vacation

Pivot

/ L. Ryan Storms / Leave a comment

Day 12: 6/13/24
From: Sequoia National Park (Potwisha Campground)
To: Golden Gate National Recreation Area (Bicentennial Campground Holiday Inn Express)
Distance: 294 miles

I am up at 5. Again. The variety of birds in the California wilderness is astounding and I have the Merlin bird app open to pass an hour before I even think about waking the kids. The California Towhee and the Acorn Woodpecker are fighting to see who can be the better alarm clock, I think.

At least the night eventually cooled down. We kept the rain fly off the tent and the windows unzipped, so the tent is comfortably cool this morning. I have no idea how long it took to get that way, but at some point in the night, as the temp fell, we all found our way inside sleeping bags.

When I get out of the tent, I notice a small shiny spring in the middle of our campsite. Husband thinks it must have come off of something we own, but I prefer to think a raven left us a gift sometime during the night since we’ve been befriending them everywhere we go. I’m going to miss the ravens when we head home.

We leave the campsite by 7:30 and hit up the visitor center for stickers by 8. Along the way, we encounter a black-tailed deer and two social ravens. See? The ravens have become our friends! Down the last stretch of the General’s Highway and back onto the main highways that will take us northwest to San Francisco we go.

We cross the Golden Gate Bridge, shrouded in fog and get a glimpse of Alcatraz. It’s 2 pm by the time we arrive at the campsite and when we pull up, we all stare in dread for a moment. Sun? No, there’s no sun here. It’s foggy, misty, windy, and 54 degrees midday. And our campsite has a 1/4 mile walk-in down a steep hill. Older child takes a spill on the gravel and scrapes up an ankle, a thigh, and both palms. To add insult to injury, at the bottom of the hill is a clearing where there is only a port-a-potty for our bathroom needs. The kids revolt.

And I don’t blame them.

The view of the Golden Gate Bridge is spectacular, but even that’s not enough for me to want to stay. It’s time to pivot. I use that wonderful cell reception to find a hotel less than a mile away. Now both kids feel bad and say they could just suck it up, but guess what? *I* don’t want to be freezing in a tent all night, have no running water, and have to use a port-a-potty. We’ve done pit toilets a few times on this trip, but this is a new low. So yeah, I look forward to the hotel, too.

From there, we head over to Muir Woods, (Which requires a parking reservation — beware! We managed to book one before heading over.) and take in the Redwoods over the course of 3 miles of trails. We stick mostly to the flat boardwalk and paved trails, which is better for my joints. 

The trees are beautiful and so very different from the sequoia we saw yesterday. Walking amidst so many at one time is magical. And I love that the path is handicap accessible. It’s heartening to see. (In fact, I was impressed just a few days ago when we saw the National Park Service laying concrete on some paths at Bryce Canyon.) It’s encouraging to know that people with disabilities aren’t being left out of seeing and appreciating the natural wonders of our world. And…Husband finds a beautiful ring that fits my finger while looking at the giant clover for a four-leaf. No four-leaf, but I’ll take the ring, thanks!

After Muir, we check into our hotel and virtually collapse. We’ll need to figure out where to order food as we won’t be making any camp meals tonight, but the warmth of a room and the promise of a bed is simply heavenly and we’re soaking in the atmosphere. The wind outside is relentless and we can hear the incessant chiming of the flagpole. Still, no one will complain as we’re just thrilled to be inside. Unfortunately, my hip subluxed getting out of the car today, so that may be my body’s sign to slow my roll a bit. I wonder if it’s due to the extreme changes in temperature. It’s not every day you go from a high of 111 degrees to 53. And colder temps are coming.

Dinner from Floodwater, the restaurant directly next to the hotel, is divine. Pizza, burgers, pork rolls, they have a bit of everything you could want. We’d hoped to play a game of Oregon Trail cards, but everyone is too tired, so we end up asleep just after 9:30 — so tired that no one even cares about the snoring. A plus.

The Storms Take America Part 2

/ L. Ryan Storms / Leave a comment

Day 1: 6/2/24
From: Reading, PA
To: Pigeon Forge, TN
Distance: 610 miles

After nine long years, we’re doing it again! We’re going cross-country. This time with four of us in the car. Did I mention it’s a smaller car than last time? Never mind that. We’re going anyway!

Up bright and early. Out of the house by 7:30. The fam was in good spirits despite having two teens intent on sleeping most of the drive.  And they did. They really did. The time they didn’t sleep was filled with laughter, so that’s a win, right?

