Big Trees
Sequoia National Park was really cool. The big trees are really something to see; There’s no way to understand until you’re there. To get a sense for it though, here’s a picture. Can you spot the kids sitting on the fence at the base of these trees?

We didn’t spend much time in Sequoia, and continued on to Las Vegas. We rolled in to the city at about 1:30 in the morning, and decided to cruise the strip before sacking out at Wal-Mart. In the morning, we headed back down to Circus-Circus, where there is a KOA on site where we could plug in the RV and take care of other essential tasks.

Progress
We've turned the corner now, and are heading back East. It's been about a week and a half, so we're right on track. We've also used about half of our fuel budget, so we're on target there too. We had planned on getting 8.5 mpg, and paying $3.19 per gallon, but we're getting closer to 9.5 mpg and paying closer to $3.00 per gallon. Those factors make up for the fact that we're driving way more miles than we had planned on. We're up to about 4,800 miles so far and we had planned on about 6,200 total (or about 3,300 up to this point).

This trip has really been exceeding our expectations, and we are really experiencing a lot of new and exciting things.

Santa Cruz
We drove the RV down to Santa Cruz to find the Santa Cruz Surf School because our 15 year old wants to play in the big waves. We chose this particular school because it was the only one that had it's schedule listed on-line, so we could get in on such short notice. We filled in the registration form on Sunday night, and they called me on Monday morning to verify that we really wanted to surf that same day. Everyone there was fun, knowledgeable, and professional; I'd recommend it to anyone. After a brief land-lesson, we carried our boards down to the beach and started paddling out. They warned us that it was an exceptionally big-wave day, and it was a lot more work than I thought it would be, but I was able to ride several waves in. They encourage you to ride in the first few in an "arch" position to get a feel for controlling the board without worrying about trying to stand up. After a while, one of the instructors helped me catch a good wave, and I was able to stand up and ride it in almost as if I knew what I was doing! That was enough of an accomplishment for me, and I quit while I was ahead. I was starting to feel a little sick from the combination of cheese-dogs, salt water, exertion, and wave action. Here's a picture of the two of us after we finished up our lesson time.

After surfing, we headed back to the RV to get changed, and then walked down to the Showgun Japanese restaurant. I really wanted to get some Sushi while we were on the west coast, and was not disappointed. The rolls were good, and the nigiri was huge! The kids had teriaki, of course, and Sam made a big deal about the sushi being gross. ;-)
Finally, it was back to the rig, and on the road toward sequoia National Park to see the big trees. We only drove until about 11:00 and sacked out in the Wal-Mart in Los Banos. Tomorrow, we'll see the big trees!

San Francisco
With the wise advice of our family members in the area, we decided to BART in to the city. We parked the RV at the North Berkeley BART station, and bought cards for everyone. The kids were very excited, because they had never ridden a subway before. It was a long walk from the Embacadero station down to Pier 39, but we got there without too much trouble. The kids were hungry, and since they don't like sea food, we got them some Stinkin' Pizza.

We really enjoyed Pier 39, especially the sea Lions and the aquarium. They had some animals that you could touch in there, which the kids really thought was cool. Here's a picture of a shark getting petted.

We also visited Ghiradelli square, and China town, riding a street car between the two.

We stopped at the REI store in Berkeley to buy a little tripod for our camera, and asked one of the people there about surf schools in the area. She advised that we go down to Santa Cruz for surf, so that's what we'll do tomorrow!

California
It was a very long drive from Yellowstone to California. We actually stopped just short of Reno, NV and slept for a few hours before continuing on to Grass Valley, CA. I have some family in Grass Valley, and we called them from about 10 minutes away at 8:30 in the morning to see if we could stop by and see them. They were enthusiastic about our visit, and even made breakfast for us! They were a real treat to see, one of the highlights of the trip!
After leaving them, we proceeded on to the bay area with our first stop being the John Muir national monument but found out that Saturday afternoon is not the time to visit. The small parking lot was full, and there was no where to park within several miles, so we decided to skip it. We ate lunch in the RV, and then headed out to find a place to stay for the night. City Ordinances prohibit staying in Wal-Mart parking lots, so we had to find a campground. The one we settled on is in Napa, and will be so much more comfortable.
Tomorrow, we'll head into the city to see Pier 39 and other touristy things.

Yellowstone
Unfortunately, my internet connection here at Yellowstone National Park is really slow, so I'm not uploading any pictures this time. We are really enjoying the park though.
From Mount Rushmore, we headed west toward Yellowstone and the mountains. We have been seeing a lot of bikers on their way to Sturgis for bike week. Anyway, the mountains are a real treat. It's not a lot of fun to drive the RV through, but the views have been spectacular! We got as far as Cody, WY and stayed in the Wal-Mart with all the other motorhomes. First thing in the morning on Wednesday, we headed into the park and got a campsite in the Grant Village.
Yellowstone is beautiful! After some relaxing and napping, we got the bikes down, and rode about 3 miles over to a nice thermal area to see some of the features. There is certainly a lot of stuff that none of us have seen (or smelled) before. After getting back to camp, I decided to make dinner, and baked some chicken breasts, prepared a cream sauce with a little sautéed onions, garlic, and mushroom. Not really camp food, but we're enjoying having the everything including the kitchen sink with us. We even enjoyed a bottle of white wine with dinner. After all that, we were ready to turn in, and enjoyed another restful night’s sleep. It was a little chilly by morning though, as the overnight low was in the 30’s, but the furnace took the chill off quickly.
With a pretty early start, we headed over to Old Faithful, saw some paint pots, and proceeded to meet some friends at the swimming area in Firehole River. The rapids are a blast to float through and the water is nice. After that, we continued around the south loop, and saw some more thermal features and wildlife. Finally, ending the day with packing up, and getting ready to leave first thing tomorrow. California here we come!

Mount Rushmore
We’ve spent the last couple of days in South Dakota after traveling from Minneapolis. We spent the night in the parking lot near Wall Drug. It was hot, and noisy. We didn’t have enough gas in the tank to run the generator and air conditioner, and once we finally got comfortable enough to sleep, the train came through. We were right next to the tracks and the noise was impressive. With only a couple hours sleep, and no coffee, it was a rough morning, but it was fun to check out Wall Drug. It was better than I expected with lots of cool souvenirs, and interesting displays.
From there, we headed west toward Rapid City, SD to get the spare tire replaced, and to go to Mount Rushmore. The guys at Dale’s Tire were great and really helped us out. We dropped off the spare, and then headed up to the monument. Here’s a nice picture of us with the presidents:
After taking a bunch of pictures and having a nice time together, we proceeded to find a campground in the state park there. We meandered around Custer State Park until coming across a nice campground and really enjoyed some bouldering and some nice quiet rest. Finally a full night of quiet, dark, extended rest! Bright and early in the morning, we fired up the rig and set out on the wildlife drive to see some deer, prairie dogs, donkeys and buffalo.
From there, I stopped back at the gas station to recover our gas cap (oops), and then to Dale’s Tire to pick up the spare while the rest of the family utilized the local laundromat.
So now we’re preparing lunch in a parking lot before pressing on towards Yellowstone National Park.
As a recap, here is a map of where we’ve been so far, and how much we still get to see and experience: