Night Life

Sonora Pass is almost 10,000 feet high. The Sierra Nevada's received at most 8" of snow Monday, October 28. The Pass opened late Thursday. That means that it took them 4 days to get the road open...ridiculous! I suppose the National Parks in California are not as prepared for snow clearance as we are in Colorado because Loveland Pass is a out 12,000 feet and is only closed for severe blizzards and never for 4 consecutive days of sunshine and warm weather! Needless to say we would have been very upset if it had not opened in time for us to use. We would have had to take a very long detour around the mountains to get to Death Valley. We had heard that the drive down 395 on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada's was supposed to be gorgeous! It did not disappoint! Towards the southern end of the road Mt. Whitney loomed overhead.

We turned 395 towards Death Valley. There was almost nothing growing along the road. It was a true desert and receives no more than 2 inches of rain in a year and some years none at all! The first stop we made was at Darwin Falls. Apparently there is a spring higher up in the mountain that flows all year round. The falls were just as one might expect to find a desert oasis. In a world of rock, sand, and dust there was a small valley full of lush plant life and a dark pool of water. It was gorgeous! Not at all what we expected to find in Death Valley!

From there we went and found a campsite at a free location in the park. It wasn't much to gawk at but there was a flat space, water, and bathrooms, so we were more than happy to sleep there. We visited Mosaic Canyon and hiked up into the polished marble walls. It was astounding to see the power of water and the way it is capable of eroding and polishing the white marble!

At sunset we went to the sand dunes. They are not the tallest dunes, they were only 100 feet tall, but the combination of the sunset and the sand made for a beautiful evening! We sat in the sand for a little while and then made our way back to our campsite.

The night was very warm so we slept outside in our tent. We woke up early because we had A LOT of things to see in Death Valley before we headed to Las Vegas. A sunrise in Death Valley is truly an incredible thing! We drove the the Salt Creek Trailhead and hiked along the board walk of an extremely salty creek. Many of the living things in Death Valley have incredible adaptations to cope with the hottest place on earth and one of the driest! Pickle weed, which grows in the creek bed, needs fresh water to live. It soaks up the salty water and secretes the salt out through its leaves. When the plant has soaked up too much salt it produces more leaves! There are also some extremely rare fish called pupfish that live only in the salt creek. They live in small puddles until the snow melt travels down from the mountain and floods the creek bed.

 After that we visited the Golden Canyon and the Red Cathedral. The canyon was beautiful and so fun to walk through! Next we went to the Natural Bridge which is exactly what it sounds like. It was eroded from the canyon walls by scores of successive flash floods!

The next sight we saw was the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, Badwater Basin. At this point we were standing 282 feet below sea level and the basin is still moving farther down and mountain ranges are rising higher! Right after that we drove past Artists Palette, which is a very pretty alluvial fan full of oxidized metals. The oxidation is what makes the rocks so colorful! It was an amazing sight to see! We drove to Zabriskie and Dantes View, and then left the park around 1:30.

At the border of California and Nevada we took pictures next to the Nevada sign, and I put 2 gallons from our jerry can into the Jeep. The park had gas stations that were charging $6 per gallon, so we decided not to fill up there. We found a gas station soon after and filled up. It was our first interaction with Nevada culture, and the alien themed gas station was attached to a brothel. Yay!

Las Vegas has never been a must see destination for either us, but two of our high school friends recently moved there so we wanted to make the trip. The day before we came to Las Vegas, Kara asked if we would have any interest in helping with the middle school overnighter for her church. It sounded like fun so we were excited to sign up! We arrived at Chris and Kara’s house in the afternoon and spent some time catching up and then it was off to the overnighter! Chris unfortunately wasn’t able to come because he had to work (you can tell which Chris I am talking about because he has a job). Now this was no typical church overnighter, at least to the ones either of us have ever been a part of.  The one overnighter Lauren went to she went bowling, had pizza, and went to bed around one in the morning. The rest of the time the room where everyone was sleeping was filled with girls whispering and giggling, while the leaders and angry sleep deprived girls shushed every ten seconds or so. It was never something Lauren would have raved about on Monday morning by any means. This overnighter was extreme not to mention there were 300 middle school students attending…and yes we did volunteered for this! 

