China Lake Museum - Yosemite National Park - to San Francisco

Saturday

On Saturday we went to China Lake Naval Base in Ridgecrest to go to the Naval Air Weapons Station. When we got there we looked at all the missiles and bombs created there. The room that I liked the most was the Briefing Room. Karl and I spent most of the time at the museum in the museum gift shop. The Gift Shop owner let us play with a toy that was open. China Lake Naval Base was designed to develop and test missiles and bombs made there. There were also model planes made there. There were a lot of missiles and bombs at the museum. There were some planes outside the museum.

After the museum we went to Fresno. On the way to Fresno we stopped at a gas station ( petrol station ). At the Gas we bought an ice cream each. I had a Magnum Ice Cream, Karl had an Ice Block which he did not like, Mama had a big Oreo Cookie with Ice Cream in it and Papa had a BIG piggy Cookie Ice Cream.

Sunday

From Fresno we went to Yosemite National Park. Once we got to Yosemite National Park we went to Mariposa Grove. We saw Giant Sequoia Trees including the Grizzly Giant and the California Tunnel Tree.  Sequoia trees are the widest and oldest trees alive.  They have red wood.  They are not the tallest because the top of them gets struck by lightning so Californian Redwoods are the tallest as they are on the coast and do not get the lightning strikes.

When we went into Yosemite Valley, we had our first views of Half Dome and El Capitan. We were staying in room 445 at Camp Curry. Our tent had a heater, one double bed and two single beds. We needed to store all our food in the bear proof locker outside our tent. Our tent had a rock outside it which Karl and I liked playing on. We saw a woodpecker on the way to our camp.

We had food at Camp Curry. We had a pizza for dinner. We ordered a 15 inch pizza for all of us to share for dinner.

Monday

We went to the village to pick up our Junior Ranger book. The book cost money. We went to the Indian village to look around. We also went to Bridalviel Falls. The fifth biggest waterfall in the world in Yosemite.

Tuesday

We went to see Vernall Falls.  We had to climb up 700 steps carved into the rock to get to the top of the falls.  There was a rainbow at the bottom of the falls.  We got wet from the waterfall.  We had dinner at the Yosemite Lodge at the Falls Food Court.

Wednesday

We went to Hetch Hetchy Valley, which is 40 miles drive from Yosemite Valley but is still part of Yosemite National Park.  Driving to and from Hetch Hetchy, we drove through an area of the forst that had been burned in the 3rd largest Californian fire. When John Muir saw Hetch Hetchy, he thought it was more beautiful than Yosemite Valley.  But after the 1906 earthquakes and fires in San Francisco, a dam was built at the end of Hetch Hetchy Valley to provide water and hydoelectric power for the city.  The valley was flooded, and now it isn't as beautiful.  There are not as many trees and the valley floor is under water.

Thursday

Today we packed and left Yosemite National Park and valley, and drove away.  Our first stop was near Stockton, at Sambardos, where they sort cherries, walnuts and apples.  The boss was Lawrence, who we met, and who let us drive in his golf cart and have lunch there.  We saw one of the machines that Papa has been designing.  Compac designed the biggest cherry sorting machine in the world and the chief designer of it was our dad and it was here at Sambardo.

Then we went to San Francisco and drove over the Bay Bridge then went to our hotel.  We then went to find some dinner and buy some groceries for breakfast.

This bombs predecessor killed 100s of 1,000s of people in Nagasaki to end WWII

This is a Tomahawk missile

We drove past more Joshua Trees

Playing volleyball on the way to Yosemite

Photos from Mariposa Grove

Camp Curry and our tent

Yosemite Valley and wildlife (Stellar's jay, Woodpecker, mule deer, squirrel)

Awesome black and white Yosemite Valley photos (like Ansel Adams)

Hetch Hetchy Valley