Here are the six cousins: Jonathan, Laura, Jenny, Wesley, Lisa and Sarah.
Here are the six cousins: Jonathan, Laura,
Jenny, Wesley, Lisa and Sarah.
All six children were in the creek that flows by
Lodgepole.
We are dwarfed by this Giant Sequoia.
The kids pose inside a partially-hollowed out tree.
We drove our van through this fallen tree.
We rented cabins with wood-burning stoves
inside for heating and on the porch for cooking.
Unfortunately, these cabins no longer exist.
The park service closed the area to allow it to
recover from human impact.
We made popcorn in the evenings.
And washed dishes in the sink by the restrooms.
I wonder why just the girls are involved in this
activity.
We hiked down the mile-long trail to Crystal Cave.
Beware the Poison Ivy and Poison Oak!
The kids relax on the rocks above our cabins.
As we drove north through Sequoia and Kings Canyon,
we stopped off briefly at Lake Hume.
Our next stop was Yosemite, where we stayed in this
duplex cabin.
There was a bear trap sitting in the parking lot.
Bears are a natural part of the habitat in these
parks, but sometimes a particularly agressive one
needs to be relocated to a remote area.
We enjoyed the pool. Sarah is in mid-air here.
Yosemite Falls.
Here's the whole group above Yosemite at Tenaya Creek.
The girls obligingly posed for me on a decorative log.
We drove over Tioga Pass and up to see the ghost town of Bodie, above
Lee Vining.
Dottie and Anne enjoyed walking around the well-preserved
buildings and looking in the windows.
This is typical of the inside of the buildings.
This tufa tower was once underwater at Mono Lake,
before the water level dropped due to diversion of the
supply to Los Angeles.
We came home via Bishop and Lone Pine, making a
detour to see the Bristlecone Pines.
A truly decorative log! I want one for the backyard.
These chipmunks were all over the place. They
would come right up to you to steal food.
We detoured up Mt. Whitney, just west of Lone Pine.
We didn't hike to the peak, but this waterfall by the
trailhead parking lot is beautiful.
Coming south through the Mojave Desert, we stopped for a
picnic at Red Rocks Park.
The joshua trees are strangely appealing.