The night started at 7:00 for volunteers to learn about the schedule and what would be going on throughout the night. The kids started arriving around 8:00.  Kara, Chris, Lauren, and a few others were tasked to sign kids in. The music was blasting and so we would scream back and forth with each kid that came up to sign in until we finally figured out what their name was. One boy told Lauren his first name and she thought he said his name was Ball. She asked just to make sure, but he said she was correct. So then she went searching for Ball on the sheets. She had no such luck in finding his name and then he pointed to the paper and said, “There I am”. His name was Paul. That was definitely not the only time a situation like that happened! After about an hour of that we joined the mob that had formed in the room behind us. Kids sure have changed! Since when do middle school kids all have smart phones and drink Monster energy drinks like its water! After everyone had arrived they brought out the soda, enough for everyone to have one. We were extremely glad to be on the outside of the circle! Everyone turned into bloodthirsty animals and a soda was the precious treasure they all had been searching for! The volunteer that brought out the soda was pretty built, but the kids overpowered him and knocked him to the ground! Needless to say it was crazy! We then headed on the buses to start our night off with Adventure dome! It is an indoor mini amusement park! The roller coaster and the other rides were impressive and very fun considering their size! Chris screamed so loud on the roller coaster that Lauren thought he was a big baby! The ride even took a picture of Chris screaming his head off like a 10 year old girl, and Lauren looking at him with the most disgusted look on her face! Just to prove that it was all just an act, we rode the coaster again, and this time Chris didn't make a peep. He just stared back at Lauren with a bored look...after the first drop. 

After spending two hours there we gathered everyone and headed back on to the buses. Surprisingly enough this was the only time we lost a couple of kids during the night, but we retrieved them pretty quickly. Next we went ice-skating and had pizza, which is a staple for all overnighters. Unknown fact of the night, Chris Turpaud is a really good skater! 

Next we headed over to the YMCA. Some kids went swimming and the rest of us played in a dodge ball tournament. Don’t worry Kara and Lauren’s team dominated! Some of the boys were hesitant to join our team, but we proved ourselves as worthy team members! Chris’s team lost in the first round unfortunately, but it was the funniest thing to see! Chris ran off the starting line with about 6 other kids that were at least two feet shorter than him. They were the smallest underdog team ever! Chris, their only hope, got hit immediately and was out first! Game over! From there we went cosmic bowling. On the bus ride there Lauren got to see the pizza for the second time that night. One of the girls behind Lauren got sick and threw up all over her lap. Luckily, she had a change of clothes, so Kara and Lauren got her cleaned up quickly. The kids bowled for a little longer than an hour and then it was time to head back to the church. It was already six in the morning and time for pick up! That is an overnighter we would have invited all of our friends to!  We had a lot of fun talking with a lot of the kids. They say some pretty hilarious stuff and are all pretty quirky in their own way. It was also a great way for us to experience Las Vegas! As soon as we got back to the Batson’s house we immediately crashed and slept until noon.  When we woke up we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and talking with Chris and Kara. It was great to be able to catch up, share old memories, and make new ones with them! After eating a delicious dinner of homemade chicken pot pie we went into Las Vegas to explore the strip! The lights and all of the miniature cities like Rome and Paris were amazing to see! We also enjoyed watching the fountain at the Bellagio!

 Lauren heard a couple of whistles being blown and thought she was about to see the police bust someone. It was not the police, but they were dressed as cops, just a lot less clothing! A bust would have been way more exciting! One of the hotels we walked into had an area decorated in all fall and harvest décor. The pumpkins displayed were all real and ginormous! The biggest one we saw weighed over 750 pounds! 

We made our way back to the parking lot, which is a feat in itself. Then we headed back to their house to get some sleep! The next morning we said goodbye to Kara as she headed off to work and spent the morning with Chris. He had made us a delicious pumpkin loaf to take on our journey and a tasty skillet breakfast! We finished our laundry, showered, said goodbye to Chris and hopped in the Jeep to head to Los Angeles. We had a lot of fun with the Batsons and wished we lived closer to each other!  

Riding Along in My Automobile

We reached Yosemite just as the sun was throwing its last red rays of light on El Capitan! Chris was driving Peter's truck so that he could rest a little in preparation for the next few days. All of us were absolutely stunned looking up at the granite cliffs surrounding us! Yosemite was as incredible as everyone told us it would be!

We got a little confused riding around the valley looking for a place to camp, but once we found it we set up our tents and got busy creating a fire. It was nice to have a fire again! We warmed up the tri-tip and roasted vegetables that were leftover from the Steven's house on the fire and settled into our tents. Peter had to use Chris' sleeping bag because he had forgot his at home! I know right, what an amateur, forgetting a sleeping bag on a camping trip! Anyway, we all stayed warm that night despite the constant rain that started sometime in the early morning. In the morning it briefly stopped raining long enough for us to make breakfast, but we were severely disappointed by the fog that rolled into the valley that night. There were zero views of the cliffs! We were up in the air about whether we should wait out the weather or drive to Sequoia National Park that night. Once it started snowing...HARD...we at least decided we would not be staying in our tent! It was soaked and sagging under the weight of the snow that had fallen on it. We packed it up and left our site and went to find somewhere dry to think over our options. After walking around the Lodge, the store, the visitor center, and sitting in a warming hut we finally made up our minds to drive to Sequoia. 

