August 11, 2026 

9.5 hours to get from Scottsdale to Sequoia National Park.  Not a bad drive.  Scienic in some places.  Boring in others.  We checked into our VRBO first thing.  Pics below.  Then headed to the Park with two objectives.  See General Sherman tree, which is the largest in the world.  We wanted to see this first thing because it is later in the day and our hope was that there would be fewer visitors.  We were correct.  Not much traffic at all.  Second, we wanted to climb the Moro Rock and take pictures at sunset.  We accomplished this also.  Did not get back to the room until about 9:30 so guesss what?  We missed our opportunity to get dinner since everything closes at 9PM.  We anticipated this so we brought snacks.

August 12, 2026 

Back to the National Park first thing in the morning.  Lots of driving, sightseeing and hikes.  We even got to see some black bears.  Teresa was more excited than you can imagine.  She has been hunting bear for the past 4 years.  They are black bears.  Did you know black bears can be any color from black to a blond color.  Black bears are much safer to encounter than brown grizzly bears.

August 13, 2026 

Today we traveled to Lake Tahoe, a 9.5 hour drive.  Some of it was very scienic but we did not stop to take pictures.  Rode bikes around a portion of the lake just to get a lay of the land but I did not have my phone so no pictures.  Tomorrow will be a great picture taking day.

August 14, 2026 

Today we drive around Lake Tahoe.  You can do it in about 4 hours if you dont stop but of course we stop all the time so it took most of the day.  Lots of great overlooks and views of the magnificant lake.  I highly recommend a visit to Lake Tahoe.  We want to plan another trip and bring the kids.  They would love it.

After driving around the lake we decided to go to a beach for some swimming.  There are many wonderful beaches but beware, most of them are private so you cant always get in.  First we went to a beach close by.  We had a pass which we got from our hotel which allowed us to get in (after we paid).  Problem was the parking lots were already full so we could not park at the beach.  Rather than driving around town looking for a parking spot we opted to drive a bit and find a beach with open parking.  Ended up at Chimney Beach.  Little did we know it was a .5 mile hike through the forest to get to the beach.  Once there it was a really nice beach.  Small but with great views.  Lots of people but I think you just have to get used to that.

August 15, 2026 

Today we booked a paddle boat tour of the lake.  We boarded at the Zephyr Beach.  It was a nice ride but not as eventful as we had hoped.  Basically, it takes you across the lake (1hr), motors around the Emerald Bay (15min) and then heads back to the dock.  Seeing Emerald Bay was very nice.  We had seen it on our scienic drive yesterday so it was wonderful seeing it up close.  We will go back to Emerald Bay tomorrow for some hiking.  After the cruise we stayed at the beach for some relaxation and swimming.  It was nice but crowded.  Seems like I am always the oldest person at the beach when we go.

August 16, 2026 

Today we did some hiking and some biking.  FIrst we hiked a couple of trails we wanted to experience.  Before breakfast we hiked up the mountain to see the Monkey Rock.  After breakfast we hiked Eagle Falls (not much water running in the falls this time of year) and Vikingsholm on Emerald Bay.  Vikingsholm is a 38-room historic mansion located on the shores of Emerald Bay.  Widely considered one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture in North America, Hiked down to the historic home on the beach and took a tour.  Very cool story about this house.  You should google it.  After that we went on a bike ride for about 20 miles.  No pictures though.  We intended to bike to the Olympic Village but took a wrong turn and never made it.  Road around part of the lake and then along a river but nothing picture worthy.  Still a nice ride.  FInally, we went to the top of a peak to watch the sun set.  Got a few nice pics from that.

August 17, 2026 

Today we slept in, then went on one 7 mile hike, in and out.  The trail is Incline Flune Trail.  Not much elevation because we are already above 6,000 ft but it was a very different trail from the ones around the lake.  Got some nice pictures.  Afterwards we did laundry.  Well, Teresa did laundry, I wondered around town.  Going out to dinner tonight at a place that is supposed to be a closely guarded secret.  Not advertised anywhere on social media but we heard it is really good.  I will update you tomorrow.

August 18, 2026 

Headed to Yosemite National Park today.  Arrived mid day and went on two hikes, actually one trail that took us to two places.  Dog Lake and the Lembert Dome.  The view from the top of the dome was amazing.

August 19, 2026 

Back to the Yosemite today.  Planning a long, full day of hiking.  First we needed to get the obligitory picture of the park enterance sign.

We hiked a gruling 10 mile hike with 2,800 feet of elevation.  We went all the way around the Nevada Falls and back down the other side.  We thought we were lost a few times but made it home safe.  After the long hike we decided to partake in a video highlighting Yosemite at the main park station.  It was also enlightning.

August 20, 2026 

Drove to Mammoth lake.  Mammoth lake is a ski resort in Nevada.  Never heard of it but Teresa was told we should stop by on our way home.  Who told her that you ask, well AI of course.  Great recommendation.  We originally intended to stay one night and head home but the area was so intriguing and had so much to see we extended our stay for another night.

On the way to Mammoth we stopped by a lesser know atraction, Hetch Hetchy.  Hetch Hetchy is a valley, reservoir, and water system in California in the United States. The glacial Hetch Hetchy Valley lies in the northwestern part of Yosemite National Park and is drained by the Tuolumne River. It is a nice drive getting to the reservior and it is really quite pretty.  There is even a tunnel you can walk through as you go over the bridge of the dam.  What I found interesting was all the signs  telling you there was no swimming of any type.  Apparently, this reservior feeds San Fransisco and accounts for 85% of their water supply.  Of course, my thought was there was no type of security at the dam so you could do what you want while there.  Seems like a ver soft target for anyone trying to do harm to the US.  Just saying......

August 21, 2026 

Lots of hiking today.  Need to get to as much as we can since we head home early tomorrow.

First hike is Hot Creek Geologic Site.  The Hot Creek Geologic Site is an active geothermal canyon in Mammoth Lakes, California. Heated by a deep magma chamber, boiling water and steam burst through rock fractures, creating stunning turquoise pools and bubbling fumaroles.  The creek running along the site is a combination of typical creek water and hot bath water.  There are cracks in the creek bed that leak down to the molten rock below the surface and heats the water.  Literally, in some spots the water is hot and in others it is cool.

Inyo Crater, Formed roughly 600 to 700 years ago by powerful volcanic steam explosions, these massive, deep pits feature striking, mineral-rich turquoise water at their bottoms and are surrounded by a dense pine forest. 

The Postpile, formed about 80,000 to 100,000 years ago by cooling basaltic lava, it stands as one of the world's premier examples of symmetrical, near-perfect hexagonal columns. Glaciers later sheared the top of the formation, creating a unique surface that looks like a hand-laid geometric tile floor 

Rainbow Falls, a spectacular 101-foot waterfall located on the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River within Devils Postpile National Monument

Obsidian Dome, a massive, 300-foot-high mountain of volcanic glass located in Mono County, California, just off Highway 395 between Mammoth Lakes and June Lake.  I even brought some rock home with me

August 22, 2026 

Head out early in the  morning for a 10 hour drive.  We had a wonderful trip.  A few take aways.  FIrst, we want to go back to Lake Tahoe next summer when we need to escape Arizona heat.  Might even make it an anual thing, who knows.  Second, is Teresa commented that she thinks the Mammoth Lake time might have been the most exciting and interesting part of the trip.  Since it was just an add on based on AI recommendations this was surprising.  I am still contemplating the ranking of the two parks we visited.  They were both great.  Just not sure where they fall on the NP rankings.  If you are interested just  click on the link to see our complete list of parks visited.  They may get shuffled a bit once I have time to digest this trip.