performing syncopated clapping and walking around with acoustic guitars at 9 in the morning. We will just do a few loads of blessed laundry and be on our way.
No we won't. Apparently young Christians don't wear many clothes at camp because the washers hold one bathing suit and a t-shirt. Back in the RV to head up this tiny, twisty road to where we left the main road on our way to Barstow. That was an hour wasted.
Our trip today takes us through many towns. There will be a laundromat in one of those. We drive to Visalia, a town just at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, NOT an onion. There is a laundromat and UPS store here. Great! After an hour of baking in the parking lot while the washers eat our money the nasty clothes are clean again. Hooray! Off to the UPS store.
Bad decision #2. DON'T CALL AHEAD TO THE UPS STORE.
We drive to the UPS store. I climb out and find that the store is closed. Locked up. It is 3:30 on a Friday. The sign says they close at 5:30. And this isn't "Moving my car so I don't get a ticket" closed. This is locked up, lights out, gates drawn, closed.
Okaaaay. Let's drive to Bakersfield, a larger city, which also has a UPS store that we have called, and is open. We enter Bakersfield and find the UPS store easily. We pack our things and walk them into have them shipped.
Bad decision #3. EXPECT TO SHIP THINGS FROM COAST TO COAST FOR RELATIVELY LITTLE MONEY.
I own a business. I ship things. I am not a total idiot. TOTAL idiot, I said. I expect to incur some charges for shipping the items and clothes we will not be using in Vegas for the next two days. I do not expect that delivery from CA to VA will cost $220.00. GROUND delivery. Just for ONE SUITCASE! Holy crap! We decide toting a bag or two through the airport will be fine if it saves us about $500. We do ship a few things that we really can't fit into our luggage, so that is a relief.
We hit a local ice cream store that is supposed to be fabulous and the kids really enjoy getting out for a little while.
Bad decision #4. SKIP AHEAD ON THE DIRECTIONS.
We head out on Route 99 South looking for I-15. This is a fool's errand. You see Rte. 99 and I-15 don't intersect. Never have, never will. As we drive out of Bakersfield towards LA (we are now only 90 miles from the City of Angels) we realize we have missed an exit. We have missed all of Route 89 that eventually leads to I-15 in Barstow. Another hour lost. Did I mention that gas out here in lovely CA is running about $4.29 a gallon for mid-grade? And that we are beyond our prepaid mileage by about 100 miles?
Bad decision #5. MISREAD DAILY MILEAGE FOR DAY"S JOURNEY.
And did I also mention that I thought I only had to drive ONE hundred and eighty miles today, when in fact, I need to drive TWO hundred and eighty miles, and I have just gone about 100 hundred miles out of my way today, and its 6 p.m., and I am still 150 miles from my destination? No? I didn't mention any of that? Never mind then, it really isn't important.
What also isn't important is my boorish behavior after all these bad decisions. Let's just say the miles driving through the desert at night were peaceful and quiet.Very quiet.
So here I am at 4 a.m. We have found our KOA site right alongside of I-15. We have cleaned the RV. We have packed all our belongings. We have thrown out all our food. We have done this because we need to get to Las Vegas and return the RV by 10 a.m. I am thinking we will leave here around 6 in the morning. I really don't want to sleep because I know I will wake up more tired than I am now. I wish now we hadn't shipped all the DVDs earlier today.
Bad decision #6....
We left early today because we had kind of a long journey ahead of us. Also, I wanted to get some laundry done. Also, I wanted to ship some things back so we didn't need to carry 400 things with us all around Vegas, and through the airport, and through baggage, etc. It sounded like such a good plan.
I got up at 8 a.m., prepped the RV, put Bryce in bed with Teresa, left Sam sleeping on the couch, and started the RV. As I drove to the dump station to empty our tanks I heard a sickening gurgle from behind me. It was loud and worrisome. I quickly stopped — I was only ten feet from our site — and walked back to see what that sound could have been. I was now also interested in that curious aroma that seemed to be getting stronger the further back I went. Familiar with this scent I first checked the bathroom envisioning walls coated with fluids and semi-solids collected over the past few days.
Nothing.
But that smell...I turned around and the shower basin was half-full of a brownish water, not unlike what you might find in the creek behind your home, if your home was built on a sewage treatment plant.
