Birthday Cake 2012 -- Giant Sequoias!

Every year, for the last 3, my guys have made me a special birthday cake.  The process is always shrouded in mystery and a lot of sugar.  :>)

This year my guys made a representation of one of my favorite places on earth, Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park.  It's in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, about 1 1/2 hours out of Selma (near Fresno), where I grew up, and we introduced Aaron to it last year.  Obviously, he was struck by its beauty too.  He mentions it fairly often. 

Oddly, as I was banished from the kitchen while they were working, I was working on some scrapbook pages from that same trip.  These only give you the tiniest idea of the magnitude of these living giants.  The sequoias are truly awe inspiring.



Here you can see my guys hunkering in a hole at the base of the tree to the left.  It just begins to give you the impression of how large they are.  My brother lived in Saudi Arabia for a number of years and worked with some of the local men.  He told them about these trees and they thought he was kidding.  On a visit home, he went and took pictures which he took back and showed them.  They still couldn't believe it and were thoroughly convinced he had "Photoshopped" the pictures.  If you haven't, and ever get the chance, go see these trees.  If you ever get to feeling too big for your britches, think of these and it'll bring you back down to a more reasonable size.  :>) 


Here are the sequoias my guys made for me.  The trees are pound cake and Ho-Hos.  The bushes are squished rice crispy treats (My boy doesn't watch the Cake Challenge shows for nothing, you know!).  This year they added the new technique of painting on additional food colloring for contrast.  :>)



Here's the whole masterpiece.  The loaf cake is "The Fallen Giant".  It's a fallen sequoia which has been used in many ways, including as the quarters for a cavalry unit in the 1800s (even the horses fit).  I first visited as a young child and have always been fascinated by it.  You can walk all the way through it, as much of it was burned out, probably by a fire started by lightning.  The general consensus is lightning killed this tree and caused it to fall though no one living knows for certain how, or even when, it fell.  Some of these trees in this grove are more than 2,000 years old.

The next two pages show us in and around the fallen giant.   In the picture, bottom right, of this lay-out, we're standing by what's left of the tree's root structure.

 

 

 

In the middle, below, Aaron's standing about half-way through the tree.  Above him, Roger's standing in the sunlight let in throught the hole at the top, right.

 

 

 As you can tell, I love this place, and I loved my cake too.  Devil's Food to fit my personality!  ;>)  Thanks guys!!!  I love you!!!!!!