Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Dadcation: Sequoia, Yosemite, Big Sur! Boom!

The mighty Sequoias!

This thing was huge! (still not sure how to rotate pictures in here. Rotate your head instead)

There were some controlled fires going on, which made for a cool effect with the sunlight

This used to be one tree, until my dad split them and pushed them apart

Mighty Mike!

Z boys

McKinley tree i think?

Our camp spot in Sequoia/Kings Canyon: Azalea - this site was pretty cool actually

We found a bent hatchet in a tree and that became a pretty fun game getting it stuck in this stump. Here's Mike with his first success

Shots, hatchet, reading, and fire. Fun!

Here's out the back of our campsite in Yosemite at Bridalveil Falls 

We hiked up on to Sentinel Dome, which was a cool, 1.5 mile-ish hike along stuff like this. The view from atop the dome was insane!

View of Half Dome from Sentinel Dome

Boys in from of El Capitan in the background

Crazy rocks overhanging at Glacier Point. There was an old photo here of two women standing out there on one leg. Pretty nuts. This is up high!

We hiked to Illouette Falls from Glacier Point and got an awesome view of Half Dome the whole way

Half Dome, Vernal Falls, and Nevada Falls

And then we came to this natural waterslide down by Illouette Falls and it was super awesome! The water felt so good here

Like a little kid

First time

Hands in the air!

So much fun

Even Dad got in on it!

View from the waterslide

Half Dome and Illouette Falls

Half Dome is directly behind us. Whoever took this kinda missed the point of taking a photo right here, but this is still an awesome picture

Campground at Bridalveil Creek

Hiking to Vernal Falls along the Mist Trail



Vernal Falls - about 300 feet tall

Some of the trail is a bit sketchy!

Atop Vernal Falls

Mike at the bottom of Nevada Falls - 600 feet tall

600 feet down. Definitely the scariest view I've ever seen

Mike peeking into picture of Nevada Falls and some dome

Relaxing at the river in Yosemite Valley, with Half Dome in the background

Yosemite Valley

Large sea bass at the Monterey Aquarium

Wave simulation - we all got tubed here!

Feeding in the kelp forest tank

Eerie eels

Fish and tank used as decorations 

Jellyfish will never cease to be so weird

Deep sea tank - big fish here

Like hammerhead sharks

awesome sea horse

Point Lobos park/coastline

These guys have such good facial expressions

Otters!!!!!! we think the one on the left had a baby with it too, but it was pretty hard to tell

emerald colored water in some cove

We were all super pumped on this park

Keyholes and awesome coastline. 

Mike got to close to the edge and got soaked by a big wave

This lady was all about timing our picture with a good wave

So was her friend over at this spot

Pretty 

Dad, reflecting

Got 8 of em stacked!

Morning in Big Sur at Limekiln park

In the morning we hiked up two trails in Limekiln park. Easy trails that were really good

One ended at these four old kilns built in the 1850s, which they used to put lime in to purify it.

The trail also split and went to this 100-foot waterfall. It was a good morning hike

Karate kid Mike

Father and son in the central coast

Brothers in the central coast