We spent a good 6 hours hiking knee high in the river between giant stone walls. A mystical experience!
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We booked a hotel in Las Vegas to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary and basically have a long warm shower + dinner in a restaurant i/o sandwiches + witness the city in all its mad splendour. We wanted to drive past death valley from Yosemite. This took us all day as the road to Las Vegas via Death Valley was closed and later we were stuck in traffic. We checked in at 10 p.m, had a quick shower and went out.
Most ok restaurants were shut, we were tired and did not realize that Leo would ask soooooooo many questions. For example: why’re the girls standing here with whips, why’re there pictures of naked girls? Why aren’t there pictures of naked boys? Why’re all these people drinking so much? Why do people go crazy when they drink? Will someone attack us? Can I play in the casino? Why not? Why aren’t kids allowed anywhere in Las Vegas casinos? Etc. The best part of the evening was to snuggle into our king-size bed at 4 a.m.
Las Vegas is a dazzling and flashy city in the middle of a desert overflowing with casinos, strip clubs, hookers, pimps, drunkards, homeless people… It could either be a bad trip or really fun. Best enjoyed with friends and/or after a few drinks 😇
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So for our 15th wedding anniversary we got ourselves a good… 12 hours in the car 😬
Starting from Yosemite, the plan was to go celebrate in mighty Las Vegas in the evening. And sleep in a hotel! With a shower!!
On the way we would drive along beautiful lakes and mountain roads and east-west across Death Valley on 190. Ok it’s a long drive but we should make it by evening to the restaurant Mary had selected, and what better panorama to celebrate an important date! ❤️
So, yes. That was the plan.
And it started rather well, but by the time we reached Death Valley, we realised that 190 was closed so we had to drive around the valley; 2 more hours!
Later down the road, somewhere along the mojave desert, all traffic was stopped for an hour because of a -pretty bad- car accident.
(By the way, « speed limit » is not really a thing in Nevada!)
So by then, Mary’s restaurant plans were already screwed and she was starting to get pissed!
We reached mighty Vegas around 9pm and we could maybe have rushed straight to some restaurant but we desperately needed a shower first, so we stopped by the hotel and got out again around 10pm, by which time most decent restaurants were already closed to make way for the crazy Vegas nights.
We went for a stroll on the Strip and Fremont St to get the vibe of the neon lights and maybe eat something.
We lost some more time trying to park and finding our way around and we got there pretty tired.
By this time Mary was very tired and upset; she didn’t want to eat anymore and more or less hated me! Leo and I had a hot dog with fries.
In our tired eyes (plus walking with a kid who’s not allowed anywhere), Las Vegas looked like a noisy, tacky, vulgar place filled with homeless junkies and pathetic cowboy pimps! And Leo to keep asking why half naked men and ladies were dancing with whips on Fremont St 🫣
We went on to check the big casinos on the Strip. Caesar’s Palace looked much more inspired by an Asterix comic book than anything in actual Rome while the Bellagio’s fake Eiffel Tower looked like a radio antenna.
So yeah, all in all, we weren’t really in the mood. It was « Hélas Vegas » for us 😛
It was 3am already so we decided to call it a day and go enjoy our king size bed instead.
After 20mins of more driving, we managed to reach another hotel, with the same name and looking exactly the same but on the other side of town!!
#fail
So if you ask me the secret for a long and happy married life, I’d say accept when you’re tired and let the storm pass by 🙂
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Yosemite National Park is the place.
3 nights of camping and our routine is already in place: reach the campsite at dusk, mount the tent in the dark, inflate the mattresses, hide the food in the bear box, find the bathroom area with the head light, brush, go sleep, wake up around 7am, deflate the mattresses, fold the tent, find that there was a shorter way to the bathroom area, brush, be ready to go.
Last night, to spice things up a bit and for a more authentic American outdoors experience, we got some wood, a lighter, and marshmallows! 😋
For the American nature lover, camping is a way to revive the good old cowboy experience. And the cowboys did not have showers!
Well, they didn’t have flush toilets or RVs either, but there has to be some convenience in the US of A.
The point is that showers are nowhere to be found on campgrounds. I don’t know how how other people do it, but after 3 days without a shower we were more than happy to jump into the cold waters of the Merced river.
The next day we decided to follow Abhishek’s advice and go for the Nevada falls trail. A steep, 3200ft elevation, 4 hours hike to the top of a giant waterfall, and the same way down.
Once up there, you seem to be facing the half dome at eye level. And the waterfall drop gives you the shivers !
