Thursday, June 28, 2012

Hoover Dam and Sequoia National Park: Day 7 and 8

Day 7 was our REALLY LONG day of driving. We had at least 13 hours to go to get from Grand Canyon National Park to Sequoia National Park...and when your towing a camper behind you, and you can pretty much go ahead and add at least an extra hour to your time. We left the Grand Canyon before the sun was up and headed toward our one {planned} detour of the day: the Hoover Dam. 
 We left Arizona, drove into Nevada and then when we crossed the dam we were back in Arizona....that majorly confused the boys:)
 This picture was taken from the top of the dam. The bridge straight ahead is the new bypass.
 This place was HUGE and there was a ton of cement! We only had a few minutes so all we had time to do was park, walk across the dam, and take a few pictures. Jason would have loved to tour the dam and power plant, but with ten more hours of driving ahead of us there just wasn't time

 Then it was off to California!
 I'm not going to lie, the worst day of our whole trip was second half of day 7...I was in tears for probably two hours. We ended up driving up the Sierra Nevadas into Sequoia National Park after sunset. For someone who is used to the flat lands of Mississippi, those mountains were terrifying...especially after dark. The road was curvy and mountainous and we had no idea were we were going and how long it was going to take to get there. When we finally got to our campsite, it was too small for the Airstream! Talk about tears! We ended up just parking in the parking lot and sleeping for a few hours until the ranger station opened the next morning. Luckily we were able to find a new site the next morning and things started looking a little better. So we set up camp and headed out to see the Sequoias.
 They were amazing.
The boys were in awe...and so was I. They found this group of three trees and called them the brother trees: Henry, Grant, and Eli:)
 The General Sherman...the largest living thing on Earth.
We climbed to the top of Moro Rock. I think there were more than 400 steps!
But the climb was worth it when we got to the top! The views were amazing!
We finished the day with a hike along the river that ran through our campsite.

7 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness!! I've always wanted to see the redwoods. What a magnificent view. :)

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  2. All those pictures from way up high make my heart race!!

    Isn't Sequoia National Park amazing? I loved that place.

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  3. Those trees are impressive! Okay, I should have caravaned with y'all on this trip because I want to see EVERYTHING y'all did!

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  4. I have LOVED catching up on your last handful of posts! How could I miss all these, when I watched all the work you did on your Airstream. Looks like you have had a WONDERFUL time(minus the tears...I imagine that was scary), so far! What a trip!!!

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  5. Kelli, ALL the pictures are amazing! I've looked at them all, what great memories you made...good and bad...I would be terrified of the mountains too, especially at night! YIKES! I do not like to drive at night anyway! Those trees are crazy big! I want to do a roadtrip out west, loved 'going' with you all! :-)

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  6. I'm so sorry you were in tears and had a rough Day 7...boo. Again, your pictures are just amazing and I think it is so cool that you were able to experience all of the sights that you did. The boys in front of the tree is amazing...love their shirts :)

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