Sandals and Snow Boots

 We woke up today to clear blue skies and sunshine. 🌅 Waiting outside Sequoia Coffee with sunshine on our faces felt so good! Coffee in hand, we headed into the park. 

Our first stop was at Hospital Rock. As with many things, the importance of this place is not entirely known. There are petroglyphs, and it was thought that a Mono or Yokut healer might have treated people passing through.  What was truly amazing where these perfectly round circles worked into the rock where acorns would have been ground into a flour substance. Can you imagine how many acorns it would take to make a usable amount of flour? 

Then we headed up Generals Highway in search of really big trees. 💚

On the way, we saw this rock monster (are you looking at those angry eyes??), this beautiful grey fox, and a lone turkey. It's like a children's book in the making! 😉

I think the weather started to change around the 4,000 ft level. Dry pavement turned to wet, brown grasses turned to strips of snowmelt, and by the time we parked (6,500 ft) we were parking in a snowy scene. These gals climbed out of of the car in their sandals, scrambling to put snow boots on! 

These trees. 💖 Is it their size? The Sentinel is about 260ft tall, with a 25 ft diameter. Or is it their age? Sequoias in the area we saw today average about 2,000 years old.  I think Sequoias are generally talked about in regards to their overall volume, but their age is staggering. We stood in the presence of living beings thousands of years old today. That is so hard to process! 

One thing is for sure: the beautiful red color was stunning in the winter wonderland. 

And while there were hikes to take, and more trees to see, we went home and napped. We had to work through some guilt about not charging into the forest, but in the end, we’re TIRED! Teaching has been, more than anything, emotionally exhausting this year. 7Dees has been busier than ever, what with people staying home and working on household projects. And what’s a vacation if not for rejuvenation? 

Waaaaaaaaay in the back is the Coast Range!

More importantly, what’s a vacation without delicious food? There are several restaurants open for take-out in Three Rivers, but we chose the Quesadilla Gorilla food truck. Just to make you feel like you’re really here, I spent most of the day trying to make those two words rhyme. ;)  We are eating delicious food and laughing at the maniacal elves in Christmas Chronicles 2. 

💚