Sequoias and Red Rock Canyon - Nick

11/5/17

Everlasting Tree House

Yesterday we drove all day. On the way we stopped at a place called Everlasting Treehouse. It was a giant hollowed out Redwood that you could walk into. After a few more hours of driving we stopped at the Chandelier Tree. The Chandelier Tree is another giant Redwood that they carved a tunnel through. The tunnel was big enough to drive a car through. We can’t drive our truck through; it’s too big. We did walk through it. Then we finished driving to our site and set up. Next we went to Glass Beach. It is an old garbage dump. The only thing left is a few car parts and a ton of broken pieces of glass that were smoothed out by the ocean waves. Then we came home and went to bed.

11/6/17

Yesterday we drove all day. We stopped a few times for gas and that was it. At 6:00 we stopped at a Walmart for the night. We had dinner and went to bed.

11/7/17

Yesterday we drove all day. We were supposed to only have an hour drive but the place we were going did not allow big trailers so we went on to our next destination, which was really far away. We did not get there. We stopped at dinner time at a BLM site. We had dinner and went to bed.

11/8/17

Yesterday after breakfast Dad and I worked on the bike motor for a while and finished it! When Dad was testing it the clutch mechanism broke, but the engine was too hot to touch. We ate lunch and then came back outside and fixed the clutch. (The motor was cooled down). Finally I got to ride it. It was really fast and easy to control. We didn’t get to ride long because it was getting dark. When we got back to camp we had chow mien for dinner, which is a Chinese food. It was really good.

11/9/17

Yesterday in the morning Dad and I took the motor bike over to a closed campground and rode it around for about 1 ½ hours. It is really fun to go around corners because you can lean into them a ton. When we got back we had lunch. Then we went down to a river near our site called the Kern River. We walked about a mile down to the river before coming back. Then Dad and I took the motor bike out one more time for about 1 hour. When we got back we had dinner and read Harry Potter.

The sequoias are HUGE!

Today Mom, Andi, and I went running in the morning. We ran about 3.1 miles. Then we had eggs and hash browns for breakfast. Then, without the camper, we drove to Sequoia National Forest. We did a short 2 mile hike in the Sequoias. They were not as tall as Redwoods, but they were thicker. There was a fallen tree that was 30 feet in diameter. When we were done hiking we drove home. We are planning on having pasta for dinner.

11/11/17

Yesterday we got going pretty early and started driving to our next site. It took a really long time. It was a five hour drive. When we got there we set up our camper and then took Mom to the airport. When we got there we said good bye and drove to a Walmart. We got some groceries. When we got back to the camper we had pizza and watched a movie.

11/12/17

Red Rock Canyon

Yesterday we went to Red Rock Canyon in the morning. We went to the Visitor’s Center but there wasn’t much to see there so we went on a 13 mile scenic drive through Red Rock. It was really cool. It looked like a giant painted a strip of bright red paint on all the rocks with a giant paintbrush. We saw a lot of rock climbers on the rock faces. After the drive we came back to the camper and had lunch. Then I rode my motor bike for about 1 hour. I rode it for the first time on an unpaved road. Then Andi and I played Wii for a little while. Finally we had dinner and went to bed.

11/13/17

Yesterday we did a hike in Red Rock Canyon in the morning. It was called Ice Box Canyon Hike. We got to hike through a pretty narrow canyon. On the trail there were lots of huge boulders we had to climb over. At one point we got to climb on a ledge that was about 5 feet wide and about 30 feet in the air. After the hike we came home and had lunch. We ended up hiking just over 3 miles. Then I rode my motor bike for a while. Then we watched the Cowboys Falcons game. Next Andi and I played Wii. Finially we had dinner and watched a movie.

11/14/17

Yesterday we did laundry in the morning. It took a really long time. Next we got McDonalds for lunch. Then we came back to the camper and got all the stuff we needed for a short hike. Next we went to Red Rock Canyon and went climbing on some rocks. We had a great time. We got to climb up some really steep faces. We got about 2/3 of the way up a 1000 foot mountain. We did not have time to get to the top because it was getting dark. When we got back we had dinner and watched a movie.

Today after breakfast we went to Red Rock Canyon and climbed up a 400 foot mountain, which isn’t very high but there was no trail and it was climbing not walking. It was pretty tiring. When we got to the top there was an amazing view of Las Vegas. We could see The Strip. Then we started working our way down. When we got down it was about 2:00. Then we came back to the camper and Dad cut my hair. We are planning on having dinner in about 1 hour.

11/16/17

Yesterday was my birthday!! I had pancakes for breakfast. Andi also gave me her card in the morning which was really nice. We had a lazy morning. Andi and I played Wii for a while. After lunch we went to a solar water heater. They use thousands of mirrors to reflect sunlight onto a metal tower which gets up to 3000 degrees. They use that to turn water into steam to turn turbines to create power. Then we went to pick Mom up from the airport. Next we went to hibachi. Our chef was really funny and entertaining. I got steak which was really good. We also got cake and ice cream for my birthday. Then we came home and I opened my presents. I got a really cool remote control jeep from Andi. I also got Christmas presents early because it is hard to get stuff to us. From Mom and Dad I got some really cool laser tag guns. Then we went to bed.

Birthday celebration

11/17/17

Yesterday Andi and I played with my remote control car and laser tag until lunch. They were both really fun. My car could get over anything. I drove it over a pile of bricks and it made it over. The laser tag was cool too. There were different gun modes and they were really accurate. Then we went to Red Rock and did a scenic drive. After that we went shopping. Finally we came home, had dinner and watched a movie.