Summer - Part Two

On August 22 - HAPPY 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY LUKE, you are the love of my life!- we followed my family to Sequoia and King's Canyon National Park. We spent a few days camping and had a lot of fun. 

 *Stuck in construction, stopped under a scary rock overhang on a REALLY curvy road.*

The girls were such troopers; camping with them was easy-peasy lemon-squeezy. The only issue was that Aslynn couldn't seem to stay in her sleeping bag.

*Our campsite.*

*On this trip Z discovered that she loves hot chocolate (she'd never had it before) and to eat cereal out of a box (like Papa).*

*Playing in nature...though always on the lookout for someone her age to be her friend.*

 *She just LOVES to play in the dirt.*

We went on a hike that was .25 miles long and had a 300 foot elevation change. The German man who followed us down said he counted 344 steps - and that is only one way. Aslynn was a trooper and walked almost the whole hike herself. She only had to be carried on the spots that really freaked me out (sheer cliff and little railings). I was so proud of her!

*The beginning.*

*Note the bottom right: those are people climbing the stairs. Steep!*

*At the top.  Aslynn and Eleanor were all tuckered out.*

*The view from the top.*

*Hanging with Uncle Austin.*

*Z loved all the big trees!*

*This is how Eleanor slept/sleeps in the carrier.*

*Sequioas decompose really, really slowly.  This HUGE tree fell a long time ago.  It was probably hollowed out by a fire or something.  It has been used as a bunkhouse, barn, and resting spot for soldiers.  Now, tourists walk though it.*

*View from the other end.*

While riding around on the shuttle bus (it's the most convenient way to travel in the park) Aslynn spotted a horses in a corral.  She pointed them out and told me she would "look for cows now."  I told her she probably wouldn't see any cows and that she should look for a bear instead.  No joke, 20 seconds later we saw a baby bear cub out our window, right off the side of the road. Z was pretty excited. It was SO CLOSE!  Since we had to drive back on the same road, when the shuttle stopped we switched sides so that the bear would be outside our window again and we could get another good look at it.  Alynn was so happy to see "two bears" meaning, she saw the same bear twice. We couldn't get any good picutres of it though.  Bummer!