Month: April 2022

Day 27 (ish)

          Travel Days can be relaxing if we don’t have a particular timeline or destination. Yes, we are on this sojourn and eventually we will arrive in New Jersey, but in the interim, we only have a few reservations at campgrounds that we make usually only a few days in advance.

          Travel Days can be harrowing if the highway that we are traveling upon winds its way through the Cascade Range of volcanic mountains that run up the middle of  our States in the Northwest.

          The long upgrades that sap our speed are a challenge. We fight for road-position with all of the trucks. In some cases, we are able to out pull them as we climb the grade. Other times, we get caught behind a slower one and we lack the acceleration that would allow us to get out and pass them. It’s all a game of leapfrog that the truckers know oh so well. We are the neophytes.

          The story flips (hopefully not us) on the decline of the grade. Here, the big rigs, with their eighteen wheels to contact the road with, and their exponentially higher experience rating, zoom past us until the next uphill jousting match.

          Downhill is the worst. Careening may be a better word to use here. Downhills are never straight. They plummet just as a curve comes into the road usually with a precipitous drop-off on the other side which would hurl us through space until we shattered into tiny pieces on the canyon floor miles below.

          Or so it feels like.

          Thank goodness for our Exhaust Brake. This marvelous invention uses the power of the exhaust to slow the motor down, having much the same effect as the noisy Jake-Brakes that we hear as big trucks go down hills or come to a stop.

          With this nifty apparatus engaged, it allows us to take our foot off of the brakes (so we don’t burn them up) and just tap them every so often to keep further control of our speed. That, along with our trusty Allison six-speed automatic transmission that downshifts at precisely the correct time, allows us to maintain some semblance of control on these dizzying death-defying descents.

          But the scenery is awesome, so it all balances out!

          So, there is this town in California named Weed.

          I know, you just can’t make this stuff up!

          Those of you who know me better know that I have never even held a marijuana cigarette much less done anything else with it!

          But I couldn’t help laughing at this seemingly deliberately placed town in the first state to legalize marijuana (for medical purposes) and eventually recreational use. As we approached the town, which is right off of Interstate Route 5, I saw a sign that read,

                                      WEED, Next Three Exits

          And I imagined that stoner-guy leap with joy at the prospect of getting off of the highway at any of the next three exits and procuring his cannabis stash. We were not quick enough to grab a photo of that sign, but we were able to get a quick, fuzzy shot of the exit sign as proof!

          FYI, the town was named for Edgar Weed who back in the late 1800’s founded a sawmill here which became the largest sawmill in the world.

          I knew that there had to be a reasonable explanation!

Day 26

          About ten million years ago there was an uprising.

          No….. not a revolt. We weren’t around back then.

          But the Geology Family was, and they were hard at work.

          They pushed the Sierra Nevada mountains up at a crazy angle which made all the streams and rivers flow faster and faster. These erosion causing factors made room for another Family to move in, they were the Canyons Family, and they got along very nicely with the Geology Family. All was good for about five million years.

          Until…… (cue dramatic music by John Williams)

          The Glacier Gang moved in.

          The Glacier Gang were sweet-talked to expand their activities by their allies, the Ice Agers.

           The scouring of the area that Yosemite Valley is located in had begun with a vengeance. No stone was left unturned in their drive to reshape everything in their path. In fact, no stone or three-thousand-foot granite monolith was safe from the Glacier Gang. They wielded their forces and scooped out all the dirt and rocks from the Valley like a kid eating pudding with a spoon.

          The Glacier Gang are our friends    😊

          Without them, what we see and experience in Yosemite National Park would still be buried right up to the top of Bridal Veil Falls. That is a lot of scooping as the top of the Falls sits a little over 600 feet above the Valley floor.

          So, as you can see, the Glacier Gang really are our friends!

          Our visit to Yosemite National Park was accompanied by our other good friend, Great Weather. Luckily for us, she seems to be following us wherever we go.

          I think she comes along just for Snack Time.

          Which we had while peering up at Bridal Veil Falls.

