After breakfast, we hit the road for Sequoia National Forest. Tonight we are not Couch Surfing... we are staying in an actual lodge in the Sequoia National Forest!!! Long story short, I originally wanted to stay in Yosemite but their "tent cabins" are $110 per night. Don, our host in Nipomo, mentioned that Sequoia is similar to Yosemite but less popular, which prompted me to search for lodging options in Sequoia. I found the Montecito Sequoia Lodge: $89 per night for a huge four person, all-inclusive room! We couldn't find many photos online but I did find a lot of positive reviews, so we took a chance and decided to stay there! It was really complete chance that it worked out that we would be staying there on Valentine's Day!!
We drove through Kings Canyon National Park and stopped to see the General Grant tree, the second largest tree in the world. It was extremely beautiful in the park; very serene with tall trees and snow.
It's crazy that even though these trees grow to be so tall, they have extremely shallow roots!
There were actually a lot of enormous trees in the forest!
We took a photo in front of General Grant... it's too bad that my camera could not capture how enormous the tree really is... the tree is 274 feet tall with a circumference of 107 feet at the base!
There was also a tree that had fallen over and had been hollowed out over the years. I read that it was originally used as a food shop for park visitors back when the park originally opened, but now it's just a neat and huge hollow tree!
This drive was really beautiful. Trees, snowy mountain peaks... such a gorgeous day!
We made it to the lodge and were extremely happy with our choice to stay here!! It's surrounded by trees and lots of individual cabins, and during the week they have probably 20 guests (their full capacity is 150). We had to take a photo from one of our windows because the view is amazing :)
We brought our stuff in and then walked around the property. Josh was very excited to be there... so excited that he jumped, fell, and decided to make a snow angel!
There are a ton of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing trails, but we just took a few short walks into the forest.
Since this is an all-inclusive resort, all of our meals are provided. We got back to the lodge right before dinner and Josh took another photo from our window at dusk.
For dinner, we enjoyed a buffet of chicken, fish, and a ton of sides and salads. They also had a made-to-order dessert area with warm fruit and ice cream... it was amazing! Josh and I hung out by the fire and made s'mores, which is an "evening activity" most nights. Oh yes, there is also hot chocolate!!! We had mugs and mugs of hot cocoa... it was fantastic! Plus, there is a 24 hour "snack bar," full of lots of cereals and fruit and bagels and different spreads... we grabbed a few bagels to stash for later!
It was such a treat to hang out by ourselves tonight. While we are so thankful that Couch Surfing has allowed us to do this trip, sometimes constantly interacting with new people is exhausting. To top off the best Valentine's Day ever, we just watched movies in bed :)
Josh's high was getting to the resort and being extremely happy with our choice to stay here! My high was just the entire day. It has been beautiful weather and this is a gorgeous part of California and of the country, and we've had a really amazing day! Josh's low was our breakfast... it's annoying when one negative person can really bring down four happy people! I didn't really have a low, but I guess if I had to pick something I would agree with Josh. Josh's "ho" was a painting hanging in the lodge...
... and my "ho" was wearing our Sperry's as we moved our things from the car to the room. Sperry's are definitely the wrong shoes to wear in snow, especially since ours have zero traction! We were sliding around everywhere!
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