Day 9. Wed. Aug20

Woke up in Three Rivers, CA. Had a nice breakfast (make your own waffles) and headed out for Sequoia National Park. First, though, we stopped at a little grocery store (THE grocery store) for some more camera batteries and Mellow Yellow for John. They had shots in plastic shot glasses that were sealed on top! In the Grocery Store! When I saw they had Whipped, I just had to buy a little 4-pack. They are just the cutest things!

 

First adventure was Sequoia National Park, which we learned is adjacent to Kings Canyon National Park. So if you drive in to one, you come out the other.

 

We stopped at the visitor's center first thing, and we were sure glad we did. We had planned on taking some of the free shuttles around, but we learned that they are just shuttles with no informative talks, and that it would be much better to just drive through. This time of year, crowds are down and parking at the notable spots is not a problem.

The General Sherman tree is in Sequoia and the General Grant is in Kings Canyon. The Sherman Tree is the world's largest living thing. It's the largest sequoia by volume. The Grant Tree is the largest in circumference. For both of them there is a short hike to get there, so they just pop out of the woods all of a sudden. Much better than if there were a parking lot at them. Crystal Cave is between them, but it was closed because of a rock slide yesterday. Sure glad I wasn't there for that! We also heard that Highway 41 had been closed and nearby town evacuated due to forest fire. Highway 41 would take us from Kings Canyon to Yosemite. Thankfully it was reopened late this morning. Niiiiiicccce!

We stopped for gas in the middle of miles and miles of flat grassy fields. It was a Chevron station near the town of Friant, population 30! The store was fascinating. They sell liquor in the gas station! We saw so many different landscapes today.

 

Yosemite is something else. Just about every day, several times during the day, I would look out the window and say, "Gosh, this is BIG." Pictures cannot show you how big the landscape is. Similar to the pictures we took at the Grand Canyon. You just can't get the depth or perspective in a picture.

We have a nice cabin in the Curry Village, which is down (down, down) in Yosemite Valley. There is no phone service and no internet service here. So, thanks to this new Blogsy App, I can type this all up and post when we leave here Friday. Niiiicccce!

 

Factoid: The main difference in a National Park and a National Forest is that in a National Park you should leave everything right where you find them, but in a National Forest you are allowed to keep a few cones or rocks for your personal collection.

 

 

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