          We did not need any timestamp reservations at Yosemite as our trip commenced before May 20^th. After that date, and during the peak visiting season, you will need to procure a timed reservation to enter.        More and more National Parks are being forced to initiate this procedure as the overcrowding of these Parks has reached epidemic proportions, which in a way, is a good thing. It’s no use having a park unless folks go to it, but I guess that everything has its limits, and that includes National Parks and their capacities.

          We are staying about an hour outside the Park at the Mariposa County Fairgrounds located appropriately in the little town of Mariposa. It turns out that Mariposa means Butterfly in Spanish and we just missed the annual Butterfly Festival at the fairgrounds that concluded the day that we arrived. I’m not sure what a Butterfly Festival is as these little guys kind of have their own life cycles, but I wonder if the attendees bring their butterfly pets along? Let them fly around on tiny thread-like leases like dogs at a dog show?

          I guess I should find out and report back to you.

          We entered the Park along with a few others and while we were there we never experienced the throng-like atmosphere that prompted the need for timed entries. Yosemite was one of the first Parks to offer, (then insist) on having its own mini transit system. Even though the Park covers almost twelve-hundred square miles, the vast amount of visitors, (95%)  travel in the seven square miles of the Valley floor. From here you can see most of what Yosemite is famous for. El Capitan, Bridal Veil Falls, Half Dome, and Yosemite Falls (both Upper and Lower) are visible and accessible from the various loop roads that wind around the Campgrounds, Lodges, Hotel, and vantage points here.

          We have Abraham Lincoln to thank for the initial protection of Yosemite Valley and that was way back in 1864. It took another twenty-six years for it to gain further stature when John Muir convinced Teddy Roosevelt to protect it even further. It finally entered our infant precursor of the National Park Service in 1890 as a stand-alone National Park and was one of major reasons for establishing the National Park Service in 1916.

          It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site for all the right reasons.

          As I’ve alluded to before, timing is everything when visiting these places. It affects your experience in many ways. Getting here early was great as most people like to sleep in and start there days a little later, which is fine if you are watching TV, but not good if you are planning on entering one of the most visited places on the planet.

          So, early is good.

          Except, for lighting up a deep, high-walled, valley with that great illuminator of photographic scenes, Miss Sunshine. She needs to work her way across the sky and then she  is very specific about what, and when, she sheds her radiance upon. When we arrived, Bridal Veil Falls was deep in the shadows and El Capitan was bathed in glorious brilliance. Half Dome never really showed its face until much later in the day, probably late afternoon and by then we were on our way back to Butterfly Town. But because there were no crowds we were able to make numerous round trips around the loops over the span of our visit and capture some nicely lit scenes that may have otherwise been only visible to us in the shadows. If you have ever seen the work of Ansel Adams and his camera, you know what I am talking about. Ansel was the one who brought the Sierra Nevada and particularly Yosemite into the family rooms of America with his stunning black and white photos of this region. He really knew how to use the available light to his advantage. Fittingly, one the Wilderness Areas that surround Yosemite is named for him.

While we were there, Paula spied a group of crazy people scaling the vertical wall of El Capitan. It takes so long to do this that you need to spend the night (or two) suspended above the valley floor in a special platform-tent or just a sleeping bag. I told you they were crazy!

          If you have never been here please do not let my description of over-crowding stop you. It is well worth the visit as is any of the other great National Parks in our system.

           Just plan accordingly and all will be fine!     

          Lastly, I may I suggest that you  put the Glacier Gang on your Christmas Card list…. We have a lot to thank them for!

Days 24 and 25

          There’s this little Gallery on a side street in Sausalito, a tiny bay-side town just north of San Francisco.. I was there about twenty-five years ago, and I’ve thought about it ever since. This gallery specializes in Maritime décor and is only one of a few worldwide that features the art of John Stobart.

           Mr. Stobart is (was) a British artist whose paintings of maritime scenes such as the Cutty Sark racing the Thermopylae, or South Street in NYC back in the 1800’s when it was a thriving seaport. His work is considered the epitome of this genre and I just can’t get enough of viewing it. I only have a book of his works as being able to actually see a print, never mind an original, is extremely rare.

