1-Sea to Sea (California Parks)

Week 1

Days 1 to 7 of a 100 day mega road trip across Canada, touching on all 10 provinces.  (Photos and commentary are from our 100 days of emails to our family.  So, if you are family, you've already suffered enough, no need to see our vacation photos again.)

Our entrance into and out of Canada added thousands of miles and months to our eventful and scenic journey, a loop of 14,000 miles (13,600 by car and 400 on ferry's).

Day 1 ~ July 28th
Salt Lake City to Las Vegas

                          - farewell to Elder Robert Hill, Sandy Utah

                          - kisses to Jer, Erin and family, Midvale, Utah

                          - survived a sand storm in North Las Vegas

Day 2 ~ July 29th
Death Valley  

Our day in photos

Addendum

Flubbed jumpshot...

Day 3 ~ July 30th

Sequoia National Park

                                 Got us some really BIG TREES!
                                     

                                      This is a really BIG TREE!

BIGGEST TREE on the planet!!!

(It would take 19 million ping pong balls to fill it's volume.)

                   

 We walked through the entire inside of a BIG TREE.

                                         

A forest of BIG TREES.

DAY 4 - July 31st

Approaching Yosemite

 or Poison Rock - one drop will kill you!

Hello all of our amazing kids!

FYI - your free subscription to our daily wanderings will expire in a few days.

Should you choose to continue to receive our free daily travelogue please give us your approval with a courtesy email.

By NOT responding we will take the hint and remove you from the mailing list.  You will not hurt our feelings if you need to keep your email box clutter-free.

We hope you are happy and well!  Let us hear from you when you can drop us a line.

Our love for you grows every day and we are so blessed to be counted as part of your family. Thanks for all you do!

Day 5 ~ Aug 1st

Yosemite

We awoke to 28 degrees in our screen tent.  Ugh.

Freezing, in AUGUST.  C'mon!

                        We finished the hike to the top of Vernal Falls 
                         but we had a dead iphone/camera battery. 
                                   Just believe that we made it. 

Momma and Dad

Day 6 ~ Aug 2nd
leave Yosemite
Freezing temperatures again last night.  We stayed cuz we had already prepaid the $7 campsite AND we were better prepared. Layers and hoodies, oh yeah.

 Drive to California Coast

The Giant Artichoke Restaurant

We can recommend...

                                            -A. Soup

                                            -A. Bread

                                            -Fried A.

                                            -Steamed A.

                                            -A. Burger

                                            -A. Cupcake

Friday night a campground space eluded us so we settled on a cute lil suite at a Residence Inn.  Hot water, charging outlets; TV!!! 

Day 7 ~ Aug 3rd
Redwoods

Today we drove north through Oakland; past San Francisco, then into the Redwood Forests.

More BIG trees.  We love em!

 Redwood giants are not as large as the sequoia trees but they are the world's tallest...up to 360 ft. (And thousands of years old.)

Woodn't you like to be here?  xoxo

Next week: Crater Lake and good times with Cam and Kim's family.

July 2013

In our spare time…

July 1st - 3rd  Cherry Hill and Lagoon

(see Belated Birthday Bash post)

Lunch with my mother and 6 of her 7 C's

(Cathy came 5 minutes later, and Cecile is M.I.A.)

Two fabulous words:

"Celine Dion"

in Vegas baby!  

(We've wanted to see her in concert for years, I finally 

splurged for these $$$ tickets while still in the Philippines.) 

We assisted X in her move from Gardnerville to SLC.

Here we are enjoying a flat tire break in the 

desert while waiting for roadside assistance.

(Sitting high on a hillside for phone range)

Lane was belting out "The Stars and Stripes Forever" 

while driving the truck.  When the car trailer 

blew a tire out X and I dialed his cell phone, 

honked and waved widely trying to 

get him to pull over.  

Finally, this is what it looked like when he stopped...

I spent some quality time with Callie and her girls.

I think I need to clean my glasses…

  (I love Raylie's hair in this photo)

 Raylie and Chloe are happy little girls

Toes are such goofy looking digits, so 

Callie and I decided to beautify ours.

July 16th - 20th  Fabulous Females Trip

(see separate post)

Lane and I visited our old neighborhood.

and loved us our first Cafe Rio in over 2 years!

Callie and I showed the littles a preview of 

the diverse and colorful "24th of July" parade floats.

My boy is thrilled to get a can of peas for his 32nd

K K Dizzle dazzles with her big blue eyes and pretty smile

A trip to the Kelley Cabin 

is never complete without the water sports,

a plane ride,

finished off by front row seats at the rodeo. 

At months end we packed up our car and 

left the comforts of Tom and Shalaun's home. 

  

                             On our way out of town we attended 

                        the farewell for our Grandson Robert, 

                   soon to leave for the Maryland Baltimore LDS mission.
                                 (Robert is the tall Hill boy on the left.)

And shared one last hug with Jerry and Erin's family.

Where are we off to?

Stay tuned...

FABULOUS FEMALES TRIP - part 2

                                  Part 2

FABULOUS FEMALES TRIP

JULY 18th, 19th, 20th

SAN FRANCISCO


Day 3 - Muir Woods, Baker Beach

Lovely stylin' ladies discover an incredible nature trail.

Each one is a natural beauty!

Almost blown away at Baker Beach.

Home again

Stroganoff and strawberry shortcake.

                          Day 4 - Trolley to ChinaTown

Again with the natural beauties.

Painted ladies in the background.

A long wait to jump on a trolley car.

Our family is so bright, we gotta wear shades!

No problem.  Table for 15!

(plus 2 cuddled babes)

Fingers work just as nicely. 

Only one word describes these adorable faces: SISTERS!

My nephew Brandon jogged over from his office to see us.

A post lunch manicure,

or pedicure, or massage.

Then an even longer wait to trolley back to our vans.

Seafood Boil, steaks, and root beer floats.

Kim, refusing to show us her seafood.

Day 5 - Goodbyes and Travel day 

The only photo that we all got in.

(Well, all except Randi…who was missed everyday.)

2 flights -

Kim and Britni depart 12:55 p.m.

The rest depart 1:20 p.m.

                       Thanks for finding Frisco with us.

                  You are all FABULOUS!

                                         Where to next time?

                                              I am serious.