Day 15 - Heading Home

Not a great nights sleep for either of us. Joe ate to much at dinner, I keep thinking about the guy in the car. We got coffee and headed to the airport. As is in Atlanta, the Vegas airport has you running from one end of it to the other. I held the security line up because I brought a can of soda in my bag. Joe was irritated. That has been the word of the trip "irritated." Are you mad honey? No I'm irritated. For all the time we spent side by side, we were only "irritated" with one another a few brief times. I couldn't even tell you now about what. We are great travel companions. I was reminded this trip, just why I love Joe and I think he would say the same about me! We discussed several times the order in which we would rate our favorite parks. It would go something like this: first, Zion, then Bryce, Yosemite, Sequoia, Grand Canyon, Death Valley. But, that is not to say that we didn't like the ones at the end of the list. Really, you cannot rate them in an order. Each park was so amazing. Amazing for their beauty. Or spectacular for their unique landscape and formation. Each park had its' own personality, flavor, and unique features. We rated our favorite meals. Joe picked the Japanese restaurant. I pick the Bellagio buffet. We really didn't focus on eating out. We generally had a large meal midday where ever we happened to be. There is nothing we would have done differently. Our time spent planning the itinerary for this trip was time well spent. We have come back with tons of pictures that we will sort through and put together in a book of sorts. And, this blog was written as much as for our family to follow along on our trip and for us to not look back and try and remember what we did each day! We are already talking about our next vacation. Maybe to the Florida Keys or the Atlantis Hotel for our tenth anniversary next April!

Emergency: Death Valley! The Video!

Emergency: Death Valley!

I was happy Joe got to experience Death Valley. I had been there twice before, but not seen nearly as much of it as Joe and I saw. We headed out towards Vegas, eager to start our trip home as we have missed our home and our animals, and family. Shortly after leaving the park, I told Joe to look behind him. He looked and said what am I looking at? I told him that is your two weeks of vacation coming to an end. He looked again and saw a cop with his lights flashing behind us. We were thinking we just drove 2,250 miles and now we are going to get a ticket? But, the cop flew right by us at about 90 miles an hour. Now, when you are in the desert with nothing around, you know he can only be heading toward a car wreck of some sort! Yet when we drove a few more minutes with no sight of him, I figured he turned off on one of the few roads to no where off the highway we were on. So, I started reading my book again.

Sure enough, after a few more minutes, we came upon the cop car stopped on the side of the road with a small four door car sitting on the desert floor some 8 feet below the road with no visible damage to the car! I had Joe stop and I rolled my window down and asked if he needed help, that I am a nurse. He's like sure come on over! I said what is going on. He's like well got a guy down there not responsive and not breathing! Geeze! I hate when that happens!

I go sliding down the gravelly bank with my flip flops and there were these three people standing around the car. There was an unopened orange medic bag sitting there on the ground. The woman said she was an EMT (who happened upon the accident) but was not legally allowed to touch the guy. Not sure why she would say that. Anyway, I look in the car and there is a large adult male laying across the front seat with his head propped on the passenger side door bent at a bad, bent sideways angle. About a dozen prescription bottles laid on the floor of the passenger front seat of his car. (Heart and diabetes meds to name a few.) Sure enough, he was not breathing. No one there had started any kind of treatment. I was like, well we need to get this guy an airway! I had the "EMT" stabilize the head while the cop and I opened the door. The guy seemed pretty dead to me. I opened his eyes and didn't like the looks of them! He didn't respond to my voice or corneal stimulation. A very bad sign. I said we need to get this guy out of the car and onto the ground so I can work on him. Everyone was like what, how are we going to do that? I'm like just do it! Joe held the car door open, the cop grabs the guy by the belt, and I was at the arms. He must have weighed 250! His legs got caught on the steering wheel, but we kept pulling and pulling. Apparently, he had two prosthetic legs and they got caught! Later I was wondering how do you drive with no legs. Any way, got him to the ground, still no breathing. I had a stethoscope. I did hear a faint heart beat. I had a pocket mask, so I gave him some breaths and he spontaneously started breathing again. I yelled for someone to get a blanket and give us some shade!

