Life in and around S.S.F.

Another crisp, cool, sunny day. We ate a whole box of honey buns for breakfast. We broke down camp and headed to Mariposa Grove. It has huge redwood trees. There were only two other cars in the parking lot when we got there. We headed up to see the Grisley Giant. It’s an old redwood tree. Very impressive. We even saw a dow and two fawns. Great pictures taken. We headed out of Yosemite to the Yosemite Mountain Suger Pine Railroad. It’s a steam train from the logging days. We were there too early so we hung out and had a quiet time. I needed coffee and Sarah wanted a hot cocoa. I decided to change our clothes because the temps were rising from the morning. Sarah closed the car door and the lid from her cocoa came of and spilled in the car. Not a huge mess but another learning event. I wetted a towel and had her clean up most of it. I made sure I didn’t condemn her but walked her through what happened. She understood and we moved on. The train ride was great. They gave a great narrative of the logging industry and what trees were what. We stopped to take on more water half way through the ride. Got some great pictures of the train. We got back on and headed back to the “depot”. Back into the car and headed home. It was a long ride because we started from the southern part of Yosemite. Thankfully there wasn’t much traffic in our direction. A small grass fire created a problem in the other direction. Went through Mickey D’s for a hamburger. Filled the tank with gas and made it home safely. I have this fear of long trips in that we travel all that distance and get into an accident the last mile home.

All in all it was a very successfull trip. Sarah and I bonded. I hope she remembers it. We have a bunch of pictures and a little video to stir the memories in years to come. Hopefully we will be there again next year with a few other families and be able to stay in one spot.

Photos from the trip

 

We woke up Friday morning to another cool, crisp and bright day. Temperatures rose quickly. I made blueberry pancakes. Premeasured and add water, tah-dah. Sarah gobbled them up. She guarded her food from the surrounding squirrels. No chance of getting a free breakfast today. We had a quiet time and headed to Lower Yosemite Falls. I haven’t been up close to them before. They are even better than Bridleveil Falls. It took about 45 minutes to scramble up to the pool. People were in the water swimming. I rolled up my sweats and got in up to my shins. Way to cold for me. Sarah wanted to get in but there is no way I could stand that water and try to keep her head above water at the same time. It was a very memorable morning. The sky was deep blue, the water was deep blue. We worked as a team to get up and out. I’m so proud of Sarah being able to scramble that far. Next time we will be taking our swim clothes to be able to get in the water. We stopped off at the Yosemite Lodge food court for lunch. I was beat from the heat and concentrating on making sure Sarah didn’t slip, fall and bash her head on a granite boulder. There was a huge squirrel at the food court. It reminded me of an over-fed cat. It could hardly move and used it to an advantage. People would trow even more food to it cause it was “cute”. We finally got back to the car. I thought for sure she would pass out but didn’t. We drove to Wawona Camp Ground and set up the tent, had bacon and eggs for dinner. We went to the easy flowing river and played in the water some more. It was fun throwing rocks in the river. It was cold but more bearable than the falls. I got in up to my waist. We played around for a while and went back to camp. The ranger came and told us about the campfire talk going on later. We went to it and it was fun learning about fire safety and the history of the area. We learned the gray squirrel song: Gray squirrel, gray squirrel, bushy little tale, wrinkle in his nose, stands between his toes, gray squirrel, gray squirrel, bushy little tale. You flap your hands and shake your behind during the song. The ranger got everyone to do it including the adults. We toasted some marshmellows on the dieing fire. Sarah explained to the ranger lady how the squirrel stole her chocolate the night before. Ranger lady ended up giving her a honorary Jr. deputy ranger badge. Sarah wore it with pride the rest of the trip. We headed back to camp and called it a night. Sarah fell asleep instantly. I had broken sleep because the ground wasn’t any softer than the previous nights. Couldn’t wait to be on the space foam bed again.

