Rapid Fire Summary

Favorite part 

C- The highs of doing what I love in beautiful places

N- living simply

Least Favorite

C- Trying to balance work

N- I wish I could have done more inside or outside of the parks. We don’t have enough time to do everything. 

Favorite park 

C- glacier

N- Yosemite

Most memorable

C- Half Dome

N- candice going up cables

Where do you want to go back to first

C- I need to visit some less ugly places before I can appreciate all of these again

N- Yosemite to climb

Favorite RV Park

C- Flathead Lake

N- Elwha Dam

Single worst moment

C- learning that Glacier was on fire

N- working at McDonalds

Favorite sunset

C- Sunset Rock in Sequoia

N- port Angeles

 Biggest surprise

C- The camper has everything we need

N- how easy it has been to flex our schedule 

Favorite Activity

C-Backpacking Yosemite until the last mile

N- Tahoe mountain bike ride

One thing you wish we did

C- Biked Red Rock Canyon

N- studied maps of each park, but I know that I would have been disappointed to not be able to do everything. 

What are you going to take home and use moving forward?

C- Give yourself permission to do what you want to do if it means enough to you. Do something cool everyday.

N- I want to strip everything down that is not important. Have a purpose for everything you do. For example, remove TV, driving during rush hour. 

Biggest Fear

C- Not pulling my weight at work, and not giving Kolton enough attention. To an extent they both were true, but I tried to minimize, so it was worth it.

N- We would have to turn around early because of Kolton.

Coolest town

C- whitefish

N- Seattle 

Day 33-38

I had one of my favorite rides ever this morning. I snoozed my alarm long enough for it to warm up and get light. Then I hopped on my bike and went for a sunrise ride up Zion Scenic Drive. It started on bike lanes in town, I waited in line at the fee booth, then I got on the meandering Pa’rus trail meeting other morning athletes and photographers. I even had to stop and take a photo of the orange rays overtopping the towering rocks. Then I made it to the canyon- where they don’t allow cars and only have buses. It was amazing! I saw a few buses come down the “hill” - there was only 400’ of elevation gain- but other than that I saw no people the entire trip up.  I did see a few deer. It was so glorious to just simply ride, watch the sunrise over the canyon, and take it all in. There were no worries of cars, to do lists, or pain. It was just perfect.

 

Then reality set in, and while Narendra took off to do the Angels landing hike, Kolton and I hunted for internet and power and a place for him to play. Those 3 didn’t harmonize very well, and it was not a productive work day. 

Then we ended up driving to Bryce where we stumbled on an awesome campground in time to chase the sunset. It was pretty chilly, but we met some nice photographers and Kolton was trying to make friends with everyone he met. The hoodoos were so unique and beautiful in the evening light with dark skies. Mother Nature - you are so creative! It was fun to check it out, and I was ok with not doing crazy hikes here.

We spent the next day with good internet- for once! We did an evening hike from sunrise point to sunset point- which instantly improved any negativity in my mood from working. Lesson learned: getting outside and moving cured any ailment! 

Next we were off to Capitol Reef.  I had no expectations, but it was a good start that they had a free campground right outside the park. No amenities, but finally we could park our camper and hang out for free- which is all we needed some nights. 

We went to bed under thousands of stars- and a threat of snow. I kept asking Narendra if we were going to tip over in the middle of the night. We woke up to another beautiful sunrise over the red canyon walls. I am going to miss this.  We went to our hotel and they luckily got us in. This was a dream. We had a place to be for the day with internet, room for Kolton to play, and electricity! We worked for a bit and then took a long lunch to hike to the top of the ridge.  Again- my mood shift was instantly happy. We went back, finished working, and then treated ourselves to a dinner out! There were only 2 restaurants- our hotel and the hotel across the street. It actually was good food, and Kolton did well. 

Thursday morning we set out again- this time en route to Durango. We each had calls along the way, but my call at Hite near Lake Powell was an epic failure as there wasn’t a cell tower, or a soul, in sight. It brought back memories of the beauty of lake Powell, but it was sad to see so little life when I was picturing a booming town with a marina. So, we got to Blanding for a breakfast stop at a diner where a man offered to buy Kolton. Then we made the last trek down to Durango where we checked into a work- paid-for hotel! We made it! We got another fancy dinner- we spoiled ourselves now. 