Gave him a good sternal rub and another corneal swipe, no response to pain. I just kept assessing him. The medical helicopter was called and was six minutes out. I made sure there were no passengers who might have been thrown from the car. After a bit, I could no longer hear a heartbeat. Couldn't feel a carotid pulse. I hate when that happens too. Now I have to start compressions! CPR at 105 degrees! And, I skipped the short hikes in Death Valley b/c I didn't want to get sweaty! After what seemed like forever, the cop tells us the helicopter will be landing any second. Indeed they did and they landed right next to us. You could only imagine the dirt and rocks that thing spit on us! Certainly the worst conditions I have ever done CPR in before! They got the guy intubated, the heart started and stopped a few times. They couldn't get an IV in him and were going to put one in the bones of his legs till someone told the paramedic there were no legs!

At any rate, I continued to hang around and lending a hand to the ambulance crew and the ambulance crew setting up the head blocks, switching O2 tanks, etc. just like the old days. They were on the ground with him for what seemed like forever. Because he was so big, it took six people to carry him up the steep, rocky bank to the waiting chopper. I deferred from lifting for several reasons. Joe was at the head (he was great through all of this.) The guy at the end says to me, can you come to the end and watch his legs don't fall off. Now you should know that when it was discussed that the guy had two fake legs, I was busy with other things, so I missed that part! So, I thinking, ok, this is weird, where does he think the legs will go? The guy is strapped to a backboard. Whatever, so with six guys ahead of me spitting rocks out from there shoes I trudge behind with my flip flops on hanging on to the guys to feet. I noticed his sneakers looked rather small and his legs were at a weird position. And, when I grabbed him around the ankles, I notice they are all stiff, and I'm thinking rigors! What is up with that. How could it be rigors?? When Joe told me after about the fake legs I just had to laugh! I said to Joe, how can some one drive with no legs, well maybe not so good after all. Joe made a bad joke about the guy didn't have a leg to stand on!

So, he was loaded onto the helicopter, and Joe got cool video of the chopper taking off and a few moment of me in it which he will post to this blog later!

This man had no obvious injuries other than a scrape on his left elbow. Given all the meds, I feel he had a medical episode while driving before he left the road. The sheriff called me later in the day to update me on his condition. His mother said he had been depressed and his new bottle of xanax was empty. Likely a suicide attempt. He had an arrest record that we saw online. As of last night he was in a coma and had brain damage. He also wanted to tell me the flight crew wanted to thank me for my help. It was a good feeling, I'll say that much. Joe was a great help!

Strangely, just a few minutes before we saw the cop fly by us, I was daydreaming about going back to school for my paramedic license!

Day 14

Death Valley. But it's such a dry heat! After quick showers, we hit the road to explore Death Valley. Our first trip was a nine mile loop around Artist Point. There we got to see Rock Formations colored green, pink, and purple. Very pretty. The thing about Death Valley is that the types of rocks change to different colors, textures, heights, and directions, very quickly as you are driving. We went to the Badlands of Death Valley. The lowest point in all of North America. 282 feet below sea level. It was very hot, like 105 or something early in the morning. There were puddles of water left over from the winter with crusts of salt scattered throughout. Our next stop was a trail to take where you could see a natural stone bridge. Joe went w/o me as I opted for the cool comfort of the AC in the car. He took pictures that were pretty cool. We saw the Devil's Golf Course where there is a field of salt formations covering the ground. No golf happens there, however. The neatest thing we saw was Zapraski Point. The most vibrant colors anywhere in Death Valley, and the neatest formations of rock overlooking the salt floors below. The land scape here is like nowhere else on earth. It is hard to describe and like so many of the sights we have experience the past two weeks, pictures do not do many scenes justice.

Day 13

Last night we had a yummy dinner at a Japanese restaurant just next to the hotel. We stayed at the Best Western in Bishop CA. It was very nice. Beautiful green, flowered grounds with a creek running through it. The walls of the creek had been turned into walls of round rocks cemented together. Tons of large, yellow and orange marigolds, and shrubbery made it a beautiful sight. There was a pool and jacuzzi that we did not try out. Dinner kept us out until after 9:00 or so. We slept great, and woke up around 6:00. There was a nice breakfast in the lobby. Got some laundry done, and enjoyed sitting outside our room that overlooked the creek. A hummingbird was busy making a nest in the tree right outside our door. She was not happy that we sat so close to her "project". I wish we could have seen the nest completed with babies in it. We also had two male and one female ducks right next to our sitting area. Remembering the goose that "goosed" me on the back of my head, I was a bit leary. They to didn't like us sitting in their area, and quickly, but not quietly, left for better digs.

