Summer Holidays - Out West!

I must officially be at the stage where parenthood is so normal that I don't think about blogging anymore. So sorry to everyone (one or two of you??) who enjoyed reading about the growing up and happenings of Emerson Rachel Cripe. I'll try to do better from now on!
So let's back up a couple of months to June - our big family trip out west!!

Emer's 4th grade National Park Pass drove all of our vacation last year. You heard about going out east to Baltimore, south to Tennessee, and then we traveled all the way west to California. This was the BIG trip b/c it was #1 much farther away and #2 much more expensive. We joked about how we saved about $60/person on national park entries but spent over $1000 to do it! Still, everyone needs a big out west trip at least once in their childhood and we're pretty fortunate for this to be the 2nd big trip and 4th or 5th time Emer has been out there. Our goals were to see Giant trees - Sequoia National Park, and another stellar piece of land - Yosemite National Park. We were flying into and out of San Fransisco so we also wanted to spend a few days there. And Steve wanted us to see Carmel and Big Sur.  Yes, that's a lot to pack into one week! But we managed to do it and enjoy ourselves at the same time.
***Once again, I'd like to thank the Federal Government for your every kid in a park program. We would not have been inspired to do this without the National Park Pass. Please promote this more heavily so more kids can see the country the way we did!

Highlights of our trip included:
Driving into Yosemite we were greeted by this - Stunning. Massive. Impressive. And yet just the tip of what we were going to see...

 There's a place called Sentinel Dome in Yosemite. Emer and I climbed to the top where we were treated to a full 180 degree view of the park! Breathtaking.

 Sequoia National Park is filled with the Giant Sequoia trees shown below. We learned that they fall uphill b/c the winds that spread fire tend to hit the uphill side of the trees thereby weakening that side. These trees are the most amazing, majestic, and strong things I've ever seen! This was my favorite part of the trip!

 Emer and I also climbed to the top of Moro Rock which provided more spectacular views of the entire park. We could even see the winding road we had to drive up to get into the mountains!

Following the National Parks we headed out to Monteray Bay where we visited Big Sur for a spectacular lunch, 

drove the 17 Mile Drive, and enjoyed beach time!

 
We finished up back in San Francisco where we stayed in a lovely AirBNB less than a mile from the beach. We were able to fit a LOT into our few shorts days there!

Walking along the piers we found a cool arcade where they had everything from antique (still working!) pieces to modern day arcade games. Here's a couple of fortune tellers we tried out! There is also an exhibit w/ a submarine and parts of other giant war ships. What a HUGE propeller!!

We had to see the famous sea lions. There weren't many b/c it isn't the season for them...

Interestingly enough, Emer's favorite part of San Francisco was Alcatraz!!

And there you have it! Our Big Family Out West vacation - 2018! It was so much fun and I hope Emer remembers everything we did for a very long time. Our country truly has some spectacular sites to see :)