The Giant Forest

I have to admit....until this weekend, Patrick and I had never been camping together. As a matter of fact, we both hadn't been camping since high school....and our experiences were rather infantile. With the abundance of camping opportunities around here, we had to put an end to our embarrassing streak. We had read and heard about Sequoia National Park so we planned the road trip with some friends. Luckily, the Huxfords are experienced campers....and have all of the necessary equipment. The Sequoias are quite a bit of a drive away...4-5 hours actually. With that being said, the trip started first thing Saturday morning. Literally, first thing.

4:30am: Rise and Shine. That's right, 4:30 in the morning. Still dark. We got up early to make sure we were in Pasadena to pick up Lindsay and Harrison.

6:00am: Car loaded and quick detour to Noah's Bagels and Pete's Coffee to get the morning going. I'm the only non-coffee drinker.

10:00am: Second breakfast at We Three Diner, just outside the park.

12:00pm: Park entrance. Still wondering where the Sequoias are. Repetitively asking, "Is that one?"

I don't know what time it was when I finally spotted a Sequoia, but I didn't need to ask to make sure of what it was. It was breathtaking. I felt like I was in "Honey I Shrunk the Kids." It was massive.

The rest of the trip was wonderful. We climbed Moro Rock, visited General Sherman, drove through a Sequoia and set up camp. We enjoyed eating pita pizza and s'mores around the campfire. I loved bundling up in the cool weather. I loved having cool weather period.