April vacation

Just wrapping up a fantastic four weeks of family and outdoors time. We rolled back into a green Sacramento after a convoluted loop down the coast to the Channel Islands and San Diego, up to Salt Lake, over to Grand Junction, Moab and Arches, then through Death Valley, hitting Kolob Canyon on the way down. Access to the Sierras was still closed from the east side, so we had to dip down around the southern Sierras before coming up to Sequoia National Park. So green, with enormous mountains, and of course giant sequoias, which we had never seen. Majestic. The foothills and valleys at the base of the mountains were lush green with interesting trees, then turning into groves of orange trees getting further out.

We approached Yosemite from the south and it was a mind blowing view of the Yosemite Valley in the twilight. We started driving up toward glacier point and looked down on clouds filling the lower valley, almost like a lake. We turned around after we saw the temperature rapidly dropping and snow accumulating and our minds started imagining Milo waking up all night from the cold. Instead we looked for a campsite in the valley, and it took us about 45 minutes to find out that all the regular campsites were fulll and to figure out where Camp 4 was, which had room for walk-ins. 

We couldn't drive up to the site and had to lug in our gear (including transporting anything that smelled like food into the bear boxes) but thanks to Bindi we had a collapsible wagon for the job. It was great being right in the heart of the valley. The next morning we hiked up to see Upper Yosemite Falls, with pretty steep switchbacks and about three miles that Sal handled very well. Milo walked as much as we would let him. At one point he figured out that my feet stopped whenever his did and he made a game out of it. We got a lot of comments about what a great hiker Sal was.

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Channel Islands off the Santa Barbara coast, on one of our windy hikes. You'll notice Milo is enthusiastically walking in the same direction as the group.

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Southern California. Milo loved getting splashed by the frigid waves and it was my job to stand there and keep him from getting knocked over.

Valley of Fire state park in NV. This is where we had our single-egg easter hunt.

Badwater in Death Valley

Sal came to love hiking on this trip.

So cute, such a monster. His favorite activity when seeing sites was to walk the opposite way about half the time.

Sal's first experience in a harness.

Learning to ski. Sal kept asking me to get out of the way.

View from the backyard of our first class lodging in SL.

Stu guiding me up a cliff.

Arches.

Kings Canyon national park.

Little hiker girl in view of Upper Yosemite Falls.

Our spot in Camp 4.

Half Dome from the falls hike.

Sal's chicken made from pieces she found around the camp.

Death Valley.

Lowest spot in North America; sea level was marked up on the side of the mountain.

Milo with Pepe in Moab.

Our first date in who knows how long, thanks to Mom. We did a walk, drive, dinner, ice cream, and movie.

Sal with her precious cousin in SL.

Little Cloud at Snowbird.

Vacation lesson to meet the 100 contiguous days of practice goal.

Valley of Fire.

Sal specifically requested to go see Grandma after the stroke, and was in the right mindset for it. I was glad to be able to see Grandma again right after she passed away.

What a trip.