July 27: Decided at the last minute we would head up to the Sequoias today. We have no A/C in the van because the compression clutch or something like that went out. Anyway it is okay to drive if we don’t use the A/C, heat, or fan and we won’t need any of that up here. The drive up was uneventful, very little 
traffic. Deb, Sam, and family will join us tomorrow along with the Hutchinson’s (Sam’s sister Linda and family). Now when we were up here a month ago we asked about weekend availability w/o reservations. A ranger at the visitors center told us they never fill up, they weren’t even full on Memorial Day weekend. Well, this weekend must be a different story. We thought we would go to Azalea and easily find 3 spots together. That was not the case, it was almost full! Then we went through Crystal Springs as well, to no avail! Now we were getting concerned and back tracked a very short distance to Sunset and after taking each loop we were blessed enough to find 3 spots that will work. This was around 3pm. By 8pm they put up a sign that the campground was full but in reality there are 2 spaces left. It was certainly misleading for them to tell us it never fills up! Perhaps they meant down in the canyon but that’s another 45 minutes to get down there and it’s hotter down there as well. Anyway, we have the spaces and paid an extra day to hold them, it was only right.
It was delightfully cool at 70-71 degrees when we arrived. We set up camp and had some leftovers we brought from home for our dinner. We have a westward view down toward the 
valley this time, If it was clear we could see the valley but there is a thick blanket of gray obscuring our view. Yes, we breathe that every day…ugh. It was still a lovely view as the sun became a deeper orange by the minute as it slid behind the trees and out of sight. It’s quite chilly at 9pm and for no reason we are tired so we retreated into our little bungalow and read our way to sleep tonight.
July 28: This morning while drinking our coffee we watched the chipmunks at play, they are busy, fast little creatures! After breakfast we drove over to Lodgepole to see what was there. It was a lovely drive with great views along the way. We took a short side trip on the back road into Hume, we wanted to see Ten Mile camp and Landslide camp, both on Ten Mile Road. We found some good firewood along the way and picked up a bunch of pine cones as well. We continued toward 
Lodgepole and stopped at Stony Creek along the way, there is a campground by that name but there is also a small lodge, gas, small grocery right nearby. That campground was also full there. The road was one lane along the way as it was either washed out or they are just rebuilding a portion of it, not sure which. We stopped along the way and ate a picnic lunch. When we got to Lodgepole we went to the visitors center, looked all around, and watched a movie about the bears
in the park. It was an interesting, short video. I didn’t know that Grizzly bears once roamed California from the coast, through the central valley, and up into the Sierras. They were hunted to extinction because they were so dangerous to the population. The last one killed in the park was 1920 and the last one seen in the park was 1923. Another thing I am embarrassed to say I didn’t know was that the bear on the CA flag is a Grizzly bear! I always thought it was the California Brown Bear. How in the world did I not know that!!! We headed back and relaxed, ate dinner, played cards and waited for the DeLa Pena’s to arrive. They arrived about 8:40pm and set up pretty quickly. Soren and Spencer immediately headed in back of the campground where there is complete open space, they love it up here. Unfortunately, Mike and Linda had car trouble and had to go back and get a different vehicle. They arrived very late, we were in bed but they apparently got all set up easily enough.
July 29: Good night’s sleep and enjoyed our coffee this morning 
before the DeLa Pena’s cooked a huge meal for brunch; eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, peaches, juice, etc. After that was cleaned up and we were all ready we headed to the visitor’s center and looked around there. They were going to go down to Boyden Caverns but it is expensive and they will do that another time. Instead we took the little trail in and around the General
Grant tree and that seemed enough to satisfy everyone. A quick stop at the market for an ice cream was in order since it is a warm 76 degrees here this afternoon. Back to the camp and everyone took a little rest and had snacks. later cooking yet another big meal, we just had watermelon! You know with kids you have to have a lot of meals and food going all the time. It was such a beautiful evening. The fire was 
going and the moon was so bright. However, we did some star gazing easily enough just a little bit away from the campground. We totally forgot about the 8:30 pm campfire presentation! Next time…
July 30: Uneventful trip home. Arrived just before noon. Unfortunately last night out trailer battery went dead. We aren’t sure why since we used it 4 days before and still had power left. John will check it out. We think perhaps we should not leave the water pump on all the time, only when we want to use it. That makes sense but since it wasn’t a problem before we didn’t consider it. Thankful John brought along the Power Station. We bought ours at Costco for around $65. This one is new, our previous one flat wore out after 8+ years. That little thing is one of the best items we own, trailer or not!