          So, I was hoping to be able to drop in on our way back from Muir Woods National Monument as Sausalito is just on the other side of the Marin Peninsula. Parking around here is probably worse than NYC if that is possible. The streets are narrower, and they cling to the sides of the hills like a thread carelessly tossed on your shirt. So, my expectations for finding a spot were low already. Plus, this was Sunday Morning in a restaurant town that considers Sunday Brunch as a religion. Double Whammy.

          Miss Google Maps did a wonderful job of leading us directly to my long-awaited reunion with Mr. Stobart and his paintings. We slowed up as we spied the shop across the street. This is where having out-of-state license plates works in your favor as locals will understand that you are clueless as to where places are located and hopefully give you some slack.

          Well, no slack was needed as the Gallery was closed.

          That’s right. The Scrimshaw Gallery, normally open seven days a week, 10 AM to 5 PM, had decided to take this opportunity to close for the day.

          Twenty-five years and three-thousand miles.

          You just can’t make this stuff up.

          Luckily, this minor setback was so insignificant on the happenings of the day that it was quickly forgotten.

          We had just emerged from a magically surreal experience at Muir Woods and nothing was going to put a damper on that! Deep in a canyon just a few miles north of San Francisco is a world all unto itself. Giant Coastal Redwood trees only thrive in the fog-induced moist atmosphere of these shady ravines. If any of you have read The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, then you are familiar with Lothlorien, the woodland realm of Galadriel.

          Now you have an idea of what Muir Woods is like.

          As mammoth and grand as Sequoia is, Muir Woods is as serene and majestic, all at the same time. If there is a Cathedral dedicated to forests, this is it. There are even signs encouraging you to be as quiet as possible, offering a feeling of reverence and respect to your visit.

          We needed to reserve a time slot for parking and luckily for us the only slot still available when I checked was right after the Park had opened for the day. This did two things, one, it insured that there would be a minimum of crowds and two, it gave us the opportunity to view this vernal woodland during what photographers call the Golden Hours. These precise times of day, shortly before and after sun rises or sets, are named so for the practically perfect lighting conditions that they provide. Add in a forest with that perfect sunlight spilling down through the canopy above and you have  a Nirvana for capturing photos that need no explanation.

          Muir Woods is rather small. Unless you go back-country and decide to utilize one of the longer trails, you can have a very nice visit and only spend about two hours or so. I guess that is good because when we left there were a lot more folks looking for those elusive parking spots that they had needed to reserve. I’ll bet they wished that they had risen a bit earlier and got here when we did!

          After we left Muir Woods we emerged out of the canyon and drove to a point way up high that overlooks San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s called the Marin Headlands and was at one time a military escarpment placed there to defend the Bridge (and San Francisco Harbor) from attacks from across the Pacific.

          The views are obviously magnificent.

          This day’s views, in some ways, may be considered less than optimal as that famous San Francisco fog hovered at just the right height as to look like it was resting on the Bridge and bending its cables.

          Another surreal experience.

          We were able to look across to the spot where we had been the day before. After our drive from Monterey (which was only two hours long) we had time to visit Fisherman’s Wharf, drive around town, look across the Bay at Alcatraz Island, go up and down those crazy hills, and stop and see Lombard Street, the famous really crooked, switchback-loaded street that gets featured in every San Francisco movie.

          After two days of travel in San Francisco, we felt like pros navigating the streets here. But we are very glad to finally be out and away from all of the congestion that seems to infiltrate California cities.

          We do believe that it is worse than back East!

Day 23

          So, what’s in a name anyway?

          What is a Big Sur?

          Is there a Little Sur?

          Even if you have never been here and driven the California Route 1 Highway between Monterey and San Simeon, you have probably heard of this stretch of the California Coast.  I am sure that you have at least seen it in the many automobile advertisements and commercials that have been shot here.

          In fact, it ranks in the top thirty-five of tourist destinations in the world. And there are a lot of places to choose from when you consider the world has literally thousands upon thousands of places in it. So, before we get to probably the easiest post that I’ve ever done (because all I need to do is show you the photos. Never has the old adage “A picture is worth a thousand words” been more appropriate than when describing Big Sur) I will answer the question that is now burning up your curiosity….

