Kate & Alex: California Trip

OK, here they are! Our pics from California. Forgive me; I know there are a lot of pics (50), but I pared it down from the 523 I took!

Kate on the dance floor at Nick and Sheryl's wedding in Berkeley (the reason we went to California). She really tore it up on the dance floor.

At the hotel in Berkeley.

At UC Berkeley Faculty Club for a post-wedding brunch

Kate and Liam (Nick's nephew), both 18 mos old.

We spent two nights in Berkeley and then drove to Sacramento. I didn't take any pics in Sacramento. Boo. We had a great time our with (American) friends from England, Ross and Amber. We spent one night and then drove 3.5 hours the the southern entrance of Yosemite National Park. We spend two nights in Yosemite.

At the Tenaya Lodge in Fish Camp, right outside Yosemite. Our room at the Wawona Hotel in Yosemite was cancelled at the last minute and they put us up in the swankier Tenaya. We fit right in.

Yosemite falls- the tallest waterfall in North America.

Yosemite is very large. Kate was a trooper as we drove place to place.

Glacier Point, Yosemite. We were at 8,000 feet!

The famous Half Dome

The view of Yosemite falls from Glacier Point

View of Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point

Kate was amazed by the Jeffrey and Sugar Pine cones. Huge! We spent a good part of our time in the parks on cone hunts.

We then drove 3 hours to the southern part of Sequoia National Park and spent the night in Three Rivers. We spent the next day driving from southern Sequoia into southern King's Canyon National Park.

Papa and Kate in the Giant Forest

The Sequoias were really large, beautiful, and OLD. The oldest we saw was 2,700 years old (the oldest living tree known in the world).

The upside of touring the national parks in October is the lack of tourists. Downside? Lots of road work. We got caught in a one hour road stop in Sequoia, so we jumped out of the car for an impromptu picnic.

A downed tree on the General Grant tree trail in King's Canyon. Crazy.

A Sugar Pine cone to write home about.

Kate in front of the 2,300 year old General Grant Sequoia. She is definitely more interested in the pine cones. She had a bit of trouble seeing the forest for the trees in the park! There is nothing like an 18 month old to make you stop and appreciate every detail.

Stopping to appreciate the trees.

We then drove to Joshua Tree National Park. We left King's Canyon area after Kate's bedtime and drove 7 hours. We arrived at 1 AM and spent the next day in the park. Above is the Inn that Gram Parsons died in. We stayed across the street.

It was neat to go from sweatshirts to sundresses. It was about 75 degrees in the high desert (5,000 ft here) and 85-90 in the desert valley. Unlike the northern national parks, October is Joshua Tree's peak season because of the mild temperatures. We didn't find it too crowded, though.

Mama and Kate

Cap Rock

Cap Rock is incredible. To quote Steve, it is like being on another planet.

Kate and papa find a desert oasis

We then drove 2.5 hours to San Diego and stayed 2 nights with our friends from Boston, Ed and Amanda and their 16 month old son, Ben.