PART II In a series of our West Coast road trip.
Read Part I
DAY 2-
My morning alarm came in the form of birds chirping in the trees. The family was still asleep when I put on my running shoes. I knew that it would be a challenge to train for the half-marathon while on vacation so I did my best. I ran from our campground up to “Hospital Rock.” I realized that I hadn’t gone more than half a mile when the road started to get busy. I was getting a bit lightheaded with running at a higher elevation and seeing that there were no sidewalks and my only alternative was either running on the side of a cliff or hugging the mountain while dodging cars, I had to cut my exploration run short and do a few laps around the campground.
The moment the rest of the family got up we were on the move. We quickly broke down the campsite, packed the SUV and headed into Sequoia National Park while snacking on Pop Tarts for breakfast. We had to time our departure just right so we would arrive at the tail-end of the one to two hour construction delays.
Once in the park we did whatever tourists do while visiting for one day: Drove through the Tunnel Log, walked on the “Auto Log,” check out the Giant Forest Museum and Sentinel Tree then hiked to the General Sherman by way of a long, steep trail. By the time we took a photo in front of the General Sherman, the kids had enough and wanted to go camping again. Being among the sequoias was truly spectacular. The trees are known more for their girth, rather than their height — though they still are giant! I visited Sequoia when I was about 10 years old and I think I’m even more amazed with this place in my 30’s!
We set out to find a campground heading out of the park and ended up in Stony Creek. It was a beautiful location. We camped right next to the river among giant redwoods. Our site was quite Left Page: Maps and Newsletters from the park. Right Page: My husband tried to draw our campsite.[/caption]