Sequoia Day: Mineral King

So this year for Independence Day, Andy, Atley and I set out for a day in Sequoia National Park. I think this is our favorite park in CA so far. The trees are amazing, and it's sooo beautiful and peaceful. We picked a new route to drive on so we could see some new areas of the park. It was such a GORGEOUS day, so nice and warm. When we got up into the pines, we stopped at a campsite to eat lunch and picnic. Atley loved being in the mountains. She was all smiles, squeals, and kept waving her arms like crazy (she does this when she's really excited). Scenery pics along the drive. Oh, and (not pictured), but we saw a bear!!! I was sooo excited! It was just sitting on the road, and when we got close, it started barreling off into the trees. So I got to see it's little bear bum jiggle into the woods. It was so fun to see. It had pretty auburn fur that shimmered in the sunlight as it ran. I tried to grab my camera, but it was too fast.

More scenery. Isn't it so beautiful?

This is a little hike we went on to see a little waterfall. It was fun. We saw a marmot along the way. I told Atley it was a dog because she loves dogs so much. She got all excited and started saying "Dah, Dah". I'm sure the other hikers thought I was crazy though because I was calling it a doggy. Oh well.

We took of her little socks at the waters' edge and put her feet in... she seemed to be so fascinated by all of the running water.

Me doin' my mommy duties in the comfort of our Yukon, and of course Andy just HAD to get a picture of it.

Here Atley is, just enjoying the grandeur.

I am SOOOO fascinated with these huge pinecones!!! Aren't they cool? It's almost the size of Atley!

Bad lighting, but this is Andy and Atley in front of a huge Sequoia tree stump.

This is the campsite where we had our lunch-time picnic. Andy was sooo sweet to get everything ready for the trip in the morning while bug and I slept in (we had a rough night... Atley's getting her molars in!), so he had packed a little grill and some hotdogs and chips and a bunch of snacks for our lunch.

We took the Mineral King road... it's very very windy the entire way... but this is the bridge you cross over a huge river that carves its way through the canyon. It's so beautiful.

I made this very comment to Andy yesterday, and this was his reply: "Now all you need is some hairy armpits to go with that granola comment."