Running Away from it All: Yosemite Day One

San Luis Reservoir

Day One: You know we love a road trip.

Today we did something wild and crazy. We left our children with Alan’s parents, and got ourselves out of town! Does Alan have big, important projects due on Monday? Yes. Do I have important things to do Monday? Yes. Do we have children recovering from illness? Yes.

Do we have a wonderful life that we are thankful for and don’t actually NEED to RUN away from? YES! We just needed REST. Alan needed to go to bed at 9, and I need to sleep all night and wake up at 7–like a wild woman! We just need to be together, just the two of us, and remember who we are, outside of our jobs and our stress.

So excited!

Yosemite National Park, here we come!
Sometimes you just HAVE to get away.
First, we had a road trip, just a few hours. Alan drove. I built next year’s school calendar for Pacific Christian Academy. I got all the way through quarter 3, and then the Doritos and soda kicked in and I felt a little like hurling, so I put all the books away and just enjoyed the rest of the ride.
Why do I eat things that I KNOW will make me feel terrible? Bad decisions, repeating mistakes: One of life’s mysteries.

It looks beautiful, but don’t touch it. Now that we live here, we know that that tall, brown grass that covers everything is actually full of thorns. Yow!

The drive was, of course, beautiful. Endless, endless farms and ranches, mountains, valleys, hills, and plains. God just shows off in California.
Only one thing missing. Facilities. I can neither confirm nor deny if anyone peed on the roadside for the very first time. 70/ounces of water/day is a lot; that’s all I’m saying…

Ah, so nice!

And then we saw it: our little piece of paradise: a one bedroom cottage, with a kitchen, a gas fireplace, a gigantic bathtub, and…..WIFI.

So comfortable! You gotta visit this place!

This mirror reminds me of the ones they sell in Mexican border towns. I bet that’s where they got it. Now I wish I had bought one in Mexico myself!

We are so happy. We even took a couple selfie in a mirror, just like the “young people” do. 😉

We found an awesome BBQ joint!

After hours of seeing no sign of civilization, we were pleasantly surprised to hear that we are staying 10 minutes from the town of Oakhurst. By this time, it had been three hours since the Doritos/Coke mistake, so we headed on over to a BBQ joint in town, Alice’s Cookhouse. I love finding pulled pork BBQ in California. This is the food of my people. It just feels like home!

Did you see the wall sign behind Alan in the above photo: “Vegetarian” of Indian origin: meaning “bad hunter”. LOL!  Meanwhile, this place forever changed my ability to enjoy an ordinary BBQ sandwich!

YA’LL!!!

They put put coleslaw in the sandwich, right on top of the pulled pork. I couldn’t get over it. SO DELICIOUS! Now I just need to learn how to make coleslaw…
Tomorrow: we hike Yosemite. That will be the really good pictures! Don’t worry. I will share.

Tonight: Alan passed out at 9pm, and I’m plotting ways to get the whole family to this amazing vacation location!! That’s the thing about vacationing without the children. We needed the rest so badly, but I just keep thinking, “Oh, the boys would love this!!” And they will! Boys, I think this looks an awful lot like “Science Camp.” 😉 Field trip planning is in the works!

 

aprilmomoffour

April is an upbeat, Christian, blog-obsessed, military wife, and home schooling mom of four little boys. She writes about education, travel, and humorous adventures in parenting. Follow along if you’d like a little bit of encouragement and a whole lot of crazy.

View Comments

  • Good for you guys to get away! I know what you mean thinking about how the kids would love this or that but you also need couple time :)

  • I know you said the junk food made you feel queasy but I totally remember the roads in and out of Yosemite being so winding that I had to take deep breaths with the window open!
    This is a dream trip. So romantic to do! And yes, God does show off in California. I miss that.

    • So true! It's hard to not get queasy those roads.I will miss it when we move too.

  • So glad the 2 of you were able to get away. So very important to restore strength both physically and emotionally.
    Parenting is rewarding, but very hard work. You deserve the break. God bless Alan's parents. Enjoy Yosemite. :)
    ~Carl~

    • Thanks! We are so blessed to have TWO great sets of grandparents that enjoy our children!

  • Oh my gosh I am so jealous! You two have fun though and enjoy this well deserved break in a beautiful place!

    • I know! I booked this on a day when I was at the end of my rope. By the time I was actually on the trip, I was doing just fine, and Alan was exhausted. I think he needed it more than I did, after all!

  • Hey! You're in our old stomping grounds! We spent a blissful year living/working at Camp Oakhurst about 10 minutes from you. Have a great time in Yosemite and if you actually do ever want to send the kids to science camp be sure to look us up at Hartland Christian Camp in Sequoia National Park. We'd love to host you all.

    • We reeeeeeealllly want to go to your camp!! I'm going to see if I can make it happen this coming school year. Looking into it already! Thank you!

  • I want to file a grievance: The foreman is not allowing me to have my allotted daily naps.

    • I am so sorry to hear. In defense of said foreman, I understand that the natives in your jurisdiction can be rather restless and require diaper changes. ;) Thank you so much! Good luck!

  • Boys are doing great and enjoying your pictures. Wow is it ever cold here! Feels like winter in the South. High in the 50s today! Thanks for the time with the boys. The movie was a hit last night. Have fun you two.

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