Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Santa Cruz and Yosemite National Park



Santa Cruz , California...SeaCliff State Beach

We have some great friends, Katie and Forest, who we visited in Santa Cruz.   We were so blessed to spend time with them at the beach and getting a tour where they both work, Univeristy California Santa Cruz.  We loved exploring Santa Cruz and getting to spend almost a week at the beach.  Our campground was right on the beach, which was amazing.  We just loved hearing the sound of the waves, taking walks and bike rides along the beach paths and playing with our new boogie boards in the surf.   


On one of our days in Santa Cruz we drove to Palo Alto to visit the Stanford campus.  Jordan dreams of going there one day.  It was an UNBELIEVABLY stunning campus...amazing architecture, beautiful building and immaculate sports complexes.  I was glad that we were only visiting and not sending him to college yet...it always seemed so far away...but not these days. 




We loved the Monteray Bay Aquarium and Cannery Row in Monteray.  We spent most of the day looking at all the sea life...penguins, jelly fish, sea otters, and so many, many fish.  My favorite park was on our walk to the aquarium when we passed a beach full of seals...all laying on the beach or playing in the water.  

Yosemite National Park...Tuolome Meadows

We stayed in Tuolome Meadows on the east side of the park.  Yosemite is a HUGE park...it took us hours to get from the entrance to our campground which was about 8,600 feet in elevation.  It seems that each turn in the road brought another breathtaking view.  National Parks are truly something special.  

There are a few groves of Seqouia trees in the park.  One day we hiked down to see these massive trees.  There were several downed trees that the boys could play on and even crawl through.  We were in the park for 5 days so we had lots of time for great hikes, bike rides and walks in the meadow.  One of our favorite things to do in the afternoon was play in the creek and rock slides in our campground.  The water was very cold and this time I did go swimming once...but only for one trip down the rock slides.  

This is Lembert Dome.  It was one of the hikes we did...just breathtaking.  We are so glad that we had the time to really explore this amazing park.  We are heading to Laguana Beach next...HOORAY!!




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