18. Memorial Weekend at Plumas Eureka

Winter was late this year, and there some concern the park would even open for Memorial weekend. And the forecast had been ‘iffy’, so there was even some issue as to whether we would go or not. But the weather cleared and we headed up Friday morning with the others to join the next day.

 On the way up we encountered more and more snow on the ground and in the trees, and when we got to Basset’s, the Gold Lakes road was still closed (opened later that day it turns out). When we got to our campsite there literally was a tractor cleaning snow out of the driveway.

I set up camp quickly and made a ‘tent city’ in case we got rain…which we did not…phew! It got down to 33 that night, and with the thermostat set at 57 it cycled frequently all night. Once the sun came over the ridge in the morning, it warmed up quite nicely. I took both propane tanks into town and had them topped off so we wouldn’t face the chance or running out of gas in the middle of the night with all the Cancholas in the trailer with us ;-)

Chris, Mak, Zach and Olivia arrived later in the morning, followed a little later by Susie, Robert, Lily and RJ. We booked two sites (mainly for the extra parking), and Chris set up their new tent across the drive from our site. That arrangement really worked out well, as I parked the truck over there and Susie was able to park their van in front of the trailer.

The snow on the ground added a great new dimension for the kids. It was warm enough that they didn’t need to wear lots of warm clothing to play in the snow, and they all had a ball. And of course everyone had fun throwing rocks in the river (ok, creek).

It was really a fun family weekend…but we missed Kasandra and Chloe ;-(

Here is a link to more pictures;  Link to pics

 

17. Yosemite with Mak and Zak

We left home Monday early and picked up an excited Mak and Zak in Roseville.  It then took another 5 hours to get into the Park and to our site.  The most exciting part of the drive down was going up the Priest Grade just before Groveland.  That road is just NOT FUN towing a 5th wheel!!!

Although we had taken a lot of firewood down with us, with the cold/wet weather that had been forecast I figured we better get out right away and collect more (before the rain hit).  So as soon as I set the trailer and put up a tarp over the fire pit the kids and I took off to do some picture taking and firewood collecting....and it's good we did because it really started raining later that night!  (but we did actually bring home some wood after the trip...which can be used for our next trip!)

On Tuesday it pretty much rained all day...as was expected.  We drove the kids over to the Visitor Center and had a really great time looking around...and the kids loved it!  But we didn't let the weather bother us as we were well prepared.  After lunch in the 5er I then took them for a walk around the campground, down by the river, and around the meadow...umbrellas in hand!  We had a lot of fun being adventurous.

On Wed. we woke to find that it had snowed over night...and in fact was still snowing.  This too was in the forecast, but it was still a nice surprise...it was BEAUTIFUL.  After breakfast we went for a wonderful walk up to Happy Isles and then after lunch we spent some time inside playing a vigorous game of National Park Monopoly.  And of course I took MANY MANY pics that day.

Thursday was clear, and therefore VERY cold.  All the water in our water jugs outside was frozen, and the indoor/outdoor thermometer said it was 29 degrees outside (but a cozy 57 in side...thanks to the new thermostat!).  After a nice big breakfast we drove over to the Lodge, and walked up to the base of lower Yosemite Falls which was wonderful...and the kids really enjoyed climbing the rocks along the way.

After that walk we stopped at the store for some ice cream (yes, we did get some funny looks...but that's what the kids wanted!) and souvenirs and drove around some more to take more pics.

That afternoon JB needed some quiet time, so I took M/Z for a walk up to the base of Bridal Veil Falls, and then we stopped at a couple of spots for them to expend some energy by climbing more rocks.

The rain forecasted for that afternoon never arrived, so I was able to pretty much dismantle all our tarps that evening which then helped us break camp early on Friday so we could head home and get ready for a busy Easter weekend.

All in all we had a GREAT time...but somehow on the way down I must have lost a piece of wood from the back of the truck that hit our drain valve on the fresh water tank.  It was full when we left home, and empty when we got there...now I have something else to fix!  (Good thing I had some duct tape with me...and lots of empty water jugs!)

Link to more pictures

16. New Thermostat

Prior to heading to Yosemite I decided to make a giant jump and switch out the old 'coil' type manual slide thermostat with a new digital one.  While JB was at Wally World shopping I had her stop by the thermostat dept., and said if they had a Hunter digital to give me a call...they did, model 32995...for under $20.

Then I had to figure out how to install it.

I found the below site and was blown away by the fact that it provided an exact wire by wire diagram of how to match up the wires (6 vs 4); Converting to Hunter Digital Thermostat

It took about 20 minutes to install, and I then tested it in both the A/C and heating modes...and it worked great!

Then we gave it the acid test by using it in Yosemite.