Campfire Stories Part 5
Sequoia, Death Valley, Las Vegas and Sedona
After five days in the Bay Area, we headed South for Sequoia National Park. My husband and I had both been to Yosemite more than once so we decided to check out Sequoia which neither of us had seen. It was, of course, spectacular! The park has convenient, comfortable shuttles to take visitors around the park (many of the roads did not recommend vehicles as long as ours so we took advantage of the shuttles). The first day we visited Moro Rock which is a granite dome with a steep 1/4-mile staircase to the summit with a 300 foot elevation gain. At the top we had a spectacular view of the Great Western Divide and the western half of the park.
The next day, we did the Giant Forest trail hike which is known for its giant sequoia tress. We saw the HUGE General Sherman Tree and all the other “named” sequoias. During this hike, we went off the trail a bit looking for another path and suddenly my oldest son started screaming. At the same exact moment, I experienced a sharp pain in my leg which I thought was a prickly plant. Then I felt more pain and looked down and saw a wasp on my leg. We all started running and my youngest was crying loudly. We were so surprised and had no idea what was happening at first. People we passed after the incident thought maybe we were being attacked by bears! A bit embarrassing, but between 3 of us we got eight wasp stings.
We were scheduled next for two nights in Death Valley but when we got there decided it was unbearably hot (117 degrees F) and we would instead head to Las Vegas early where we planned to stay in a hotel. While we did very little in Death Valley, we saw much of the park on our drive in and out of it. It was spectacular in a very different way from any place we’d seen. It was so barren yet beautiful due to its geologic diversity. The RV park we stayed at had a spring-fed thermal pool that we were told was 85 degrees but it had to be closer to 100. It was only refreshing for about 1 minute after you got out and let the water evaporate. Thankfully, with electricity and air conditioning we were able to cool the RV down to 75 degrees for the night. We left early the next day to beat the heat and get to Vegas (yes, Vegas was for us considered much cooler).
We tried to get an early night reservation at The Red Rock Resort where we were scheduled for the following nights, but since they were almost sold out the rate was $650 for the night. We passed on that and found a fabulous hotel (Westin Element) that had a full kitchen and refreshing pool with cabanas. We liked it so much we wanted to stay there, but on we went to the Red Rock. The room there was nice too and the hotel has a great pool for families. We had fun walking through the casino which you had to to get to anywhere. We mostly relaxed and stayed cool in the pool and went to a movie (Ant Man). One highlight for the boys was the arcade where after spending $3.00 playing one game, our youngest (with his dad’s help) won a Samsung Galaxy tablet; it almost turned our son into an arcade addict!
After the tour, we went to a nearby restaurant called Cowboy Club and tried some local delicacies like rattlesnake, bison and prickly pear cactus fries. They were all tasty and although our youngest wouldn’t try anything, our oldest did and thought it was “okay.” We only had one full day in Sedona but on the way into town, we remembered passing Slide Rock State Park and decided to stop there on the way out. What a cool place! It was surrounded by gorgeous scenery and had slippery rocks with water flowing over them where you could just hop in and slide down. We all tried it a few times then walked upstream to enjoy another swimming hole. On the way back to the car, we stumbled on some people jumping off tall rocks into a deep pool. Mike can never resist that and eventually the boys both jumped in too.
Grand Canyon was next and I’ll be honest, it was just something I felt we had to do since none of us had ever been. I didn’t expect to be wowed for some reason, but I was! Each and every place has surpassed our expectations but I think the Grand Canyon did the most. The first views as we arrived were amazing. We visited a nearby overlook and were just overwhelmed by how vast, deep and spectacular the canyon is. To top things off, there were two huge California condors right on the other side of the railing. They eventually flew off and soared where we could watch them for a bit.
Later that afternoon, we took a shuttle to a trail we were planning to hike but shortly after we got on (after hiking a bit to get to the shuttle) we were informed they were evacuating the South rim due to lightning storms. It was pretty crazy and the boys were nervous but it makes for quite the story. We weren’t able to get back out but we were very pleased we had managed to hike into the canyon. The following morning we left very early and Ellis and I were in the back sleeping. Unfortunately, we missed some truly unbelievable views that Mike and Owen saw and they didn’t even get photos!
Tips:
• At times it got up to 100+ degrees in the RV. While I can’t say we stayed cool, we managed by putting ice into bags or bandanas and putting them around our necks and wrists. Drinking ice cold water also helps quite a bit.
• Wasps stings hurt. Stay on the trail and if you go off the trail, try to avoid stepping on a nest!
• It’s really hard to fold up a large RV mat inside the RV. Try to plan ahead before it rains so you can do it outside.
Up next: Zion, Rocky Mountains and homeward bound!
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