Travelling Wades: Californian National Parks

We have arrived in the USA and have been traveling for a week now. The flight over went well, we got to fly in one of the new Airbus 380’s on the way over and with their on demand in flight entertainment system Micah was kept busy for a while. Micah even managed to sleep for about 6 hours which kept him from totally falling apart from over tiredness.
Since arriving in the USA, we have spent most of our time visiting National Parks visiting Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequioa.
At Yosemite we camped (in a permanent tent) for 3 nights in the valley at Curry Village, while in Yosemite we got to spend a day riding around the valley, visited Hetch Hetchy and drove to Tioga pass. We also managed to do a few shorter hikes with Micah, the longest we did was up to Gaylor Lakes on Tioga Pass which Micah walked up the hill all by himself.

Yosemite National Park

We have since moved on to Kings Canyon and Sequioa where we have visited Grant Grove, Crystal Cave, Moro Rock and Cresent Meadow.
Yosemite (especially the valley) was very busy and we didn’t see alot of wildlife, however at Sequioa we have already seen 3 bear cubs and some deer. Given that part of the enjoyment of hiking is not encountering lots of people, Kings Canyon and Sequioa has been much nicer in that regard.

Bear, Sequoia National Park

Micah is coping pretty well, he woke up during the night the first few nights as he adjusted to the new time zone. He is enjoying collecting rocks, seeing squirrels and other animals, taking photos and meeting new people. At Yosemite he earnt himself a Junior ranger badge.

Collecting Rocks - Yosemite National Park

Where we are currently staying there is a kids program (it is run as a family summer camp over the summer) and as Micah is the only kid currently staying he is getting undivided attention for a couple of hours each day, it means that we aren’t doing as much as planned but he is having fun which is the main thing. Yesterday he got to go fishing, feed the ducks, play at the playground and do some craft. We used our time yesterday to go for a longer hike, and today we have been for a paddle on the lake and doing email and other web things.
Here are some of the photos Micah has taken, some of them are out of focus, blurry, but here are some of the good ones: