A Day at the Park(s)

 

On our last night in San Francisco -- after discovering that the Tech Museum of Innovation wouldn't be open as I thought it would be the next day -- I decided our itinerary needed some tweaking.  The end result was an overhaul of the next couple of days, with the main activities from those two being condensed into one.  I knew this would make that one day extra long and exhausting, but the payoff would be a nice and leisurely Day 10.  We would have to skip out on heading back to the coast and cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway, but by driving straight to Ventura, we ended up with the bonus of half a day to frolic on the beach.  It was the right call.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Hahaha.  Before leaving the Bay area, we HAD to stop in Silicon Valley to see Apple headquarters for my Apple boy {Ethan}.  While the headquarters itself were not open for visitors or tours, the Apple Park visitor center WAS.  It was a really brief stop, but the kids enjoyed seeing what was on display and the one of a kind merch.  After browsing for about 30 minutes or so, we loaded back up in the car and began heading inland towards Sequoia National Park.

How cool is this AirPods display??

T-shirt design options only available at Apple Park.

Jane tried to convince me she should get a phone while we were there.  She was unsuccessful.  Hahaha.

I let Ethan pick out a souvenir as a graduation gift.

By the time we reached Sequoia National Park mid-afternoon, it was HOT {like 100+ degrees} and the kids were a tad on the cranky side, so we made the executive decision to stop and eat lunch before attempting to visit the trees.  It was a good call -- as it usually is.  Hahahaha.  After eating, we made our way to the famous General Sherman tree and joined the masses in hiking the trail to get as close as possible to the giant sequoia.  Spoiler alert -- it wasn't all that close.  The area is surrounded by a fence to keep visitors at bay, and without being right next to the tree, it's a lot harder to appreciate the size perspective between a person and the General.  Womp womp.  Despite that minor nuisance, however, it was still an awe-inspiring sight.  And while pictures don't do justice to the scope of the scene, we did our best to capture the vibe anyway.  Hahaha.  

Some of us needed a breather on the hike down.

The trail we hiked was not necessarily all that long or strenuous, but it was still VERY hot (even though the higher elevation made it marginally cooler than it was at the park entrance) and by the time we were finished it had taken a lot out of all of us.  After re-hydrating ourselves post-hike, we were DONE with walking so we hopped back in the car and drove around for a bit to see a little more of the trees before heading to our pit stop for the night.  

General Sherman is the giant tree behind them.

It made for a long, hot, and exhausting day, but the contrast made it all the better to appreciate the nice, relaxing, and carefree day we had right after it.  Stay tuned for Day 10 of the trip -- the calm before the storm {although not in a bad way} of an all-day excursion to Universal Studios Hollywood for our last full day of the road trip...