We are so ready to get home! Pretty homesick both of us! We even tried to get a flight a day earlier, but found it to be to costly. We will make the most out of our final days out west, and look forward to the unique terrain that makes up Death Valley! As soon as our laundry is done!

After stopping for a chai latte to go, we left Bishop CA. With stops it took us 5 hours or so to get to our hotel at Death Valley. We stopped to use the bathroom at the first thing that came along. There isn't much commerce in this hot desert. The burgers were surprisingly good. We sat next to four Japanese people who kept eyeing our food. Finally, they turned to us and wanted us to point to what we were eating on the menu because they do not speak English and couldn't tell the waitress. They were excited that we could help them. They really wanted burgers! They were confused when they kept ordering Coke and the waitress kept saying Pepsi. The restaurant had a book for visitors to sign in. Most visitors were from overseas. I was surprised that they would visit Death Valley, though there is a beautiful resort here. (Not the one we are in, unfortunately.)

The desert drive was, of course, very hot. 109 most of the way in. Lots of hill and valleys. We went from about 5,000 ft. to below sea level. We stopped to see Salt Creek. It was a 0.5 mi. hike. We took it! The creek is now mostly a puddle here and there, but we can say we took a hike in 109 degree heat! Pretty brutal. I was glad to get back to the car. We stopped at an old borax mine site. I let Joe take that short hike himself, and he said it was quite interesting how they used to mine and ship the borax. Some Europeans were asking him what borax was.

Our hotel is a 2.5 star I'd say. The pool, which gets it's water from a spring, was too warm to make us get in it. So, after arriving here about 4:00 or so, we did some shopping, and spent the rest of the night in our room to keep cool. Tomorrow, we hope to get an early start. We will have some great, unique sites on our was along the Death Valley on our way to Vegas. There really is no place like this in the world. I'm glad Joe has the opportunity to see it. I have been here twice before, but tomorrow will see things new to me.

Day 12 (Part 2)

We drove a few thousand feet down to the valley into Yosemite Village. Very extremely beautiful road that ran along the river! By that time, it had become more crowed with tourists (like us.) Actually, the most tourist we have seen on our trip. We saw a good size bat flying around. It seemed disoriented and unsure how to get out from under an over hanging roof. Must have been sick or rabid. We had salmon burgers for lunch in a nice wooded area with tables outdoors. We ended up driving through the valley, making many stops at turn outs along the way. Lots of waterfalls, rivers, mountainous rock formations. Just amazing! We continued out of the valley, heading to our next stop, Bishop, CA where we will spend the night. The road was treacherous for many miles. Narrow, twisty, no guard rails between our tires and steep cliffs. Amazingly, people speed dangerously on these roads, ignoring the signs that say speed kills bears! Much to our amazement, there was still snow on the ground for much of the way. At one point, Joe stopped and made a snowball. I touched it. We stopped several times more for photos, and to enjoy the scenery. The most magnificent spot was Olmstead Point. Walls and walls of white rock. The cracks that ran through them made them look like a patchwork quilt. Out of no where a tree would grow where it seemed there was no soil. Truly spectacular. We took a 0.2 mi. hike down and were able to walk all over these rocky slopes. It was sooooo cold! Especially for Joe who insisted I wear his jacket. Shortly after this, our camera battery died. We missed some great photo ops, but we won't soon forget the remaining waterfalls, lakes, and snow covered peaks.

