California: DAY 3

Our adventure this day was to explore the SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK. This park is well known for it's HUGE trees (not just tall but very wide thick trunks). Everyone who has been to this park claims it is an incredible "must-see" place to visit!

Like I mentioned earlier our motto throughout vacation was "ADAPT AND OVERCOME." Below are a couple situations to explain this further.

1. HOT-HOT-HOT
The weather in California during our trip was an average high of 105 degrees each day. This temperature would not be concerning if your vacation was structured around water parks and air conditioning. However the thought of hiking outside in 105 degree weather was extremely distressing. (The Warners do not tolerate heat well.). In hopes of avoiding this heat we decided to heat the road early (aka 6:30am)! The perks of leaving this early included a gorgeous sunrise over the mountains and no tourism congestion. Also being at that high of elevation surrounded by huge trees meant that the temperature never got about 80 degrees while we were there!

2. BEAR COUNTRY!
The midwest is not exactly the hotspot for bears to live so we did not realize how many precautions were needed in order to protect yourselves from a bear attach. However through signs and brochures we quickly learned "bear smarts." Some of the basic tips we learned include:

• During daylight hours anything with a scent must be placed in your trunk. Beyond food this also included toiletries and even sealed drinks!
• During nightime hours it is ILLEGAL to have anything scented left in your car! WOAH! (There are special bear-proof metal containers around the park that these things can be placed in)

The idea of a bear attack is nerve-wracking, especially when you are tourists staying in a different hotel each night which requires you to have suitcases (filled with scents) in your car every day! How can you feel safer?? You don't have to be a bear expert; you just have to be smarter than the rest of the cars parked next to you, haha!

I cannot begin to explain how incredible this park is. Everyone told us the trees are huge, but it is hard to grasp how big they are until you are standing right next to one. Below are pictures from the beautiful sights throught the park!

Foothills

2,000 YEARS OLD! 37 FEET IN DIAMETER!

Seriously, these trees are HUGE! Also this is the only location on the planet that Sequoia trees grow!
The live so long because they are fireproof! Yes, that is correct--fire does not destroy them! In fact,
the heat from fire allows their seeds to spread and grow more trees! WOAH!

Climbing MORO ROCK

View while climbing Moro Rock



We made it to the top of Moro Rock! This family accomplished fears of heights and escaped the storm (see dark clouds on left)! Right after we took this picture we hear huge cracks of thunder and figured we better hurry down!

 

I'm not sure if the pictures even do it justice, but this park is absolutely gorgeous! The stories behind all the rock formations and life-span of the trees are powerful reminders of how incredible God is!

"Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock!" -Isaiah 26:4

Stay tuned for our next adventure to Yosemite National Park!


XOXO Alexa