California Road Trip!

Kyle and I got back to the Spring Mountains last night at about 2 am after our 6 day road trip thru California....we had planned on coming back Sunday or Monday, but there was just so much to see!  Here is a quick run thru of our trip...we had so much fun!  California is such a beautiful state : )

We left last Friday and drove thru Death Valley...it was REALLY hot...

This was where we laid our heads the 1st night...somewhere in the Sequoia National Forest (for free!).

Our first stop the next morning was Kernville, CA, where we found breakfast.  It just so happened that they were having their annual Rubber Ducky Races that day in the river that runs thru town. 

Then, we headed to the Trail of 100 Giants, to see the Giant Sequoias.  SO AMAZING!  If you look closely, you can see me sitting in the trees.

Next, we decided to head towards HWY 1.  This wasn't in the orignal plans, but since we don't know when we'll get to go back to California, we decided we should just go ahead and do it!  We enjoyed the drive across the agricultural lands of Central California.  Once we got to the coast, we couldn't find a camping spot (they were all full!), so we had to stay in a motel in Morro Bay (where we enjoyed our only shower the entire trip).  I think we got the only room left in town that allowed dogs.  Here are some images from the Morro Bay area...notice the sea lions in the picture with the boats!

The next day, we drove the scenic Highway 1 to Big Sur...

Notice the waterfall!

That night, we camped in Big Sur.  Our campsite was surrounded by huge coastal redwoods...Turbo got to play in the stream that ran thru the campground.

The next morning, we made the short drive towards Monterey and enjoyed some lunch at the Old Fisherman's Wharf (which was, surprisingly, very dog-friendly...wish all places were like that!).

The next stop, was Yosemite.  We camped outside of the West side of the park the 1st night and then enjoyed some of the views on this side of the park.  Thankfully, views were not too obstructed from the fire burning ouside of the park this day (not so true the next day...).  We were able to see the part of the forest that was burning and watch the helicopters as they picked up water from the river and dropped it on the fire.

Because of the fire, the only road that goes all the way thru the park to the east side was closed, so we had to drive up and and all the way around to get to the east side.  We made it partly around the park by nightfall and camped here for the night.

When we finally made it to the east side of the park the next day, we were disappointed to find views obstructed from all of the smoke from the fire.  But, we still enjoyed ourselves.  Today was our 2 year anniversery! 

After leaving the east side of Yosemite, we drove to Mammoth Lakes and had dinner.  This is an awesome little ski resort town...Kyle and I have decided we will live here someday : )

It was almost dark when we headed back to Vegas.  After a very long 6 hour drive, we were back at the camper in the Spring Mountains!

We are heading back to Texas tomorrow.  We plan on stopping in Lubbock for a few days to hopefully find a place to live....then probably on to Austin.
 

It's been such an amazing summer!