Jenn’s BFF was getting hitched in San Diego and we weren’t going to miss it, or the opportunity to tack on some vacation days to take a west coast road trip!
Pre Wedding Pool party (check)
Pre Wedding Pool party (check)
Wedding (check)
Post wedding pool party (check)
After an epic wedding weekend, visits with Jenn’s Aunt in San Diego, spotting some seals and a quick surf session, we set out on an action packed 10 day journey north.
Our first stop was only about an hour outside of San Diego… a fabric warehouse. I had done most (all) of the planning of our stops, but Jenn did a little bit of research on her own and this was her main (only) contribution to our itinerary. I guess this is her counter to the uphill hikes I often plan for us…
NO JOKE, Jenn spent more money on fabric than both of our plane tickets combined!!! OK OK so to be fair, our flights were free with miles but still…
We ended up cashing in some points for a hotel in Bakersfield CA. Let’s just say this is the kind of place where they keep baby formula behind lock and key in the grocery store… so we didn’t linger here long.
We ended up cashing in some points for a hotel in Bakersfield CA. Let’s just say this is the kind of place where they keep baby formula behind lock and key in the grocery store… so we didn’t linger here long.
The next morning we drove into the Sequoia National Park and explored some seriously large trees.
Even got to pose with General Sherman the largest tree in the world***
***If you read the fine print you will learn that Mr. Sherman is not the tallest tree, nor the biggest around, but he has the most volume in his trunk which evidently is what counts?***
***If you read the fine print you will learn that Mr. Sherman is not the tallest tree, nor the biggest around, but he has the most volume in his trunk which evidently is what counts?***
From the tree park we drove to the edge of Yosemite NP and set up camp by a creek. It didn’t take long in the 100 degree heat for us to find our way into the creek.
Happy 1st Birthday Emma! She enjoyed the bounce house we got for her (air mattress in a tent) so much she didn’t want to sleep, just play… all night.
Unfortunately, the park was partially closed due to fires but we did our best to explore Yosemite Valley and its surroundings.
Our second night of camping we chose a spot a little higher in elevation to beat the heat.
We noticed most other families were in RV's and the few camping had large walk in tents with multiple rooms. We have stayed true to our roots and are still rocking our Quarter dome T3 and it has plennnnnnnnty of room.
Not wanting to retrace our steps, we exited Yosemite NP out the east side and made a few stops in Tuolumne Meadows. I even convinced Jenn to hike uphill twice in the same afternoon (Emma is always game to tag along)!
Next stop: Mono Lake. The underwater springs pump calcium into the salty lake creating calcium carbonate (limestone) deposits AKA Tufas. We walked along the lake shore for a while before finding a nice secluded spot for a dip. The extremely high salt content made it possible to relax and float effortlessly. What made it impossible to relax and float effortlessly was a slippery naked baby who wanted to practice dunking her head and drink mouthfuls of the salty water.
We had to take a bit of a detour due to some wild fires but snagged a hotel with points in Nevada on the outskirts of Tahoe.
We spent most of the next afternoon rotating between elevated vistas of the lake and swimming in the lake.
This is where the trip gets a little interesting. We had an extra day built into the trip (wasn’t sure how far Emma would want to ride each day) so we decided to use it to make an attempt to see Fly Geyser. We had done some research and understood it was on private property but decided to roll the dice and make the 4 hr drive. While driving into the middle of nowhere in Nevada to find this Geyser we kept passing RV’s caked in dust with bikes strapped to the back. We thought this was weird since we were so far off the beaten track we couldn’t imagine anyone else adventuring this far, much less 100 RV’s. Turns out we stumbled upon a little gathering in the desert: BURNING MAN! Roughly 70,000 from all over the world descend upon La Playa (Black Rock Desert) to build a temporary city with a community basing itself on 10 core principles (Radical Inclusion, Decommodification, Gifting, Radical Self-Reliance, Radical Self-expression, Leave No Trace… among others). Once we realized what we had stumbled upon we detoured out onto the desert and drove up to the make shift entrance… no dice - need a ticket. So we decided to make our way up to a nearby mountain to get a better view.
Still reeling from this discovery, we decided to table our 2018 Burning Man planning long enough to find Fly Geyser. Finding it turned out to be the easy part. After pulling past all of the DO NOT ENTER – NO TRESPASSING signs at the front gate, we were met by a friendly old fellow living in an RV on the property. We talked for some time but not even Emma’s chuckles could convince him to let us through to see the geyser. As we left heading back the way we came I realized it would be possible to slip through the barbed wire fence, stay low behind the desert vegetation and negotiate the myriad of gullies to reach the geyser unseen. Maybe I did that, or maybe I just used a really long zoom lens…
Our last day we had a red-eye flight home so we spent the daylight hours on a secluded beach on Tahoe’s Eastern shore. Turns out the area is known as a nudist beach, Emma said don’t mind if I do…