Tuesday, 10/10/23
Tuesday was a day to rest and relax. After a long day on Monday, our muscles, and our bodies as a whole, needed a break. We slept in, - I had a somewhat better night than the previous one. We stared the fire, gathering wood for more throughout the day. We cooked French Toast over the fire, with half & half instead of milk, since we didn't have any milk. While this addition may seem odd, and rather unhealthy - which it may have been, it made a fine improvement in taste.
After cleaning up breakfast most of us settled in around the fire in our camping chairs, and read books we had brought along.
My reading time was brief and I went out exploring wooded areas around the campsite and gathering more wood for upcoming campfires and meals.
I found an interesting berry that was round and covered in little thorns or spikes.
Later I found one that it seems some animal had gotten, as only the outer shell remained.
For lunch, a late lunch, we ate sandwiches.... with bacon....
...dumped water on the fire...
...then went on a short (4-mile) hike to view some of the giant sequoias in Yosemite National Park. It had much more hill hiking than we would have liked, but the giant trees were well worth the strain on our already very sore muscles. It was stunning to see trees of such enormous size, and knowing that they grow even bigger than that!! Wow, to think that while Jesus walked the earth, these very trees may yet have been here, half way across the world! Or even the ones that we didn’t see over in Sequoia National Park, to think that they may have been still around as King David reigned in Judah and Israel, or even as Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea!! That is too grand for me to wrap my head around!
A neat berry (?) we found as we hiked.
(Mikayla giving Jonathan a (brief) piggyback ride)
At one point in the hike we came across a giant sequoia that had partially burnt and fallen some time ago. To see such an enormous tree lying on the ground was hard to comprehend. The tree, on its side, was at least a head or two taller than me - and I am at least 6' 4"! The bottom was burnt enough that it hallowed the bottom of the tree out, and we could easily walk inside it's lower portions. Then using a decent-sized regular tree as a ladder (already set up for us), we climbed atop the slain beast of bark and wood, and enjoyed a brief break from our trekking.
Notice how little Jonathan, Alex, Abi, & Mikayla are (on the upper left of the picture) in comparison the the massive fallen tree.
Mikayla inside the smaller part of the burnt interior
(And I was probably only sitting in the middle of the fallen tree)
A short bit later was another fallen giant Sequoia. This one had the option to crawl through, which we all did for the first half, then some of the crew continued on for another section of the tree, where it wasn't as big of an opening to move through - though still passable.
Beyond that was another tree stump of another giant Sequoia. As far as I know, it is unknown when this second one burnt down, but the remaining stump - several stories high mind you - had the base hollowed out in the middle, making a pathway to walk through underneath. According to a nearby signpost, this tree remainder was drilled through back in the mid to late 1800's as part of a toll road for tourists in the area, a tree that they could drive/ride under.
Tuesday evening, after the hiking, I gathered more firewood while Alex, Abi, Mikayla, and Jonathan prepped supper. Alex was grilling burgers. The buns were buttered and toasted, cheese was melted atop the double smash-patties, caramelized onions were served atop it, along with a chipotle-styled mayo dip that Mikayla had mixed up for us, along with fresh sliced tomatoes, Mayo, and BBQ sauce. Green beans cooked under the coals of the fire were served on the side along with potato chips. Since Abi & Mikayla are gluten sensitive, they cooked up some diced and seasoned mini potatoes in the coals - and there ended up being plenty enough left for the rest of us to partake too. It was quite a FINE meal!
Jonathan & Alex cooking caramelized onions and toasted buns for the smash burgers
Alex smashing the burgers.
Alex grilling the burgers and melting cheese on top of them as they finish cooking.
The final result!
...and they were YUMMY!!
We were very glad to be able to make and eat all our meals in daylight, contrary to the day before where both breakfast and supper were prepped, cooked, and eaten in the dark, by the light of fire and flashlights.
After the meal, we chatted and reminisced while sitting around the fire, trying to dodge smoke as slight breezes shifted here and there. As time grew later, we roared some marshmallows making s'mores, and planned to heat up some apple cider over the flames, but realized in the bustle of prepping, and anticipation for the cider, there was a miscommunication and neither of the vehicles - who went to different grocery stores before arriving - purchased any cider. We then found that with a lack of cider to start with, making a pot of hot cider is pretty much impossible. We settled with apple cider donuts - which we did have - heating them over the fire, and hot chocolate.
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