we survived!

ok, well, i guess i knew we would survive. took the family camping this past weekend up at King's Canyon / Sequoia Nat'l Park. At first, it was easy...kids watched DVD's while we just listened to music and cruised up the 99 past the orange groves. As we approached the park, the mountains and the trees rose up to greet us, and, surprisingly, the temperature did too - it was 97 degrees at 5000 feet. No big deal, until we found out that all of the unreserved campgrounds were fully booked.

(You're wondering why we didn't reserve a campground. Well, the answer is that all of the reserved campgrounds sounded like they were big RV hookup type places, and it's just never fun to be tent camping surrounded by huge RV's and generators.)

So the ranger tells us that we need to drive 46 windy miles to get to the lone available campground. Not a huge problem, and so we start driving, only to find out that there's construction on said highway, and cars are only allowed to pass once an hour. Yes, I said once an hour. While you wait in the 98 degree weather, you're supposed to turn your car off and sit in the sun. On the asphalt. Sounds great, eh? 

Anyway, to cut to the chase, we ended up in Sunset, over by Grant's Grove in the northwest part of the park, which was beautiful, and we picked the perfect spot for our little campground. Our tent was literally leaning up against a 50-foot sequoia. They have TONS of warning signs about bears, and you must put pretty much everything into these big metal bear boxes. We generally complied, although you can't do much when your 3 year old is munching on a cookie and half of it ends up on the floor.

We took some great hikes and spent some time in a cold alpine lake...we drank hot chocolate and eat well-done steaks and took 'showers' with wet wipes and climbed up to the top of a mountain. Most amazingly, Z, who is less than 3 years old, basically ran down this 1,000 foot climb without even a single fall.

All in all, this trip reminded me that it's good to be in the trees. Very grounding and relaxing. There's something nice about getting all smelly and dirty.