I had a workshop all day Friday, and then we met Heather and Oscar out for dinner - and a few too many drinks. It was fun to catch up and hear about their life down there. Kolton slept long enough for us to go bar hopping- which in hindsight I wish he hadn’t. It was a long time unpacking the trailer of all of my things and Kolton's things and repacking or rental car to the brim. It was bittersweet to be leaving Bessie, but it was also so exciting to be heading home to Sadie, my bathroom, my laundry, my bed, and different clothes! And getting home was just as sweet as the anticipation. Home sweet Home it is. It doesn’t matter how far or how long I leave, but Home is truly where my heart is. 

I can’t believe we pulled it off. There were challenges- mostly having to do with wanting to work more. There were absolute highs- peaks, stars, waterfalls, sunsets, Kolton steps, and cables. There were definitely things we had to sacrifice, and new ways of life we had to learn, but we did it together. We had victories reorganizing, and we had heated chats about who got to work more that day, but in the end we got to celebrate so much together. We made so many memories. We got to spend every day with Kolton watching him grow and learn, and talk and walk and form opinions. We played so many games of Yahtzee. We spent days only talking to each other. And we met lots of people with unique stories. We celebrated America’s beauty alongside hundreds, maybe thousands, of other people. We drove almost 6,000 miles. We visited 12 National Parks in 9 states. We had amazing adventures in new cities- every one of which Narendra offered to move to. We grocery shopped at a dozen new grocery stores. We reflected and wrote in our blog/journal every few days. We pondered life in nature just about every day. We rode our bikes on epic trails. We got Kolton outside everyday for an adventure.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 30 -32

Sequoia Sunsets, Starry Skies, and Slippery Sandals

We made the trek from Yosemite to Oakhurst (a town outside Fresno).  This was a productive 2 days working, grocery shopping, recharging, and hanging with Kolton.  We stayed at the RV park much of the time, which seems odd, but was really quite relaxing.  Thursday night we did the trek down toward Sequoia National Park, only 2 hours from us.  We didn't do a lot of research (which is a common theme here), so on the way, we decided to ditch the trailer at an RV Park where we would camp that night, and then head up the hill.  This was exciting, but in the end not that smart.  We wound around all the curves of the park, and 2 hours later, we were at the top.  We saw some big trees along the road, and then everyone was ready to get out - especially Kolton.  We were in time to rush out to "Sunset Rock" for sunset.  This was amazing as we were above the clouds, and there was not a sole on this hike.  When the sun went down, we rushed back to the car before dark, and then begrudgingly had to drive back to the construction zone before 7:30.  This was way too quick, and we missed a lot of cool sites, so we debated returning back up the 2 hour windy road again the next day.

In the end, our schedule called us to depart for Death Valley - a 6 hour trip- Friday after a little morning work.  We made it to the Valley in the afternoon.  It was pretty incredible to see how vast this park is with such few signs of human life.  We made it to the Stovepipe Wells camping area, ditched Bessie, and drove up Mosaic Canyon for sunset.  It was nice to relax, and Kolton got to wiggle around - which is when we discovered he has no fear.  He was crawling over hills, scooting his butt down them, and standing on rocks.  That night we had an epic starry sky.  It was so nice to just sit and look at how big the world is, with very little distractions of real life. 

The next morning we hike Mosaic Canyon on this cool ridge.  It was rocky, and something we would have embraced before Kolton, but had to analyze the consequences of taking a kid up there.  Narendra was up for the adventure of taking Kolton, so we did. 

Then we set out on the rest of our trek from Death Valley to Zion - via Vegas.  We stopped at a few more lookouts in Death Valley - one where they made Borax, which Narendra found interesting, but I did not.  Bad business plan in the 1800's and that is all you have to show for this place?

We had very little rain in the Pacific Northwest, but it was apparently saved for the desert.  We had rain on our drive, so we stayed outside Zion and did some life catch up like laundry and showers.  Turns out you can't evade those necessities. 

Today we drove to Zion after grocery shopping.  It was shocking how many people were here.  This was not a Narendra start time in the National Park, this was a Candice start time.  We got here around 11, and luckily that was good timing for getting a campsite in town.  Then we drove with the droves of people, and got lucky again finding a parking spot on the road where we could then catch the shuttle up to the Narrows.  (This goes back to my point of not following the crowds.  The lines were crazy everywhere, but driving to get creative with a parking spot was quick and much easier).  We made it to the narrows, and thankfully Narendra was on board with jumping in the cold water.  The circumstances were - he wore my shoes while I wore flip flops - because there was a chance he would do a big hike after.  He didn't, but I still got some street credit for surviving the narrows in flip flops.  He got some street cred for carrying the baby up the narrows.  It was beautiful and a fun and challenging adventure.  The water was pretty high after the desert rain (some guy told us 85cfs vs 41cfs normally), so we got real wet.  Kolton was loving it, and smiled and chatted with the others we met along the way.  Again, dream bigger - we left many of the droves of people back at the paved trail, and it was glorious to be in the flowing river, just the 3 of us at times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 29 - Life Lessons