          No, there is no Little Sur.

          Big Sur is combination of the old Spanish name for this region and present-day English. The Spanish had to bypass this part of the coast on their way north from San Simeon because it was impassable. They went inland through the valleys to arrive in Monterey and they named the land that they couldn’t penetrate, “El pais grande del sur”.

          Translation: “The BIG  country of the SOUTH.”

          Hence….  Big Sur.

          So now you know!

          The highway clings (literally) to the cliffs and hillsides far above the surf that pounds the rocky coastline below. There are a few beaches along the way but there really isn’t any white sand. The sand here is comprised of ground up rocks so it takes on the color of its origins. There must have been a storm way out in the North Pacific when we were there because there was a High Wave Warning for the Coast. This made the viewing of these waves so far below that much more dramatic. I wish that I could show you a video of it!

          This is another drive that makes taking photos of it very easy.         Every time you go around a bend there is another view that is almost the same as the one that you just left, but it is also very different. I hope you get my meaning here.

          It is hard to say, “Ho-Hum…. another gorgeous view.”

          Examples for your perusal:

          We wanted to have lunch while we were out and as you can imagine, there are only a few places to stop along this stretch of the Coast. The place that we were going to (on the advice of my daughter, Lorelyn) was at the very end of our journey. Our timing was perfect as we pulled into the Lucia Lodge, perched right on the edge of the cliffs, at precisely noontime! According to Lorelyn, they had the best Fish ‘n Chips on the planet, or at least on this road. What they did not have was a place to partake of their famous fare, as the building was gutted for extensive restorations.

          Rats!

          And we had not brought any snacks with us, as we definitely had planned to stop along the way!

          So, an about-face we made and headed back north obviously along the same route that we came down on. The view going the other way was just as good as the ride down and we took advantage of the many pull-offs and Vista Points along the way in  order to grab additional photos and just gaze down at the shoreline hundreds of feet below us.

          We had seen several places on our way down, but they were about thirty miles ahead of us, so on we drove. The first spot was really cute, nestled in a grove of trees that were tucked back in a little valley, but all they had on their menu was some stuff like quinoa and beans.

          The second place we stopped looked even better. It was a very old lodge and as we entered you got the feeling that you were a traveler way back in the day and you happened upon one of those perfect cottage-type inns that only get better with age.

          They were open for dinner only, not lunch.

          Our friend Goldilocks must have been in our back seat because the third place that we tried could be the most perfect restaurant on the planet.

          Perched 880’ above the water, Nepenthe has been serving passers-by for seventy-three years. The Fassett family bought a cabin here from Orson Welles and his wife Rita Hayworth in 1949 and opened their restaurant. It is still in the family and judging by what we experienced should still be going strong for another seventy-three years and longer.

          The food was great, as was also the view. It was nice to see that the owners did not just rely on the exquisite panorama to be their calling card. The wine list was extensive, and the menu varied and a tad eclectic, but prepared in such a way that you knew that the kitchen was as proficient as the view was grand.

          It was worth every penny that we dropped there.

Day 21

          I’m sure that you’ve figured out when I learn something new to me, that I drag you, kicking and screaming, to school along with me.

          This lesson will be no exception, but we will be going on a Field Trip, so don’t forget your Snacks!

          Yesterday we took advantage of the better weather on the coast than we had the day before. Moody fog rolling in is nice to witness, but it makes for lousy sea-view gazing pleasure.

          As you can see from these photos, we had the exact opposite.

          Our destination was “Anywhere up the Coast”, so we drove past where we went the day before (the local Conservation Reservation) and arrived in the little town of San Simeon. You may have heard (or visited) this locale as it is the home of Hearst Castle, the magnificent estate of William Randolph Hearst.

          He had a lot of money.

          And exquisite taste.

          Hearst Castle was on our list of things to do in the area, but it will not re-open until sometime next month. So, all you get for now is this long-range photo of it. I was there in 1964 and again in the 90’s so I can relay to you the fact that it is nothing less than magnificent. Mr. Hearst scoured Europe and bought entire buildings such as chapels, monasteries, and villas and had them disassembled and shipped back here to be reconstructed on his Estate.

