Camp High Places Session 2

Day 12 - Glacier Point, Giant Sequoia Grove & Sierra Sky Ranch Inn Continued

2006-08-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

Day 12 - Glacier Point, Giant Sequoia Grove & Sierra Sky Ranch Inn

2006-08-18T23:13:00.000-07:00

Day 12 - We woke exactly on time and got out of camper earlier than planned (My gosh teenagers can wake up early!). We had a short drive to Glacier Point in Yosemite. This is the most amazing views of Yosemite you can imagine. Imagine being 7200 feet over the valley at a lookout point looking straight down. Well our campers don't need to imagine they were there today. Yes the grumbled about the short 2 min walk on paved road but they made it again. After we dragged ourselves away from the views we drove down to Mariposa grove to see some of the world's largest things - Giant Sequoias. Yes the .8 mile walk was tortorous for some but yet again we arrived with no major injures or exhaust related falatities (they way they talked you would have believed taht at least one would be dead before we got to the trees!). We saw the grizzly giant and the California tunnel tree where they cut a tunnel in the tree. After the the Sequoia Grove we had a very short drive to our hotel for the night (yes I said hotel, yeah real showers!). We stayed in the historical Sierra Sky Ranch Inner, enjoyed dinner at the Mountain House and ended the night with the pool and a little, much missed, TV. Tomorrow we are facing the Airport!

An Inappropriate Comment

2006-08-18T23:07:00.000-07:00

Recently someone posted a innappropriate link on this BLOG's comment section. I am sorry for anyone who saw it, it has been removed. Since these people have choosen to polute our BLOG, I had been forced to change the policy for the posting of comments. For now on only members of our BLOG can post comments. Members can be campers, parents and friends of camper, counselors. I sure you can all understand that we have forced to do this for everyones protection. Please email trevor@camphighplaces.com to become a member.

Its a shame that a few rotten apples want to ruin something so great. Thanks for a great 2006!!

Trevor and Amy Doyle
Directors
Camp High Places

Day 11 - Merced River Float and Vernal Falls Hike

2006-08-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

Day 11 - We all elected to sleep outside for two nights and yes Trevor and Mary got to sleep on the outside with campers huddled in the middle. First we hiked uphill to the incredible Vernal Falls with much complaining and whining but after they made it (as expected) all felt accomplished and proud. The view was worth it. We hiked down to the car and made our way to the river to get the rafts to float down. The river was quiet shallow so it became a float and hike but was fun (Skyler got throw in the river, he said it was fun!). We had cheese burgers on our last night, flame broiled (okay, flame broiled means Trevor burned them on the fire).

NOTE: Skyler blow drying his shoes for the hike, it didn't work! :)

Day 10 - Gold Mine, Mark Twain's Cabin and Yosemite

2006-08-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

Day 10 - We left early this time for our drive down Highway 49 to Sutters Gold Mine. We enjoyed our tour 500-1000 feet underground where we walked through the actual tunnel created when the dug out the quartz that contained Gold. One section had $2million in one day. We drove south towards Yosemite spotting at a cabin where Mark Twain spent the winter of 1864-1865. Then we contined south. We stopped at Evergreen lodge for that necessary internet and phone usage (yeah My space!). We got into our Campsite at about 8pm (yes a little late!)

Day 9 - Whitewater rafting on the River!

2006-08-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

Day 9 - An incredible Day on the river. A few of our campers conquered their fear of the river since the flipped last time. We had one minor fall when Mary and Julia fell out after a rapid. Wereally enjoyed the jetski pulling us over Folsom lake afterwards.

NOTE: Sorry no river pics they cost $20 each and I couldn't bring my camera!

Day 8 - Colma State Park - Gold Discovery Site

2006-08-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

Day 8 - We woke late (again) and spent a morning of gold panning, frisbee golf and just enjoying the American River. In the afternoon we escaped the heat by going to Placerville Regal 8 Cinemas. The girls elected to see Step Up (Dancing movie) and the boys and Ashley saw The World Trade Center. After the movie we went to Spankees pizza for 1 cheese and 1 sausage! The back to camp where the girls slept outside for the second night! (Oh we did put the tent down on the boys because they wouldn't get up hee hee!)

Day 7 - Spaghetti Factory, Sacramento, The State Capital and Historical Old Town Sacramento

2006-08-13T23:40:00.000-07:00

Day 7 - With an early start we headed over the 20 highway to Williams and south to Sacramento. We arrived 1 hours early so some of the girls homing signals found us a mall that where sadly most stores were shut, so the secondary homing signal kicked in and we discovered a starbucks. After various fapps and strawberries and cream we got to the Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch where we met Eric's mom, Nancy, and brother, Derek. We all enjoyed filling up with spaghetti and chicken so much that we were late for old State Capital tour. We enjoyed a quick tour and sadly said goodbye to one of our counselors Jenn (She is a nurse with only 1 week off, boo hoo bye Jenn!!). The afternoon was spent trying on silly costumes in Old Town Sacramento and of course shopping. We arrived at our Colma campground at 6pm (Colma is the site of gold discovery in California, which started the Gold Rush of 1849). All agreed taht we love this campgroaund since tents were waiting with thick sleeping pads. They even gave us wood for the fire!! We are here for three days!!

