Sequoias!

King's Canyon and Sequoia National Park

9.25.16

It's fun to be inside of a tree!

...and it helps to have slept in a bed in an actual hotel.  ;)

(We won't go into the story about it being literally the last hotel room available within an hour of Yosemite that we found late that night after sitting for an hour parked behind an accident getting out of the park.  That's what you get for not toughing it out in the "tent cabin" for the second night.

Yeah, it was worth it.)

We had to travel from Fresno to Bakersfield, and Sequoia National Park is totally on the way, right?

Well... if you're a bunch of crazy people it is.

We're so thankful that we took the little detour!

 First stop... Grant Grove

Jadan's friend Paul.

Look for him in the next pic...

 We climbed right through this tree!

 This lovely thousand-year-old tree is known as the "Fallen Monarch."

Thomas and Israel Gamlin lived here...yep, in the tree...
from 1870 to 1872 while they worked on building their cabin.

The view from the "ceiling" of the Fallen Monarch

The "hallway" inside the tree

 King's Canyon

 Big Stump Trail

 The trail was longer than we thought,

but the stumps were very interesting (though a bit heartbreaking).

 This is Mark Twain's stump.

It seems that folks in the East didn't believe the tales of the gigantic trees in the West.

In 1891, two men took 13 days to cut down this 26-foot-wide, 1700-year-old tree

so that a slice of its trunk could be sent to the Museum of Natural History in New York.

Everyone was happily dancing on the stump...and then a nasty wasp stung Tim.  :(

He's tougher than it seems by his face in this photo...

Hmmm... could he be a bit dramatic?...

...but it does show that the mama isn't nearly as good as he is at family "selfies".

Sorry, Brie!  ;)

Final stop of the day... Giant Forest

See the smiley face shadow?

General Sherman Tree, the largest living tree

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship..."

Rom 1:20

Yosemite!

Yosemite National Park

9.24.16

Yosemite is breathtaking majesty.  What an amazing day.

Easy to see why our friend John Muir loved this place.

We arrived at Half Dome Village late on Friday night, and all we knew of our surroundings was that the stars were mind-boggling! Who knew there were that many stars up there?  ;) Ellie pointed out that something was blocking out the stars and making a huge completely black area...

We awoke on Saturday morning to see that we were surrounded by towering mountains unlike anything we'd ever seen.  Tim brought the kids out to the parking lot and told them not to look up until he told them to...It was great to share in their (literally) breathtaking experience.  :)

We had just survived what Jadan described as the worst night of his life in the "tent cabins" there, so we were glad they were at least impressed with the view.  ;)  It really was horrible.  We got the tent cabin right next to the bathroom, where we got to listen in on every conversation going on in the restroom, and the light shone on us all night.  We were warned repeatedly about the bears that would destroy our cars if there was even a scrap of food in there that they could smell, so we better get every bit of food into the bear box by the tent... which meant carting bags of groceries (we live on the road, remember?) quite a distance from the car into the midst of the 400 (!!!) tent cabins.  Oh, and if you see mouse poop, be warned that they are carrying disease & don't touch it.  The worst part, however, was that we froze.  We were just not prepared for how cold it got, and it really did feel like we just needed to survive the night.

But...survive we did!  And being surrounded by this majestic scenery all day made it all worth it.

Just look at how beautiful it is...

Cool contrails, Mom!  ...always makes us think of you.  <3

Can you see where Yosemite Falls is... sometimes?

Gorgeous view of Half Dome

This is El Capitan

...and this is a man climbing El Capitan, as seen through a telescope! 

Yikes!  It takes them 3-5 days to climb "El Cap."

 We saw pictures of the hammocks they hang from the rock face to sleep in.

Can you imagine?

 Can you find El Capitan, Half Dome, and Bridal Falls?

 Our rock climbers... No ropes required.

We were up at Glacier Point as the sun was setting...

 This park ranger has been working at Yosemite for 30 years.

  She started out working with Ansel Adams!

She gave a great presentation about the park in which we learned history of the park...

"Let the fire fall!"

 ...and why park rangers have these pine cones on the bands of their hats.

Oops... not pine cones, but Sequoia cones, for Yosemite NP and Sequoia NP (I think).

Brie can straighten us all out on the correct details later...  ;)

We love Yosemite!

Beautiful day with beautiful people.

Cousin time in Old Sac

Cousins!!

9.16.16

 It was great to see my cousin Jori and her awesome family while I was in Sacramento.  They took me out for pizza, showed me Old Sacramento, and we had some great chats.  Jori and Randy are lovin' their boys and living life to make a difference.  So proud of them!  

Da Boyz!

Forestiere Underground Gardens

Baldassarre Forestiere... A Tale of "Never-Give-Uppin'"

9.22.16

Meet Baldassarre Forestiere.  At home in Sicily, he dreamed of continuing the family work of citrus farming on some land of his own.  He was not the eldest son, however, and his father refused to give him any land on which to start his farm.

Farming in Sicily - Nope

In 1901, he emigrated to the "Land of Opportunity."  When he discovered that his citrus farm wasn't going to happen on the east coast, he got a job digging subway tunnels and saved his money until he could head to "Orange County."  Had to be able to grow oranges there, right?

Planting oranges on the east coast - Not gonna happen 

Upon arriving in Orange County, Baldassarre found that land prices were out of his range there, so he moved inland to the Fresno area and purchased 40 (I think) acres of land.

Orange County farm - Out of his price range

When he began digging to prepare the soil for planting trees, he discovered that the entire acreage was covered in hardpan.

Already bought land that was useless for farming

So... what do you do?

Baldassare got a job digging ditches.  Because he needed to get out of the crazy Fresno heat, he made himself underground living quarters and found that he could keep much cooler there. Over the next 40 years, he spent his spare time using picks and shovels to create a beautiful, intricate, brilliant network of tunnels underground.  He found that he could plant some of his beloved trees underground, and they grew well there, protected from the extreme temperatures.

 Baldassare's living quarters

He had two bedrooms...One for summer and one for winter.

He heated water for his bath and had drainage systems.

The tunnels were well lit and had good air circulation.

He was a brilliant man!

 Pomegranates!

The photos don't do justice to how amazing these tunnels are.  Here are some additional facts and photos if you're interested:

http://www.undergroundgardens.com/amazingfacts.html


Baldassare wanted to make a "resort" where people could come to get out of the heat.  He passed away before his dream was realized, and thankfully a nephew of his preserved some of the work he had done for us to enjoy today.  Baldassare encountered obstacle after obstacle, and yet he worked with what he had, made some alterations in the details of his dream... and he sure did "make something out of nothing."

Thanks for the inspiration to "Never Give Up," Mr. Forestiere!