After fighting some enraged squirrels 🐿 for our food, we decided to take another chill dip on the top part of the river.
Quote:
– Mary: Remi and Cecile would probably have done the round trip in 2 hours?
– Me: yes, walking on their hands!
Ok, but for our little family, it was quite a steep hike!
I mean for them of course, for Mary and Leo! I’m the strong one 💪 I was literally dragging them up and encouraging them: « Come on! One step at a time! You can do it! »
.. by the time we were back down, 8 hours later, they were both perfectly fine, but I was exhausted , with cramps on my legs and blisters on my feet! 🥵
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Yosemite park is huge! There are many trails available and we chose the upper Yosemite fall trail. It took us 8 hours and it was excellent. We bathed in a pond by the waterfall right on top. I’m impressed that Leo managed to finish the trek! Bravo!
On the way back to the campsite I saw a mountain lion lurking in the dark, close to our car. The park has many bears as well. Some trekkers had seen one close to where we were. In the event of a black bear encounter, we should make ourselves look big and make loud noises. Never run.
It’s a different tactic with grizzly bears but we aren’t going to Yellowstone 🙄
Down the valley 
The treat for those who reach the top 
Don’t roll over Beethoven -
I’d been awaiting this occasion for months and there he was, standing straight and majestic in front of us, his big black scar reminding everyone of his last battle against the fire.
In spite of his old age, the General had kept beautiful features, and, one could say, he remained quite green!
A bit shorter than his brothers, General Sherman claims to be the largest Sequoia tree in the world, by the volume of his trunk.
What a fascination to walk amidst these giants, and even inside some of them!
Interestingly, fires are beneficial to sequoias! Most mature sequoias have a big burn scar. They’re made to resist but the most extreme fires and after the battle is over, they have more room and a fertile soil for their offsprings. The fire itself helps open the pine cones and spreads the seeds.
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The only time I went camping was with Arjun in Corsica. It was a beautiful place but the tent was rather uncomfortable. When I was a scout back in Bombay, we stayed in dormitories and had a campfire in the evening but no tents.
Technically, this is the 2nd time in my life I’ve slept in tents and the camping sites here are rudimentary. We haven’t showered in days but we did manage to jump into the river here in Yosemite park.
Last night I looked for a restroom and managed to find one. A notice stuck to the door mentioned that a mountain lion was spotted in the camp recently. So far so good. To my surprise the washroom had a dry toilet without any lights. I braced myself, put my headlamp on and as I opened the toilet seat, houseflies started coming out one after the other attracted by the light on my forehead. It was straight off a horror movie. I left in a state of panic with my lights on. As I ran, several bats flew past me making me scream! Luckily there was another washroom with flush toilets… I don’t think I’m ready to use dry toilets!
Snug as a bug ☺️ 
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Kings canyon was full of pine trees and ginormous Sequoias which I saw for the first time in my life and it was…. love at first sight ❤️
Those who know me, know how much I love trees and sequoias make you feel humble. It’s fascinating to know that they’ve lived for thousands of years.
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Before going around the national parks, we drove down the bee-you-tea-full Californian west coast to meet my friend Michael in Cambria. Leo was stoked to know that Michael was a cowboy and so he made a sketch for him. I got to know Michael through FB during the pandemic. It all began with my spiritual quest which started several years back. This took me to several parts of the world and had me reading a lot, doing yoga, trying to connect to my “higher self” and doing all sorts of stuff. This quest ended when I read about the experiences of Nancy Neithercut, Michael Markham and Miranda Warren. I now understand what U.G Krishnamurti was trying to say.
This somehow seems to be a turning point in my life and I’m sooooo glad to have been able to meet Michael in person. Such a gentle, kind and loving person. I’m very lucky indeed!
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Time has come to let go of the comfort of Abhishek’s house, pool and king size bed, and hit the road for real.
For the first time, I actually got a chance to spend some time with my cousins, beyond a quick meetup at a family reunion. We had a wonderful time and Leo loved playing with his chachas!
So we rented a car for this part of the trip, because one just can’t do anything without a car in the US, and we headed south to Cambria, our first stop.
Mary wanted to meet a friend of hers there, and it was a good excuse to drive along the beautiful western coast.
And there we started our camping tour. There’s always a part of me that finds it fun and exciting, and then the rest of my body that just feels the discomfort 😄
I must admit that our sleeping bags are more optimised for saving saving space in the bags than for resisting the cold! So we ended up plugging them together so we could cuddle inside and keep ourselves warm!
Raahi - A traveling family 