          I told you he had a lot of money!

          Our real reason for coming back was to simply drive California Route 1 up the coast and stop along the way at convenient overlooks that dot this scenic highway. What we discovered is the topic of today’s lesson, er, I mean post 😊.

          Elephant Seals!

          We stumbled upon the only place in the world where you can gaze upon an entire Northern Elephant Seal rookery without trekking, getting sandy, or disturbing the critters. The Piedras Blancas Northern Elephant Seal Rookery is right here. It is free to pull up to and California has done a wonderful job of educating and giving access to the public of these guys. We were kept at a decent, but close distance, up on a boardwalk of sorts, that ran the entire length of the beach.

          The seals could not have cared less that we were there.

          Apparently, some Elephant Seals “re-discovered” this stretch of beach back in 1990, liked it, stayed, imprinted it on their young, and now their Great-great-great-great-Grandkids are still coming back here every year. Back in the day, before we all came here needing blubber oil, these seals lived on the coast  without any interference. They were hunted almost to extinction and the only surviving rookeries are way out on the inaccessible Channel Islands. About 25,000 of the 250,000 of the total population come to this rookery every year.

          Elephant seals spend most of their time at sea where they are all alone. Except for their enemies, the Orca and Great White Shark. The males feed in an area that is rife with these predators, so it is estimated that one-in-three are gobbled up each year. The females tend to stay in a different area that is not as dangerous, so their mortality rate is closer to one-in-seven. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like those odds either! I never go more that knee-deep at the shore!

          These guys get big when they mature! Males are up to sixteen feet long and weigh about 5000 pounds and the females are a tad smaller at twelve feet and 1700 pounds. The kiddies pop out at about eighty pounds and are three to four feet long.

          When these guys are out at sea, they routinely dive to more than five hundred feet and they can go as deep as three thousand, all while holding their breath for about twenty-five minutes or so. While they are in the rookery they do not feed at all. Eating is reserved for their foray’s way out at sea.

          One of the other things that they do while here on the beach is to go through a “Catastrophic Molt”. This is an extreme case of molting where they shed their entire skin of fur and obviously grow a new one in its place. This fur, along with their blubber, keep them relatively warm while out in the ocean and diving to those depths for food. That’s why, while on land, they actually need to keep themselves cool, not warm. They do this by using their flippers and covering themselves with sand to protect themselves from the heat of the sun.

          I hear it has a relatively high SPF rating!

          The Rookery has activity all year as the entire population comes and goes depending on the age and sex of the individual seal. So, if you are out this way, just drive by and you too will be treated to something that you cannot find anywhere else!

          It is now time to get out your Snacks.

Day 21

          Yesterday was a Travel Day. It was probably the shortest one that we have had to date. It only took two hours to travel westward towards the Coast and the Paso Robles Wine Region. We are staying at one of the Harvest Hosts locations, Tobin James Cellars, and we are one of six traveling RV’s that are parked along the perimeter of the big field across the street.

          The Paso Robles region is probably the third most popular wine growing region in California behind Napa and Sonoma. Maybe I should have said, grape growing and /or wine producing? I’m fairly sure that they do not grow wine anywhere! 😊

          Anyway, there are over two hundred wineries in this Region, and most are smaller, family-run operations.(Napa and Sonoma  have around four-hundred wineries each). Of the two more well-known areas, Napa is the more established commercially while Sonoma is a little more like Paso Robles in that you will find a more laid-back feeling there as Sonoma, like Paos Robles, has a bit more family-run vineyards.

          Enough about comparing regions! I am so far from being a wine snob that it is almost comical that I wrote even that! Suffice to say that it seems that no matter where you go, there is a local winery that produces some nice stuff. We have a local one in Texas, Saddlehorn Winery, that (according to more experienced wine aficionados) has some really nice wines.

          If you like wine, and you want to watch a good movie, dial up “Bottle Shock”. It is a true story about a winery from California that won a blind taste test against the finest French wineries. There’s nothing not to like about this movie!

