A "relaxing" vacation to Sequoia National Park

It started with a Facebook ad: an autumn scene in the mountains with a cosy luxury log cabin to stay in. It was about 85 degrees in my sun-drenched office in late October, and as thousands of snow birds started their migration south, all I wanted was to snuggle up by a log fire and drink hot cocoa with the cold winds of fall howling outside. I clicked on the ad (which I never do) and an hour and a few phone calls later, Brent and I were headed for a five day vacation in Sequoia National Park with two nights at the Wuksachi Lodge in the central eastern mountains of California.

For weeks Brent and I anticipated this much-needed break from our hectic work schedules and the beautiful but monotonous heat of San Diego. So two days after our much anticipated immigration hearing and a day after I finished my 10 week, 50-60hr/week contract at IPJ (lately Brent's schedule hadn't been much better), we were very ready for the 7hr journey north.

Our troubles began before we even got on the road. In sending our car in for a pre-trip lube-oil-filter the shop investigated our annoying 'check engine' light and suggested we get the spark plugs replaced. This took $120 and 2/3 of our first day. Then, as we finally packed the car at 3pm Brent got a call from the hospital. An Iraqi refugee who has been in the hospital since he arrived 3 weeks ago was finally being discharged. His case manager was not answering her phone, so Brent had to deal with it. So, off to the hospital we go to get the family a taxi. Once the family realized we weren't going to drive them home (a 1.5hr round trip) they decided to get a friend to pick them up. Another hour gone.

Hitting LA in rush hour was unavoidable at that point, so we spent the next 2-3 hours crawling through LA's freeways, stopping at an In-N-Out Burger for what we'd been told was a FABULOUS veggie burger only to be informed once inside that their veggie burger was simply their regular burger minus the meat. I reluctantly agreed. Brent ordered their other veggie option - a "grill cheese sandwich" - and was given their burger with cheese and no meat. At least the fries and chocolate shake were yummy while going down, but regretted a few hours later.

Our biggest excitement of the evening however, was Brent sitting in the parking lot of the In-N-Out, clad in shorts, a thin T-shirt and sandals, realizing that he had forgotten ALL of his clothes! We both agreed he'd "pulled a Jen." ;-)

We drove as far north as we could then spent that night in a motel as our last daylight hours (useful for setting up our tent) were spent in LA traffic.

The next morning we set off again, making a long pit-stop at a large outlet mall to buy Brent some warm clothes.

We finally reached the park entrance at around 4:30pm Sunday night. We had only booked Monday and Tuesday nights at the lodge and were planning on camping. But seeing as it was almost dusk we thought we could try camping, or simply see if we could tack on an extra night at Wuksachi. We paid our fees and entered the park, only to be greeted by a sign that reminded us that there was no fuel inside the park. Our tank was 2/3 full, but the 3hr round trip to the lodge, plus driving around the park gave us reason to pause. Brent erred on the side of caution and we headed the 5 miles back into the village of Three Rivers (pop. <100)>

By Monday morning we were desperate to get into the park. What had planned on being a 4-5 day vacation in the mountains had now shrunk to two. As we approached the gate again we were told that chains were now REQUIRED at mile 14. The Lodge was at mile 23. We looked in dismay at our sports tires (NOT all-terrain) and eventually succumbed to the fact that we would have to turn around for yet another 10 mile trip into Three Rivers and back AND pay $30 to rent chains. Another 1/2 day gone.

FINALLY we entered the park, driving the twisting, winding roads up the mountains till we were in snow. The roads, however, were completely clear and dry. Throughout our entire trip chains were completely unnecessary! Ugh. But the scenery was beautiful. We checked in at the stunning lodge then headed back to the largest grove of Sequoias in the park. Heading out on our first trail we glanced a few feet in front of us to see a mother black bear and her cub scamper down the hill and onto our trail! No trail for us!

(the photo to the right has the two bears on the trail if you can make them out)

Our remaining days in the park can better be described in our photos. We hiked miles of trails (some with fresh bear prints) in the snow then went back to relax in the lodge with hot baths delicious meals and hot tea a plenty. It turned out to be the perfect, relaxing getaway after all!

Our journey out was luckily much less eventful than our journey in, with the exception of encountering a very large, very live tarantula on the road down the mountain and hitting complete grid-lock once we reached San Diego after a 10hr drive back. We spent an hour and a half in viewing distance of our neighbourhood!

As this post is already ridiculously long I will once again opt to wait until the next post (soon) to relate the normal stuff, like my evidently confused belly.

Love and greetings to you all!

Jen, Brent and our little apple XXx