It took a few beats before what I was seeing clicked in my brain. We had so filled up the waste tanks that as I moved the RV the motion pushed the water up through the shower drain. A foggy memory of this fact being explained to me during the "Intro to RV'ing" talk I received on Day One came back to me. Fortunately this was the gray water, only sink and shower water, not the water-that-shall-not-be-named water. Unfortunately due to the premium on space in an RV, we had kept our dirty laundry sack in the shower basin. This meant a sack full of dirty laundry that was now dirtier. And wetter.
OK, not a problem. We had planned on doing the laundry as we left this camp so we could ship some of it back home. We'll dump the waste tanks, head to the laundry 100 yards away, do some laundry while the kids tour the visitor's center, and be on our way.
I returned to the drivers seat and slowly drove to the dump station. I dumped the tanks without incident. The earlier commotion woke up Teresa so she cleaned up the mess in the shower and we drove to the laundry. Oh wait, the entire complex lost power and will not reopen until 3:30 p.m! And we have bags of wet smelly laundry just waiting for the day's heat to ripen them into a big ole stink bomb. How lovely.
Where is the next nearest laundry? There is one on the way out of the park but it takes us about 15 miles out of our way. We decide to go there because I don't want this stench to go any further.
Bad decision #1. GO TO OTHER LAUNDRY.
After driving through a set of harrowing switchbacks on our way to this other campsite with a laundry, we enter a road not meant for a vehicle of this size. I continue down because I can't turn around. We scare some drivers coming up the road and arrive at our destination, Lake Hume Christian Camp. Hmm, no mention of that little tidbit on our park map. No problem, we can handle a few hundred teenage Christians performing syncopated clapping and walking around with acoustic guitars at 9 in the morning. We will just do a few loads of blessed laundry and be on our way.
No we won't. Apparently young Christians don't wear many clothes at camp because the washers hold one bathing suit and a t-shirt. Back in the RV to head up this tiny, twisty road to where we left the main road on our way to Barstow. That was an hour wasted.
Our trip today takes us through many towns. There will be a laundromat in one of those. We drive to Visalia, a town just at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, NOT an onion. There is a laundromat and UPS store here. Great! After an hour of baking in the parking lot while the washers eat our money the nasty clothes are clean again. Hooray! Off to the UPS store.
Bad decision #2. DON'T CALL AHEAD TO THE UPS STORE.
We drive to the UPS store. I climb out and find that the store is closed. Locked up. It is 3:30 on a Friday. The sign says they close at 5:30. And this isn't "Moving my car so I don't get a ticket" closed. This is locked up, lights out, gates drawn, closed.
Okaaaay. Let's drive to Bakersfield, a larger city, which also has a UPS store that we have called, and is open. We enter Bakersfield and find the UPS store easily. We pack our things and walk them into have them shipped.
Bad decision #3. EXPECT TO SHIP THINGS FROM COAST TO COAST FOR RELATIVELY LITTLE MONEY.
I own a business. I ship things. I am not a total idiot. TOTAL idiot, I said. I expect to incur some charges for shipping the items and clothes we will not be using in Vegas for the next two days. I do not expect that delivery from CA to VA will cost $220.00. GROUND delivery. Just for ONE SUITCASE! Holy crap! We decide toting a bag or two through the airport will be fine if it saves us about $500. We do ship a few things that we really can't fit into our luggage, so that is a relief.
We hit a local ice cream store that is supposed to be fabulous and the kids really enjoy getting out for a little while.
Bad decision #4. SKIP AHEAD ON THE DIRECTIONS.
We head out on Route 99 South looking for I-15. This is a fool's errand. You see Rte. 99 and I-15 don't intersect. Never have, never will. As we drive out of Bakersfield towards LA (we are now only 90 miles from the City of Angels) we realize we have missed an exit. We have missed all of Route 89 that eventually leads to I-15 in Barstow. Another hour lost. Did I mention that gas out here in lovely CA is running about $4.29 a gallon for mid-grade? And that we are beyond our prepaid mileage by about 100 miles?
Bad decision #5. MISREAD DAILY MILEAGE FOR DAY"S JOURNEY.
