Sequoia National Park - Aug 2014

Ria, Keith and Shawna

For Labor Day weekend, we rented a house with Simran, Rakesh, Ria, Marwah and Sydney in Three Rivers, CA, a town outside Sequoia National Park.  

Simran, Ria and Rak

Accommodations:

Chez Mehta / Singh - We stayed at Rak and Sim's house on Thursday night.  This time, we slept in Ria's room as she was staying in the guest room.

Rental House - Kaweah Falls - Shawna had read about this house so we looked it up and planned this trip because of it.  It's a beautiful house with contemporary decorations located on a small river.  The house has four bedrooms (two of which are on the lower part of the house and require entry from the outside), a living room, kitchen and dining room.  There is a great seating area outside near the river to light a fire as well as a deck on the river to relax on.

Kaweah Falls House

Activities:

Keith and Shawna flew into San Fran on Thursday night.  Rak also flew in that night from a business trip so we got a ride to his house.  By the time we got there, it was late so we just crashed. 

On Friday, we had a small breakfast at Rak and Simran's house and then packed up the car.  Keith and Shawna had to get their obligatory coffee at the communist coffee shop down the block where Shawna proceeded to spill agave syrup (yes, agave - one of the reasons it's a communist coffee shop) all over the place.  Ria got a kick out of this for some reason.  After loading up the car, we drove to the house, stopping in Fresno to grab some lunch and buy the perishable groceries at Whole Foods.  The drive took a little over 4 hours in total.  We got to the house before we could check in so we dropped of the perishable items and then drove into the park to buy our pass and check out the museum.  The entrance to the park is only 10 minutes from the house but to get to the heart of where the trees are, it takes about an hour to drive.  

This Tree Was Old!

River Deck at Kaweah Falls House

We got back to the house around 4:30 and unpacked the car.  As we are putting away groceries, Marwah and Sydney arrived so we showed them around and helped them to unpack.  We all relaxed down by the river before making dinner.  Ria, Marwah and Rak went into the river and swam a bit at one of the swimming holes.  

Ria Wading in the River

While making dinner, we played a game where you bend over and have to pick up a cereal box with your teeth - each round the box gets shorter by tearing off an inch from the top.  You cannot use your hands and you cannot get on your knees.  Rak and Keith looked like giraffes trying to drink from a lake as they each spread their legs wide to bend over.  Sydney was the most flexible, bending over with little to no effort each time - she and Ria tied at the end.

Keith's Attempt at the Box Game

On our drive over to the house from San Fran, we learned that the tradition in the Singh/Mehta family is to give each other nicknames on a trip - the names representing something about the trip.  So, our nicknames for this trip were:

• Keith: Truck Route - quite silly and really had nothing to do with the trip except that Ria saw a sign that said this and thought it was a funny name.  So it stuck!
• Ria: Soria Chowchilla - in the town of Fresno, we saw a sign to vote for a congress woman named Soria so we chose that name for Ria and added the last name which is a town in central valley.
• Simran: The General - named after the trees in the park (e.g. General Sherman) and also because Simran likes to be in charge.
• Marwah: Moro Rock - named after the rock we climbed in the park and because it sounded like Marwah.
• Rakesh: Pottywisha - named after a camp site in the park; no other explanation is necessary.
• Shawna: Wuksachi - named after another camp site in the park and because Shawna liked the name.
• Sydney: Crouching Tiger - named after her awesome skills of picking up a cereal box with her teeth!

Our Favorite Past Time - Relaxing by the River

On Saturday, we had a yummy breakfast and then packed up our lunch and drove into the park.  First stop was Moro Rock which we hiked up.  It's over 400 steps to the top where you have amazing views of the park and valley below.  

Moro Rock

Sydney, Marwah, Shawna, Keith, Rak and Ria - Moro Rock

After the hike, we had our picnic lunch in the parking lot near the museum and then took the shuttle over to the Giant Forest where most of the famous sequoias are located.  We first stopped to see the General Sherman which is the largest tree (by volume) in the world.  We got distracted by a black bear that was hanging out nearby so many people stood by the fence taking pictures and pretending that the fence was going to prevent the bear from eating them!  

General Sherman

Simran was not feeling well so she and Rak went back to the house while the rest of us hiked back to the museum (over 4 miles) while seeing the other sequoias along the way including Grant and Lincoln. The hike was nice but took a little longer than we expected.  

Ria on the Hike

Keith on the Hike

Back at the house, we took a nap and then relaxed by the river again before dinner.  After dinner, we lit a fire outside and roasted marshmallows and ate s'mores - with Ria getting sticky melted marshmallows in her hair which stressed Keith out! 

S'Mores

On Sunday, we mainly relaxed at the house.  We had good intentions of driving over to Kings Canyon National Park but then realized that we would be in the car for over 6 hours which none of us was too thrilled about.  So, Keith did some work while Rak, Sydney, Marwah and Ria went for a hike.  Simran and Shawna got their travel planning fix (booking a trip to Ojai) and then went into town to get a few more groceries.  We made lunch at the house and had wine outside.  In the afternoon, we all napped and then relaxed by the river again before dinner.  After dinner, we had a dance party - Simran and Shawna mainly laughed on the sofa while Keith tried to imitate Rak and Rak tried to imitate Keith.  Ria was in her own world busting out disco moves and shaking her Shakira looking hair.  Marwah rallied at some point and joined the dance party but this time he didn't climb on anything or attempt any breakdance moves!

Dance Party

On Monday, we had another yummy breakfast and then packed up the car.  We drove back to San Fran, stopping in San Jose for a late lunch / early dinner.  We had ramen and mochi ice cream from a Japanese shopping center.  The ramen was tasty but we all broke out in sweats!  After this, they dropped us off at the airport to fly home.

Dinner at the House

Restaurants:

Standard Sweets and Spices (Fresno) - We stopped here for lunch on the way to the house.  It's an Indian grocery store with a small cafe in back.  Simran found it on Yelp.  We had a yummy lunch and way too much of it, including chaat, samosa, mixed veggies, chicken curry, chicken biryani, paneer, daal, and raita.  Since Marwah had joked that we may need to order in pizza on the night he cooked (since he was trying a new recipe), we brought the leftovers to the house.  Turns out that Marwah and Sydney also stopped here for lunch - although they had more restraint than we did.

Chef Des Jours at the House - We took turns cooking each night.  Rak and Sim cooked on Friday night and prepared an awesome Italian meal, including white beans, salad and a flavorful pasta.  Shawna and Keith cooked on Saturday night and made Mexican, including guacamole, fish tacos and quinoa with beans and corn.  Marwah and Sydney cooked on Sunday night and made a tasty Mediterranean meal, including hummus with veggies, salad, eggplant with chickpeas and yogurt and rice pilaf with lentils.  The best part is that we used the leftovers from the previous night to incorporate into some sort of egg dish for breakfast the following morning.  For lunch, we had sandwiches and salad.  We went through 20 bottles of wine and several beers.

Santouak (San Jose) - We stopped here for lunch not the way back to San Fran.  It's a Japanese noodle stand located in the Mitsuwa Markeplace.  

One of our Yummy Meals - Mediterranean Night!

Sydney and Marwah