The Great Encounter

Day 12 is interrupted in order to give proper time to the biggest thrill of the trip. Here is what happened: While still up on the top of Yosemite, we stopped at a trail head called Mono Meadow Trail. We saw a Ranger there who was preparing to hike the trail himself. We spoke to him briefly with a few questions about the trail. He was very nice. At the trail head, there was a sign stating that if you were camping on the trail, you needed a permit, and FYI this was bear territory! Bravely, we set out for this 0.6 mile steep descent. It was the least marked trail we had been on so far, but it was easy enough to follow. We saw lots of deer tracks. We also saw lots of fallen, decaying trees that had been torn to shreds by hungry bears looking for insects to snack on. Feeling pretty brave, we continued on. Every so often we stopped to look at flowers, birds, or the scenery around us. We (at least I was) on heightened alert for any bear that might be around the next turn. Some where near the bottom of the trail and not to far from Mono Meadow, I lost my nerve. I kept thinking, if Liz knew we were hiking in bear territory, with the intent to see a bear, she would think we were crazy. Then I thought, David would think the same thing! What was I thinking. At that point, the woods suddenly became thicker, darker, more sinister, closing in on me, my PTSD kicking in. Joe sensing my increasing unease, asked me if I wanted to turn around and go back. I did not hesitate! When I turned around, I saw it! Yes, the handsome Ranger we met at the top of the trail! Surely he would protect us if we ventured into the meadow and came up on a bear! Yes, he said! Follow me! (He had a shovel, but no gun!) We had to cross a fallen log over a creek. The meadow in sight. In the mud at the edge of the creek, a bear paw print! Joe snapped some photos. As we looked over the meadow, no bear in sight. Yesterday, some folks told us that they had come to this spot and seen a momma and her two little ones, their heads peeking out of the tall grass. Joe was disappointed. (Secretly, he has held out belief that he will see Sasquach on this trip.) Still he was proud of my bravery for putting my fears aside and making it to the end of the trail. He was never more in love with me than at that moment. Sadly, we turned to head back up. Then, at that same moment, there it was! A bear. I saw it first and said to Joe, something like, OMG! Shit! Look there's a bear. What should we do! The bear was maybe 100 lbs. and 40 feet in front of us. I quickly assessed the seriousness of the situation, and determined that there were a whole heck of a lot of fallen trees between him and us. Not likely that he could come after us. Still primal fear set in and I began to high tail it out of there. Joe, however, continued to linger about, snapping photos of the beast! I keep saying lets go. There might be others nearby! Joe must have been scared to because he grabbed a big heavy stick and started pounding it, beating the path as we hiked the heck out of there! For Joe, his trip was made by this wildlife encounter! For me..........

Day 12 (Part 1)

With no critters to bother us during the night, we got a great nights sleep. We had a great buffet breakfast in the dinning room at the hotel. From there, we drove nearly an hour to Glacier Point. From there we were able to look down over the Yosemite Valley. One of the most spectacular sights we have seen on this trip. We spotted several waterfalls. It was neat to look at them with the binoculars, and trace their path down the rocky mountains. We meet some young travelers from Orange County CA. They took a great picture of Joe and I in front of Half Dome. They admired us for all the parks we have visited on this trip. While they live in California, this was their first trip to Yosem