When you hike, do you look down to carefully calculate your step, or do you look up and ponder the magic of the trees, rocks, and clouds?  I found myself in Yosemite looking down a lot, and then catching myself.  Maybe it's ok to take a misstep.  Maybe it's ok to use your body to catch yourself.  Maybe you are missing some amazing cloud formatting or beautiful mountain peak as you look down.  I have to give a shout out to Carolyn here.  She is the "clumsiest fit person I know."  I was thinking of Carolyn on this hike.  She is always looking up - hence the "clumsy," but she always catches herself and doesn't miss a beat. She keeps on stepping.  I think this translates to her life too.  She is always dreaming.  I remember sitting down with her and writing my first bucket list.  She doesn't bother with the calculating each step like my engineer mind.  She reminds me to look up, see where you want to go, dream bigger than when you started, and then roll with the missteps on your way there. 

 

I think that is what this trip has taught me.  Look up and dream.  If you are looking down, trying to make sure you don't make any mistakes, you miss a lot of the glory of life.  If we were following the rules at work, we never would have thought to take this trip. 

 

And this trip has reminded me of several things I already knew, but needed to be slapped in the face with.

1. Don't follow the crowds.  You will be happy, it will be beautiful, and you will meet nice people.  But.. go do something epic, and you will still get all of those things on your way back down.  Like our sunrise teahouse hike in Banff, or our backpacking trip to Half Dome.  Everyone does the first mile, and there is something beautiful about that first mile, yet it is accessible to everyone.  Go to the 8th mile, and you will see something astounding, and then chat with the people on the first mile on your way back.  You get one body in this life, so use it. 
2. Dream bigger.  I read Tim Ferriss' book, the 4 hour work week, and he asked what do you want to do in your life and how much would it cost?  We often use the money thing to stop our passions.  I am learning that there are people living in beautiful places, following their passions for dollars a day.  If you don't know what you want or what you are passionate about, stop every routine you have, get out of your comfort zone, and figure it out.  I found that my passions are friends (yes I need to talk to more people than Narendra and Kolton), biking in beautiful places, yoga to calm my mind and stretch my body, and adventure.  Now, I am trying to figure out how I can exploit these things in my life to be able to do them more and better.
3. If you don't ask, the answer will always be no.  There were a lot of doubt, many of them from myself, and even more from my coworkers and other people around me about this trip.  Is work letting you do this?  Well, they didn't promote it, but they didn't say no.  I am probably pushing the boundaries more than most employers prefer, but adventures like these keep me coming back to work with renewed passion.  And I am actually quite productive when there is no one to talk to during the work day.  So, my point is, many people said - but what about....  What is something you want to do?  What are the obstacles in your way?  Have you tried to face them, or do you just assume that someone would say no?

 

Day 24 - 28

Day 24

We made it to Yosemite last night after- yes- a long car day. We all were melting down around 7:30, so we found a pullout, made dinner and went to bed. I don’t like breaking those rules, but we didn’t want to drive another hour just to drive back in the morning, and it is offseason, and we were out by sunrise. My excuses are done. And it was a great night sleep - Kolton didn’t make a peep all night. 

We got into the village around sunrise, and thankfully had time to figure it all out because that place is not made for trailers! We found a spot for the trailer, unhooked, made a long-awaited pancake breakfast in the trailer, and went to learn about backcountry permits. As we drove, I got the email that we didn’t get a half dome cables permit. I will say it was disappointing, but Narendra was positive, and we were optimistic about getting a good backcountry permit. When we walked up the lady said that all of the half dome spots were gone. She asked us what other trails we wanted to do, and we were a little dumbfounded. We went and looked at a few trails and got in line inside. When we got to the desk we told her we went to Cathedral Lakes and she said it was open. Then we said we wanted to do two nights and asked if we could go to half dome the second night. She said yes, so we decided to do a one-way trip from Cathedral Lakes to have to go down to Yosemite Village. As she was ringing me up she told me we owed $20 for the cables permit. I was a little confused but I thought everyone had to pay for it with the backpacking permits. Then she started reading me the rules of the cables and I stopped her and asked if we were allo
wed to go up. She said oh yeah I don’t you want to. I was shocked and excited. After two failed lotteries this seemed almost too easy. But alas we got a permit for that night, which was another surprise as we were expecting a Sunday night permit, and we were going on a 20 mile jaunt including half dome cables.