          Our goal was to come over to the Coast and visit this area between Loa Angles and San Francisco. We are about eighty miles north of Santa Barbara. It is easy to find on a map. We decided to have our Wine Tasting after we explored a bit so we headed further west until we hit the Coast. I looked for the “Coastal Access” signs that dot Route 1 and we followed them as they led us through a little sea-side neighborhood. We emerged at a small parking lot near a preserved area of land the was supposed to be developed. This afforded us a nice walk along the cliffs and we were treated to the sights that you now see before you in the photographs.

          It was the perfect first encounter of this Coast that I wanted for my California Neophyte that is traveling with me.

          No crowds.

          No rushing.

          And not much sun.

          A little brighter would have been a little better, but we’ve had such great weather that we really couldn’t complain. Besides, as we were leaving we were able to watch the coastal fog actually roll in giving it all a surreal aspect that only heightened the experience.

          Back to the Winery we went having decided that not being able to see the water as we went along was not the best way to drive the Coast. Paula had a very nice Wine Tasting and I had a Coke. As I alluded to before, a Tasting would have been wasted on me!  

          The place was quite busy for a Tuesday afternoon. They had seven different bartenders helping with the tastings. Mind you, if this were a regular bar where one just gets a drink, well, they’d be crazily over-staffed. But when you really only get a sip or two and someone needs to engage you on the finer points of the vintage that is in front of you, then their staffing was perfect. We had a really good time and met some of our RV neighbors from the Parking Field.

          Armed with two new bottles of Tobin James Cellars wine, we headed back across the street to store them away in our wine cellar which is  underneath the seat of our dinette.

          They are safe and awaiting the proper time to be consumed.

          Probably today.

Day 19

          We could not determine the language of the visitors that spewed forth from the large shiny black bus.

          My guess was that it was from some Eastern European country, but it was of little consequence because they seemed to be really enjoying themselves, so origins at this point did not matter.

          We have commented to ourselves so many times over the last few days that we felt like we were in the minority when it came to the “Where’re ya from” category. Our best “Line Friends” on Moro Rock were a Japanese family with the cutest little two-year old girl who said “Happy Easter” to every person she saw. We saw them again at the General Sherman Tree and had a happy reunion of sorts. Both Grandmas were there and were real troopers as both activities required some fairly strenuous uphill walking.

          One cannot help wondering what it is like in other countries. To be fair, if we visited another land, we too would be included in the mix of tourists. I wonder if the citizens of said country would feel like they were in that same minority that we felt that we were in.

          Maybe that’s Ok.

          A pie-in-the-sky hope may be that if we all visited each other and felt welcome, then maybe in the future we could avoid some of the animosities that spring up between us.

           We always try and make eye contact with people on the trails and say “Good Morning” with a smile. We make an extra effort to ensure that we greet folks from far-away lands with something a little extra, something that underlyingly conveys, “Welcome, we’re glad that you’re here”.

          The LAST thing that we want is someone to go back to their homeland feeling is that the USA is filled with “Ugly Americans”.

          But even with the busload from wherever, the crowds were non-existent. There are several reasons for this, and they worked in our favor (mostly). I say mostly because one of the reasons was the time of year. In this season, the elevation determines the weather, not the calendar. So, the roads to the back country were still closed and for a good reason. There was a snowfall just two days ago that made the travelling a bit hazardous. Hence the closures.

          The other reasons were that it was a Monday, Spring Breaks were over, and we were in Kings Canyon National Park, one of the most beautiful, but less popular Parks in the System.

          Kings Canyon is connected at the hip to Sequoia, with who it shares a very large contiguous border. Sequoia is kind of the Big Brother here. If you have limited time, Sequoia definitely gets the nod, and the crowds.

          But we discovered something nice.

          Not all of the Giant Sequoia grow inside the confines of Sequoia National Park. Thirty or so miles away, in Kings Canyon National Park lies the formidable General Grant Tree, securely immersed in the middle of the Grants Grove grouping of these big guys.

          In a way, with the smaller crowds helping, we enjoyed our walk among these trees more than our experience from the day before.

          The Park is just a little further away from our KOA than Sequoia is, but the drive up to the Park did not have the twisty-turny switchbacks that kept us dizzy the day before. So even though it was a bit further, it was a far more comfortable drive.