Day 6 - Lake Play, Laundry and Walmart

2006-08-13T23:34:00.000-07:00

Pics to come soon!!

Day 6: It was hot in the morning so most climbed into the lake. After a morning of lake play we all loaded in the vans and went to a local laundry to get our clothes clean and get online (Yes there was an unsercured network around - Everyone just looked at myspace). After the laundry was done (It took $4 and 4 cycles of 30 minutes each until we realized that Julia's dryer wasn't working - Ahh!!) we all went to Walmart (Yes they voted for Walmart). After Walmart we went home for a great taco salad lunch!

Day 5 - San Francisco, Ghirardellis, Lombard Street and Golden Gate

2006-08-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

Day 5 - We got out of our camp ground by 9:30 (Okay 10:30, ahhh! a very late start, we're okay, we're okay) and drove into San Francisco, our local tour guide Julia talked us through all the sights along the way. The First stop - Pier 39 and Shopping !!!! The shopped lasted a few hours and ended with seeing the world famous Pier 39 seals. We all then met at Ghirardellis sqaure for chocolate (free!) and Ice cream. With Ice cream polished off quick time we jumped back in the cars to Lombard street (The worlds widest street!!). That is our Element you see driving down. With Lombard seen we drove along the bay to the Golden Gate bridge, with some incredible views of the bridge along the way. We had to laugh a little as we drove past the crowded touristy view point as we drove up to our secret local view point with thye much better view. One hiccup though, San Francisco was so popular ad we had sucha late start we discovered a new team building activity at our Clear Lake Campsite - putting up tents in the dark!!

NOTE: From Day 6-Day 10 internet access is limited so please excuse if I can't post for a few days but I will try!! keep tuned.

Day 4 - Half Moon Bay Surfing

2006-08-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

Day 4: Since our campground is right beside the water we could spend the morning enjoying the beach just steps from our tents. The water was a little rough right at the site (rip tides) so we went down to the perfect surfing beach early and Dave (Our surf instructor) took us early andagve us some extented lessons (Thanks Dave your the best!). First the beach lessons and safety and then all got in the water. Dave said taht we had some naturals - they got up every time (Eric and Julia!) and others got up witha few little falls. 4 hours of surfing made bedtiem quiet easy!!!

Name the Campers Session 2 2006

2006-08-10T14:26:00.000-07:00

The Top Row: Kelly and Marina
Second row: Julia and Miranda
Bottom Row: Mary, Jen, Skyler, Ashley, Eric and James the Conductor

And the goofy looking one in his own pic: Trevor

Day 3 - Santa Cruz and Felton Steam Train

2006-08-10T13:54:00.000-07:00

Day 3: We woke really early, okay 1/2 half later than planned, packed up and headed north to Santa Cruz with a short detour in Salinas, the home of John Steinbeck (Author of "the grapes of wrath" and "of mice and men, and "travels with charlie," yes we are giving your kids a little California culture), even though we couldn't actually find it we did see the area. Evertone enjoyed a few hours on the rides at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, and of course junk food. e had a short driev to Roaring Camp Railways to take a steam train into the redwoods (giant redwoods). The conductor was real charactor, his grandfather was a real conductor on a railway in the south, he has his hat! We stopped in the redwoods and walked around. After the steam train we had a drive on the trips most incredible scenry (Highway 1 between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay). We arrived early enough to get the tents up and make dinner. Actaully we had a tent putting up contest, there is still some disargeement about who won!

KEEP WATCHING - I will try to update as often as possible but it is dependent on internet access availability!

Day 2 - Coast Hike and Free Choice Continued

2006-08-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

Day 2 - Coast Hike and Free Choice

2006-08-09T20:59:00.000-07:00

Day 2: A lazy wake up led to a late hike along the Coast at Montana Del Oro state park. After bouldering for a while (climbing on big rocks) we took a short stroll along the cliffs. The views were incredible. The hike became a short stroll after the group elected to go to the tide pools instead of the hike. We dug in the tide pools for a while and found hermit crabs, snails and other weird looking fish. We had lunch in the park garden and chatted with the docents. Yes, we went starbucks on the way home, what's a day without a double frappacino!

Day 1 - Hearst Castle and the Beach Continued

2006-08-09T20:42:00.000-07:00

Day 1 - Hearst Castle and the Beach

2006-08-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

Day 1: An early morning start with a short drive up the 1 Highway to Hearst Castle. The tour had some incredible sights, the ceilings were imported from all over the world. After Hearst we drove 4 miles north to see the elephant seals in the wild. We then winded down with a walk on hearst pier (we saw a sea otter) or splashing in the ocean.

Welcome to our Session 2 Trip

2006-07-30T23:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome parents to our session 2 trip. We will try to update this blog during the trip so that parents can join in on the summer fun!

To see what is in store see our session 1 BLOG: http://camphighplaces.blogspot.com/