Day 11

Let's just say last night was not a great night. Two in the morning, I was awakened by a noise that sounded like the crinkling of a food wrapper. I was deeply asleep. I woke Joe up. He claimed it was the styrofoam cooler with the ice melting in it. Didn't make sense to me, but I thought I was dreaming it. Ten minutes later after falling back asleep, I heard it again. This time Joe heard it. He got out of bed to investigate (the man's job.) I told him I suspected it came from the dresser where we had left a half eaten bag of corn chips (last night's dinner.) He did a look around, and a shake up of things, with no answers to be had as to what the noise was. Then he looked at our styrofoam cooler that we had sitting on the floor. Sure enough! A rodent of some sort had been chewing on the corners of the cooler! SOB! Pieces of styrofoam littered the floor! Now that there was positive proof that we were sharing a room with a rodent, I just know I am not going to be sleeping until he is taken care of. I called the front desk. Maybe they can set up a mouse trap for us. Of course, no one answered. Joe is now clearly annoyed by the entire situation. Thinks I am being a baby. I'm feeling fearful that the rodent could climb into our bed. Joe says that won't happen. I told him about my Grampa who told the story of waking in the middle of the night once, to see a rat staring him in the face, as he lay on his chest. Joe says it must have been during the Depression and surely that couldn't happen now. Not sure of that logic. At any rate, with no support from the hotel front desk, and apparently, my husband, I set off to devise a plan of my own to catch this critter. I took our blue recycling container and emptied it out. The I took a handful of fragrant, yummy corn chips and placed them into the bottom of the blue container. Next, I laid it on its' side where the cooler used to be. Then, Joe and I laid in bed in wait. A few minutes go by. A noise was heard somewhere, not sure where. Joe sprang out of bed to tip the blue container up, capturing the rodent. Instead, we discovered that the rodent had out smarted us and quickly, and quietly, taken his corn chip back to his/her home in the cozy base board hot water heater in our room! We could hear him munching away. Joe is now even more annoyed. Mad at me for poking him and mouthing words to him about what was going on and what he needed to do about the container. At any rate, I had him move the container closer to the bed so he could reach it quickly without scaring the rodent off. Again, we lay in wait. Now we hear the rodent, not in the blue container, but closer to the head of our bed. I poke Joe. And, mouth to him, "I think the rodent is by the head of our bed." He tries tipping the blue container up, hoping for a capture. No such luck. He tells me to be quiet that I am scaring the rodent before he can be captured. He tells me that if I poke him one more time, he will be angry. To me that is not too scary. So we wait. We can hear the rodent munching on a corn chip in the base board heat. We wait some more. Now the rodent, with his full belly, is ready for a nap, and we don't hear from him again. Joe announces that he is wide awake. He takes out his computer and starts working on ebay, or Kodak, or what ever, I am not sure what he is doing. I try and sleep, but keep thinking about the rodent getting into bed with us. I lay there, unable to sleep. Finally, at four a.m. (with the rodent now deeply asleep) I say to Joe, let's try and go to sleep. He says, "I suppose you mean with the light on". I'm like, of course with the light on. He agrees, but reminds me he will be angry if I poke him again. Some how we manage to fall asleep for two hours. Now we wake up our stretch of early morning, wake up early to beat the crowds is broken and no rodent is in the blue recycling bin! I walk over the the base board hot water heater and give it a good hard kick! How do you like that, you rodent!? Sorry, are we disturbing your sleep!? Then, I got nervous because I could hear him stirring, and was afraid he would come running out. I tell you, I was not sorry to check out of that place! I told them at the front desk about our resident rodent. They said, "Oh yeah, it is cold out. They like to come in where it is warmer."

The rest of the day was uneventful. A pleasant ride to Yosemite Park. Stopped along the way at Target so I could pick up a new book to read. Somehow, I have managed to go through two books on this trip. Normally, I might read a book a month. Now I am peeling through them at great speed. The views were beautiful. Lots of groves of fruit, nut trees, golden fields, and magnificent mountain views.

We did a short hike through some groves of sequoias and burnt out groves of trees. Well traveled and no scary wildlife. Did see two mule deer. Lots of chipmunks. Some squirrels. Had an interesting conversation with our shuttle bus driver. Says lately they are seeing 80% of their riders are European's visiting our country because the dollar is worth so little to them! He also gave us a good tip on what to see and do tomorrow, so we are excited about what is to come then.

Our hotel is an old lodge in Wawona, right in Yosemite Park. In its' day, it must have been magnificent. Now, it is sadly in state of disrepair, but still filled to capacity. There are several, large cottages on the property and well as a golf course. Many of the rooms share a bathroom/shower with other rooms. Joe wisely upgraded us so we would have our own bathroom given that we are tired from our rodent encounter last night and feel the need for the comforts of an upgrade. The "lobby" is magnificent. A check in area, and two sitting areas. One has a fire going in the fireplace. Every night they have a piano player playing and entertaining while families wait their turn to be called in a for dinner reservations (very pricey menu.) Joe and I sat out on the porch. We ordered a drink and an appetizer, a California cheese sample platter with chutney and bread. It was lovely sitting out on the white wicker furniture people watching, enjoying the sunset. We chatted with a family from Massachusetts. They were taking their annual visit to CA where they have family. They have been here numerous times and had some interesting stories of their travels to share. Later, we went in to listen to the piano player. There were chairs, sofas, and love seats all around. All occupied. Lots of atmosphere here. People were having drinks a playing board games, waiting for their names to be called for dinner. I said to Joe that one hundred years from now, this will probably be a museum (not unlike the colonial museum we visited by the river today.) They will tell visitors how, years ago this room was a room where people who were waiting for dinner used to sit, play board games, and have a drink or two.

Day 10

We slept in today until 7:00 PST. Not wanting to venture outside with temps in the 30's I hung out in bed for a bit with the computer, while Joe took his shower. Stopped at the Ranger station to check on the forecast for the day and to make sure they got rid of the bat. The ranger today was a young guy. A bit weird with not much sense of humor. Sort of creepy, so we made a quick get away from there. We had a long breakfast (they were shorthanded at the lodge restaurant) before heading out hiking at nearly 10:30.