          As for the bus tours, I’m glad that we went this time of year because this Park and it’s relatively-not-zig-zaggy access road, is the only one of the two that can handle the size of a bus. Hopefully bus tours need to make some kind of reservation  to ensure that not too many show up at the same time. This place is not large.

          We were able to drive a bit further past the Grant Grove to Hume Lake. The lake, as nice as it was, was not our reason for the extra drive. Our goal was to find an overlook that peers into the heart of the Kings Canyon, which was still back a bit further in the rugged Sierra Nevada.

          We found it and were not disappointed!

          I would not rule out a return trip in a season that would allow entry into this Canyon. I have only seen photographs but both John Muir and Uncle Ansel (and his camera) liked it as much as Yosemite, so who am I to argue?  😊

Thanks for reading,,,

Day 18

          How do I describe something that defies ordinary description?

          How do I photograph something that doesn’t compare unless there is something in the frame that gives it some perspective and scale, let alone fit it in the lens?

          These are good problems.

          For those of you who have had the privilege of visiting Sequoia National Park, you understand where I am coming from.

          For those of you who haven’t, I will do my best to help convey the experience that we had yesterday and share it with you.

          Everybody knows about Sequoia. Everybody has seen photographs. The usual superlative adjectives are thrown about with reckless abandon in a desperate attempt to describe these wonderful beings.

          Are they sentient?

          No.

          Not that kind of being. But when you walk among them they are so much more than just trees. But, in fact, that is what they are.

          Only, simply, basically, ……. Trees.

          Most of the conifer type trees that grow here in the Sierra Nevada grow BIG. It’s the location. It has to do with tree cell make-up and metabolism. So, what’s the big deal?

          You look around and see big trees all over here. White Fir, Douglas Fir, Sugar Pine, Incense Cedar, and Ponderosa Pine all grow almost as tall. They are all truly impressive trees.

          But there is something else about Sequoias.

          Something that you can’t quite put your finger on. It goes back to that list of superlative adjectives that I mentioned earlier.

          You may not be able to put your finger on it, but you can put your hand on it.

          Go ahead.

          Put your hand on the bark of one of these monoliths.

          Even the bark conveys something to us.

          At up to two-feet thick, it defends its owner like a castle wall defends its Keep. It repels insects and fire. In fact, a Sequoia depends on fire to insure that it lives and reproduces.

          What???!!!

          Hey! Remember, Only You can Prevent Forest Fires!

          Smokey Bear has ingrained that into all of us since he first rolled out of a New Mexico forest fire decades ago. But now we know that forest fires are good.

          What???!!!

          Yes they are. Fire has been a key component in Mother Nature’s Forest Management Program for as long as she has been around. It’s us, the human factors, that have messed up her plans and we have just (relatively) learned that suppressing naturally occurring fires has its downside.

          So, Smokey’s message has morphed a bit and he now reminds us that, Only You Can Prevent Wildfires!

           Wildfires are different than naturally occurring forest fires or prescribed burns.  We now use prescribed burns as an intermediary tool to kind of bridge the gap between all-out Armageddon (in a human-desirable type location) and Nature’s need to scour that forest floor of detritus, undesirable insects, and other nasties.

          So, Sequoia had a forest fire.       

          It is ugly.

          I’m guessing that only the most hardened Naturalist and Forest Management scientist can look upon the charred remains of this once verdant woodland and smile. But I will venture that even they would secretly wish that this area had remained “pretty” if their families had been visiting for the first time.

          But it didn’t.

          I guess that the solace here is that our descendants now have a better chance of gazing in the same wonderment that we enjoy.

          But not everything burned. Just enough to help some areas with their long-term health and, most of the Giants were left un-affected. Remember that fire-resistant bark?  😊

          So now we get to get back to the fun stuff!

          As you can see from the photos, we had another 15 on the 1 to 10 scale of weather. The road that climbs up into the heart of the park rises about 6000 feet and when you engineer that kind of road in a relatively small area you must use the dreaded switchbacks.

           Which means that your road speed averages about 18 mph.

           Which means that it takes another forty-five minutes to get from the Visitor’s Center to the Giant Forest.

