My Adventures Began Yesterday

It's 9:47pm and I just entered my tent. I'm camping solo (for the first time!) at Three Rivers Hideaway (last campground/RV park before entering Sequoia National Park) and I'm towards the back of the grounds, away from the motor homes and double wides. I'm also the only tent in the park. Picture a large dirt field with a few picnic tables and fire pits, a white building at the end that houses two restrooms and a shower, and then me, in my 4-person tent, next to my parked Honda Ridgeline, rapidly one finger typing on my iPhone.  I'm nervous. Anxious. Worried about the possibilities. This is a new experience; I've always camped with friends or family, surrounded by tents and motor homes of strangers. There's safety in numbers, right? I'm missing that here.  Every little sound makes my hearing sharpen as my brain tries to identify what I'm hearing and my increased heartbeat prays that it won't become a danger to me.  Bears. Coug...

Ello Washington! We made it back to the US of A! and it felt good! We only spent a few days in Canada, but uff-da to the continuous math (converting hotel room prices, speed limits, figuring out gas prices or the change if an establishment accepted the US dollar, etc.). Blegh. Regarding the gas prices: not only did we have to convert Canadian to USD, but also liters to gallons, because, you know, we wanted to know how much we were paying. Highest prices so far on the trip! The drive along Trans-Canada Hwy 1 was gorgeous. We traveled through three B.C. national parks and they were all stunning. Beautiful trees with so many bodies of water. If Sicamous, BC, Canada and Shuswap Lake were closer to Texas, a move would have been on the horizon. Unfortunately, 2,409 miles is too far from the nephews! First stop in Washington: North Cascades National Park. We drove to the only open Visitor Center and asked the rangers what we should see, where to hike, and which campgrounds wer...