We woke up to a chilly and bright morning. I made bacon and eggs on the Coleman stove I bought at a yard sale. Sarah dropped an egg. I tried to teach her a life lesson in logic. An egg on a non level surface will roll if not stopped. She didn’t get it so I just pulled out another egg. Such a girl. I toasted some bread and made a bacon-n-egg breakfast sandwich for each of us. I pulled out some clean clothes for her. As she changed in the car she had a stuffed Tramp dog from Disneyland barking at the girls in the next camp site. It’s Sarah’s way of meeting people. We sat down to read our Bibles and the two young girls brought their stuffed dogs over and started barking at Sarah. I told Sarah to go introduce herself. Sarah walked over and said, “Hi, I’m Sarah.” Then she had Scamp start barking back. All three of them stood in a little circle and started barking at each other. Kids are amazing. I met the parents and talked a bit. They were originally from England but live south of L.A. We finally got things together and loaded up the car and drove off. We went into Yosemite Valley and stopped at Bridleveil falls. Just like I remembered. We scrambled up the rocks to the pool at the bottom of the falls. It was beautiful as ever. Got a few pictures and we headed back. We found our camp site and set things up. Made lunch and walked over to the Merced river. Sarah fell in of course. She loved it. She changed and we went to the store to get some chocolate for the evening smores. Our site was awesome. We could see North Dome and Half Dome at the same time. We checked out Aiwahnee Hotel. It’s what Disney’s Grand California was modeled after. Awesome. We went to the wedding lawn to hang out and stare at the scenery. Sarah wandered around chasing squirrels. She wasn’t paying attention and came around a tree stump and a squirrel surprised her. I’m amazed there were windows left at the hotel after her shreak ended. We went back to the camp site and had hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner. She really wanted smores so I started a campfire and got things ready. I told her to leave the chocolate alone and be patient. She couldn’t resist and opened the chocolate. I told her to leave it alone and come help clean the dishes. We turned around and a squirrel had jumped onto the picnic table and started nibbling on her chocolate. I yelled at it and ran over thinking it would run away. Well, it ran away but took the whole chocolate bar with it. I chased it around a tree and it retreated under the neighboring RV. I wasn’t going to crawl under the RV so I left. A few minutes later I could here it opening the wrapper some more so I walked over to check it out. He was tearing into it. I chased it some more and it took off across the street. It stopped for a second then disappeared. It went back into it’s hole. What a bummer. Sarah was fine because she said I would share mine with her. I told her that she was the one that disobeyed and consequently the squirrel took hers. If she wanted chocolate she would have to get it back from the squirrel. I eventually gave her some of mine of course. She apologized for not obeying and life goes on. When night came she kept saying it was time for bed. I think she got really anxious being outdoors at night. She pretty much declared it bed time and we hit the tent. The ground was way hard.  I missed our space foam bed.

I’ll have to do day 3 and 4 tomorrow. It’s late and I’m tired. It’s Sarah’s first day of second grade. See ya soon mom…

We left a bit later than expected but who cares, no rush. We drove 101S, 92E, 880N, 580E, 205E and 120E. A little bit of traffic through Livermore and we stopped at Jack in the Box for a bite to eat. Sarah was great riding in the car. We listened to the A’s pummel the Detroit 9-2. Then we switched to the Giants game. They lost of course. A flood of memories came over me as we drove through Mariposa and by Pine Mountain Lake. That’s where I went a few times with Randy Souza and his family. They had a boat and we water-skiied a number of summers. It looked the same even at night. I told Sarah a few of the good times swimming in the lake and all. I wasn’t sure where we were going to sleep. I didn’t have reservations for anywhere. I vacilated between a hotel and the car. Just before the Yosemite gate is a camp site we found. It wasn’t fully occupied so we got to pick from just about any site. I showed Sarah how to light a propane lantern, set up the tent and which way to lay the sleeping bags. She kept shining the flashlight at every little sound. It was kind of funny. What wuz that? What wuz that? What wuz that? She kept thinking a bear was coming. I reassured her that everything was fine. We hopped into the tent and fell asleep. The stars were amazing. So clear and brilliant.

I just finished reading some politicaly stories on the FoxNews web page. It cracks me up when a writer states, “A message to their office was not immediately returned”. I almost never immediately return a phone call. In fact, a person is considered important if I call back in a week. If you want to know something from me, send me an email M-F 9-5. Even then it might take a couple of hours or days depending on the importance. What a joke, message not immediately returned.

Biking to work again. Feels great. If I leave before traffic starts I can get there in about 15 minutes. Not bad for a beginner. Oh yea, I got a helmet, mom. It won’t protect my toes, ribs, spleen, back, jaw, nose, arms, wrists, ankles, or knees but my skull should protect me if I get hit by a car.

Work is still crazy busy. We have a light at the end of the tunnel though. My soup and mangler are willing to go over budget this year to hire a really great guy working at Chiron. He already knows about 80% of the work we do. Getting him will help out a ton.

Driving the Pilot is awesome. It’s weird owning a “really nice” car. Erica had it detailed for $90. It seems worth it. They did a pretty good job. Except for one spot where Sarah sits it looks like it’s been garaged for two years. Mint condition.

Next home project is the fence. It’s broken down in a few places. There is no way I’m doing it myself. I will not plumb fence lines. A pro could do it in a couple of days. It would take me a year.