10 hours later, we arrived at Pigeon Forge, TN. A mashup of Niagara Falls (minus the waterfall) and Las Vegas (minus the casinos) set against a backdrop of the beautiful Smoky Mountains. (Seriously. The photos say it all.) This place? You could spend a week here and not do everything there is to do or see everything there is to see. You would, however, probably be broke after all that.

The highlight of our destination? Alcatraz East Crime Museum, at the request of Younger Child. I dreaded the visit, but it ended up being an exceptionally interesting experience. See also: bizarre, fascinating, sad, and very, very disturbing. Older Child got to meet up with a longtime online friend who drove four hours from Alabama to meet them, which made the day that much more special.

For Day 1, we’ll call this a success! Happy kids, happy family. We’re ready to make this trip as wonderful as our first trip from 2015.

Let the Real Vacation Begin

/ L. Ryan Storms / 1 Comment

Original Post: July 19, 2015

It wasn’t as though we weren’t already on vacation, but somehow it just didn’t feel like it when we were visiting someplace we’d seen before.

Day two was the start of the real excitement for me, and the beginning of the “real” vacation.  I couldn’t wait to see the miles we’d cover and all of the things we’d see.

As it turned out, the things we would see were generally limited to this:

And this:

And this:

Okay, so we basically passed farm after farm.  The pastoral land was beautiful (though nothing new to those of us who live in Pennsylvania), but the overcast skies were a bit of a downer. 

When we finally neared St. Louis, my excitement began to rise despite the clouds that threatened to suffocate us.  The famed Arch is The Gateway to the West and though it’s a manmade landmark, the sight of it rising above the mighty Mississippi River was highly anticipated.

We’re here! We’re really here!

The Jefferson National Expansion Monument (as the pamphlets proclaim this to actually be) has a history far longer than I want to delve into. (Or than you actually want to read, I’m sure.  If you really wanted to read about it, you’d be Googling that right now and not reading a travel blog…)  According to the pamphlet, “The Gateway Arch is a memorial site where you can contemplate the epic mass-migration and settlement of the American West during the 1800s.  Thomas Jefferson estimated that it might take 1,000 generations for Americans to fully extend across the vast continent.  Instead, in fewer than 90 years what Americans called the frontier had ended.”

Oddly enough, it wasn’t here that I really contemplated the westward movement of settlers through the country, which is sort of ironic since it’s the entire reason the monument exists. For me, that speculation would come later.

After we arrived at the hotel (with a fabulous view of the Arch right from our room), we went straight to the Arch to arrange a ride to the top on the tram.  “Are you claustrophobic?” the ticket agent asked us.  “Do you have a fear of heights?” she said.  Hmmm. I wasn’t either of these, but it’s amazing how quickly you reconsider things when asked questions like these.

The next open tram ride was scheduled for 6:25 pm and it was only 3.  Wait, what?  3?  Oh!  We passed through a time zone and didn’t even know it.  Sweet way to gain an hour in the day.  And what did we do with it?  Napped.  Yep.

When we finally did head to the Arch for our tram ride, we quickly discovered that we could have stayed in the hotel an extra hour.  One of the two trams was closed and the line for the other was looped through the lobby multiple times.  We sorely regretted not having stopped for dinner first.

We finally made it to the waiting area for the tram and watched as a couple of teenage girls balked last minute as soon as they saw what they’d be riding in.  What did it look like?  Like this:

This tiny little pod seated 5 people for a 4-minute ride up 630 ft to the top of the arch. The views, despite the flooded Mississippi River, were spectacular.

It was a bit cozy to say the least.  A 4-minute ride 630 ft to the top and then we were able to appreciate 360 degrees of spectacular views.  If you ever have the chance to do it (and you’re not claustrophobic or afraid of heights), take the ride!  It’s worth it.

This guy looks awfully relaxed. Oh, that’s right. German chocolate cake martini.

Off to a fabulous dinner at Carmine’s Steakhouse with my dinner date, who got himself pretty loopy on a German chocolate cake martini while waiting for dinner to be served.

Excellent food, excellent company, and then we were on our way back to the Arch for some evening photos.  I’m glad we ventured out again, tired though we were, because that’s when we got the most spectacular shots.

I know, I know.  How many photos can one person take of a big metal manmade structure?  If I count all of the ones I deleted, I think probably 284, but no one’s really counting.  It seemed that every time I was finished taking photos and we were ready to retire for the night, I’d look back and see another angle or different lighting that made me want to try all over again.

It was a great “real” first evening of our vacation and I went to bed that night looking forward to traveling into new territory, places I’d never seen and would soon have the chance to photograph!  Bring on Day 3!