Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Well lions and bears anyway. No tigers on this adventure. We spent our family vacation this year in Sequoia National Park! We loved it and hope to go back someday. When we entered the campground we were greeted with bear notices everywhere and instructions on everything that had to be stowed away in bear lockers including our child seats. I was a bit stressed out the first day. Not to mention, the ranger told Kevin as he checked in, a mountain lion had been in the camp two weeks prior. She lowered her voice and continued to instruct him on what to do if attacked by a mountain lion and admonished us to keep our kids close. What a welcome!

Yes I took this picture! I know the bears can be dangerous but it's hard to believe. They look so gentle. We had 5 different bear sightings on our trip. The first night we went to sleep to the sounds of another group trying to scare off a bear with pots and pans, whistles and their car alarm. It made for a tense night. Word in the campground the next day was that a cub had gotten scared up a tree and the mother was circling the tree refusing to budge.

Notice the deer in the background right above Kedrick's head. Deer were plentiful. Morning and night they would scamper through our campground. I felt fine about this. I know of no deer attacks.

We enjoyed a quick jaunt on the Yosemite Sugar Pine Railroad. Kevin and I found the 5 mph speed lacking the thrill we had hoped for but the boys loved it.

The boys embracing the "hug a tree" program.

Well you can't really see most of Gen. Sherman. But you get the idea, it is a very big tree!

The boys LOVED playing in the river and throwing sand and rocks.

Kedrick's ready to fish!

After 3 days of no shower, I couldn't resist getting in this sparkling clear river. I could have stayed here all day. We had the whole river to ourselves, well and a few pesky bees that finally convinced me it was time to pack up.

Ahh shucks, it's nice when they get along. This was at Kevin's aunt's house in Clovis before we headed off to church.

And here they are not getting along. Brock had just poked Kedrick with a stick. I separated the boys to the sounds of Kedrick screaming, "hit him mom, hit him." He is all about justice.

A waterfall on our hike back up from seeing Crystal Cave.

We tripped upon this picturesque spot one day on the way home to our campground. The boys had a blast scrambling over rocks and throwing whatever they could get their hands on into the river. Kedrick fell in after ignoring some parental guidance. Kevin in an attempt to reinforce why we should listen to parents, asked Kedrick how he felt now that he was all wet. He smiled and said "good."

Brock showing off the first "owie" of the trip after trying to walk on a log immitating Kedrick (see below). Kedrick was thrilled as always to see the blood.

This fallen log separated our campground from the next. Kedrick has taken to practicing his balancing and was thrilled to find this log to show off his skills. One night while cleaning up camp, Kevin found himself on one side of this log whilst a black bear was on the other side not more than 20 yards away. A little too close for my liking! Too bad he wasn't carrying a camera at the time.

Another waterfall on a hike. This hike was full of poisin oak but miraculously we managed to avoid it!


We visited Crystal Cave where the temperature dropped to 50. A welcome temp after carrying both boys on the hike to get there. Brock was not exactly fond of the darkness demonstration during the cave tour. Kedrick loved using a flashlight to look all around at the cave formations.

Driving through 4 giant sequoias!

Kedrick in a hollowed fallen sequoia.


The boys had a great time helping daddy with the campfire. Smores, however, were a disaster. Kedrick was not into the sticky thing and thought we were ruining the chocolate. Brock was using all of his skills to try and scavange every last piece of chocolate bar when we were distracted. The next night Kedrick requested that his smore be made with a regular marshmellow and chocolate that was not melted.

A burned out portion of a sequoia. Amazingly, the tree thrives even with this cave at it's base.

On a whim, we stopped and hiked up Morro Rock. The views were stunning at the top but the drop-offs steep. We couldn't stay too long to enjoy the view for fear of losing a child off the side. They don't seem to have any fear of heights yet! At one point I looked down and noticed Kedrick's hand turning purple from my grip. I eased up. A lesson I'll probably need to keep learning.
This is a view of Morro Rock from the base of the trail. Great trail, with stairs and railing. A steep climb but really minimal effort for the pay-off at the top. I don't think I would have even been scared if we weren't toting up our youngins!


All in all, we came home very tired, very dirty and very happy to have spent the last 6 days playing together.