That night we stopped for pizza and a beer in Fresno. Peter generously paid for the meal! Thanks buddy! That night we camped in a pullout just outside of Kings Canyon National Park. In the morning we ate breakfast and piled into Peter's Truck. The Road to Sequoia was closed so we visited Kings Canyon instead. We saw the General Grant Tree which is the third largest tree in the world and the second largest Sequoia tree in the world! After we did the small hike through the Grant Grove we drove to the end of the road, through the canyon.

The walls were extremely high and the canyon was very narrow. It was extremely beautiful, and until we planned this road trip, we had never even heard of the park, but rest assured it is worth seeing! At the end of the road we did a hike through the Zumwalt meadows. It gives great views of the canyon and the tall granite faces on either side while standing in a wide meadow. There was great rock climbing in the area but we did not have time to sample any of it...guess we'll be coming back! When we finished the hike we got back in the truck and headed towards the the pullout where the Jeep was still parked.

No purple leaves for Lauren! What a bummer!

It was time to say goodbye and part ways. We enjoyed our time with Peter immensely, he is my best friend and very important to us! We love him! It was an emotional parting since we knew that it would be much harder to see him, since two months earlier he had moved to California. We know he is in good hands, that he works with an awesome mentor and leader, and that God has him right where he is needed. Nevertheless it was tough to know that our visit was over. We had been looking forward to it for a long time! When we had finally said goodbye we drove our Jeep back up the road towards Sequoia National Park. The road had opened earlier that afternoon. Highway 198 was wet and icy and was as high as 7500' which is the highest elevation that sequoia's will grow at. As we were driving we found a road that had not been plowed yet and we decided to drive down it to see if we could camp there for the night. The road wound back into the national forest for a few miles and we followed it until we found a place to camp. Chris pulled the tarp and the tent out of the Jeep to let everything dry as Lauren made dinner. At 6:00 in late October it was already so cold that all the water droplets froze. We had as fancy a meal as you can have from the kitchen of a Jeep Cherokee. It was sauteed chicken and spinach tortellini with vodka sauce! Certainly one of the top meals we have prepared! The night was extremely cold, we don't know what the temperature dropped to but we woke up to a lot of ice on the inside of the Jeep. That day we began exploring Sequoia National Park by hiking to the General Sherman tree. It is the largest tree (by volume) in the world. The tallest tree in the world is a Coastal Redwood from California (379 feet), the largest diameter tree is a cypress from Mexico (46 feet), the oldest tree is a bristlecone pine (4700 years old), but no other tree has as much wood in its trunk as the Sherman tree! Its base diameter is 36 feet, 275 feet tall, and approximately 2,500 years old! During a storm years ago, its second largest branch broke off and crushed both the pavement and the fence encircling it. The branch alone was over 6 feet in diameter!

 Those trees were incredible, we enjoyed seeing them even more than the redwoods, because even though they were a lot shorter their trunks were much more massive and they were so orange! Beautiful trees! After we saw General Sherman we did another hike through the grove of giants and saw many more gigantic trees all ringing a meadow. We stopped by the museum to learn more about the trees and the park and were amazed at how dependent the trees were on fire to survive. Their cones needed fire to open, the brush needed to be cleared by fire so the seedlings could take root, the competing plants thinned out by fire for the seedlings to survive, and nutrients added to the soil. When the park was founded it suppressed the fires for about 60 years. No new trees grew in that time and the forest became overgrown so that if a fire did come through it would burn hot enough to kill all the giants as well as the undergrowth! It was an extremely fascinating landscape since all the trees in the forest had fire scars and damage, and yet they had the ability over time to heal themselves and survive all but the very hottest fires! So awesome!

As we drove back towards Yosemite, we came upon a very surprising sight. On the side of the road we saw a sign for THE Sun-maid raisin factory. Lauren, needless to say, really really wanted to stop in at the gift shop! Chris accidentally drove past the turn off and was a little irritated at the fact that he had to turn around and drive back because of raisins! The irritation Chris felt quickly left once he saw how excited Lauren was to stand next to her favorite icon! She took pictures next to her and then we bought a package of raisins and left.

Because we had to leave Yosemite without doing any hikes earlier in the week we decided to return and try to do the Glacier Point hike. After checking with the Park Rangers to ensure that the trail was open after the snow, we headed towards the top. The views were astounding! Half Dome loomed in the foreground and at the beginning of the hike we saw El Capitan and The Sentinel.

No waterfalls were running at this time of the year but we saw the dry channel where Yosemite falls would have plummeted over 300 feet to the valley floor! When we finished the hike we made dinner in a picnic area and started our drive towards Sonora Pass and Death Valley!