We recently returned from a great family vacation to Nevada and California. It was a two and a half week journey and we saw and did a lot. Not exactly the relaxing vacation, but one to be remembered for sure. I am thankful for such adventures!
We flew out of MN to Las Vegas. We spent a few hours exploring Las Vegas. Highlights were driving the strip, tasting soda from around the world in the Coke store, and checking out the M&M store. Our first night stay was in Pahrump, Nevada. Since it was Timothy's baptism day, he got to pick dinner--McDonald's.
Welcome to Las Vegas! (please notice Elvis in the background!)
Soda tasting in the coke store.
Our next stop was Death Valley. Lucky for us, it was a cooler day so the temp only reached between 107 and 110 degrees! We did not do any hikes, but we did stop at a few places and do a couple walks to see the scenery. It was too hot to walk far, but it was interesting to see such dry and barren areas. One stop was 862 ft below sea level!
Sand dunes
Badwater Basin...below sea level
On our way out of the valley, we stopped at a canyon overlook nicknamed Star Wars Canyon. It is called that because Military Jets do low level flight training there and it looks like planes flying in the Star Wars movies. We got to see a jet fly through twice!
We stayed the night in Lone Pine California. From our hotel we could see Mt. Whitney which is the highest peak in CA. The kids liked the pool as it was nice and deep!!
Our next destination on our trip was Yosemite National Park. We arrived mid morning, and soon enough sought out a stop for lunch. We found a picnic area near a mountain lake. After lunch we tried to do a hike but never found the trail and opted to wade in the lake instead.
Trying to hike.
Enjoying the cool water.
Selfie time while Troy and Teresa wade in the water.
We made the drive through Yosemite with Mariposa as our destination to stay for the night. We made a couple of stops along the way. In the picture below, you can see Half Dome on the right behind us. It is a famous 14 mile hike at Yosemite.
On most nights we had take out in the hotel room and then some swimming after that. It was a good routine! Our second day in Yosemite was supposed to be the "big hike" day. Troy had hopes of doing a 7 mile round trip hike. Our kids made it 1.5 miles and we realized we were not going farther than that. So it was 3 miles round trip. It was a lot of switchbacks and quite a bit of elevation climb. It also was getting hot. Even though we did not go as far as planned, we did make it to Columbia Rock which had fantastic views.
We stopped for lunch after the hike and then found a gift shop to browse in. We did one last short and easy hike to see Yosemite Falls. We were all tired and ready for some relaxation and swimming!
Picnic lunch.
Yosemite Falls.
On our last day in Yosemite, we drove to Glacier Point area and did two smaller hikes. Neither hike was very strenuous, about a mile out and back. The views were pretty amazing. I think the altitude got to Timothy a bit this day. He was not into exploring the viewpoints. The first hike was Sentinel Point. Troy and Teresa climbed to the very top.
The next hike was to Taft Point. We had a quick lunch in the car and then headed out. Our moods were not the best and in many ways it did not start as the best hike. We kept going and as we neared the point other hikers said they saw a bobcat. The kids got excited, but we did not see it. This did not help the mood. Timothy sat while the rest of us hiked to the viewpoint for pictures. Then just as we were heading back, Teresa tripped and fell. She was okay, but our moods went down more and we trudged back to the car. About half way back a couple behind me yelled stop to some other hikers following me. I stopped too to see what was happening. After a moment I saw a young bear climbing on a log and meandering across the path! I called for the others to stop and for a good ten minutes we watched the black bear. This turned this hike into the best one of the whole trip!!
The start of the hike
The viewpoint
Beautiful scenery.
The bear!!
We stopped at one final viewpoint before leaving the park. We got to see a forest fire out in the hills and watch a helicopter drop water or fire retardant on it. On the Drive to Fresno, we stopped in a small town that had some cell service so Timothy could play in his Pokemon special event. It was a nice reason to get out of the car and to treat ourselves to an afternoon ice cream cone!
The pretty view. If you look closely over Troy's head is the dark fire area.
A much welcomed ice cream stop!
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