A visit with some 3000 year old trees

Our last stop before we headed 'home' was Great Basin National Park in Nevada. We arrived early and woke the girls for breakfast. This particular hike was only three miles but was at 10,000+ feet. I realize that isn't a big deal to many but we did have to stop more often than usual to rest. Lil for her part hiked the entire thing. Nonie hiked farther than she has ever hiked though we did have to carry her quite a bit.
These 3000 year old trees were significantly smaller than the giant old redwoods we'd seen earlier in the trip. The high altitude and low yearly rain fall attribute to the smaller size. These trees were incredably DENSE and take thousands of years to decompose. We saw dead tree pieces that were 5000 to 7000 years old.

DISNEY LAND!!!

We spent two days at Disney Land and California Adventure with Phil's folks. The last afternoon my dear friend Colleen joined us. Highlights include the laser light show at CA and the hotel pool. We played hard and we slept hard.

The Coast Starlight to Disney Land

We took the Amtrak Coast Starlight from San Jose to Los Angeles down the California Coast. I must admit I was a bit wary of a 12 hour train ride with the girls. But I have to tell you it turned out to be a highlight of the trip for me. The scenery from the train was quite enjoyable. We rumbled by farms where we guessed at the crops growing there and we counted dolphins and seals along the coast. We met interesting folks in the dining car. In general the forced relaxation of 12 hours away from almost everything was great for napping and reading.

We also stopped at Crater Lake

Crater Lake is one of the most breath taking places I have ever been. Phil and I actually startled the girls with our gasps of awe when we saw the lake for the first time. Phil took the plunge into the ice cold lake. I might have joined him if I had had my swim suit. He of corse is too cool for a bathing suit. Underwear was just fine for him. We took the girls down the steep hike to the lake. There is only one access point because the walls of the crater are so steep. All in all the hike was almost three miles. We ended up carrying Nonie a good deal of the way but Lil is turning into quite the hiker. Dipping our feet (or bodies as it were) in the cold lake at the bottom took the edge of the heat of hiking down. We also stopped at the lodge on the rim of the crater. Nice views there but my favorite point was the no climbing on the roof sign. Guess it snows a lot there.

Heading down the coast

We took a few days to drive and camp down the pacific coast to the Bay area in California. Along the way we visited with old friends, played at the beach, saw giant old trees and did some laundry.

Camping on the Olympic Peninsula

We spent a few days camping at Mora, a campground on the Washington coast. Mora is a stone's throw from Rialto beach which is at the mouth of a river running into the Pacific ocean. It has beautiful sea stacks and GIANT old driftwood logs.

This giant old tree - roots and all - had washed down the river and back up to shore at some point. It made a great place to climb and play.

Sully's Burgers in Forks WA is where I got a lovely case of food poisoning. I don't recommend food poisoning while camping.
Ah the 'Twilight' phenomenon in Forks WA. ( I would just like it to be known that I have not seen the movies or read the books). The first time I drove by this sign and saw girls posing with it I thought they were odd for posing by a fire danger sign. Then I actually read the sign and took a photo myself.

An all too short visit...

...with our friends on the Kitsap Peninsula. I have not seen most of these kids in the three years since we lived here. It was a great deal of fun to see how they have all grown.