AMAZING

Such beautiful sights  to stop and photograph.  And just when we thought we were about to get back on the road and on our journey again, Todd saw another sign and stopped, rolled down the window and listened, and decided to stop and see if it was what he was hoping it was, because he knew I would LOVE it.  He was sooooo right!

 Todd didnt get too far in because of some silly sign about so many people falling in the dangerous waters to their death... yada yada yada...

 But I couldn't resist!

 The water was soooooo cold, but it felt soooooo goooood!

 Oh man it was so beautiful.

 I was one happy girl.

 I mean really.  How often do you get to see this stuff?

 Thanks to him for finding this great spot!

 Isn't that amazing how the rocks are just piled on top of one another?  Amazing I say!

Amazing!

Heading Down The Mountain

 On our way back down the winding mountain road,

we found several spots to stop and look at how beautiful it was.

Todd saw this sign and thought it might be a good stop.  It was.

We filled our water bottles up here.  It was so cold and good.

We enjoyed spending a little bit of time at this spot.
The sights and sounds were so relaxing.

What A Privilege

 YES we did see BEARS! A mama and her two cubs.  I didnt get any shots of the cubs where you could tell thats what you were looking at but we did see them and they were precious playing together.

This is their mama.  You may have to click on the picture to see it better.

 When we were looking for bears, after someone told us they had seen one.  Todd and I separated.  I know that probably wasn't smart.  But I wanted to look one place and he was looking another.  We weren't too far apart.  I mean I could still see him.  But we just weren't right there together.  Any way, at some point I kept hearing this rustling sound.  I turned to look reminding myself I needed to be aware of my surroundings.  I saw nothing, but then heard it again.  Until finally I turned and saw - way too close for comfort, mind you-- the mama bear.  I held my breath and backed away.  I didn't even take any pictures at that point.  I know right???!!!  But what a sight it was.  A blessing indeed!

 And then we watched and gazed and enjoyed and watched them some more.  There was this very nice couple we met there who stood and watched with us for a bit. They were from England and the woman kept saying over and over, "What a privilege."  And wasn't she right.  What a complete privilege that was.  What a blessing and a privilege for sure.

Can you tell I was excited?  Yes, yes I was.

This entire place was just so totally beautiful beyond description and way beyond what these pictures can show.

So yes we stayed here...

yes, way longer than we should have but boy was it GREAT and such a PRIVILEGE!

Amazingly Beautiful Sequoia National Park

 As we were making our way to Sequoia National Park we began to see sights like this.

We began to climb.  Then the sights became like this.

We drove the winding road up and around, up and around, up and around. Then we began to see the beautiful Sequoias.  Once we started to see them, I decided to get a few pictures (of course).  So I rolled the window down.  Two things happened immediately.  First a blast of very cool air breezed into the vehicle.  Which was surprising as at the bottom of the winding road it was pretty warm.  And then the second most amazing thing happened.  With the sweep of cool air came the unmistakable fragrance of the Sequoias.  I had no idea that I would experience that.  I will never forget it.  As soon as I took it in, my eyes got HUGE and I looked over at Todd and almost yelled, "DO YOU SMELL THAT?!"  It was so cool.  I absolutely loved the smell of that forrest.

We continued up and as we did the trees got larger and larger.  As a matter of fact you cannot imagine how big they were.  (See that tiny person?)

 And these were not even the biggest.

 We just couldnt get over it.  And once again we just couldnt quit looking.

 It was just beautiful up there.

 Oh.My.Goodness.

This is our rent car with Todd inside.

We really enjoyed Gods beauty here.  We enjoyed the sounds which were so peaceful.  We enjoyed the smells. We enjoyed each other together out in what I called "Gods country".

In this last picture Todd was looking for bears.  We had seen a sign indicating that there may be some present and we really wanted to see one.  ----Little did we know...