And did I also mention that I thought I only had to drive ONE hundred and eighty miles today, when in fact, I need to drive TWO hundred and eighty miles, and I have just gone about 100 hundred miles out of my way today, and its 6 p.m., and I am still 150 miles from my destination? No? I didn't mention any of that? Never mind then, it really isn't important.
What also isn't important is my boorish behavior after all these bad decisions. Let's just say the miles driving through the desert at night were peaceful and quiet.Very quiet.
So here I am at 4 a.m. We have found our KOA site right alongside of I-15. We have cleaned the RV. We have packed all our belongings. We have thrown out all our food. We have done this because we need to get to Las Vegas and return the RV by 10 a.m. I am thinking we will leave here around 6 in the morning. I really don't want to sleep because I know I will wake up more tired than I am now. I wish now we hadn't shipped all the DVDs earlier today.
Bad decision #6....
Big Trees
When we were planning this trip two things I wanted to do was visit Yosemite and Sequoia. Yosemite has always fascinated me and I also wanted to see some big trees. Well I did. They do grow them big around here and as we rode in the shuttle bus to the General Sherman tree we were awed by all the other large sequoias we saw. It is hard to get an idea of how large these trees are when you are underneath them and harder still to relay that immensity through a photo.
We planned to be at the General Sherman tree at 3:30 for a Ranger-led talk but in the meantime we took a short and easy trail through another grove of trees around a little meadow. As we came to the halfway point we saw another bear! Two days, two bears! We are starting to catch up.
This one was in the meadow inside the paved trail that loops it. We watched it graze its way through the meadow towards the trail. It crossed about 20 yards in front of us and kept on grazing up the hill. Now, I must mention, that these bears are not that big. They were about three feet tall from shoulder to floor and weighed only around 150 pounds. Kind of like a big fat dog. These were young bears and very unimpressed with people. We never really felt in danger and were, in fact, more worried about disturbing them than with our safety.
After a light lunch watching a bear we finished the hike and went to see the General Sherman, the largest living thing on earth. As we started down the trail to the tree, another bear appeared! This is getting good! This black bear had quite a crowd and walked along a ridge parallel to the trail. We all got a good look at him and he posed a few times on a log or stump as he foraged his way along.
We finally made it to the Gen. Sherman with a few minutes to spare before the talk. As the ranger spoke to us about the history of the tree someone pointed out another bear up on the ridge. This had the effect of reducing the previously attentive audience down to older tourists and ourselves who where actually tiring of these damned things. I was surprised to watch our kids quickly glance at the bear, that only days ago they would have died to see, and return to the ranger talk. ABOUT A TREE!
We grabbed the shuttle back home and prepared our last true dinner in a National Park. We ate it outside on a massive boulder Samantha chose and had a campfire with s'mores. It was a fitting end to a lifetime of experiences.
Tomorrow we head out to Barstow then Vegas.
We planned to be at the General Sherman tree at 3:30 for a Ranger-led talk but in the meantime we took a short and easy trail through another grove of trees around a little meadow. As we came to the halfway point we saw another bear! Two days, two bears! We are starting to catch up.
This one was in the meadow inside the paved trail that loops it. We watched it graze its way through the meadow towards the trail. It crossed about 20 yards in front of us and kept on grazing up the hill. Now, I must mention, that these bears are not that big. They were about three feet tall from shoulder to floor and weighed only around 150 pounds. Kind of like a big fat dog. These were young bears and very unimpressed with people. We never really felt in danger and were, in fact, more worried about disturbing them than with our safety.
After a light lunch watching a bear we finished the hike and went to see the General Sherman, the largest living thing on earth. As we started down the trail to the tree, another bear appeared! This is getting good! This black bear had quite a crowd and walked along a ridge parallel to the trail. We all got a good look at him and he posed a few times on a log or stump as he foraged his way along.
We finally made it to the Gen. Sherman with a few minutes to spare before the talk. As the ranger spoke to us about the history of the tree someone pointed out another bear up on the ridge. This had the effect of reducing the previously attentive audience down to older tourists and ourselves who where actually tiring of these damned things. I was surprised to watch our kids quickly glance at the bear, that only days ago they would have died to see, and return to the ranger talk. ABOUT A TREE!
We grabbed the shuttle back home and prepared our last true dinner in a National Park. We ate it outside on a massive boulder Samantha chose and had a campfire with s'mores. It was a fitting end to a lifetime of experiences.
