October 30: Sequoia and back to Vegas

 Well, that’s it. We fly home tomorrow. We’ve had a great time.  We've been gone 10 days. This trip was basically to see The Wizard of Oz at the Las Vegas Sphere and to celebrate Paul's birthday with a trip to three national parks.

We woke up in Sequoia National Park to this temperature. However, I will tell you in our travels, we got up to 86º in the Mojave Desert. Vegas is 74º. Our trip back took well over 8 hours.

Our only stop in Sequoia was to see the General Sherman tree, the largest tree on earth. When we pulled into the parking lot, a deer jumped out in front of us. Luckily we weren't close but it was a little scary.

 The path was quite steep, but at least it was paved. Steps were in several places, and my left hip was not happy! But I soldiered on. 

I did not go all the way down but stopped at the viewpoint. The General Sherman is in the middle of this photo. Paul DID make it to the bottom.

Here's a closer view.

Paul posed our "flat Stanley" Marvin in front of the tree at my request. 

There was a grove of trees all around the General.

This is the path as we started back up. Ugh! 

It was only about a mile round trip but the uphill took a little longer because I had to stop after steps. Not only am I not in great shape, but the air is thinner there.

They provided these seats every once in a while. I took advantage of every one except once.

The road out of Sequoia NP was long and winding! Some S curves were at 10 mph. 

We finally made it to flat land.

In the valleys we saw tons of windmills, solar farms and agriculture. 

Big windmills on top; baby windmills below.

Here's what gas cost on the Nevada side of the California border.

We went back to the same Embassy Suites as we had before. But this time we had a different view. This is near sunset.

After their evening reception (drinks and snacks at the bar), we went down to the restaurant and split a quesadilla -- very good! Tomorrow we will have a free breakfast buffet here. I love Embassy Suites! Our suite includes a living area and then a sleeping area. Lots of plugs. A microwave and refrigerator, as well as coffee maker. I highly recommend them, especially when traveling with kids!

Well, that's it for these blogs. We're not sure when or where our next trip will be! Stay tuned!

For those of you who are not sure of how a blog works, just navigate to the daily blog by clicking on the links on the left side of the page. The ones here are the ones from this trip, but there are others from other trips. I hope you enjoy the pictures. 

Oct. 29: Sequoia NP

It was quite a drive from our hotel until the official exit to Yosemite. With the government shutdown occuring, there was nobody at the entrance/exit. So right now it's free to come in. However, many of the services the national parks provide are not available. And since it's "shoulder season," (between Labor Day and Thanksgiving), a lot of the concessions are also closed. But there's still a lot to do -- the concessions provide a few services (horseback riding, shuttle buses, etc.) No climbing permits are being issued and some people are taking advantage to climb El Capitan since no permit is required at this time. Apparently there are a lot more climbers than usual. We talked to one couple and they said that it's always "Rocktober" as this is the best time to do climbs. This couple wasn't going to El Capitan, but to Washington Column, near the inn.

It took about 4 hours to get to Sequoia. Many, many winding roads. Luckily my usual motion sickness did not kick in. We made a couple restroom stops, a gas stop, and listened to my Apple Music playlists. I lost internet (for GPS) briefly but we knew the route anyway.

This  stop was a King's Canyon overlook. It's near Sequoia.

Yay! we made it!

The start of the big trees.

The moon shining over the trees.

We stayed in a lodge room here

Lobby and bar

I made a friend. He knew I was tired.

So our sojourn in California comes to an end. Tomorrow we head back to Las Vegas. But first -- we plan to see the General Sherman tree, the largest single stem tree by volume, in the world! 

I'm not looking forward to the 7 hour drive, but I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed!

 

October 28: More Yosemite

We ate breakfast in the Ahwahnee dining room. It was delicious. Here was our view--

I saw a squirrel and a steller's jay, whose pictures I managed to take. I also saw a chipmunk but he scurried away before I could take a picture. 

We wandered around the lobby level and visited some of the historic rooms. 

This was in the Winter Club Room

Winter Club Room

Solarium

Mural Room

Mural Room

Mural Room

We went outside and took a path behind the hotel that led through the cottages and to a river.

You can see Half Dome from the porch.

The Ahwahnee

Cottages that can be rented

Half dome behind the branches

I love that the water here is so reflective.

Almost back to the Ahwahnee.

I spotted a bear! At the gift shop! 

Some trail riders came through as we were getting ready to leave.

This is Sally

This is Sally after her rider told her to smile.

Our lunch view. We stopped to picnic at Swinging Bridge.

We were immediately surrounded by these birds. Jeff said it looks like Brewer's blackbird.

Paul dropped a Cheeto during lunch but it suddenly disappeared without out us seeing the culprit. A few minutes later, I spotted the thief! We had a good laugh over it!

The swinging bridge is not so swinging now,

Reflections and sparkles.

A lone kayaker.

Traversing a meadow.

A field of  ... weeds?

This is their beach.

The entrance to the Ahwahnee

The phone in the lobby

Tea time in the Grand Lobby

We finished the day with a prime rib dinner. That thing on the right is Yorkshire pudding -- basically a popover. They put gravy in it and then there are mashed potatoes underneath. Loads of vegetables -- asparagus, carrots, parsnips and fennel. Very good.

So we will take our leave tomorrow and head to the Sequoia National Park.