Avril Première Partie- Sequoia and Yosemite

The end of the month draweth nigh, and it's time for a recap...but it's been a wild one. Thus, we will have two posts for the month, you lucky duck.

We went to California for spring break to see Sequoia NP and Yosemite NP. We had never been to this part of California before, so it was delightful to experience a new place. Plus, I'm a sucker for unusual things, so if you tell me the biggest tree in the world is in Sequoia NP, I'm there! 

Sequoia:

We stayed in Three Rivers, CA, which is close to the entrance of Sequoia. I felt like I did a lot of research on these places, and nowhere in my findings did it say how far the entrance of the park is from the actual big trees. We were grossly underprepared for that. It's an hour drive up a long and winding road, hairpin turns and all. A total barf-fest for the car sick type. The trees are at the top of the mountain! Once you get there it's magical, but we struggled with the drive up and down. So, my recommendation is to stay in the park if at all possible to minimize that experience. 

Three Rivers is a cute little town with some decent dining options and lots of charm, though, so if you like long, winding drives up mountains, do it.

Anyway. We had a great time in the Forest of Giants for a couple of days. Like I said, it's magical. We decided that the Keebler Elves probably make cookies there, because the trees are big enough for them to have their factories in them. It makes sense. 

We played hide and seek in the forest, hiked to the top of Moro Rock, which was kinda scary, and walked around for hours in awe. It was good times indeed.

On top of Moro Rock

Can you spy the humans? 

Saluting General Sherman, the biggest tree on Earth! 

You could have an apartment in this thing.

After playing hide and seek in the forest. Glad we found each other. 

It was really amazing to see the scale of these trees. It's hard to capture on camera.

Ma baby by a big old tree.

Aani thought this looked like "Museum IG" which in teenager means, "Museum I Guess".

Dinner at Quesadilla Gorilla in Three Rivers. Cute, fun, yummy. 

On our way to Yosemite a couple of days later, we made a stop in Fresno at the Forestiere Underground Gardens. It's super cool! If ever you're in the area for sure make a stop at this place. Back in the day, a man from Sicily made his way to Fresno, bought some land that turned out to be rock, so he dug down so he could plant citrus trees. It's totally ingenious and such a fun place to visit.

One of the neatest parts of this trip was driving through the California farm country, with miles and miles of vineyards and citrus groves. Lemon trees and orange trees were in bloom with fruit everywhere. It looked gorgeous, and smelled gorgeous as well. 

Yosemite:

We made it to Yosemite! Again, the entrance of the park is a good hour away from all of the famous sights- at least the entrance we went to. We hiked to Vernal Falls which was really beautiful. It was also a really challenging hike, with lots of steep, strenuous steps and rocks, and the waterfall mist makes you pretty wet for a good portion of the way up. There are parts that are hot, and parts that are wet and cold. We explored the Yosemite Valley, and took a little hike right up to El Capitan so we could touch it. 

Since we went before the official season began, a lot of the park was still closed to cars, so we didn't get to see Half Dome or Hetch Hetchy. Yosemite was way busier than Sequoia, even in the off season. I can't imagine what it's like in the summer. It must be a total madhouse. It's so pretty there- almost too much to take in. 

Top of Vernal Falls

On the way down- they were helping each other down the wet rocks, so I had to take a picture of this tender moment. :) 

What a dad!

Vernal Falls showing off

What even is this place?? So much beauty. 

California is a gorgeous place. So glad it's fairly close to us so we can visit often! 

We made the long drive home in one day, and we were all glad to have the weekend to recuperate a bit before going back to school and work and life.