It was so cold! For much of the afternoon it ranged from 46-50 degrees according to our car thermometer. We first drove nearly an hour to the General Sherman tree in the Giant Forest. We made a few stops along the way at scenic pullouts for some photos. The roads were twisty and narrow. Made me nervous. I told Joe a few times to slow down. You could never be sure of who might come flying around the next corner! Some of the pullouts were in groves of sequoia trees. So amazingly huge!

When we got to where the Sherman tree was, there were lots of tourists. You walk and walk and when you see the tree you know it is the Sherman for sure! Biggest tree in the world! Outstanding! Hard to get a good photo of it to portray the actual size of this giant. 275' tall! Taller that the Statue of Liberty! The park did an excellent job creating a path and heavy wood fence through this area. We ventured off the common path a bit to explore deeper into the area, but only went so far until I got creeped out for thinking of running into a black bear. (I still suffer from PTSD from the close encounters with alligators in the Hillborough River.) Still, we did have a great hike in the woods. Saw a waterfall. Listened to the birds talking over us. Were amazed at the sequoias that had fallen many years ago, yet have many, many more who knows how long to go before they are totally decayed. It was interesting that you could see these trees, that obviously fell long ago, and over the years, after much decay, lost their original straight shape and collapsed at the curves of the ground below it, taking on the shape of the ground. It was as if they were fractured. You could see the fractures of their trunk. Some of the trees had been ravenged by the claws of bears who were rooting for bugs to eat. We even saw claw marks from bears on the wooden fence along some of the paths. Huge claw marks! It was so cold that I wrapped myself up in a blanket for this hike. Joe took a picture of me from behind, all bundled up. I looked like a hunch back hermit with my walking stick!

After this, we went to the Sequoia museum and had an interesting conversation with a young (teeny, tiny) female ranger about the risks of bear encounters, etc. Not a big risk, however, not one I want to take given my recent other wildlife encounters! At this point, back on the road, I was driving so Joe could check out the scenery. A heavy fog set in. You could see it pushing down on the trees. Joe had me pull over and he hiked (by himself) up a hill to catch the action on the camera. He got some great shots! After nearly an hour we stopped at the entrance to Big Stump. We hiked down a half mile or more. Along the way we saw the sad stumps of many sequoias who were chopped down in the 1800's for "sport" before people came to respect these giant trees. It made me sad. The trail was deserted except for Joe and I, and I found that a bit creepy! I tried to make noise as we went along, as to scare any black bear mommas with her babies away and not to surprise them. I'd say, "Watch out. Here we come, and we're big!" Must have worked, because we did not see any bears. We are hearing from many people that they have seen, or heard of encounters recently. At Big Stump we saw one stump that was particularly huge named the Mark Twain stump. It had stairs so you could climb up on top of it. From there we had a nice view of the grassy valley around us. Joe tried to take some pictures, but again hard to do given the diameter of the base of these trees. Rather than go back the way we came in to return to our car, we found a short cut to the road. Of course, we did not end up by our car and had to hike along the road for half a mile side stepping every time a car came speeding around a curve!

On the way back to our lodge we stopped at another lodge that advertised having a restaurant. We made our way up there and when we went to turn into the place, we were met with heavy, thick fog. I didn't want to go on, but Joe wanted to try it. Very quickly, we discovered that this was a one lane road and there was not a shoulder on either side of it! On my left was a steep hill. On my right was a lake! Needless to say, I drove quite cautiously and was glad that it was only a short ride to the lodge. Craving something hot to eat, we went in to find that the only thing hot was hot dogs that were turning around on those warmers like you see at a 7-11! Not much of a meal choice at all. On we went to the next lodge that had a sign out front that said "restaurant." Joe went in to check it out only to find out that they only served to their own guests!

It was 4:05 p.m. when we got back to the John Muir Lodge where we are staying. We thought how nice to stop at the restaurant and get a hot bowl of chili, but lunch ends at 4:00 sharp. No if's and's or but's! Dinner is at 5:00. So, we ended up going back to our room and having salsa and chips for dinner. Our fave! There is NO tv here! No cell phone service. Only internet 8( Just kidding! We can rough it till we get on the road tomorrow as we head onto the next adventure: Yosemite!

