What makes last minute travels appealing to me is you haven't gotten the time to visualize what you want to do yet and whatever you manage to do on vacation has a definite edge over slouching on the sofa while watching television!! So if you haven't gotten into the rhythm of our travels on this blog yet, its usually last minute with no intensive planning involved and priority is always on leisurely soaking in the place, letting the place speak to you rather than cramming your day aimed at checking off touristy things to do.
Our vacations these days start with us browsing Airbnb/VRBO looking for appealing residences to stay in. Most of the times, the place we covet is out of our price range and/or unavailable for the time period we are planning to travel. Yet we continue our search to find a place that will represent the destination we are heading out to in terms of location, views, interior design and kid-friendliness all given equal preference. This order of preference holds true for any last minute travels too.
Last summer we found ourselves agreeing to stay at a place featured on VRBO out of the myriad of options to choose from, outside Sequoia National Park, just on the basis that the owner replied sooner than the other places we wrote to. Located in Three Rivers town the place looked very basic, came fully furnished, built on a farmland including farm animals! Staying on a farm with the kids has long been on our list and so we booked it! We were heading out on a Friday morning and coming back Sunday evening.
The cottage had 2 bedrooms, a living room, an airy kitchen, a common bathroom, front and back porches and plenty of windows offering expansive views of the surrounding mountains and the rugged desert terrain. The weather was super hot, sunny and dry, contrary to the cooler weather inside Sequoia National Park due to the park's higher altitude and ample greenery.
What pleasantly surprised us when we arrived at the house was a wicker basket filled with farm fresh produce grown on their own property that included cherry tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, yellow summer squashes, a garlic head, jalapeños, aubergines, cucumbers on the kitchen counter and fresh eggs in the fridge.
When you have young kids, even the most impromptu trips have to cater kids' hunger pangs and availability of good food in general. From our previous trips to national parks we learnt that food options are generally limited, over-priced and unhealthy. Since we knew beforehand that the property came with a refrigerator, I cooked chicken curry ahead and had instant homemade rasam powder and store bought tamarind rice paste, rice cooker and rice, our staple South Indian fair on hand. Having a loaf of bread, jam/Nutella/peanut butter on hand could make breakfast a breeze. The idea was to keep cooking easy, breezy and fuss-free during our stay.
I sneaked in just enough time to unwind with a book on the back porch before heading out to the junction where the North, Middle and South Forks of Kaweah River meet lending to the town's name Three Rivers.
Nihaar refused to get into the water and sat on the shallow end. He quickly changed into dry clothes and after seeing Sriman have so much fun, he didn't mind getting splashed after all. We stayed until dusk and soaked in the views of the mountains, rocks and the serenity of flowing water navigating huge boulders.
DAY 2
Quality ingredients take the basic of recipes up a notch! This was the first time I got my hands on such fresh produce and coupled with olive oil I was in scrambled eggs heaven! Its one thing to overhear people talk about farmer's market trips and how California has fresh produce year round but this encounter was proof and converted me to go organic and farm fresh whenever possible!!
After a filling breakfast, we were ready to venture into the park, the main reason for our trip. Coming up is Part Two, in this two part series, activities we did inside Sequoia National Park. Stay tuned!
I love visiting National Parks! What a great way to disconnect and spend time with family. <3
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