We Made it to the Snow!

We finally made it to the snow yesterday! Tina and I called around on Wednesday to find some snow chains. We found them and ended up paying more than we wanted to for them, but we had to do it. I could not imagine trying to make it to the snow again. Meg's dissappointment would be unbearable.

I woke up early and made some chorizo, egg and potato burritos. I wrapped them up for the trip. One the way out, we stopped to get some donuts since Meg doesn't seem to like the chorizo very much. When we got to the gate to Sequoia National Park, there were two long lines of cars. Of course, our line moved the slowest. When we got to the Ranger, I asked her if we needed chains. She told me that we did not. Just my luck. After paying too much for chains, we didn't even need them.

Tina and the girls had a snow ball fight when we first arrived at Lodgepole. They had a lot of fun while I was taking some photos of them and the surroundings. Then they started making the snow man you see in the photo above. While all this was going on, Homie Gnomie had wondered out of the car and was playing in the snow himself. I found him making a snow angel. This was his first trip to the snow and he really enjoyed it.

He got in a little over his head, not knowing that he would sink in the snow. I had to pull him out and get him back to the car. Once we were there, Tina gave him some hot chocolate to warm his little body back up. We were all having a lot of fun in the snow and decided to try to go down by the river where we camped this past summer.

We drove into the camp ground and found a little trail. The girls started down first as Tina realized that they were very close to the river. We warned them to stay on the foot prints that were already in the snow. At one point, we were all standing in the snow over the river.

We all had a lot of fun. And it seems we now know how to control Meg's car sickness. That should make our mountain trips a lot more enjoyable for her. When we got home I asked Meg if she wanted to go to the snow again. She was a little hesitant. We bought the annual pass, so we can go as often as we like.

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Sequoia National Park, Take 1

I had good intentions. I wanted to take the family to the snow today. I have been many times over the years and to several different places. I have never been required to install snow chains before, so I did not think much about it. On the way, I decided to stop by Tina's parent's house and borrow her Dad's snow chains. It was a good thing I did.

When we got to the gate of the park, the ranger asked me if we had snow chains. I told her we did and she said that was a good thing. They were requiring them eleven miles inside the park. As I drove away, I turned to Tina and told her that we would not make it to the snow before being required to install the chains. I was right.

At the required location I pulled over and took out the chains. I struggled with them for a while and finally realized that they were too small for Tina's car. We decided to drive on until we were absolutely required to have them on. We did not get much further. I felt bad for Meg because she had been looking forward to going to the snow for a few days. She actually started to cry. I told her we would come back on Sunday. That helped a little, but she was very disappointed.

We drove back down to Hospital rock and hiked all of the trails there. We all actually ended up having a really good time, as you can see from the photos.

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