Oh, and today when we were walking on a road with no sidewalks, Baby A told Baby B, sternly, that he should "Walk on the white line, like Mason!" (This is in reference to walks that we took with Baba's dog Mason.) So maybe they do remember, sort of. But every day they wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, nothing sagging, all ready to make a puzzle, play with the water table, or beg me to re-do their toy train track setup yet again.
So, in that spirit, today we decided to pick up our saggy selves and go on a journey to the Trail of 100 Giants, which is a short, pleasant, nature walk among the Giant Sequoias in Sequoia National Forest. Rocket Boy was hopeful we would see a bear. I told the boos we were going to see some big trees, and Baby B said "at Baba's house?"
First we took Highway 178 for an hour and 15 minutes to Kernville.
We stopped at the nice riverside park in Kernville and, get this, ATE A PICNIC LUNCH! Yes, that's right, we didn't go to a restaurant! I can't even think when we last did this. It always seems too hard to figure out what to bring. But this time we were so brilliant. We brought hard-boiled eggs, a bag of those little babybel cheeses, a container of hummus, baby carrots, crackers, muffins, and cherries. It was fabulous. Everyone ate what they wanted, nobody got upset. I'm still in shock about how awesome it was.
Then we packed up and continued on our journey northwest, on a winding road that followed the Kern River. After about an hour we came upon a car parked by the side of the road with its hood up, accompanied by two women and two young boy scouts in uniform, who waved us down. "Maybe they see a bear!" Rocket Boy said, pulling over. But no. "Are you with Troop XYZ?" they asked us.
We said no, we weren't, and they said oh, OK. We were about to drive on, when Rocket Boy thought to ask "Do you need help?" It turned out their rental car had died on them and they were trying to get to a boy scout camp a few miles up the road. So we asked if we could drive one of them there to get help (with the two carseats, you can only squeeze one extra person into our car). One of the women agreed to come, so we drove her to the camp. All the way there (it took MAYBE 10 minutes) she thanked us profusely and offered us money, which we declined. When we reached the camp, the older boy scouts who were organizing everyone took charge of her, thanked us profusely, and sent us on our way. As she got out of the car, the woman put a bill in my cup holder and said "I insist." As we drove on our way I looked at the bill -- it was a $20. For a 10-minute detour. Maybe 15 minutes total. We were horrified.
On the other hand, I can see how this might be a way to make money -- drive around the mountains helping stranded motorists who then insist on paying you.
So we continued on our way and eventually reached the Trail of 100 Giants. It's very popular. The mile-long trail is wheelchair- and stroller-accessible. We walked maybe 3/4 of the trail, cutting off one section because the twins were getting tired. But it was fun.
It's hard to photograph a Giant Sequoia because they are, well, giant, many in this grove over 200 feet tall. You can only get a bit of one in a picture.
At home this week, quite by coincidence, we have been reading a neat library book called Hurricane by David Wiesner, about a big tree falling in some kids' yard during (you guessed it) a hurricane, which they play on for a few days until it's removed. I tried to make the connection for the twins, both on the trail and then at home tonight when we were reading the book again ("See, here's a big tree that fell down, like in the book about the hurricane"/"See, this fallen tree in the book is like the trees we saw today") but I'm not sure it took. It must be hard to be three, so many things to absorb and process.
On the other hand, they are becoming better photographers. Baby A took this photo of his parents and brother.
After the trail, we drove west for another hour or so, on a very winding road, to look at a hot springs (but didn't go in), and then we drove all the way home, stopping at a cafe in Kernville for "dinner" (cookies and scones), which we paid for with the stranded woman's $20 bill.
We never did see a bear, but on the winding road to and from the hot springs, we kept running into (almost literally) cows. It's very odd to be on a remote mountain road, no meadows anywhere, and suddenly have to hit the brake because there's a cow in front of you. Black cows, red cows, multicolored cows. Very odd. Didn't get a pic, sorry.
Anyway, nice trip, nice weekend. I'm feeling a little less saggy now.
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