Sequoia National Park--The Day

We got a reasonably good night's sleep in our tents, and once we'd cleaned ourselves up the best we could with no showers (ick!), we grabbed some breakfast, tidied up our campsite, and took off to see the park.

We made a stop at the Visitor's Center first, and made sure to pick up Junior Ranger kits for Josh and Abby--they've worked on those packets at many of the national parks in the western US, and have quite the collection of Junior Ranger badges and patches.

We had a picnic lunch in the shade outside the Center while we waited for a shuttle bus to take us deeper into the park.

Abby decided to get a jump start on her Junior Ranger packet while the boys did their best to polish off an entire package of cookies.

Then it was onto the shuttle bus, and off to see the park! 

 

We took a walk around a lovely meadow, and were amazed at the size of everything!

 

Look at the height of those flowers!

For all you Lord of the Rings fans out there, our boys titled this tree,

"Ent sucking on giant jawbreaker".

We made sure to take our turn getting a photo with the *largest tree in the world, General Sherman.

*not the tallest, not the widest, but the tree with the most volume of wood overall.

Then it was time for Josh and Abby to turn in their completed Ranger packets, sign their names, and take the Oath of the Junior Ranger.

A successful day.  Now it's back to the campsite for dinner and s'mores!