We skipped on out of the wilderness office and started preparing. The first call was to ask my parents if this was an OK plan. Thankfully they like being grandparents and said yes. We went to the store, we organized the camper, we ate some lunch, we got Kolton a nap, and then we took the trailer down to meet my parents at their hotel.  There was a lot of excitement about our upcoming plans, but we also got to shower in their hotel room. That was a huge bonus. After 17 trips of transferring Kolton’s stuff and our stuff we we’re off towards park- the whole fam.  My parents dropped us off at Cathedral lake trailhead around 330 which gave us just enough time to hike into the cathedral Lakes and set up tents before sunset.  We heated up for mac & cheese and chicken and enjoyed a lovely dinner on the water. It was beautiful for the few minutes before the sun went down. We were in our tent before sunset, and didn’t come out because it was so cold.

 

Day 25

Today we woke up to some beautiful views, anxiously awaited sunrise to warm things up, and did some nice morning yoga to stretch ourselves out.  We then hiked from cathedral lakes to near the half dome trailhead, via Clouds Rest. This was a 16 mile day with probably 2000 ft of elevation gain. This route was longer than the 12 mile flat Muir trail we initially planned on taking, but our detour to sunset lakes and clouds rest made for some amazing lake and high point views. The Muir trail still had a lot to offer in the first 7 miles from slabs to spires to meadows to forest. It was beautiful! But Clouds Rest was an amazing vantage point above Half Dome with 360 views.

 

Tonight we are resting our legs and bodies, camping off the main trail near a creek.  I wish that lady hadn’t told me about the bears- it makes falling asleep a long process. 

Day 26

We did the cables! After a leisurely morning where Narendra gained control of his anxiety, we enjoyed an oatmeal breakfast and packed up camp to be on the road by 7:30. The hike in was full of beautiful views of half dome with sunrise colors. We hit the cables around 8:30 after a steep hike up the small dome. I realized (or so I thought) that o didn’t have my gloves- knit gloves. So Narendra found some gloves left behind on the cables. That was a saving grace because my knot gloves- which were in my bag- would never have worked. It was steep and slippery and gorgeous and dangerous all at the same time. It requires hoisting my upper body and shimmying my feet from one cable bar to the next. But getting to the top of half dome and seeing the entire park as the sun was rising was absolutely beautiful. It was a reminder of how small we are and how narrow our views are when we can only see from the road or trail.  Then we did the decent and realized how many people were coming up the cables... and how many more people were coming up on the hike! We probably passed 100 people- some who had hiked from the village. When we came down I realized how hard that hike is from the village! My legs were beat as we were rounding out our 30 mile trip. The downhill was steep and rocky and just plain painful.  I wish I could have enjoyed it more because there were beautiful waterfalls and awesome trails (kudos to these trail maintainers as these were the best trails I have seen!). Eventually we made it down, and my legs almost quit when I had to go another 0.4 miles to meet my parents where they could park the car. Eventually we found them- and Kolton. I realized how much I missed him. Narendra and I talked about him often, wondering what he was doing or if he was sleeping or if he would want to do this with us in the future. But it was so good to see him and squeeze his cheeks- he’s a bit of a chunker these days.

We got pizza and beer with my parents and Kolton at Half Dome Village which was the perfect celebration to a successful trip. We were limping and walking funny from sore legs, but we were thankful no one got hurt or had problems. 

We then treated ourselves to a nice hotel room where my parents were staying. It was glorious! We had hot showers, fully charged devices, and a BED! It was so lovely, I didn’t even care about missing sunset in the valley. I loved watching the broncos on TV and sitting rocking Kolton to sleep. 

Day 27

Owwwww... it hurt to get out of bed. Everything. But a little stroll to see Kolton- my parents watched him another night- was helpful. He apparently was a trooper sleeping for them, only waking up once to get a bottle and then went right back to bed.

We had a delicious buffet breakfast this morning. My parents said Kolton was a hit, but we didn’t realize it until an Asian girl came up and asked to hold him and took a picture with him. That was a first. 

We had a nice leisurely day working a little in the village, eating lunch at the majestic hotel fancy dining hall, and then walking around El Capitan and taking photos at the overlook. It was a perfect way to rest our bodies and hang with my parents. We learned that Kolton is very spoiled. 

