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We rolled into town mid-afternoon yesterday, giving us plenty of time to unload the RV, clean it up, fill the tank and get it back to Classic Adventures RV this morning. What a wonderful trip! We are exhausted, but it's a good kind of tired, the kind that comes with many happy memories attached. It seems that RV travel is truly all I hoped it would be, as a feasible way for me to vacation. (I'll post more about my own health through the trip on my personal blog later this week, for those who are interested.)

Once we could see the camp at Twin Lakes in full daylight yesterday morning, we discovered it was huge, with over 400 camp sites (dry camping in only $15 a night and full hookup sites are about $30, though showers will cost you a quarter for every 2 minutes of hot water) along with rental cabins, boats for fishing, a cafe and gift shop. The camp is located on Upper Twin Lake and to me the views there were almost as grand as anything we had seen in Yosemite itself! "Tame" deer would walk right up to you if you had anything that looked like it might be food. And because we dropped the names of the family friends who worked there, we even got to tour the fish hatchery for their stocked ponds. Less than 3 hours drive from home, I'm sure we will be back to the Twin Lakes Mono Village camp again.




Our week in an RV was a trip we will not soon forget and one we will carry in our hearts with very fond memories. I had worried that so much "family togetherness" would lead to some frazzled nerves and arguments, but everyone got along amazingly well and the only times we even used the TV were for movies for the kids while driving and for one bedtime family movie night. As we drove away from Classic Adventures, our 3-year-old let out a very sad little sigh and said what we were all feeling, "I don't want to give our RV back!"

Yosemite

We pulled into Oakhurst about 3:30 or 4 yesterday afternoon. After registering and finding our camp site, we pulled back out and headed on up the road to Yosemite National Park, purchased our $20 one-week visitor's pass, and headed toward the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia Trees.


We found out an important tip for RVers, that only vehicles under 25 feet can access that road, so we were especially glad we had selected the 24 foot RV! (The same length limitation applied to parking at the Fisherman's Warf in Monterey, so a longer RV would have seriously limited some of our experiences.)



Even stopping for frequent rests, I was disappointed that my body just couldn't make it very far along the 2-mile trail to see landmark trees like the Tunnel Tree. I did get to see the Fallen Monarch as it's just at the entrance to the path, and I made it a bit further before sending Rick and the older two on ahead while the 3-year-old sat with me having a delightful time stirring up great clouds of dust with his stick in the dirt.


By the time the rest of our family rejoined us, you couldn't even tell what color his clothing had been and he had to be stripped outside the RV before we could even let him back in, but he sure had a blast! :D We drew lots of letters in the dirt and he identified all but one for me. When I drew it, he looked at me and said, "That's not a letter, Mom. That's an X!" (I guess buried treasure isn't marked with an actual letter.)

The older kids took their Dad almost all the way to the Tunnel Tree (found out after we made it back to the RV that they had been only about two tenths of a mile away when they had to give up the climb, but as there had been no maps available, they had no way to know that at the time). The hike was quite steep and exhausting. While the 9-year-old really wanted to push on and see that Tunnel Tree, we will just have to save it for another visit, but they did get to see sights like the Bachelor and Three Graces along with the Grizzly Giant.

To give the kids a bit of perspective, we held hands and tried to wrap our arms around one of the "smaller" sequoias at the edge of the path (in an area that wasn't roped off with instructions to stay on the path) and even with that relatively small Giant, our family of 5 could not come even half way around that tree!

We were back to camp by about 7, dark fell quickly as we ate dinner, and we were all in bed (and almost instantly asleep) by only 7:30! After being pampered by our great accommodations at Marina Dunes, I'm sorry to say that we were all pretty disappointed in the RV park here in Oakhurst, enough so that we plan to forfeit our second pre-paid night and either dry camp somewhere in Yosemite tonight or possibly even go on across Tioga Pass before dark. Again, the website description and the actual RV camp location were very different from one another, and while High Sierra RV Park had a slick website and great marketing materials, they just didn't live up to our expectations. Oakhurst itself seemed like a wonderful place to visit, we just won't be choosing this specific park again in the future.