Tomorrow we head out to Barstow then Vegas.
Into the Forest
We are stalling. We need to head out to Sequoia National Park but we do not want to leave Yosemite. Leaving Yosemite means that the trip is nearly over and we will be returning home soon. Passing through the park gate is acknowledging that we need to return to the world we have escaped from for over 20 days. It is something we do reluctantly and we are all a little quieter today.
We know we are lucky to have had this time to share with each other. It is not something many people can do. But that is what makes it difficult to end it. It is so special, it is such a blessing, who would want that to end? But it will end and sooner than we have prepared ourselves.
We headed out to Sequoia today. To get there we must travel down out of Yosemite, across the San Joaquin Valley and back up into the Sierra. As we drove down to the valley I kept an eye on the temperature. It started in the 70s. Then climbed to the 80s. As we got back down towards sea level we were in the upper 90s. When we went through Coarsegold, CA it hit 113 degrees. California has been in a drought for the past three years but this year's record snowfalls mean an end to that disaster. Not an immediate end, though. As we drive through mile after mile of historically fertile farmland it looks like we are in the heart of Texas. As far as we can see brown, dry grass. Small patches of green in the crease of two hills occasionally interrupt the monotony. It is sad. And the temp in the RV starts to rise as well. We have the AC cranked but we are all sweating it out.
We soon approach the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and climb into King's Canyon then further into Sequoia. Here is a fun item we have learned: the Google maps we were provided along with our directions in the itinerary tell us the mileage we have to travel but that is only park to park. In other words, if you wanted to drive from DC to Miami it would be like me telling you the distance from DC to the Florida state line. The amount of time and mileage we need to drive once we reach the park gates can be considerable. In this instance we need to go a further 30 miles into the park to reach our site. Not bad except it is all narrow switchbacks up and down the Sierras in a huge, not entirely sprightly, vehicle. This adds another hour and a half to the drive.
What also adds a bit of time is...wait for it... a bear! A small one, but it still counts. It crosses in front of us and is only a few feet from our window as the kids watch for about three minutes. They are excited to see one, finally, and we cross it off the list of things we wish we could see on this trip. Only mountain lions and pikas are left.
By the time we arrive at our site it is 7:30 in the evening. Still light out but not for too much longer. The kids head down to the river which is deadlier than normal but they have found a safe stream that runs parallel to it. We made dinner reservations on the road knowing we would be pulling in late and head out for our first fine dining in many days. Dinner is good but the views are better. We head back to the site as it gets dark and hope to see more bear tomorrow.
We know we are lucky to have had this time to share with each other. It is not something many people can do. But that is what makes it difficult to end it. It is so special, it is such a blessing, who would want that to end? But it will end and sooner than we have prepared ourselves.
We headed out to Sequoia today. To get there we must travel down out of Yosemite, across the San Joaquin Valley and back up into the Sierra. As we drove down to the valley I kept an eye on the temperature. It started in the 70s. Then climbed to the 80s. As we got back down towards sea level we were in the upper 90s. When we went through Coarsegold, CA it hit 113 degrees. California has been in a drought for the past three years but this year's record snowfalls mean an end to that disaster. Not an immediate end, though. As we drive through mile after mile of historically fertile farmland it looks like we are in the heart of Texas. As far as we can see brown, dry grass. Small patches of green in the crease of two hills occasionally interrupt the monotony. It is sad. And the temp in the RV starts to rise as well. We have the AC cranked but we are all sweating it out.
We soon approach the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and climb into King's Canyon then further into Sequoia. Here is a fun item we have learned: the Google maps we were provided along with our directions in the itinerary tell us the mileage we have to travel but that is only park to park. In other words, if you wanted to drive from DC to Miami it would be like me telling you the distance from DC to the Florida state line. The amount of time and mileage we need to drive once we reach the park gates can be considerable. In this instance we need to go a further 30 miles into the park to reach our site. Not bad except it is all narrow switchbacks up and down the Sierras in a huge, not entirely sprightly, vehicle. This adds another hour and a half to the drive.
What also adds a bit of time is...wait for it... a bear! A small one, but it still counts. It crosses in front of us and is only a few feet from our window as the kids watch for about three minutes. They are excited to see one, finally, and we cross it off the list of things we wish we could see on this trip. Only mountain lions and pikas are left.
