Lake Tahoe, Redwood Forest and Crater Lake

I went to Lake Tahoe with my cousin, Hazel and my aunt and uncle, Annie and James. We went on a hike where there was snow. It felt like we were in winter and then like we were in spring. At the end of the hike there was a lake and my uncle and my dad went in it. It was freezing cold. On the way back I slipped in some mud. We got to go swimming every day at our campsite. In the pool, James threw me over his head. We also dove for quarters and nickels.

One day we went climbing and I watched my dad climb with James. When my dad was climbing, we went down because Hazel had to take a nap. The next day we went to the beach on Lake Tahoe. There were lots of Canada geese who were trying to take our food. Hazel didn’t really like the geese. She told them to “get your own food.” Annie shooed them away. At our campsite, we had smores every night. James got marshmallows that were really big. It was fun.

South Lake Tahoe with Annie, James and Hazel

Hazel ready to hike

me and Annie

The cold lake at the top

James was the first to swim

Daddy had to warm up on the rock

Mom, Hazel, Annie and me

That's Lake Tahoe in the background

Hazel at the base of the climb

Daddy and James climbing

We saw this near our campsite

The beach at Lake Tahoe

Canada Geese

We went to the Redwood Forest. It had a bunch of big trees. We went on a hike and we saw hollowed out trees that people lived in. That night we stayed on the beach. Me and Jackson got to play in the sand. The water was cold, so we didn’t really want to go in it. After the beach we had more smores.

The beach near the Redwood Forest

There was a cool teepee there that we used as our fort

Hollowed out Redwood

Our campsite on the beach

The next day we drove to Crater Lake. It is a lake that is in the cauldera of a volcano that erupted 7700 years ago. The lake is made out of rain and snow. Mom says it’s the deepest lake in America. There was lots of snow up there. 

Maggie wanted to see a volcano

Flat Maggie

The park ranger said there was 56 feet of snow up there this year.

Grand Canyon and Zion National Park

We went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was ok, but I was expecting a little bit more. While we were there we went on a hike and we saw deer on the hike. It was the closest I’ve ever been to deer because they didn’t run away.

The Grand Canyon

These are the mule deer.

They didn't even run away.

Then we went to Zion National Park in Utah. When we were at the campground me and Jackson got to go swimming. We went on a big climb. It was sort of a hike at first because we had to get to the bottom of the climb. We got to see petroglyphs on the way. There were also little ponds with tadpoles and a frog. It was really hot there. Me and Jackson got to play in the river at our campsite. We got to make sandcastles. The water was really cold. But when we got our hands in for a while we got used to it.

Our campsite by the river

Climbing in Zion

I got to play in this cave after we went climbing.

The hike to the big climb

These are the pools with the tadpoles in them.

Tadpoles just like in my kindergarten class.

Petroglyphs

At the ice cream store with my daddy.

Now we’re driving to Lake Tahoe to meet my aunt and uncle, Annie and James, and my cousin, Hazel. They live in Alaska.

California Coast

The first thing we did in California was we went on a tram that took us to the top of a really big mountain, called Mt. San Jacinto. It was outside of Palm Springs. We got to climb a little on the rocks at the top of the mountain. Then we went to the ocean. We got to see elephant seals. The girl elephant seals looked like regular seals. But the boy elephant seals had long noses that looked like elephant trunks. They were stinky.

Hiking on top of Mt. San Jacinto

Inside the tram that took us up the mountain

Looking for lizards on top of the mountain.

There were lots of elephant seals.

They were noisy too.

You can sort of see the "trunk" on this one. Mom says he was young.

 While we were driving to our campsite, we got to see along the coast. The ocean was so strong that it went over the big rocks. Then we went to a really really cool campground that had big Redwood trees. We got to take a picture of Lindy with the Redwood trees. That night we had smores. Me and Jackson found sticks that we made into torches.

Flat David at the coast.

Flat Lindy under a Redwood tree.

Flat Lindy

I love making smores.

Me and Jackson playing fort

The next day we hiked to a waterfall. We got to take a picture of Kyan. After the hike, we went to a beach on the Pacific Ocean and we got to take a picture of David. Me and Jackson were playing on the beach there and it was really cold and windy. We got to play on some rocks. We saw starfish, crabs, and anemones in the tide pools. While we were playing on the rocks, Jackson slipped because a wave knocked him over. He got a cut on his fingers and we had to go to the van to bandage him up. After we bandaged him up, me and Mom and Jackson got to make a huge sandcastle.

Me and Jackson on our hike at Big Sur.

Flat David at the Pacific Ocean.

We saw another waterfall, so we took this one of Flat Kyan.

Our sandcastle

Starfish and sea anemone

Starfish

The next day we went to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. We saw sea otters. The jellyfish were the coolest thing. There were also penguins and sea horses that were really cool. We got to see a few shows. One was about how a guy made a car that looked like a boxfish. A boxfish is yellow and looks like a box with black spots on it. They made it that way to use less gas.

Jellyfish at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium

Sea otter

And that is what we did in California. 

P.S.

So here are some other pictures of my Flat Stanley classmates.

Mom's friend's neighbor in Phoenix had a corn snake. So here is Flat Gabe because he wanted to see a snake.

     The snake had just eaten a baby mouse. You can see it in the middle of its tummy.

Here is Flat Mrs. Blackman with  my daddy on top of Mt. McKinley

Ava wanted to see a playground and this is the coolest one we've seen on our trip.

It had a fort like an old fashioned western town. It was really cool.

 Tell Maggie that we're hoping to get to Mt. Saint Helens by the end of the school year so she can see a volcano.