We got up bright and early again on Thursday morning so we wouldn’t have to do much with unhooking the trailer and packing up out in the desert heat. We drove to Delano, California, and stopped for lunch and a grocery run at Walmart. We arrived at the Fresno Mobile Home & RV park around 5:30 pm so it was basically just a day of driving through a very unattractive part of California. This campsite was more Mobile Home park than it was RV park. There were VERY few RV’s and lots of permanent residents. It was nice and quiet though.
Once we got the RV parked Josh took the older 4 kids swimming while I got some dinner ready with the little girls. We found out a fun little quirk of the RV - you can’t run the AC and the microwave at the same time. It was CRAZY hot (100+) in Fresno for the three days we were there so I made sure this was the only night we had to use the microwave. Unfortunately, i had planned on Easy Mac for all the kids for dinner which meant probably 30 minutes total of no AC and it was miserable. No one was excited about eating hot mac and cheese in the trailer with no AC either. Oh well. . . they eventually all ate it. We got everyone to bed and then Josh and I spent several hours at the laundry room (which was only 2-3 parking spots away from our trailer). We did three loads of laundry and folded until midnight. It was nice to have all the clothes clean though.
On Friday, August 1, we had to wake the kids up. Usually they’re up at daylight but today they were still sleeping at 7 am but we were planning on going to the Sequoias so we had to get up and get going. I tried to get a jump on getting ready before everyone so I jumped into the shower. Unfortunately, Josh had turned off the water heater the night before during the microwave/AC fuse-blowing escapade and hadn’t turned it back on. I got a minute or two of warm water but then it was cold. Shaving your legs in cold water = NOT fun. I made it through the cold shower though and we got everything ready to go. By this point of the trip, I was developing a pretty good system. Josh got up early and headed to the RV park showers with the big boys. I got up the other kids and started getting everyone fed. The boys would eat when they got back and Maddie and I would either head off to the showers or take one in the RV. I preferred the RV even though it was cramped just because I am not a fan of random public showers. Although, I will say that almost all of the facilities at the RV parks we stayed at were pretty dang nice and clean. I was pleasantly surprised by how clean they were. Still not a fan, though. Anywho. . . after everyone was dressed and fed Josh would usually take the kids outside for a little bit and play or pack up and get the trailer ready to leave while I made lunch for everyone and got the bags ready for the day. We ate breakfast in the trailer every morning (or sometimes just dry cereal and granola bars on the road) and I packed us a lunch almost everyday. We usually ate out for dinner or had sandwiches again. A few times I made dinner at the RV but it wasn’t anything fancy. I had high hopes of using the crockpot while we were gone during the day but the travel schedule just didn’t work out for that. We were rarely ever back at the RV in time for dinner and most of the time we were driving to the next campsite.
But I digress. Back to August 1. We drove to Sequoia NP and stopped first at the Visitor Center. Daddy, of course, took the opportunity to torture the little ones with skeleton animal skulls.
These phones kept the littles busy for quite a while.
Outside the Visitor Center we stopped to talk to a Park Ranger.
He had this nasty crow puppet and was ready to give the kids a little presentation about crows and ravens.
It was pretty hazy with the forest fires nearby.
The kids all picked up some Junior Ranger workbooks and we set off on a very winding road for 45 minutes to the Museum Parking area. The view was incomparable though.
We finally made it up to the Museum and decided to stop and have some lunch before we headed out on the trails. There was a huge rock near the parking lot and the kids immediately wanted to eat up there.
The rest of us chose to eat back down on earth beneath the shade of one of the giants.
All the kids eventually came down to the shade with us. It was mighty hot up on that rock in the sunshine.
Near the Museum there was a line painted on the ground that showed the height of one of the giant sequoias. Unreal!
We decided to take a shuttle up to the Forest of Giants.
Daddy held our place in line in the bright sunshine and let the rest of us sit in the shade. He is definitely a keeper. (And yes, Sawyer is again pooping on a rock.)
The shuttle finally arrived and we loaded up the bus. (This is a totally random picture, but it was taken on the shuttle. The biggest and the smallest hands of the family.)
There was a short and easy hike through the grove so we decided that would be a good one for the family. One of the sequoias fell down onto the path so they cut a tunnel through it instead of removing the entire tree.
Another downed tree used for good.
This is General Sherman - largest tree in mass on earth. It’s 275 ft tall!
The kids finished up their Junior Ranger workbooks and were able to turn them in once we got back to the Museum. They were sworn in as Junior Rangers.
Someone has been watching Sawyer pose for pictures. . .
Proof I was there too!
We left the park around 4 pm and stopped for dinner in Three Rivers at The Pizza Factory. We got back to the RV around 8 pm. We got the big kids showered and the little ones all bathed. Then Josh tried to stay up and watch the movie “RV” with the kids but we learned that it’s pretty much impossible to hear the TV with air conditioner going. :(
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