Vacation, Part II

Today's exciting news (yesterday's was our upcoming freedom from AT&T) is that we had rain! Lots of rain! There were light showers last night and early this morning, but then the skies opened up shortly after Darcy started her nap and we had a real, sustained downpour. Very exciting.

This is campsite number two, a Park Service campground in Devil's Postpile National Monument. The ground is mostly ground-up pumice, which made for very dirty feet for all of us, and very dirty everything for Darcy given her fondness for dirt and rocks. And charcoal, which is what adorns her face in this picture. She was slumped in this chair playing with small pieces of pumice that were mostly under her back. It amused her for at least fifteen minutes, which meant fifteen minutes of the day that she wasn't in full motion.

Along with tunnels, Darcy learned to love bridges on this trip. Both campgrounds had nearby bridges that we made multiple visits to. This one has a special place in Michael's heart. It is the stopping point for one of his favorite views in all of the Sierra. (See below; I wouldn't tease like that.)

The View From the Bridge. Need I say more?

Devil's Postpile is a stunning volcanic feature made up of hundreds (or thousands?) of columns of basalt that formed when lava cooled very slowly. We didn't go up on top, but glacial action long after the columns formed sheared them off to look like a very fancy tile floor. You can see more pictures of the Monument here.

Darcy, of course, enjoyed the Postpile immensely because it's all rocks. Big rocks. In Darcy's world, rocks are either big (or sometimes heavy rather than big) or tiny. If she can hold it in one hand, she will almost always answer "Tiny!" if you ask if her rock is big or small.

More pictures will follow shortly. There is still a waterfall to see, so stay tuned!