My wife and I have had a tradition for years to take a little trip in the springtime. Not a full blown vacation, just a short trip somewhere after a long winter. Thanks to the pandemic, we were robbed of that opportunity in 2020. Just about a month ago, my wife was sitting on the other side of our sofa, on her computer when she announced we were going to Sequoia National Park for a get away. She gave me a date and that was it. No, “Would you like to take a trip,” or “Wouldn’t it be nice to get away.” Just, we are going somewhere, to deal with it. I guess her case of cabin fever was boiling over.
We have both been vaccinated and the lodge she booked us into was stressing the adherence to the CDC guidelines for masking and social distancing, so how could I argue. Also, the fact that she looked like she would tear my throat out if I disagreed, did influence my decision to go. Hey, I’ve been stuck with me my whole life and if I could get a change of scenery from me, I would. Does that make sense?
The drive to Sequoia National Park is a long one so I went to my handy GPS directions on my phone. I was given three choices of routes with the drive time for each. We chose to take what we thought would be the scenic route with the fewest freeways. I have never made so many turns while driving in my life. We went from one road to another for hours on end. I no longer felt that I was in California but had been magically transported to the backcountry from a John Grisham novel.
One issue we had was trying to find a gas station with an open restroom. Should have thought this out a little more before buying that super sized Diet Coke when I filled up the gas tank. L.A. County has very strict Covid protocols and public bathrooms fell victim. Half of our drive seemed to be in Los Angeles County. My wife and I both showed remarkable bladder control (I will not repeat what we were saying) and were able to make it out of the county and find a gas station with an open restroom. That loud sigh you folks back home heard was not the Santa Ana winds but a giant expression of relief. Sorry for any trees that were knocked down as a result.
With all the talk about Washington D.C. being made a state, they should consider making L.A. County its own state. It’s twice as big and has a bigger population than most states. It is also very diverse. We went from the tourist trap area of the western part of the county, through heavily agriculture landscape, desert, mountain and backwoods.
We finally arrived after about a 6 hour drive, the last 30 miles being the longest part of it (well, it seemed like it) up the winding mountain road that led to the lodge. The GPS said go straight to the lodge. Unfortunately it was one dead man’s curve after another (Apologies to Jan and Dean. For those under 60, look them up). The Park’s lodge is located at 7,100 foot up the mountain and situated between the two main groves of giant Sequoias we wanted to visit. We checked in, went to our room which was in a separate structure about a block from the main lounge. We arrived in our cozy room and settled in for the rest of the day to recover from our long drive. The lodge claimed they had wifi but I think that was in the dreams of those running the facility. Even though I had the wifi bars, my phone and computer kept telling me I was not connected to the Internet. I walked to the lodge in an effort to get a better connection. I was told by an employee that the signal was stronger in the rooms than the lodge. How was I going to keep connected to the outside world? I was going to have pictures of my dinners, unusual rock formations and piles of bear manure to share with my friends on-line. I didn’t know roughing it would be so challenging.
The wife and I decided to enjoy dinner at the lodge. They had a very large dining room with beautiful views of the mountains covered with trees. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, the capacity of the dining room was reduced by 75% and instead of waiters taking our orders, we had to stand in a socially distanced line and order prepackaged food warmed up in a microwave. At least I was able to get a beer with dinner. The problem was, the beer stays colder longer than my dinner stayed warm. How did the mountain men who surveyed such a remote, treacherous terrain, over a hundred years ago, survive without being able to get a fine dinner served by waiters in proper attire.
I do confess that what we saw was awe inspiring. Trees that reached hundreds of feet into the air, the width of a large swimming pool and thousands of years old. The beauty of the surrounding forest and the giant Sequoias made one think of how insignificant we are in this great big world. It also made me check my phone in frustration, knowing I was not getting any bars and couldn’t share this beauty on social media. My wife has been giving me the side eye the whole time I was gripping. Wonder why?
Our drive back was uneventful and it gave me time to think. What if the great explorers of our country had social media to share their discoveries? Lewis and Clarke could have sent out a selfie with Sacagawea when they first met. How about John Muir texting out the time for the first Sierra Club meeting after revealing Yosemite to the world. How about Buffalo Bill posting unwanted ads for his Wild West Show on all your platforms. Naw, it would never happen considering how bad the wifi signal is in the wilderness. You would think you would get a better connection in a forest full of trees that look just like wifi towers.
©2021 BBRiley.net
bbriley.net 