(See the head of our oldest just beginning to pop up at the bottom of this picture? Gives a bit of scale to what you are seeing!)

First Day on the Road

Erik at Classic Adventures RV got us off to a great start Saturday morning as he gave us a tour of our RV and taught us all the tips and tricks for getting the most our of our rental. We brought it home, let the kids explore, loaded it up and headed for bed, then got up early this morning for our first day on the road. The kids were excited for Sam's Club jumbo muffins on the road and loved eating at the RV table as we traveled!

The kids started out the morning watching Wall-E on DVD while Rick drove, then the younger two and I headed to the back bed for a rest. I fell asleep with our little guy while our 6-year-old went back to the table and joined her big brother playing with their Leapsters.

We made our first stop at Petrick farms for produce in Dixon (can't beat farm-fresh prices!) and topped off the Diesel tank. In Fairfield, CA we took a tour of the Jelly Belly Factory and of course picked up some "Belly Flops". The kids were a little disappointed that there was no candy production to witness live on weekend tours, but their sorrow quickly ended when they found out they got free samples at each video tour station. Our 3-year-old road on my lap in the wheel chair and we all had a great view of the factory and jelly beans in various stages of the drying process in their 3 week journey to earning the Jelly Belly label.
Factory Tour Photo with Mascot Credit: www.SharpShooterImaging.com

After a quick lunch stop we were back on the road. I slept for a good chunk of the afternoon and am so thankful for the ability to rest during travel, something I haven't enjoyed since I was a kid riding in the back of my parents' station wagon! It was a little bumpy at times, but if I kept the curtain drawn around the bed, I had much less motion sickness than my norm!

We pulled into Marina about 4PM, quickly and easily set up camp, then took a pleasant walk to the beach. The waves were powerful and the misty fog rolled in as the kids tried to outrun the tide as they searched for kelp, shells and sea glass. Beautiful!

Around 6 we were back to the RV and roasted hot dogs for dinner. After another walk around the RV park, little ones were getting tired, so we came back to the RV, set up beds and got jammies on. Our 3-year-old was out cold before we even finished our bedtime story and the rest were asleep by about 8.



We've been taking pictures but can't get them to upload to the laptop, so we'll be updating these posts once we are back in Reno.

It was a great first day. We are looking forward to visiting the aquarium in Monterey tomorrow.

When and Where

We have decided where to go and when to do it. In late September we are headed out of Reno to Marina Dunes RV park near Monterey. We will take in the Monterey Bay Aquarium and other seaside sights. Monterey is a very special destination, where we went on our honeymoon, first anniversary and tenth anniversary. I was pregnant with, and threatening to miscarry, our now 6 1/2 year old miracle last time we were there, so it will be an especially sweet blessing to share the sights, sounds and smells of Monterey with her, along with her two amazing and equally long-awaited brothers!

After a few nights at the coast we will move on to High Sierra RV Park just south of Yosemite National Park and enjoy a couple more days exploring the wonder of big trees and beautiful mountains before heading back home. We might take a ride on the Sugar Pine railroad and can't wait to see the look of awe on our kids faces as they stand dwarfed below 3,000 year old trees that put God's amazing creation into a bit of perspective.

Can't wait to share these adventure with you! Any "can't miss" stops we need to be sure to make along the way?

Where would you go?

If you had a week in an RV and could go anywhere within 500 driving miles of home, where would you go? I would love to hear your ideas!

Our starting point is near Lake Tahoe. I'm currently thinking the Monterey Bay Aquarium sounds like a wonderful destination, about 340 miles from home. Or maybe even Disneyland, 480 miles away. With a drive of only 240 miles, we've also talked of taking in the sights of San Francisco with the Exploratorium as one of our goals.

Please shae with me, what advetures would you take in an RV?