After a month of staying put, we headed north for friends, trees, and snow.

January 5 - 11, 2026

Lemoore Naval Air Station, Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park, CA

1 John 4:19: We love because He first loved us.

After leaving San Diego County, the plan was to head to Lemoore Naval Air Station for a few days to see friends. Then we’d spend four nights at an RV park near Fresno, the approach for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

After visiting 30 national parks in six months, one habit I’ve formed is to check the Current Conditions page for each park on nps.gov—and I’m glad I did. On our drive away from San Diego, I checked Sequoia’s NPS page and found out that on that very day, park rangers closed the road connecting the park to Kings Canyon.

So instead of a one-hour drive from our RV park to Sequoia NP, we were looking at a 2.5 hour drive each way. I scrambled to come up with a different plan.

VB Reunions in Lemoore

Thankfully, the Lemoore part of our journey went as planned. We visited with friends from Trinity Church in Virginia Beach. Chelsea’s husband Parker is currently deployed, so she is holding down the fort at home. Their oldest son, Preston, was good friends with Nate in Sunday School, and so it was super special to give these guys some playtime together. And I loved swapping updates from the past jam-packed seven months with Chelsea.

Sadie also visited with a friend here. Josh from Virginia Beach was on her water polo team the last two years. His family moved out here this summer. Sadie and Josh were able to link up (no doubt griping about parents who uprooted them right before the start of 7th grade).

Our three days in Lemoore were sprinkled with a few unexpected hassles. I scrambled to change our RV park reservations, which, thankfully, ended up working out fine. And Nate’s spacer came unglued from his molar, so I had to call around to ~18 orthodontist offices to find someone who would help us. Thankfully we found someone.

The Mighty Sequoias

Spending January in California was appealing because, having lived in this state seven of the last 20 years, we know what to expect during winter months Lower elevations in the Central Valley mean easy passage—no snow or ice on the roads. Reserving RV sites in the foothills would set us up to drive to the parks in about an hour and enjoy the snowy Sierra Nevadas without having to tow through them.

After three wonderful dinners in a row with Chelsea’s family, we packed up and headed to the foothills town of Three Rivers. The RV park was in a forest on a river. We all agreed it was nice to get away from military RV parks and back to a setting that felt more like camping.

*The river is just down the hill from our bumper.*

From here we spent a full day in Sequoia National Park. The whole time in Sequoia, Nick and I reminisced about our first visit to this park in 2006. At that time, we thought Nick’s two-week Christmas break would be our last chance to travel through California before he finished training and we moved to Virginia. So that year, we skipped going home for Christmas in exchange for a two-week road trip through California. Our California Adventure trip, we called it (quite possible early seeds of something else…).

That Christmas Eve, we camped in the snow at 7,000 feet. On Christmas morning, we opened our stockings at the majestic General Sherman tree and then hiked the Congress Trail. At the end of our two-week road trip, we returned to Coronado completely floored by all we had done and seen having never left the state. After that trip, we requested orders to stay on the West Coast for three more years. With no regrets.

Visiting Sequoia with Sadie and Nate nearly 20 years later, we hiked the same Congress Trail, marveling at these beautiful, old giants. We craned our necks peering to the top of the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree in the world by volume.

A tree standing alone called The President prompted Sadie to request us asking her trivia questions about the founding of our country. (Do you remember how many years the Revolutionary War lasted and how it ended? It was good to refresh.)

During our visit here, we had one hold-up. The roads were so icy, a car got stuck in the parking lot blocking us in. We lent a tow strap hoping to help, but it took a wise and patient park ranger to get the car unstuck without hitting any cars or injuring anyone (one more example of park rangers as unsung heroes).

After the delay, we continued on to the snow play area, where the kids (and Nick) enjoyed sledding. Unlike Crater Lake, this time the kids had proper snow gear and boots. But we quickly realized this was Nate’s first time sledding down a huge hill since he was three in Lake Tahoe—which he doesn’t remember. After reorienting him to safe sledding, he picked it up quickly. The kids wore themselves out going up and down the snowy hillsides.

A Glimpse of Kings Canyon

After moving the RV further north, we set off to spend a day in Kings Canyon National Park. Sadie unfortunately wasn’t feeling well, so she stayed back. Once in the park, we walked through the General Grant grove of sequoia trees. The General Grant tree is considered America’s Christmas Tree.

The main road through Kings Canyon is closed during the winter. This part we knew. We drove as far as we could anyway and were pleased to discover an unexpected view of the canyon.

We hiked through an area where several sequoia trees were chopped down. Their stumps remain, and you can even climb on top of the Mark Twain tree to better understand its massive size.

Compared to our glorious stroll through the idyllic Congress Trail, this hike was a sobering reminder of the human impacts on the natural world.

We finished the day at another snow play area, then headed down the mountain to pack up again.

Until next time

Nick and I (and now the kids) have only experienced Sequoia and Kings Canyon in the winter. We absolutely enjoy viewing these incredible trees with a blanket of snow all around. But we’re learning about more and more places to explore when park roads are fully open in warmer seasons.

Leaving the area, we earmarked these parks for future explorations, ideally to camp in the backcountry. So much of this land is reachable only on foot. And (free travel tip) way down in the valley of Kings Canyon is a lodge! A couple nights here could set you up for some incredible day hikes.

And so, we left these mountain park already talking about returning. Next time, we hope, in summer.

Roberts on the Road

For those just finding us, hello! Inspired by the Year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25, our family is on a yearlong RV road trip in 2025-2026 to celebrate my husband’s retirement after 20 years in Naval Special Warfare, as well as our 24 years together during the ups and downs of it all.

With our 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son in tow, this trip to explore America’s national parks and beautiful places is intended to help our family reflect and reset as civilian life begins.

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For background info on who we are and where we’re traveling, we’d love for you to read the intro post. The full list of road trip blog posts can be found here. Thanks for stopping by!