I started officially planning this trip to California in August of 2021, but really it goes back to the summer of 2018 when I laid in bed so sick with my ulcerative colitis that I couldn't imagine ever being able to hike again. There was one weekend where a false reading on an ultra-sound made me think I had liver cancer on top of everything else, and I was fairly convinced I would just die. Among the many practical thoughts that coursed through my brain at the idea of passing away prematurely (mostly to-do lists) I had only one major regret: that I'd never gotten out to California to see the giant sequoias and redwoods. Two significant surgeries, a 40th birthday, and a pandemic later, it was time to just do it. The kids were finally old enough to undergo the arduous 6-hour flight and were capable of longer hikes. They were old enough to probably even remember the trip. Plus, California was burning and I needed to get out there before my trees were all gone. (About a month after I started working on the trip, the KNP Complex fire did burn through Sequoia National park.)
So, in August when Alice had COVID-19 and we were all stuck at home for a while, I got to work figuring out the logistics of the trip. The first step was to spend countless hours studying google maps to figure out where to go. I had the vague idea of a road trip in a loop. I also got some guide books out at the library to get a list of the best places to see. My original plan had us going north and south and had way too much driving for a mere 12 days. Eventually Zac and I decided on a mid-southern loop: start in San Francisco, drive south along the coast a bit, go over to Sequoia National Park and up to Yosemite National Park, then back over to San Francisco. It took countless hours to even map out the framework of the trip, then countless more hours to research and reserve flights, a rental car, and hotels in each place. That was phase one.
For phase two, deciding what to actually do in each location, I waited until late March. Even then, it was a bit difficult to plan because some things were still closed from the winter, some were closed due to pandemic restrictions (or just hadn't updated their websites since the omicron surge died down), and some were closed because we would be there before the true tourist season started in May. Eventually I got a rough outline of fun activities to do each day and started to get really excited about the trip. There were some low points early on, like finding out one of the hotels I reserved in Sequoia National Park was closed due to fire damage, or that some really awesome tree groves were closed due to fire damage, but luckily enough survived that there were still places to go.
It took so much time to plan and prepare and figure out this trip. We'd never travelled like this before and this was totally new terrain. On top of all that, I had a ton of work to do in advance to prepare for missing a mere three days of school. It was also peak Phoenix Fest preparation time, so I had to prepare materials and emails and forms and documents to all auto-send out while I was gone. To put it simply, I was stressed out from working around the clock planning the trip and preparing work stuff.
So when we finally set out on Wednesday afternoon, I was ready to reap what I had sown. I picked the kids up from the school carpool line around 4pm (since the bus doesn't drop them off until about 4:40 or later). Zac had worked from home, so he got the house all prepped for departure. Our neighbor Kelly kindly offered to go with us to the airport and drive our van home so we wouldn't have to pay for parking for two weeks or fret about a cab not showing up on time. We left our humble house around 4:30 pm on Wednesday and finally set out for our great adventure. We had a minor traffic jam on the way to the airport, but still arrived with plenty of time to eat our sandwiches and fill our water bottles while waiting to board our flight. We took off around 6:45 pm.
Alice and I sat next to each other in front of Zac and Simon, so both kids could have window seats. Although technically they've both flown before (a little plane at the beach that took us up for half an hour several years ago), this was their first real flight. They seemed to enjoy the thrill of departing from the earth and looking out the window as everything got smaller. Simon had been quite worried about airplane crashes, so he asked a lot of questions every time there was turbulence, but mostly took it all in stride. The distraction of the switch (handheld gaming device) helped a lot too. Alice also soon acclimated to being thousands of feet above ground, and turned to her books and electronics for entertainment. Overall, the flight went smoothly and both kids even slept a bit. The mask mandate was still in effect in airports and on flights, so everyone wore masks except when they were eating.
We arrived in San Francisco around 9:45 pm local time. We successfully collected all our luggage (they ended up gate-checking our carry-ons, which was quite convenient) and boarded the shuttle bus to our hotel. We were exhausted but exhilarated to finally be in California!
