Summer Vacation, Part 2

On Thursday, July 24th we took the very windy road out of Kings Canyon and headed towards Vacaville, CA.

Vacaville was just a hotel stop along the way to another night of camping at Standish-Hickey SRA.

On Friday morning we were back on the road, on our way to Standish-Hickey SRA.

When we were about half way there we stopped at a gas station for a pit stop. When we were there Jim asked me if we should fill-up the gas tank...at that moment the tank was half full so...I told him it was up to him. We should of filled-up! We were in the middle of nowhere on highway 101 and our gas light came on. On our car there is a function that tells us how many miles are left on our tank and when we checked this gauge and the GPS we discovered that there was no way we were going to make it to a gas station in time.  Did I mention we were on 101? VERY hilly and VERY windy!! Luckily the girls had fallen asleep because I was hanging onto the oh sh&^ handle for dear life! Our gas gauge hit 0 and still there was no gas station in sight!! I don't know how we made it but we did! I really don't know how!! We did learn though that our car holds 20 gallons of gas but the gas mileage predictor gauge is based off of 18.

After a very stressful drive we finally made it to our campsite!

 

The camp had a nice creek running through it but, unfortunately we were not allowed in it...there was a breakout of green algae but, it was still beautiful!

 

 

For dinner, the camp was right by this funky little roadside restaurant. Not only was it good scenery but also really good food!

 

 

After dinner it was back to camp for some campfire fun.

 

Scenes from our tent...

Chewy relaxing after another busy day!

Fun with fire!

SMORES!

 We had a fun night at Standish-Hickey!

 

 

 Next stop, GOLD BEACH!!



Summer Vacation, Part 1

On Monday, July 21st (Billy's 16th birthday) we packed up the car, took Billy to boarding, and headed out on our summer adventure. Our first leg of the trip...Las Vegas to Visalia, CA...

The ride went well. It was about 6 hours and the girls were mostly patient.

There of course were a few grumpy moments...

...it IS a long time to be in the car. Once we checked into our hotel it was time to find dinner. It was our goal to eat, and drink, at as many micro-breweries as possible and we started off with a good one...

After dinner we walked around town a bit before retiring to the hotel room.

We woke-up bright and early on Tuesday in hopes for snagging a campsite at Kings Canyon.

You can reserve campsites at Kings Canyon but we would of had to do that MONTHS in advance. So, instead, we took our chances with getting a first come first get site. The drive to Kings Canyon was a bit rough. It was very curvy and the girls and I all ended up with tummies that were a bit upset...ok, a lot upset. But in the end, the drive was worth it! We ended up with the most amazing campsite!

View of the river from our site

My little tree huggers loving the big trees

 

Chewy was a very happy boy

After we set up camp we went on a very short hike...girls were too hot for a longer jaunt...but we still were happy to be out in nature!

We were very happy to return to our site and enjoy the river.

Our dear Chewy was filthy, exhausted, and happy!

We were all excited to sleep in our tent...especially with this as our view!

But, before bed, it was camp fire time!

The next morning we were up bright and early. Our campsite had wonderful morning light!

Wednesday we headed to Hume Lake for a bit a\of fishing.

We had a GREAT time and were on the lake for 5 hours! Lucky for us, the fish were biting...they were small but...they were biting!

 

After our fishing adventure the girls were zonked!

But, Abby woke-up in time to play with this fellow...

This blue jay loved Chewy's food!

After some more time at the river...

...some fire fun..

...some singing...

...and some smores...

...it was time for the girls to go to bed.

While the girls were sleeping Jim and I saw the most AMAZING beetle!

It was beautiful and it was HUGE! After we admired the beetle for a while it disappeared. We were looking all around for it until suddenly we saw it...ON THE GRILL OF THE FIRE! The poor thing had flown to the light. Jim flicked the beetle off of the fire but, it was too late. When we woke up in the morning the beetle was gone...a nice midnight snack for some lucky creature.

After a donut breakfast...

...it was time to say goodbye to our site...

Goodbye Kings Canyon, thanks for having us!