California Sunrise: More came up than just the sun

As we have already established, I was in charge of the itinerary (so I had no one else to blame). What IDIOT puts a 6:05 am sunrise on Day Four, especially when you have to leave the hotel at 4:30 am to hike to said sunrise vista? Yup. That would be me. To their credit, no one in my family complained. They were just too tired. Sydney immediately curled up in the backseat and fell asleep, using my lap as a pillow. Conversation was shockingly non-existent as we drove to Kings Canyon National Park.

EXCERPT FROM TRAVEL JOURNAL:

Imagine an energetic little boy shaking one of those marble games, attempting to get the ball in the divot. Now imagine that same child doing that same activity in a dark closet. That marble is me being driven up the dark winding roads of Kings Canyon to witness the spectacular sunrise at Panoramic Point.  

I am prone to motion sickness. ("No!" you gasp, shocked.) But I quickly learned the significant difference between experiencing motion sickness during the day as opposed to the magnified sensations when one stomachs it in the darkness. This was my idea, I thought to myself hatefully as tears poured silently down my cheeks and I tightly grasped the door handle. Brad and Savannah became aware of my plight, reassuring me that we were almost there. Like I cared. Windows were rolled down. Words of comfort whispered.
Imprisoned by Sydney's slumbering form, I sat rigidly still, willing my stomach to behave, alternately taking deep or shallow breaths to conform to the waves of dizzying nausea that swept over me.

By the grace of God, we pulled into the little parking area at Panoramic Point. Sleeping Beauty awoke, stretching slender arms over her head before catching a glimpse of her now red-faced, hyperventilating mother. "Did you have a bad dream," she asked as Savannah jerked my car door open and helped me stagger to my feet. I wobbled over to behind a sign where I loudly and painfully retched. "It's so peaceful here," Brad commented, eyeing the only other car that was there, its sunrise seekers looking startled, disgusted, and somewhat afraid. While I crouched subtly behind my sign, Sydney read its posted rules. "Number two says to Be Quiet. Try to blend in with your surroundings." She had to raise her voice to be heard over my yakking. She got points for not giggling.

"Just leave me here," I moaned, "Go on without me." Brad has heard me say this to him about a dozen times during our almost three decades of marriage so he has gotten REALLY good at ignoring it. "This must have been important to you if you put it on the itinerary," he said, grasping my arm and tugging me up the path, ""We're not going to let you miss it." Our fellow sunrise watchers were now alarmed as I was forcibly dragged up the hill with Savannah and Sydney pushing from behind as needed. We only paused when I felt it necessary to blend in with my surroundings.

We made it to Panoramic Point where I immediately slumped over a comfortable rock. "It's cold," Brad stated, digging around in my backpack before dragging out my fleece pajama bottoms decorated with fluffy sheep. My lamb-y jammies. He wrestled me into them as I moaned. "Maybe sucking on a Jolly Rancher would help," he muttered, ignoring our companions who weren't even pretending at this point to be there to see the sunrise. We were the biggest show in town this morning. "I can't find the Jolly Ranchers," Savannah reported, "but there are gummi bears. Do you want some gummi bears, Mom?" "Four," I whispered hoarsely before quickly amending that rash decision, "No...three! I want three gummi bears." Clearly I was out of my mind. What sane person asks for fewer gummi bears?

The sunrise WAS magnificent. This wasn't some laboriously slow reveal of warm rays inching up over the hillside to take a leisurely stroll into the valley and meander through meadows. No. This was the Emeril Lagasse of sunrises: BAM!

"That was pretty great," Brad admitted as we returned to the car. The other couple, having taken note of our license plate number, had already departed. "That was the most memorable sunrise I've ever seen," Savannah declared as she and Sydney took a wide berth around the trail-head sign. "Breath-taking," Sydney agreed. It definitely was a unique way to start the day. I sighed as we pulled away...feeling as though I'd left a little piece of myself back there at Panoramic Point. Make that...pieces.