Showing posts with label Sequoia National Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sequoia National Park. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Trip Report Tuesday: California Day 2 // Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks



Hello, friends!  Thank you so much for all the sweet comments on last week's first installation in this, the newest addition to my Trip Report Tuesday series!  You all make sharing so much fun! 

Let me start this week's trip report by saying, I have a thing for trees!  I just love interesting trees in all the beautiful varieties that God created them.  That being said, seeing sequoias, and the world's largest tree at that, was definitely on my bucket list!  This was a long awaited and highly anticipated day and our adventures did not disappoint!  Ready to hear more about this Cali vacation?  Alright!  All the day two deets coming right up!


Day 2 - Sunday, September 11, 2016



Our day began with a complimentary breakfast at Hampton Inn.  Their breakfast included a waffle bar, hot and cold food offerings, and fresh fruit.  I love when you can enjoy a delicious start to your day without paying a dime!


Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks


We took pictures galore, even pictures of others taking pictures, as seen above.  Yet, none of them could possibly capture how absolutely jaw-droppingly incredible these beauties are!

Giant Forest Museum
Learning a little about the big trees we would be admiring that memorable day!


A few fun facts about the General Sherman tree we'd soon see!


We enjoyed winding around walking trails, looking skyward at the loveliness with such amazement!


Tree hugging in California at its finest! 


Tunnel Rock in Sequoia National Park
This gigantic boulder used to be a tunnel over the Generals Highway before this road was rerouted.  Our girls didn't take the photo op for "granite". ;)
General Sherman Tree



Of course photos do not do this record setting tree justice, so here are some stats for you...


Lunch at Lodgepole Market Center
Before making our way on into the Kings Canyon area of the parks we popped into Lodgepole Market Center to grab some lunch.  I thought we'd only find things like cold grab and go sandwiches and snack offerings.  In other words, our expectations were pretty low for this meal.  Seeing that they had a running kitchen cooking up food to order was a pleasant surprise!  I almost went with another burger, until I heard a guy behind me telling his girlfriend how amazing their pizza is.  (Locals are great for food advice, even when it's gathered through eavesdropping! ;))  He was right!  It was delicious!  I also had Jason order me some fries.  They were salted and seasoned to perfection!  I'm getting hungry just remembering that delicious "to go" meal!  Little One always goes for chicken, and if pepperoni is on the menu we don't even need to ask Princess her pick!  Jason got the burger and while it wasn't as ginormous as my Ruby's Diner burger, he enjoyed it.  


 I was incredibly picky about making sure that our car had every last grain of salt cleared as soon as our meal was finished!  This girl isn't used to bear warning signs and I wasn't taking any chances!



Grant Grove

Notice the people on the trail on the right side of the picture to get an idea of the size of this tree. 


Kings Canyon
Kings Canyon is one of the deepest canyons in North America!  At more than 8,000 feet deep in some places, it's deeper than the Grand Canyon!  I didn't have high expectations for this part of the day as I didn't know much about it before we arrived.  I will tell you this now, it is underrated and more incredible than any photo or fact could express!  I don't remember ever feeling so small or so taken with the amazing majesty of just how big a God and Creator I serve, other than perhaps the first time I stood with sandy toes gazing out at the ocean.  If you plan a road trip through California, I say put both Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks on your itinerary, if you aren't bothered by heights, that is!  Standing there looking out at this view, and hearing the rushing of a river thousands of feet below was terrifying yet invigorating!  What a moment, what a day!




This is the aforementioned river we heard rushing while taking the photo above this one. ;)




This day held so much natural beauty!


Ok, I should say that this post is not sponsored by Ford. ;)  Yet, I can't help tossing in a photo of the rental we did all this exploring in, a 2016 Ford Explorer with the works!  We fell head over heels in love with this vehicle!  Did we need separate driver and passenger side climate control with heated and cooled seats?  No.  Did we enjoy them?  Immensely! 

 As silly as it sounds, when we arrived at the rental place I prayed that Jason would be given a car that he's actually interested in, so that it could be one big long test drive of sorts.  When he told me they gave him two options, and he went with the one he thought he might like to have one day, my heart was full!  It's the little things.  We won't be driving one of these in our everyday life anytime soon, but it may be in the ten year plan. ;)
Time to hop back in that SUV!  Moving onward!...
From Kings Canyon we made our way onto Oakhurst, CA, getting ourselves closer to our next destination, Yosemite!  We spent the evening at the Best Western Plus Yosemite Gateway Inn.
My favorite part of our room was the balcony!

 By this point our tummies were grumbling!  When we're in an unfamiliar area we make good use of our Trip Advisor and Yelp apps for dinner suggestions.  We decided on ordering takeout that night from a local favorite, Sugar Pine Pizza.
...because pizza is always a good idea.  Twice in one day?  Hey, this is vacation!

 I want to end this saying, "This was one of my favorite days of the trip!", but seriously, it just keeps getting better!  You'll see! 
Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Hope you'll be back to hear about day 3 next Tuesday!  


Wanna see video footage from this day?   Head on over to my family's YouTube channel,  Eat, Sleep, Dis, Repeat!


While you're visiting our YouTube channel, we'd love it if you'd subscribe to catch a new video each week!
In case you missed it, you may also be interested in:


Join me in the adventures to come!
Bloglovin // Pinterest // Instagram // Join via GFC, or sign up to receive new posts directly in your inbox @ left side bar

I appreciate each comment, & "like"! They let me know that you enjoyed what you read, which makes it worth sharing! ;)   

Posted by 9 comments:
Labels: , , ,

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Let's Catch Up! // Polaroids of the Past Few Months

Hello, sweet friends!  I hope you've been well!  My blogging break went a bit longer than anticipated, but boy has it been an incredible past several months!  I said I'd return from hiatus in the fall, so I thought I'd better keep my word and share what we've been up to before it's officially winter tomorrow! ;)

 Let's start at Summer Break!  We celebrated Jason's birthday at a fabulous beach resort with a lake view room and all sorts of fun complimentary amenities!  We had such a great time we declared this our newest family tradition!  Is it almost June yet? ;)  











Family Vacation 2016 // CALIFORNIA
This year's family vacation was hands down my favorite in the history of ever!  We spent two weeks in the stunningly gorgeous state of California!  The first week was one big epic road trip exploring the state and the second was spent at Disneyland!  I'm really looking forward to bringing you a new installation of my Trip Report Tuesday blog series in the new year covering this trip of a lifetime!  In the meantime, here's a sneak peek of the fun, in polaroid form...











We spent September 18th through the 23rd in the Disneyland Parks.  I took enough snapshots during that week to fill a hundred posts, so I'll just share a few glimpses of that most magical week for now.  They'll be plenty more to come when Trip Report Tuesday returns in 2017! . . .









So, there's a teensy lit'l taste of what we've been up to!  2016 has easily been one of my favorite years EVER!  Looking forward to sharing more in the new year to come, but first, let's have ourselves a Merry lit'l Christmas now!  


Hope you'll pop back over to my nook of the blogosphere after the holidays!  We have so much more chatting to do, friends! :)  Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years! 


Make sure you don't miss a thing at
Chatting Over Chocolate! 
Follow on Bloglovin' // Instagram // Pinterest // Join via GFC @ left side bar


I appreciate each comment, & "like"! They let me know that you enjoyed what you read, which makes it worth sharing! ;)

Posted by 8 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)