August 28, 2008

Manzanar War Relocation Center

After we left Tuolumne Meadows we visited Manzanar on the way home. It was one of 10 relocation camps that the Japanese were forced to go to during World War II.
It is now a National Historic Site. All of the buildings are gone - there are just signs showing where the buildings used to be.
This is the visitor center and museum.
A memorial and an empty road at Manzanar.

Hike to Elizabeth Lake

On Wednesday we hiked to Elizabeth Lake - 4.5 miles round trip.
It was a beautiful hike and along the way Matthew took time to do a little posing! = - )
Our destination... Elizabeth Lake.
We waded out to this rock in the lake and enjoyed God's creation.
And then it was time to start the hike back to our campground.

Tuolumne Meadows

We began our trip with only 3 Hubbards (the other 3 were at band camp for the week) and our traditional boba milk tea for the road.
It was already night when we arrived.
We set up the tent in the dark (very dark...no electricity anywhere in the whole campground) and then saw that we had a great campsite when we woke up in the morning.
A visit to the visitors center for a passport stamp and a park sign picture - 2 musts we have to do at every national park we visit.
Doug worked at the Tuolumne Grill one summer way back in 1984 - 24 years ago!
This beautiful spot was one of many in Tuolumne Meadows.
Doug found a nice resting spot and Matthew played.
And I took lots of pictures - so pretty.
Back at camp Matthew helped make chicken fajitas for one meal and another night we had foil dinners.

This is the bear box where we kept all our food so that the bears wouldn't come by for a little snack. We also played a lot of Skipbo and Matthew was very happy when he finally won the 3rd game.

This is one of the sunsets we saw from our campground. Every night after dark we sat around the campfire drinking hot chocolate and trying different campfire recipes.

Because of the sever water shortage in Yosemite the showers were shut down for the summer - so no showers for 3 days and this is what Matthew's feet looked like before the foot washing at our campsite. Yuck!

Time to head back to LA - only 332 miles to go.

August 25, 2008

Yosemite...Here We Come!

The three of us are going camping in Yosemite National Park this week while our teenagers are at band camp.
We will be staying at the campground in Tuolumne Meadows. Doug and I are especially looking forward to a nice relaxing week and Matthew is happy to have his parents all to himself.