San Clemente Pictures

I'm always playing catch up with my posts.  But here are some pictures I took from our stay at San Clemente State Beach.  The drive in to San Clemente through LA was my most feared drive of our trip but it turned out to be one of the best drives we've had.  Not sure if it was because we rolled in on a Saturday but traffic wasn't too bad we were in a jam from an accident which keep the speed slow which probably helped as well.  Our campsite was a little cramped but we knew that going in.  It was quite a bit different than any of the other places we've stayed this trip.  A little noisy and crowded but just a short walk to the beach so that was great.  Seeing the kids play in the ocean has been something I've been dreaming to see for a year or two now and it didn't disappoint.  Hitting Disneyland and Legoland where the highlight of the trip for the kids.  This stop was 5 nights the longest stay of the trip but seemed to go fast.  We crossed the half way point of our trip and next we'll be heading east.

At a beach we can swim in!

View from our Campsite, can just catch the water and it looked over to houses in the city.

View of our campsite

Becky's parents came to visit and go to Disney with us.  This is them stopping by on our 1st beach day

Marcus found a friend that let him help on his sand castle or fort, whatever you'd call it.

Boys buried in the sand

Now Mom's turn

On the Pier waiting to eat supper, watching the surfers

So excited for Disney, they can't stand it.  Waiting in line for them to open the gates.

Picture of the crew after the first stop, Indiana Jones ride

Jungle tour

Marc and Grampa hurrying to catch up

Waiting in line for space mountain

Waiting in line for Star Tours, which was pretty cool

Cotton Candy before the parade

Samus got a book... brushing up on his dark side I guess.

Parade

None of my pictures of the night entertainment turned out but the show was good and the fireworks were crazy good

Legoland

Building cars to race down a track

Luke: "Dad that was really fun, don't you wish you could have driven a car?"  Me: "I didn't need to, I drive all the time." Luke: "Oh I guess that's right".

The Last night at the campground

Hiking Zion, day 1.

We got up early and beat the heat. Our goal was to hike the Emerald Pool trails, the Weeping Wall, and a couple of other short trails before we spontaneously combusted. 

Zion doesn't let you drive up and down the road because of congestion. Instead you take a bus to any of 8 stops at key trailheads. 

We were some of the first to ride and when we boarded it smelled exactly like urine. Mmmm. My favorite smell first thing in the morning. 

Unfortunately we left in such a haste that I forgot to drink my coffee. This was problematic. I was no doubt going to be a hot mess within hours without my caffeine. I fretted as the bus headed up the road. Until the driver announced our stop and added that there was coffee. Hallelujah! Now we could hike!

We started up the first of the Emerald Pool trails. 

There was a lovely little waterfall trickling down onto the trail from the lower pool above. 

We hiked past the lower and middle pools all the way to the upper pool. 

I promise the pool is behind them. 

We hiked on and connected to another trail before catching the bus again to head up to the Weeping Wall. This bus did not smell like urine. 

The Weeping Wall was just like it sounds. The wall weeped water. The cool drops felt amazing as the temperature was now close to 100. 

The rest of the day we spent in town doing laundry (I am so efficient at a laundromat it's scary), getting the oil changed, and going to Inside Out. I think we all cried during the movie. 

Back at camp I slept away the evening while Jason and the boys did god knows what. 

Then I got up and went to bed, for in the morning we were getting up to hike the famous Narrows. 

Down the road to Zion National Park. It's still hot.

We left Valley of the Fire late and drove to Zion in the heat of the afternoon sun. 

Turns out Zion is also extremely hot. But guess what? There's a creek in front of our campground! Guess what we did immediately? We put on our swim suits and went swimming!! It's actually a river but only about 12 feet across and waist high at its deepest. Most of it you can walk along on your hands with your legs floating behind. 

Although it was deathly hot again the camper seemed to actually cool down which made for much better sleeping. It's a good thing because we were headed for a 6 o'clock start in the morning-necessary for hiking before the heat of the day. 

The beauty simply does not show on my phone, but I assure you it's breathtaking. And not like that ugly baby on Seinfeld. Actually breathtaking. 

Going to the Valley of Fire.

Guess what? The Vally of Fire is hot! Like 112 degrees hot. But that's not the only reason for the name. The Valley of Fire is also a bright red color from the iron in the sandstone that makes up its formations. It's quite striking rising up from the gray mountains that surround it. 

And besides the beauty, the park offers an amazing insight into the lives of the ancient Native Americans who used to inhabit the area. The park is littered with petroglyphs. There was something so inspiring about them. I felt so connected to the past when I viewed them. 

These people were telling us a story. Who knows exactly what they were saying, but there were a lot of suns and big horned sheep. Some appeared to be directions: go to the big rock, take a left, walk for two miles, and there will be sheep. 

The sandstone formations themselves were also beautiful. 

But dear lord was it hot. 

So, as the Munschs do, we found water to dip our bodies in. It turns out that the park is only 12 from Lake Mead. If that wasn't big enough, we were in trouble.

Swim gear on we headed down a road to Echo Bay. The drive was erie. You could tell that the area once teamed with people, but that those people had shuttered everything and left years ago. A marina sat dry and full of tires. A restaurant and motel were boarded up. Even the restroom's windows were busted out. Needless to say, we were a little nervous about our choice now. It seemed like the perfect backdrop to a Scooby Doo mystery. 

But we were hot dang it. And we could see water just ahead so we trudged onward. Finally we came to a parking lot where a handful of boat toting pick-ups were parked and we saw two girls in bikinis walking down towards the water. So at least we weren't the only people here. That was somehow reassuring. 

Life jackets and sunscreen on, we stumbled down the gravely slope toward the murky aqua colored water of Lake Mead. At the waters edge we started sinking. In an effort to find a less sinky spot we made our way around the small bay. At his point we ran into the bikini girls who's legs were covered in mud from sinking so far. Okay. We're not going where they were. We'd lose Marcus in the mud. 

We dropped our things and got in. Moods lifted immediately upon entry. 

Water is amazing. It calms me down, cools me off, and just makes me happy. I want to be near or in water as much as possible. My ultimate goal is to travel as much as possible and live where I can hear water moving outside. 

I am not picky about my water (except the murky lakes around Sioux Falls). I will get in rivers, creeks, streams, pools of all shapes and sizes, the ocean, giant fountains, hot tubs, and bath tubs. Temperature is not of great concern (except at the city pool where I want to yell at children for walking too quickly and getting me wet before I'm ready). I need to ease in. I'm one of those people. My counterpart and opposite in so many ways (thank god) Jason, dives in head first. Everywhere. Small creek. Jason lies down in it. He always claims its better to get the shock over in an instant. It's so interesting that this is his approach considering that every move he makes is well researched and thought about. He never jumps into anything. Except water. And I'm the most jump right in kind of person there is. Except water. 

I digress. Once we felt adequately cooled off we carefully climbed out so as not to be sucked into the mud up to our necks and started slip sliding back up the gravel sides to the car. Approximately 20 steps out, we were all complaining about the heat again. In all fairness it was 109 degrees. You dry almost instantly in that kind of dry heat. 

Unfortunately when we got back to our camper, the air conditioner had barely made a dent in the sweltering heat. And it was 8:30 and we hadn't eaten. Suffice it to say minds were being lost all over the place. 

We roasted hot dogs and climbed into bed all sticky where we tossed and turned all night in the heat.