The back side of Half Dome

The famous valley view with the girls (and Pooh)

A happy Daddy to be showing such cool things to the girls.

Checking out the waterfall

We gave ourselves two days to explore around Yosemite. It was just a taste of future trips. The first day we drove into the valley and looked up a lot. The girls could name the large rock formations and main waterfalls. They even spotted a fox that Mom and Dad missed. That night we camped at Hodgdon Meadow northwest of the valley. The campsite was busy and we had to hike our stuff in a little bit to get to our site. The trees around us gave us great shade and were huge. The next day we introduced the girls to even bigger trees.

The tree by our tent.

The next day we explored Mariposa Grove before we had to head on over the mountains. There is no way to explain how big the Giant Sequoias are. Even when looking at the grove of Sequoias it is hard to value the size until you can walk by or through one. We took a tram ride through the grove to get a better look at the trees. Common sense told us that if the girls had to hike the whole trail, they would miss the wonder because of being tired. We all enjoyed the ride and a short walk. Emily really picked up a lot of facts about the trees and loved being able to walk into one of them. We look forward to a return trip to this natural wonderland to explore further.

We had to work hard to hold this tree up. The middle of the tree is not necessary to bring food to the tree. One reason this tree can be so old and so big.

Just an attempt to show scale.

The trees are unbelievable!

Crater Lake National Park is an old volcano that lost its top. Now in the crater of the volcano is the deepest lake in America. Early June is still an early time to visit this park. There were still piles of snow melting at the edges of the parking lot that was kept clear year round. The portions of the park that close for the snowy season were still closed. This limited the options for our visit. We stopped at the visitor center and took in the vista of the crater and lake. The views were amazing. No filter was required for any photos. The blue of the lake brilliant.

The funny thing we discovered at this site was the metal tunnels to the restroom entrances. Because this portion of the park remains open year round they want to make the restrooms also accessible year round. They have built metal tunnels from the parking lot to the entrance of each of the restroom doors to reduce the snow clearing work. There was not snow on or around them now, so it seemed a bit odd to have to hike through them to get to the doors. We only stayed an hour at the park since some sections were closed and to try to make up some lost time from our trip. It was definitely worth the stop.

We couldn’t drive all the way across the United States and not go the rest of the distance and see the Pacific Ocean. We visited Ecola State Park to get a little beach time. The water was cold, but that didn’t keep the surfers away. Despite the cold the girls played along the edge of the water until they just couldn’t help but get completely drenched. They also enjoyed arranging stones on the sand to dry out a bit. The day was pretty overcast, but tons of fun.

We would have loved to camp in this state park because the trees and ferns were just beautiful, but we needed to cover some distance that evening. We hung out for a couple of hours to get our sand and salt fill, stretch our legs, and accomplish seeing the pacific ocean.

The Mama got her feet wet too, but she resisted the complete drenching the girls enjoyed.

The coastline was beautiful and we were treated to the view of a distant lighthouse.

For Lewis and Clark fans this is a significant stop because it is where the expedition met the Pacific Ocean and wintered here. They had access to supplies and local tribes that assisted in their resupply. While we just made two stops, there were several places to visit in the area.

Our stop was a couple of hours long, but partly because Julia finished a nap before we went into the visitor center and both girls completed the Jr. ranger booklet.

Julia hanging with Sacagawea

The swearing in of our Jr. Rangers.

Mount St Helens was the most anticipated stop on the trip. Emily was very excited to see a volcano that is still active. Some friends from the Seattle area met us, so that we could visit. It was wonderful to reconnect with the adults and for the little people to enjoy getting to know each other.

The diorama showed the different stages of the eruption and the effects to the local landscape. It was very well done and gave a great perspective of how devastating the eruption was. Emily and her new friend learned an amazing amount of information about the mountain. We visited two different viewing sights with museums and overlooks. We also took one hike to another overlook. We spent about three hours visiting the sites (one of the hours was spent in driving to the second viewing area).

We learned that there is a growing glacier in the crater. Pretty cool and pretty cold. Because we were high enough in elevation we had to bundle up.

Our budding readers enjoyed reading each of the signs aloud on the hike. They wanted to read each word to attentive ears. The kids were “helpful” to correct each others mispronounced words. Both kids will be entering 2nd grade come fall.

They competed in running too.

Thanks Stefan for sharing your photos!

After visiting the mountain we camped at a state park nearby. The rangers assured us that the next eruption would give warnings first, so we would be good for a couple of nights at least.

Just south of Yellowstone is some of the most beautiful vistas in the country. We had to drive through Teton National Park just to take in the view. We found some wildflowers, beautiful mountains, and water to throw rocks into. The girls were a little less than impressed with this park. We stayed a few hours in the park just soaking it in and then moved on toward our next stop. If we had an extra day to throw in, we would have found a campsite and settled in for the evening.

The one unique thing we found was a litter of coyotes that were living below an old farm house. They were only viewable with binoculars and zoom lenses. The ranger watching over them let us borrow hers so that we could see the little ones. There is always something new to see and do.

our flowers among the wild ones

rocks and water always bring laughter and giggles!