By the time we arrive at our site it is 7:30 in the evening. Still light out but not for too much longer. The kids head down to the river which is deadlier than normal but they have found a safe stream that runs parallel to it. We made dinner reservations on the road knowing we would be pulling in late and head out for our first fine dining in many days. Dinner is good but the views are better. We head back to the site as it gets dark and hope to see more bear tomorrow.
Its Better by Bike
Today is another great day, weather-wise. Blue skies, warm temps. In fact, we all agree to rent bikes to make it easier to get around to the far trails. We rent some from the Curry Village equipment tent. Curry Village is the spot where all the eateries and other services like pool and showers are located. It is only a half mile from our campsite and a nice walk through the woods to get there.
We get our bikes, Sam gets a banana-seat bike, kinda like this one, that she isn't too sure about at first but ends up loving. She wants that kind of bike at home she informs us.
We head out to Yosemite Falls and through that village center as well. There is an Ansel Adams gallery there. Inside are images from contemporary photogs as well as Ansel Adams' work. The first image I am drawn to is a shot of Aspen trees that is an original print for only $45,000. In fact, it is the most expensive print in the store. Leave it to me to spot the most expensive meal on the menu.
Moving carefully away from that item I see others prints that are taken from Ansel's negatives that are for sale. There are around 20 select editions for sale. I pick up two for those intrepid souls who have been holding down the fort at my office back home.
We bike on over to Yosemite Falls and it is raging. The mist is as thick as the tourists. One thing that is not around every corner is a BEAR! Still no bear sightings. I am resolved that we will not see one on this trip. Its not the end of the world, but the kids keep on asking and I don't have an answer for why everyone on the face of the earth has seen one except us.
We stop at a gift store and grab a few souvenirs for friends and family. We need to do this now because we are coming to the end of our trip. It is a reality we are reluctant to acknowledge. It seems like the past few weeks have flown by at times. We are now counting down the days remaining instead of the days we have been on vacation.
We are really enjoying Yosemite and list it near the top of the places we have visited. I am not a big fan of categorizing things but try to enjoy each for its own. However, seeing these places one after the other in rapid succession makes comparison inevitable.
The amount of activities and sights in Yosemite make it a place you could explore for years. This beats Yellowstone and all the others for the shear number of amusements. Winter through Summer, you will never run out of new things to try. We are sold on Yosemite.
We get our bikes, Sam gets a banana-seat bike, kinda like this one, that she isn't too sure about at first but ends up loving. She wants that kind of bike at home she informs us.
We head out to Yosemite Falls and through that village center as well. There is an Ansel Adams gallery there. Inside are images from contemporary photogs as well as Ansel Adams' work. The first image I am drawn to is a shot of Aspen trees that is an original print for only $45,000. In fact, it is the most expensive print in the store. Leave it to me to spot the most expensive meal on the menu.
Moving carefully away from that item I see others prints that are taken from Ansel's negatives that are for sale. There are around 20 select editions for sale. I pick up two for those intrepid souls who have been holding down the fort at my office back home.
We bike on over to Yosemite Falls and it is raging. The mist is as thick as the tourists. One thing that is not around every corner is a BEAR! Still no bear sightings. I am resolved that we will not see one on this trip. Its not the end of the world, but the kids keep on asking and I don't have an answer for why everyone on the face of the earth has seen one except us.
We stop at a gift store and grab a few souvenirs for friends and family. We need to do this now because we are coming to the end of our trip. It is a reality we are reluctant to acknowledge. It seems like the past few weeks have flown by at times. We are now counting down the days remaining instead of the days we have been on vacation.
We are really enjoying Yosemite and list it near the top of the places we have visited. I am not a big fan of categorizing things but try to enjoy each for its own. However, seeing these places one after the other in rapid succession makes comparison inevitable.
The amount of activities and sights in Yosemite make it a place you could explore for years. This beats Yellowstone and all the others for the shear number of amusements. Winter through Summer, you will never run out of new things to try. We are sold on Yosemite.
Misty Water-Colored Memories
We awoke early to meet our tour guide for our hike this morning. We have no idea what to expect. I was thinking of a hike through a lovely wide meadow.
