Sunday/Monday/Tuesday

Sunday: After everyone left but Deb, Sam, and us it was pretty quiet. I was craving a burger because those were so good last night. We went up to the Food Court, that was a mistake. There were a ton of people and total disorganization with orders and service, to say nothing of finding a place to park. We got the burgers and such to our great disappointment. Oh well, live and learn. The day was fun anyway. We came back and played Yahtzee until almost midnight. Deb was the big winner this time with THREE Yahtzee's in one game!!!

Monday: Today Deb and Sam took off too. After packing up they had a bowl of chili with us and headed down the hill. It is really warm today without a cloud in sight!

We spent the rest of the day playing cards, doing a little house keeping, and enjoying the quiet of the campground since it is almost empty now. Our generator completely stopped working. It was running rough before, it obviously needs a good tuneup! 

Tuesday: Headed home after packing up. It was so hot in  the valley it nearly did us in cleaning up and  storing the Casita. We just can't deal with the heat too well anymore. Sure glad we got away for a few days but we need to find an alternative for the summer months here in the valley. 

Saturday

Steven and Saira arrived this morning. They got all set up and then we all had a delicious breakfast that Deb and Sam made (pancakes, tortillas, eggs, bacon, sausage, chorizo, fruit, potatoes). We all sort of lounged around and rested after that because we were so full! During the afternoon we played cards, darts, gathered wood, chopped wood, etc. In no time at all it was time for another delicious meal of burgers. We spent a long and enjoyable evening around the campfire before turning in for the evening.

Friday

We woke to lovely sunshine today. There are a few clouds here and there but I don't think it will rain. It was nice enjoying our coffee in the sunshine and playing some cards.  Frank, Vira, Kara, and Blake arrived mid morning. We decided to secure an extra site so no one would have to park in the overflow parking area, since that area is quite far from us. Deb fixed us a nice chicken salad for lunch then we all relaxed. We took some nice walks then Jeff arrived with Julie, Soren, and Spencer. After they were all set up we had Hobo Packs for dinner. 

Deb and Sam Arrived

It was pretty cold last night because our heater clicked on a couple of times. However, there has been no further rain. We had a nice walk around the campground this morning. There are sure a lot of fat gray squirrels up here this year. Deb and Sam arrived around noon but they had a problem with the LPG hose to their refrigerator or something and Sam went back toward the valley to get the needed part. I believe he went to Reedley to get what he needed, but I'm not sure now. Meanwhile Deb, John, and I were going to go to the little restaurant for lunch. When we got there we discovered it is not open. Either they are remodeling it, or it is never reopening, I'm  not sure. We ate at the Food Court, which was ok but nothing to write home about for sure! 

There is a lot of wood down and we collected a lot for our campfires (which is appropriate in these campsites) picking and choosing the best pieces! Sam rolled down a nice one for a big fire!

After playing cards we took a drive and showed Deb and Sam the Princess Campground as they have not camped there. Looks like it will be full for the upcoming weekend. We drove on to Hume Lake where Deb had fond memories. We had a snack we called dinner and an ice cream then headed back. We did see deer again and a lot of lovely wild flowers. It was Yahtzee this evening and then on to bed. 

Kings Canyon - Sequoia

It's time to head out again! Well, it is really past time ... We planned to go last  week but I am still trying to shake this virus that came to visit. Since we waited out my coughing we decided to just go up today. This is the day Sunset Campground at Grant's Grove opens for the season. The kids will join us for the long weekend and this is their preferred campground. There has been having rain up there this week, which means there is probably no snow on the ground. Anyway, we are looking forward to getting out of the valley as the temperatures are supposed to be going up, no big surprise. By the time we pick up the trailer from storage and finish the prep, we left around noon. 

Our drive up was uneventful. Lovely wildflowers adorned the sides of the road but there was really no place to pull over and take photos of them. There are a lot of dead pine trees, it is sad to see. The ranger at the entrance station said it is due to both the drought and insects. Because of the drought the trees don’t have enough sap to ward off the insects. He said there are 20 million dead trees. I believe it but I wonder who counted them? It is 42 degrees and it began to rain just as we were finished setting up. It let up a little bit and we took a drive and saw wild life, lots of deer. We drove through other campgrounds and there are some people braving the weather. You can see how close the fires got to the campsites last summer when driving through Crystal Springs Campground. The parking lot is torn up by the Visitor Center, so we skipped that, the gift shop, and the restaurant for now. We popped in the General Store to take a look, it is pretty much unchanged still having the various supplies a camper might forget at home. The newest addition is a food court just east of the General Store. Prices looked fair and the sort of stationary “food truck” looking buildings looked were clean with some seating provided outside only. Back to the trailer and we will have dinner, play cards, and go to bed with our Kindles in hand!