Cali Trip

 We recently took a quick trip to California where we visited Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park, Elkhorn Slough National Estuary, Moss Landing Harbor, Monterey, and Pebble Beach. It was awesome to see so much of nature. Our main goals were to see big trees and marine animals and to have fun out of the Arizona heat.  :)

 

Standing in the hollow at the base of the sequoia.

D has muscles.

Did I mention the trees are large? This one is likely over 2000 years old. They have tannins in the wood that protects against insects and fire. Even when they hollow, they keep growing.

Perhaps the extended family could reach all the way around this tree.

Standing by a random huge sequoia

The girls at Crescent Meadow in Sequoia NP

The boys tromping on a huge sequoia that fell across the meadow long ago and still hasn't decomposed. D called it "the huge ship stuck in the mud."

The view from the van as we ascend from 600 to 6200 ft into the Sierra Nevadas. We started in desert and ended in gloriously huge forest. Even the sugar pines get 180 ft high and 10 ft diameter. And they are dwarfed by the sequoias.

The kids by the Tharp Log, a giant hollow sequoia that fell long ago and was turned into a cabin by a miner named Tharp in the 1860s. It's still pretty much how it was back then.

There were numerous trees that had been lived in. This one had a tunnel cut through it. The inside of the tunnel was about 8 feet high and this was about 40 feet from the stump of the tree.

The views from the ridge at Kings Canyon NP was incredible. Unfortunately, it would be better if it weren't for the smog that rises from the lower valleys and is killing some of the younger trees.

The Michigan Tree, a sequoia that fell a few years ago after being undermined by a spring that ran right through the middle of it. I estimated the diameter to be about 25 ft. Not surprisingly, it knocked down a lot of other trees when it fell. I wonder if it made a sound.  

E's discovery at Elkhorn Slough. She helped take lots of pictures of flowers and birds. 

N is cold, but happy to be at the beach!

She also got tired of walking and got a ride on Daddy. You can see the list of birds to find (we found about 25) and D's binoculators. It was so beautiful.

Here's a cute little bunny trying to hide from the camera.

An egret enjoy the crabs in the slough.

After leaving the 114 degree desert, the 68 degree coolness by the ocean felt heavenly to me and a bit cold to the little ones. They loved that they could see lots of birds from this overlook.

At the aquarium we saw the otters eating fish.  They are so cute!

Lots of cute penguins at the aquarium also. They did a little parade for us.

We went to the harbor at Moss Landing (shown in the movie Turner and Hooch) and saw the pelicans, cormorants, otters, sea stars, seals, and sea lions, and of course gulls. While admiring sea lions resting on the boat moors, this little boy (maybe 5), came out and showed us hot to safely pick up crabs. He is wearing authentic fishing gear because he goes with his daddy fishing every day on a very big boat in the ocean. So cute, even if a underaged employment violation. :)

N at the beach. Even though we were wearing Sunday clothes and didn't play in the water, we came back the next day and had a great time when the weather was awesome.

C laughing off the wind.

Bird Rock, covered in cormorants, seals, and sea lions. The king of the hill is a sea lion. Lots of fertilizer here.

Seal Rock, strangely covered in birds instead.

The Pebble Beach neighborhood where we stayed had access to 5 world class golf courses, including Pebble Beach and Cypress Point, but I preferred to be with my kids. I'm not much of a golfer because I prefer to enjoy my 6 hour walks. Or maybe it would be 6 hours because I'm not much of a golfer.

Em is looking very professional and elegant.

Strangely formal for a beach setting, but the lighting was perfect! Actually we had just come from church.

Ahhh, how cute.

Little French cottage on the beach. 1400 square feet. $4M.  I guess this is where pro golfers retire or have a 5th home. We didn't stay in one by the beach for obvious reasons.

D running on the beach. Shockingly didn't fall into the marsh.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end!!