Ummm...hello idiot, you are in a valley. An extremely narrow valley with incredibly high cliffs all around you. Where exactly did the NPS hide this enormous meadow?
Our guide, Zach, helps me get over this idea and suggests a hike along the Mist Trail which takes us up to Vernal Falls. The trail is only 1.5 miles long. Zach is knowledgeable and patiently answers all of our questions. As the trail begins we cross the swollen Merced River and head up an incline. One that never stops. We get views of other falls on the way. The going is steep but the kids are up to the challenge. We reach the bridge near the base of the falls in about an hour and a half. Zach asks if we want to continue but he warns us that the going will be damp. "We will get soaked," he says.
That is fine, we brought the kids' rain jackets and the temps are climbing. We start around the corner in the trail where we put on our rain gear and are hit in the face with cold mist that is everywhere across the gorge and trail. And look! Stairs!
Cut into the rock are stairs that twist and turn all the way up. In fact, this hike has a total elevation of 1,000 feet in 1.5 miles. The last half is all stairs. Slippery stairs. There are rainbows in the mist and it seems like they follow you all the way up the trail. Zach has never seen the river and falls this full.
We head up and make it to the top in another half hour. Zach is impressed. "Most families I take only make it to the bridge in three hours." He actually breaks out his map to see where we can go now. We decide that after taking this time to eat lunch and dry out that we will head back the way we came. But before we do we check out a nice little spot above the falls where the water runs over the rock and you can walk right up to the edge of the river, running at about 50 miles an hour today.
Just as we are about to leave I hear Samantha cry out. She has fallen on the rock in a small pool and landed on her wrist. Yes, that wrist. The one she has broken three times and the one that was in a cast until the very last day before we left. It is sore and doesn't feel good so Zach breaks out his first aid kit and puts her arm in a temporary splint. Now we need to descend the wet stairs with Sam in a splint on her right arm.
We make it down without incident and the trail is getting crowded. Sam is feeling better and after Zach removes the splint we head back to camp. It is getting warmer and we decide to go swimming. What a treat to swim and get views of two water falls. We head back for dinner, exhausted but happy.
Ummm...hello idiot, you are in a valley. An extremely narrow valley with incredibly high cliffs all around you. Where exactly did the NPS hide this enormous meadow?
Our guide, Zach, helps me get over this idea and suggests a hike along the Mist Trail which takes us up to Vernal Falls. The trail is only 1.5 miles long. Zach is knowledgeable and patiently answers all of our questions. As the trail begins we cross the swollen Merced River and head up an incline. One that never stops. We get views of other falls on the way. The going is steep but the kids are up to the challenge. We reach the bridge near the base of the falls in about an hour and a half. Zach asks if we want to continue but he warns us that the going will be damp. "We will get soaked," he says.
That is fine, we brought the kids' rain jackets and the temps are climbing. We start around the corner in the trail where we put on our rain gear and are hit in the face with cold mist that is everywhere across the gorge and trail. And look! Stairs!
Cut into the rock are stairs that twist and turn all the way up. In fact, this hike has a total elevation of 1,000 feet in 1.5 miles. The last half is all stairs. Slippery stairs. There are rainbows in the mist and it seems like they follow you all the way up the trail. Zach has never seen the river and falls this full.
We head up and make it to the top in another half hour. Zach is impressed. "Most families I take only make it to the bridge in three hours." He actually breaks out his map to see where we can go now. We decide that after taking this time to eat lunch and dry out that we will head back the way we came. But before we do we check out a nice little spot above the falls where the water runs over the rock and you can walk right up to the edge of the river, running at about 50 miles an hour today.
Just as we are about to leave I hear Samantha cry out. She has fallen on the rock in a small pool and landed on her wrist. Yes, that wrist. The one she has broken three times and the one that was in a cast until the very last day before we left. It is sore and doesn't feel good so Zach breaks out his first aid kit and puts her arm in a temporary splint. Now we need to descend the wet stairs with Sam in a splint on her right arm.
We make it down without incident and the trail is getting crowded. Sam is feeling better and after Zach removes the splint we head back to camp. It is getting warmer and we decide to go swimming. What a treat to swim and get views of two water falls. We head back for dinner, exhausted but happy.
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