The Whistle-stop Tour

Exploring the Giants
Originally uploaded by Thomas W-P

Phew. Made it. And what a whistle-stop tour it was.

We had a great walk as we entered Yosemite. 1.5 miles, mostly downhill to a group of large sequoia. Massive to Tamsin and the girls but I had an inkling of what was coming later in the trip! Harriet was a trouper and managed all the way down and up the hill, only being carried for about 200m on the flat. She stayed awake for about 3 seconds in the car. Tamsin's gasp as we came to a view of Half Dome was worth the whole trip. Stunning. And the time we spent by the river in the middle of the gorge was, for me, the best bit of the trip. All that effort from us and the girls getting them swimming confidently summed up by Abigail plunging headlong in to an icy river.

The next day was an unmitigated disaster. The kids were exhausted from their walk and Abigail very grumpy. It took an age to get them up and out and we only got in the car at 11:00. Tamsin and I were looking forward to walking to Sentinel Point - where Kath and I walked about 20 years ago. We made the turn to the road up to the walk and discovered massive roadworks, with at least a 30 minute wait, both ways. That, 40 minutes to drive to the walk, 90 minutes of walking and 4 hours to the hotel just didn't add up so we reluctantly turned around. On the way out of Yosemite we stopped at an historic park and I had a complete mental aberration, letting the pricey digital SLR fall to the concrete floor. It turned on, but auto-focus was destroyed, and manual focus was crunchy. Tamsin in tears, me stunned and furious with myself. Very upset. We felt cursed. We made the most of it by having a wander round and a great ride on a very dusty carriage. The girls, particularly Harriet LOVED it. I rode shotgun with "the only full time coachman/ranger in America". He rode the carriage 8 months a year and had been doing it for 25 years. The same 10 minute track over and over. Interesting character who punctuated each sentence with "Yee-ha!" or "cuuuutch" or "git" explosions without even noticing.

We had a picnic and resolved to get a new lens in Fresno, 90 minutes down the road. Google on my phone eventually found us a photo shop (despite driving 10 miles past it unknowingly, then going on a navi-inspired wild goose chase that left Tamsin's sense of humour somewhere at a dead end in Northern Fresno.) They had the exact lens for $199 (£130) which was a relief. We toyed with getting the super-duper $600 replacement but given the events two hours before felt this was possibly a bit silly! And that is without forking out such a massive sum after the enormous carefree extravagance of the holiday. We got to our hotel early enough to have a lovely long swim in another great pool whilst Tamsin assiduously researched a decent restaurant in the vicinity. She did well and another good meal that had green bits clearly visible and nothing fried was consumed with relish at an impossibly cheap price. Another late night with all the girls zonking out immediately. Abigail refuses to sleep in the car and after 10 days of late nights is really suffering. She wakes up grumpy, refuses to eat breakfast and then is miserable until she has lunch. She'll be fine when she gets regular sleep. It is so unlike her, and I have been a little worried. Compared to the other two she internalises so much and you never know what she is thinking. If you ask her what she thinks she gets sad and even more insular.

We were well placed for Sequoia NP which I had REALLY been looking forward to. I have wonderful memories of walking with Kath in Redwoods NP and whilst VERY disappointed not to make a return (1000 miles too far), Sequoia sounded like a wonderful replacement with the biggest trees in the World on view. We were in the car by 8:30 and this made such a difference. Sadly, poor little Abigail was umpty the whole time (when she remembered to be), only perking up with food inside once the visit was over at noon and she knew we were heading to Glyn and Linda's. The sequoia forest was SO different to the redwoods. I remember the redwoods as dark, majestic and unbelievably quiet, with very little sunlight. Sequoia was all tarmac paths, lots of sun and loads of people. I do remember that Kath and I avoided the main touristy bits though. The drive in was magical. The trees are surreal and look like they are made of plastic. So exciting to see such leviathans. We walked half a mile to the most massive tree in the World - the General Sherman. Photos do not do justice to its size. The footprint took the girls more than 30 seconds to walk around at normal pace. When you stood next to it it was impossibly big. Photos don't really do it justice but we tried. Elizabeth LOVED EVERYTHING about it, and came up with another quotable line "I learned a fact today: giants do exist".

We piled in the car at noon, Tamsin in the back dishing out snacks, plugged in Glyn and Linda's on navi and it said 18:16 as our eta. Believe it or not, at 18:16, after two reasonable stops for drinks/loos we rolled in to the driveway at 18:16. Spooky. It turned out to be Linda's 65th birthday and Eric and Kimi were here. The kids food was on its way, and we had another delicious meal under the stars. Their house is just amazing, and has a wonderful view over the bay. Tamsin slept on the sofa, I under the stars with Elizabeth. We were both wakeful at 2 am so spent a happy hour looking at the stars trying to identify them with my iPod star map! I then zonked out but she couldn't so read for a bit. I think she had about six hours' sleep in the end but it does not seem to phase her at all! I woke to an upside down Harriet who had wandered up from her bedroom looking for company.

Another lazy morning in front of the laptop with Carew and the kids charging round and Glyn trying to avoid them. Off to the beach in little while so will end here. We have a long imagined and planned visit to the Simpson House to look forward to tonight. Tamsin and I with a night off and a lie in for our last sleep in the USA before setting off for our adventure in New Zealand. Not sure that bit has sunk in yet.