Days 7 and 8

Yesterday we didn’t have any internet access, so we’re just deciding to combine yesterday’s adventures as well as today's in this one post.

As for yesterday…..well, it went a little bit different than expected! We pulled away from our Circus, Circus Hotel, grabbed a bagel and were off to a tour at Hoover Dam. We got a greater understanding of the power plant and the ingenuity of the great minds behind it, way back in 1936. After the Hoover Dam tour, we made our way through Death Valley. Being in Vegas kind of rubbed off on us so we decided to all guess what temperature it would be there, and then put money down, and whoever got closest to it won the money. It ended up reaching the temperature of 97 degrees! We made a few stops on the side of the road to see the dry desert. It was an interesting mix of flat and mountainous land that seemed to go on forever!

After Death Valley, we were going to head to Three Rivers, CA for the night, knowing we were going to be getting there early. It ended up that it was a few hours longer trip than we thought, even if we did choose the shortest route on our trusty GPS Linda! We soon learned that the

shortest route isn’t always the best. Once we were on our way we discovered that ‘Linda’ was going to take us through the very bumpy and curvy, thin and twisty road in the middle of the mountainous country. We were glad when that part of the traveling was over because it made for a very dizzy head! Along the way we saw a few stray cows along the road too. When we got out of that area, the country side was just beautiful! As we were traveling through, we saw orange groves and other fruits that filled fields that smelled so good when we drove by! It was a very different feel from what we had seen these past few days, but just as beautiful! The rolling mountains and the countryside were quite the contrast to the dry and sandy desert. We made a quick stop at Wendy’s for dinner and headed to the lodge we were staying at, which was placed right by a rushing river!

Now, as for today….Knowing we didn’t have a whole lot planned for today, we got to sleep in a little, which was nice after always have to get up early and head out on the road. So this morning was kind of a leisurely morning. Once we were out the door we went to this nice restaurant to have breakfast. We got to sit out on the porch, right over the river! After breakfast we headed to the Sequoia forest, which included more traveling on the bumpy and twisty mountain roads….oh joy! As we were entering the forest, we began to see more and more gigantic trees, which of course where the Sequoia trees! Now these are some serious trees! We hopped out of the van a few times to walk around, take pictures, and take in how huge these trees really were!

We got to see the biggest tree in the world named ‘General Sherman’, which stood at 275 feet at the base and with a circumference of 102 feet! It was so cool that we were able to see these mammoth trees that were only starting to grow when Jesus was on earth! We also got to walk through a tree, stand on a tree, and hug a tree…yes, we are tree huggers.

At about 1:30 we started to head to where we were going to be staying for the night, knowing it was about a 3 hour trip and that we were going to get to the hotel earlier than the usual 10:00 pm. At 3:00 we hadn’t even had lunch yet, so we stopped at McDonalds. Today we had a few things that had to be done like getting the oil changed in the van and do some laundry, so before coming to the hotel, we got the oil changed. While we were waiting, my mom being who she is decided to start talking to the lady sitting in the waiting room about our trip. Shocker, I know. ;) When we got back in our van, we of course started teasing her about the new ‘friend’ she made. “I wasn’t the one who brought it up and started talking….” she explained. “ ….she said ‘hi’.” You wouldn’t believe how easy it is for her to slip into any conversation with any stranger that we are on a three week trip out west and have gone over 3532 miles in her little power talk she does .

After that we checked into our hotel and now mom and dad went to do laundry.....hopefully tonight we’ll be able to go swimming and play some games and just relax at the hotel.

Posted by: Olivia