Kingman, Arizona to Arnold, California and Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Yahoo says it's close to a 10 hour drive, I've never made it in less than 12 hours and traveling with the dogs and making my usual many rest stops, this trip was no different :) It's little over 600 miles.
Augie makes any puddle his own private swimming pool :) It was pretty warm when we finally hit the Central Valley in California, fortunately the rest stops were spaced just right and the dogs had plenty of water to stay cool and hydrated on our 14 hour drive. 
and no, he doesn't share well :)
This is Hwy 4 up in Arnold, CA. It's so wonderful to be able to live up here. E.J.'s Mother still does, we left this part of the world for the beauty of the Arizona desert. Quite a contrast I must say.
This is our campsite and we were virtually in my inlaws back yard, which made visiting really easy, yet still have all the pleasures of the wilderness.
Here we are, pitching our tent. 
And what a tent! It was very simple to pitch, very large and the screened roof is awesome. It has a seperate rain roof that fits over the top of the frame in case of colder or wet weather, but we were able to sleep under the stars without getting all wet from the dew too. We like this tent alot :) 
There was kicking back...
there was knitting...
there were movies and knitting.
There were creeks and streams...
lots of swimming...
and attempted skinny dipping :).
There were reunions for family members (E.J.'s sister Sarah from Michigan, Tim and E.J's mother. Sarah was afianced with Tim while they were in Yosemite National Park. Very romantic, very large solitare diamond) ...
and Tim was welcomed into the family with open arms by all. That's Ed, E.J.'s Dad on the sofa with him.
Other reunions included our dog Nellie. She disappeared on Friday, our first night, we just knew she had become coyote or bear fodder which had put a damper on our whole trip when suddenly, early Tuesday morning I opened the tent, saw a light colored blur (no glasses on yet) up on the little hill and she came a wagging and wriggling down to the tent, all proud and happy that she had found her way back. Truly amazing and we were so happy that our trip wasn't going to be marred by the loss of one of our "kids".
There was hot tubbing at the inlaws with visits from the real kids and grandkids.
Barbeque with friends...
finished gifts were finally given :)
and "we're ready to go for a ride now, can we go back to White Pines lake?" (Now you know what I look like in my nightgown LOL!!)We spent Friday packing up our storage space in Valley Springs, believe it or not, we couldn't fit it all in the trailer we brought, so we are still going to have to pay storage and make one more trip to CA for the rest of it! But I did get my Brother machines and ribber, plus tons more of yarn that I had forgotten about and most of our holiday decorations and other assorted collections of stuff that we just can't bare to part with :)
Saturday was spent with my mother and sister Joan, she has a new beautiful swimming pool with hot tub. My brother popped in to show me all the plans for the remodeling of my mom's house. Kitchen and 2 bathrooms with construction finally beginning this week. Joan treated us to one of the best meals we have ever experienced. Tahoe Joe's, http://www.tahoejoes.com/index.php it's awesome and our new very favorite place. They are franchised throughout Central California and we will be making a point of eating there when ever we get the chance. Just wonderful food with perfect atmosphere, it was a very nice evening. We then soaked in the hot tub before going to bed. Sunday we stopped at my sister Michele's home in Turlock, for another all too short of a visit, but a very nice one just the same and after driving all night, we made it home without any incidents at all on Monday. A neat trick for us as drama usually follows us when we travel.I would like to add that my cat and kittens weren't too traumatized by being left at home, however 2 litter boxes wasn't enough and phewh! the house sure stunk!!! Fresh litter fixed that little problem and now we know that we will have to put out at least 4 boxes the next time we take a little 10 day trip like that :)