And tonight we had to come back to reality, pack up all our things, and trek down toward town for an RV Park and internet.

Day 28

This was a laundry and catch up on work day.  We got pretty good internet at the RV Park in Oakhurst, and my parents missed Kolton enough to stop by and hang out with him for a bit longer, so it was a productive day!  We did dishes, cleaned, worked, showered (yes this counts as an activity), and did laundry.  These are actually very rewarding days after a lot of outdoor adventuring.

Day 23

There is just always so much to be doing. Either the weather is beautiful today for the place were going tomorrow has epic hiking or there’s a sunset that we should chase. It is exhausting. I kind of just want a day to be in an ugly place in rainy weather so I don’t feel like I’m missing anything.

There’s also a fine balance between planning the crap out of an itinerary versus seeing where the wind blows you. I think we have done a good balance so far of having a general idea of what we want to do in certain places and making the most out of our driving times.  Sometimes it is hard to just simplify, sit down and enjoy where we are because there is so much we want to do.

It is along the same struggle as - do I take pictures and capture these memories, or do I just sit here and relax and soak it all in?

There is always an inner battle of do more, now sit and enjoy.  Turns out this day was a lot of sitting in the car, and less enjoying.  We had a long drive back and forth to shuttle Narendra on his mountain bike ride on the Flume Trail.  We dropped him off, sat in construction traffic, picked up the trailer, then sat in more construction traffic, then picked him up.  After this, we spent another 4 hours driving to Yosemite.  After a gas stop where we paid $4.69 per gallon, we were on our way into the park.  We got to the park, exhausted, and spent another night poaching a pullout in a National Park.

Day 21-22

We have been to some beautiful places, but oh my Lake Tahoe is amazing! I am partial because of all the work trips I have made out here, but it has everything. It has mountains, lakes, snow, sun, and every outdoor activity we could dream up! 

I took a half day yesterday to bike around the lake- from Incline to South Lake Tahoe. It was 45 miles of pristine views, challenging hills, undulating paths, and the icing on the cake was a glimpse of the construction of a project I worked on designing! This amazing ride was on my bucket list since I drove this road back in 2012. And it lived up and exceeded every expectation.

 

 To top this off we caught an amazing sunset on the beach where Kolton was trying to touch the sky. It was almost the perfect day! Here is what I am learning- find what makes you happy and figure out a way to do it. This made me happy.

 

I am learning that good things are worth the work. Like shooting stars requires getting out side when the warm bed is calling. And Long bike rides require being away from work for an afternoon.  But the sacrifices are totally worth it. These are the memories I will take me long after that work task is complete, and I can always sleep tomorrow.

Kolton has been a trooper getting in a lot of new teeth while on this trip. He got his third one on the bottom and his fourth one on the top is almost in.  This has meant a lot of buggery faces and Kleenex, but also a sweet smile! He is getting good at saying mama and oh wow. He also really loves laughing when other people laugh, and he loves clapping for himself. He is also standing up trying to balance. He’s taken a step here and there but hasn’t fully walked yet. And best of all he is starting to enter a mama phase. He reaches for me, and he holds my hand occasionally. To all my new mama friends this is a good milestone! 

 We spent much of the day working at McDonald’s today because I like the idea of Kolton being able to play at the play place, and they had good WiFi. This was Narendra‘s hell to be surrounded by people who eat McDonald’s all day. Kolton did have fun and made some friends, but I’m not sure that’s our ideal work situation.

We did a nice evening hike above Emerald Bay to Eagle Lake.  We saw a few people toward the bottom, and we had the lake to ourselves where Kolton chatted with the birds for a while.  It is so fun to watch him learn, and to see what he picks up on.  He thought he mastered the selfie stick too, but he was better with the hiking poles than the selfie stick.

 

 

We stayed in a nice RV park the last 2 nights, which I am learning is probably worth it. Not only are the showers nice, but the people are just a little more our people. There are characters everywhere, but these characters at least have their cracks covered up! Tonight we got real lucky and are camping on the beach of Lake Tahoe. It is just down the street from our sunset spot last night. Narendra decided to make it an early night because we have been on the go a lot. I decided to take advantage of campfires being allowed. So here’s the scene. I am sitting here watching shooting stars. Kolton is wrapped up a sleeping bag in my lap asleep. We are laying on the crash pad next to a campfire that I did all by myself.  Lake Tahoe is about to file in the tall trees are creating night shadows above us. This is what camping is all about. I do love my home and my bed, but there’s something about sleeping outside that is good for this soul.