with derek’s big test in the rear view mirror, we were pretty excited for the next leg of our trip, a few weeks in sequoia, kings canyon and yosemite. first up, a week in sequoia national forest, sort of in between sequoia and kings canyon, which are two separate parks, but the park service runs […]
unschool
bakersfield layover.
[obligatory acknowledgement that i’m super duper behind in blogging. we have been really busy and in some really internetless places.] when i left off, we were traveling from the eastern side of the sierras to bakersfield, california. we chose bakersfield because it was halfway between lone pine and our campsite in sequioa national forest, which […]
death valley days.
we had high hopes for death valley. the drive in was pretty intense. you have to go over two mountain ranges, which is tough on derek driving this billion ton rv. the road and scenery was exactly how you would imagine they would be in a place called death valley. once we met back up […]
avila beach. cold beaches and aquariums.
for two weeks, we were sort of near the beach, but sort of over the beach. and the weather was cold and windy and not very tiny-beach-goer friendly. but, on our last day on the coast, i felt like we at least had to make a go of it. the girls were game. isaac was […]
pacific dunes ranch. boring stuff.
after our stay in carpinteria, we were supposed to head inland, to a thousand trails rv park a bit northeast of santa barbara. but. we had read that the internet was non-existent, so we changed course. derek found us a spot at pacific dunes rv resort, a few hours north, still on the coast, in […]
tent camping on santa cruz island.part 2.
welcome to part two of the adventures of anna and sarah on santa cruz island. you can read about part one, here. anna and i had a pretty good night, you know, considering we were sleeping on a mat that took 12 breaths to blow up. it wasn’t too cold, which was my biggest worry […]
tent camping on santa cruz island.part 1.
anna and i love to go on little side tent camping adventures. so, when we were able to figure out a two day trip to santa cruz island, we were super excited. but, we knew it would require a bit more preparation and planning and gear and such. armed with our brand new backpacking packs, […]
new gramma visits california beaches.
my mom had big plans to come visit us in june in yosemite national park. but, when western new york winter lingered on and on and on, she looked into changing her flight to come see us while we were on the california coast. she joined us while we were at thornhill broome and then […]
channel islands visitor center.
so. the story goes, that anna and i had a trip booked to camp on anacapa islands in the channel islands national park. but, just before we were set to go, we chickened out. an earthquake. no shelter from sun. aggressive birds. no internet. no escape until our ferry came back. winds. low temps at […]
ronald reagan presidential library.
at each new location, we do a lot of research about things to do in the area, and then we plan accordingly, timing the things derek wants to do on the weekends and the things he’s less interested in for our weekday activities. while we were at thornhill broome, the top item on his agenda […]