Faith Thinks Her Grandpa Is Funny
this smile stole my heart
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Archive for May, 2008
25th Wedding Anniversary
Alana and I just returned home from a nice vacation, during which we celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary in Yosemite. This post will mostly be about the vacation, but I mention the anniversary for two reasons:
1) In case you might want to pick up a small gift (or send money) to commemorate the event.
2) To present evidence that another human being actually CAN live with me for 25 years.
Let’s get started. (That was for Cameron, who just received a perfect grade in his Public Speaking class.)
Click on the thumbnails to see bigger pictures 😉
We left on the FZ1 after church Sunday. It was HOT and dry, and we were in full gear. But we were excited to get away, and the heat wasn’t bad once we got moving.
We rode almost six hours Sunday afternoon (including a fuel stop, and a stop at Arby’s). We stayed in Three Rivers that night, at the Lazy-J Ranch. I LOVE that place. This was my second stay there, and if you ever need to stay near Sequoia National Park, i recommend staying at the Lazy J!
All of these pictures were taken just steps from our room!
We got a good night’s sleep and sallied forth Monday morning into Sequoia National Park
There was still some snow on the ground in the shadows in the higher elevations.
We spent most of Monday, and Monday night at the Montecito Sequoia Lodge. We didn’t have a camera with us most of the time…sorry. We rowed a canoe on the pond, hiked, ate, napped under some really tall pine trees, and tried to decompress. The Sequoias sure are a pretty part of the world!
After a nice breakfast in the lodge Tuesday morning, we loaded up the bike and pointed her toward Yosemite.
Road repair caused the closure of a few roads in Yosemite, requiring detours that made my simple maps worthless. Somewhere along the way i made a wrong turn, and we stopped to regroup in Mariposa, which is about 40 miles south of where we wanted to be. But the roads from Maripose to Yosemite Lakes were awesome!!!
Yosemite lakes is a camp ground. We stayed in a “yurt”. A yurt is like a tent-style hotel room. It has fabric walls, but it also has plumbing, heating, air conditioning, electricity, TV, kitchen, and an alarm clock! Even the skylight had a nice view!!
Graham and Michelle came up for a couple of days. We walked around Yosemite, enjoyed the falls, and BBQ’d some steaks for dinner. It was very meaningful to us that they drove all the way up to spend a little time with us. Faith thought her Grandpa was pretty funny.
What a beautiful time of year to be in this little slice of heaven!
Alana especially enjoyed the Dogwood trees
Graham took Michelle out to see the countryside on the bike, then we had another nice, albeit too large, meal. Then Graham and Michelle wished us a Happy Anniversary (did I mention that is was our 25th?), and headed home. About an hour after they left it started to rain–not hard, but steadily. So, we stayed inside the yurt for most of the next few days. We ate. We napped. We laughed. We did crossword puzzles, played solitaire, and watched a little TV. We ate a lot, actually. Between the light rain showers, we’d hike along the river, do some laundry, or explore the area a little.
We didn’t get back on the bike until Sunday, when we went to church 🙂
We enjoyed relaxing in the yurt. I got fat, got rested, and once or twice got “the look” from Alana
I can’t think of a better way to spend my 25th wedding anniversary (did I mention that is was our 25th?) than alone with my bride in that peaceful setting. I fell in love with her all over again!
Here are a few more random pictures. Thanks for letting me share!
