Back to Reality

We arrived home from our trip yesterday afternoon. I've spent the whole day washing, food shopping, paying bills - the usual crap that you have to do when you return from vacation. Always takes a little of the enjoyment out of vacations, doesn't it?

We had a nice time visiting with our friends in Twin Lakes. It was pretty windy during our visit which annoyed the fishermen in the group. Our son, Matt, caught one fish before our arrival. At least he didn't get skunked like last year! Everyone seemed to enjoy the beef stroganoff dinner and the brownies.

On Thursday, we left Twin Lakes and drove the Tioga Pass through Yosemite National Park. What a gorgeous drive! We've been to the park several times and travelled the Sonora Pass route a few years ago. There was little traffic on the northern route, so we were able to enjoy the magnificent scenery at a nice pace. We arrived at the bed and breakfast in Three Rivers (Sequoia River Dance) around 6 p.m. The B&B is lovely on the inside and the backyard is spectacular - right up against a beautiful little stream. Doug and I enjoyed cocktail hour on the patio each night just listening to the sounds of the stream and the birds. Three Rivers reminded both of us of Nevada City -- the pros and the cons. Idyllic scenery, peaceful living, eclectic housing!

After our yummy breakfast Friday, we drove into Sequoia National Park along the Generals Highway - a road with switchbacks unlike any you have ever seen! No speeding here. We decided to hike the Tokopah Falls trail and take lunch along with us. Several hikers told us about a momma bear and cub along the way, but we did not see them. Maybe that's for the best since they might have been tempted by our sandwiches!

So many of the visitors to the park were from outside the country - we heard many visitors speaking French, Hebrew, German, Asian languages - quite a variety of nationalities. Nice to see so many enjoying the beauty that the U.S. has to offer. Political comment here: maybe this makes amends for some of our shortcomings on the world stage during the past administration.

We returned to the park on Saturday and hiked Crescent Meadows, a less strenuous hike. Doug was walking in front of me when I heard something in the underbrush. A mid-sized bear sprinted across our trail right in front of us! It was really exciting ... and a little scary, too. The bear ran behind a felled tree, so we didn't know where he was going. We stayed still for a minute or two until we could see the bear about 15 feet away from us in the meadow chomping away on something. The bear did not seem to care about us at all; Doug took pictures and we watched the bear just being a bear for about 5 minutes. How cool is that?

Good trip. Nice to be home. Wish the damn wash was done!