Not Only Are The Trees Big...

Take a look at the size of that chipmunk! They're sneaky, too - we didn't even notice him until we looked at our pictures later.

Day 9

Day 9

Today we got up at 4:30 for our long day of driving. It was neat to see the landscape as it changed becoming less desert looking to softer golden colors with more mountain ranges in the distance. We passed a community that had hundreds of windmills lining the barren mountains, providing them with power. I drove for the first time half way there, and Joe drove the rest. With stops, we made it to Kings Canyon Park in 8 hours.

When we arrived, we were told it would be a two hour wait for our room. So, we got some lunch then went to the visitor center. The Park Ranger gave us good ideas of how to spend our time for the next day and a half we would be there. While we were there we looked over the exhibits and when the information video started we went in and sat down to check that out. Not 2 minutes in to the video, a bat started flying around the room! Swear to God! At first, I thought it was part of the video! Sort of like when you are at Disney sitting watching a show in 3D and they spray water on you! Of course, I went running out of there! Two women beat me out and Joe followed me. I think I was yelling something! I feel like a magnet for these encounters be they Canadian Geese, alligators, sting rays, or bats!

So, at that point we went and check in. Our room is pretty neat. Actually, it is in a lodge. The lobby is a big sitting area with fire place, etc. You can get wi-fi there, read, play games, etc. We ran into a couple from Florida and talked to them about visiting Death Valley. In fact, after talking to them, we changed our plans to include an over night stay there on the 18th! Joe has never been there. I have been twice. It is just way cool, and not really out of our way. The room has no TV! We can mooch off the wi-fi in our room and be online, thank goodness! No cell phone reception either. Just like pioneer days for us!

We took a short hike/trip to see the General Grant Sequoia. Our first view of these magnificent trees. Of course, it is pretty cold here like it was in the GC. Still, a nice walk in the woods. We took lots of pics and our camera battery died. We first came upon a sequoia that was hollow at the base. Some young children came along and I cautioned them to be careful of bears if they were to go into the hollow of this tree. They took this as a challenge and went it one side and came out the other. How brave these children were!

We continued through a well marked path to see many more of these giant trees in a grove of sorts. It is hard to put into words how magnificent they are. Our pictures cannot capture how majestic they are. We tried taking panorama shots to capture these giant trees. Not sure how they came out. We saw numerous fallen giants, numerous fire damaged sequoias, and the third largest tree in the world! During our walk, we also enjoyed listening to the birds. Two robins seemed to become attached to us on this walk, following us around a bit. We saw chipmunks and other delicate birds that I cannot identify right now, but hope to later know what they were.

Joe went deep into a fallen tree from the root end. I got two good shots of that. At the end of this trail, was a sequoia that was fallen and completely hollow. There was a path that led us the entire length of this tree. The inside had been eaten by insects, and later suffered a fire that hollowed it out, which created this cool path! Imagine a tree so large you could walk inside it, standing upright!

We are a bit tired. Not much motivation for getting up early for me when the over night lows will be a cold 38 degrees! So, we hope to sleep in till maybe 6:00 PST tomorrow! We have our agenda for tomorrow planned, and are so looking forward to seeing even more giant sequoias, flowers, and birds. The bears are more active than usual this spring, and I am hoping not to add a bear encounter to my list of nature mishaps for this spring! I make sure I take my walking stick when we are out in the woods. We have met several people who can tell you a story about the bears they have seen!

Day 8

Day 8

There was a great continental buffet at the hotel which we enjoyed before heading out to the strip. We took our own car over the shuttle and found it easy to get around and parking was easy. There is a great mall there where we spent a lot of time just shopping. I got a new Fossil watch with some money Mom and Dad, and Rose gave me for my birthday. I'd had my eye on it online for some time, so I was excited to find it there. I also got a Brighton key chain I'd been wanting, plus a beautiful ring to match a turquoise bracelet I recently uncovered in our attic, that belonged to my Mom's "hoarding" cousin. We also had some gelato. $10 for two small scoops, but delish!!

