lilydarais – Page 4 – Darais Days

King’s Canyon National Park

In the morning we packed up the car, said goodbye to Clark and Swathi’s gang, and headed to King’s Canyon National Park. The drive to the park strongly reminded us of Greece. There were olive and orange groves everywhere, and the landscape looked like Naxos!

Once we got close to the park, the giant sequoia forest and the misty air took our breath away. It was the most gorgeous park entrance I have ever seen.

At the visitor center I couldn’t believe the pictures of what this year’s snow did to the park!

We did a very short hike around General Grant’s tree.

After the hike, we debated going to Sequoia National Park, but because of this year’s snow, most of the roads in both King’s Canyon and Sequoia National Park were closed. If we had gone, it would have taken two hours and we wouldn’t have seen any sequoias.

Instead, we opted to drive straight to our magical Airbnb in Hollywood. We drove through the central California valley and were stunned at how much food is produced there! It was just farm after farm after farm.

Orange Groves

In Hollywood we loved our airbnb but didn’t take pictures! It was a darling house hidden behind rose gardens and towering shrubs. We were so grateful to have a washing machine because Clarissa and Ammon were having so many accidents, and we were getting very low on clothing.

We ordered Ethiopian food for dinner, and it was okay. We always remember an amazing Ethiopian dinner we had in Tucson, and that is hard to beat.

Mist Trail

In the morning we headed to the Mist Trail. It was an absolutely stunning hike! The views were incredible, and because of the epic snow this winter, the waterfall did much more than “mist” the trail. When we got to the waterfall, we got drenched! Everyone but Abe, Swathi, Soren and Ammon turned around. After helping Clarissa back down with me, Jere turned back around and joined them all at the top. From there Abe, Swathi, Soren and Ammon hiked back on the loop while the rest of us went back the way we had come.

Tom was amazing getting Clarissa to walk!

Clarissa and I went ahead, and I enjoyed spending one on one time with her. We looked for spots of sunshine and made it to the bottom of the trail about thirty minutes ahead of the group. That gave us a lot of deep time together to look at the river. Clarissa threw a couple sticks in and watched the way they bobbed downstream.

After the hike, we all had lunch in Curry Village, after which we had ice cream. We talked to a ranger there who told us a lot about different species of wildlife in Yosemite.

After that we took a shuttle to the visitor center, and from there we walked to the big general store. I bought some t-shirts because we were running low on clothes.

Then we walked back to the car. The walk was as stunning as the hike!

After we drove home Clark and Swathi cooked us all dinner and cleaned everything while Abe and I did nothing. Well, Abe napped on the floor and I sat on the couch. It was our anniversary, but more than that we were pooped. I am so grateful for my amazing brother who just saved the day for all of us. What a gorgeous day full of beautiful images!!

First day in Yosemite

In the morning we drove and hiked to Mariposa Grove. The road was closed so we actually had to hike over a mile to the trail head. It was a very pretty hike.

The grove featured the tree where John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt first envisioned our national park system! Incredible.

After our hike we walked back to our car via the road. It was also so pretty.

Papa spent a lot of time being Clarissa’s walking buddy, which was very sweet and not always easy (as she doesn’t always want to walk).

Then we had lunch back at our condos. After a couple hours of rest, we headed into the valley. The view at the end of the tunnel was absolutely stunning.

And then we hiked to Lower Falls. Apparently the water is five times as much as any other time Jere has seen it!

After that we watched the sun set by El Capitan. Abe was googling the person who free-climbed it and remembering a documentary he had seen about that. It was so impressive.

What an amazing introduction to Yosemite.

Driving day

On Saturday morning we learned that yet another campsite had cancelled because of flooding. So we rejiggered our entire trip and packed as fast as we could, and we finally pulled out of the door around 11:30am. We hardly stopped except for a couple bathroom breaks and to grab some food. We arrived around 1am in Yosemite, which felt amazing because we kind of suspected we’d arrive closer to 3!

Last day of school

After the last day of school, Lydia hosted a party for her friends. They dyed shirts and made friendship bracelets!

Clarissa at home day

I took my mom to the doctor in the morning and came home to discover Clarissa and Abe playing together. Abe was her guide on an adventure and they went down cliffs (stairs), used her binoculars, saw a dragon (toy), saw a skeleton (Halloween decoration), caught fish (Lincoln Logs), built a house (craft table with paper walls) and more. Clarissa had me bring down some snacks for them and it was so cute to see them together.

Abe worked very late to make up for the fact that he was incredibly available for us during the day. I have been very clingy so it was really nice to have so much time with him!

Mary has an adorable new bookmark from Ozzy’s birthday party

I did Ammon’s piano practice, helped Mary with her piano lesson, played Wingspan with Mary, and got dinner (tacos) on the table. I have been very non-functional since contracting this virus but today was a baby step in the right direction!

Birthdays and games galore

In the morning Abe and I played some Wingspan and Lydia painted Abe’s toes. She has been dying to paint them and put all sorts of flower and glitter stickers on there.

The kids spent a lot of time building a fort/nests upstairs and then reading in their fun nooks. Ammon was very proud of it, and wanted to tell us about it in this video:

After our slow morning we drove to Salt Lake and celebrated our nephew Ozzy’s first birthday!!

We are all very proud of Baby Ozzy. He is the cutest.

Cake Smash

And then we drove to Courtney’s parents’ house to celebrate Courtney’s 40th birthday with her family. It was so delightful to spend time with them!

Anthony’s Fine Art and Antiques

On Saturday I came home from the airport and Abe met me at the harp story to get Lydia’s new harp!

After we went to lunch.

Then we went to Anthony’s Fine Art and Antique store. They were having a show dedicated to James Harwood, the father of Utah Impressionist painters.

I want to buy this and hang it every September-October!

I LOVED the way this artist captured natural light!

This has a shelf of Florica Danica porcelain. I just saw some in Sunnylands and was so tickled to see some here!

At home Ammon was pretending to be a fortune teller. I should show him this blog and the picture we found of the other fortune teller!

Friday in San Diego and at home

Abe took a bunch of pictures of the kids at home while I was gone.

He took Ammon and Clarissa to visit Nana before picking up the girls from school.

In the meantime, Jean, Kage and I went ocean kayaking.

Jean had emotional turmoil after our attempt to make it past the breaking waves so we turned around. We had a great time visiting and chatting while waiting for Kage to come back.

Afterward we went to the Children’s Pool. I dozed in the sun while Kage and Jean got closer to the seals. I loved bird watching. There were so many brown pelicans, terns, and sandpipers around!

Thursday in San Diego and at home

I think these pictures are all out of order, but I am rushing to get this blog done so Abe and I can play Wingspan tonight instead of catch up on the blog!