After that we went to several of the casinos. Didn't do any gambling, except Joe put a dollar in a Tiki slot machine, which was gone within seconds! The most spectacular casino was the first one we went into, the Bellagio. Took tons of pictures. In the center of the hotel was a phenomenal flower and garden display. There was a walk way that had water spraying from one side to another every so often. The stream of the water looked as if it were a solid piece of clear plastic. Then there were bird cages filled with lorikeets. In the middle of everything was a decorative ferris wheel. There were two large ladybugs about two and a half feet long covered with live flowers. A large snail, also on display was covered in fresh red and white roses. We had lunch at the buffet there. The food was all first class! I had turkey with cranberry, spring rolls, bak chow (sp?), a croissant, curried duck, and sampled a few deserts. Joe stuck mostly with the pastas. We were both very happy! We hit the pool again, resting for the next leg of our adventure.

Day 7

Day 7

Left early from the hotel at the GC. About a 4-5 hour trip. Part of the way, we drove on the famed Rt. 66, which has always been of interest to Joe. There wasn't to much to see. An old gas station here and there, mostly set up as a tourist trap. A big let down for him. We stopped at an interesting cemetery in the woods. Most of the graves were Hispanic. One was of a young girl, 15. It was very ornately decorated with a pink wrought iron fence, pink benches, flowers, and memorabilia. Some one's little girl.

We were glad to head to the desert where we knew it would be warmer, and it was. We stopped at the Hoover Dam for a tour. We walked all over. Joe had never seen it before. Of course, it is an amazing marvel. We took the elevator to the center of it, where you are surrounded by carved out rocks that seep water. I got the tour guide all riled up by asking if it were true that there were bodies buried in the cement in the dam. He said, "No! That is an urban legend! Please, please go home and tell everyone that that is not true!" He really was tired of answering that question. It was interesting to see they are building a new bridge over the dam. This taking place after 9/11 to divert commercial traffic.

We were tired and hungry when we got to Vegas. So, after checking in, we went to Applebee's for a bite to eat. We also went to Walmart to stock up. Had to get my Walmart "fix". The rest of the day was spent beside the pool (which was a bit to cold for me.) We both fell asleep reading our books. After being in a small cramped room for three nights at the GC, we were happy to be in a Residence Inn (off the strip.) A very large room. Living room, kitchen, king size bed! We kept running into this cute little Mexican boy, about one year old. Total cutie pie!

Day 6

Joe-n-Michele's Excellent Adventure caught up with us today! We woke up at 5:00 and got on the shuttle to Hermit's Rest around 7:00 or so. The shuttle driver was a walking historian! Very interesting 40 minute ride to the end of the rim, the beginning of our 8 mile hike. We met a nice couple, celebrating their 26th anniversary by walking the entire rim in one day, hopefully. They were from Texas. We will never know if they made the entire 24 or so mile trek. Anyway, our hike started off cool and breezy. Not to hilly, and paved for a change! Along the way, there were so many pretty plants that I took pictures of along with some pretty steep cliffs we were quite respectful of! Sad to say now, but I did not make it past the 3 mile point before declaring defeat! Reluctantly, I reboarded the shuttle back to the hotel. Our intention was to drive to the overlooks we did not make it to on our abbreviated hike, but later found out cars are not allowed out there. So, we went to the hotel, loaded up our laundry, and headed out to the camp laundry. Joe wanted to take the shuttle to the laundry matt so he wouldn't have to give up his preemo parking spot, but I over ruled saying I did not want to lug laundry on the bus! So, we went and had a bite to eat at the camp store. Then visited the gift shop where I bought a nice snuggly, warm sweat shirt to wear on our last night here. I called home Jean, who is watching our dogs, to find out they are managing but truly missing us. Every car that goes by, they think we are coming home. We are missing them as well. Many people have dogs here with them, and I have to wonder how Lenny and Pups would like visiting the parks with us! Maybe next time. Back at the hotel, laundry folded and put away, Joe quickly fell asleep, and I finished a book I was reading as I dozed on and off. At this time, Joe has gone for some coffee, and we are hoping for a second wind and perhaps one last shuttle to the elusive overlooks along the rim. At any rate, we are leaving early tomorrow for Vegas where we eagerly anticipate embracing some warmer days. It has not gotten over 70 and breezy here at the GC! We had planned to stay at the Hard Rock in Vegas, but changed our minds after hearing that it is really a place for young single. Joe doesn't need to be seeing any of that young action! So, we are being more conservative and staying at a Residence Inn off the Strip, hoping to rest up for the 2nd half of our excellent adventure!