          Which means that by the time you get there you need to use the restroom!

          That’s good because it gives us the opportunity to include the restroom building as one of those objects of scale that I mentioned earlier!

          No matter how much time you spend here it is impossible to be unaffected by the massiveness of the citizens of the Giant Forest. I think that it’s a human thing. We are subject to evolution just like any other living organism on our planet. For gazillions of years we, as a species, has experienced trees. We’ve cut them down, used them to build things, climbed them, made tree-forts, and planted some in our respective castles and used them as a great landscaping tool.

          We really only “discovered” these Giants a little over a hundred years ago. That’s’ way too short a time to affect our collective experience with trees. So, as a consequence, they still blow us away no matter how long we stay in close proximity to them. Even the Rangers here speak in awed voices about their Big Friends. My daughter Lorelyn was a Ranger here over twenty years ago and is still affected (nicely) by her experiences here.

          Sequoia has more than Big Trees. It has the Sierra Nevada as its home. That means that one of the most dynamic mountain ranges on our planet is home to the Sequoia.

          It is kind of fitting.

          The only place in the world that has Sequoias is right here in these mountains. In a mere fifty miles or so, we go from the highest point in the lower forty-eight to the lowest point in North America and one of the lowest on the Earth. Mount Whitney  tops out at 14,505 ft above sea level and proverbial stone’s throw away is Death Valley at negative 282 feet below sea level.

          In a land of extremes, the Sequoia embodies that extreme.

          The Sierra Nevada are mostly granite.

          Morro Rock is all granite and is scarily cool to climb. Since the early 1920’s there has been a stairway folded into its cracks and crevasses for us to scamper up. Well, may be not scamper, more like laboriously put one foot in front of the other because at over 7000’ of elevation (unless you are acclimatized for this height) breathing is not the same as at sea level.

          But then, the view isn’t either!

          All of the peaks that can be seen looking eastward into the heart of the Sierra Nevada are over 12,000’. Looking the other way, way down into the valley, you can see the road snakeily (that word is not in spell-check!) winding its way through the different levels of the landscape until it emerges up here in the Forest.

          We made lots of Rock Friends on the climb up and down!

          The last thing that we did was to pay a visit the largest living entity in the world and that is the General Sherman Tree.

          It is not the tallest.

          It is not the oldest.

          It is the most massive.

          And …..  the top is dead.

          But the bottom keeps growing! Somewhat ensuring its remaining at the pinnacle of this list.

          That concludes our lesson for today. I hope that I have not over-exaggerated any of the attributes of this area. I believe that it is impossible to do so as there really are no words, or pictures, that can take the place of an actual meeting with our Giant Friends.

          Come out here and meet them for yourself.

The weather up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains where Sequoia National Park is nestled, was forecasted to have a ‘Winter Weather Advisory’ that had anywhere from three to nine inches of snow attached to it. As wonderful as that sight would have been if we had already been up there, we decided that a day “off” was not the worst thing that we could do.

          So, discretion being the better part of valor, we stayed down in the Valley and did practically nothing of consequence. We did watch a few more episodes of Madam Secretary and I had the opportunity to work a bit more on my ship model of “Old Ironsides” which needs to be finished by mid-summer because it will stay behind in Manchester-by-the-Sea in Massachusetts with my son Donny and his family. That, some wash, and a venture to the Visalia Farmers Market rounded out the day.

          Visalia is the largest town at the base of Sequoia. The Park is still about forty miles away, so there’s still a little traveling to do in the Honda. Visalia is also one of the larger towns in the San Joaquin Valley which is one of the largest growing areas for produce in the United States. Over twelve percent of our fruits and vegetables come from this area which produces year-round.

          If you have ever been down to the Vineland region of New Jersey you can grasp the vastness of what it looks like here. Mile after mile of rows upon rows of neatly planted crops slip by your windshield. That paints an accurate picture of what it looks like here. What it doesn’t give you is the scale of these plantings.

          In Vineland (which happens to be the world’s best Eggplant growing region, sixty-six percent of the worlds eggplant comes from the Garden State!) your windshield visage remains that of farms for maybe an hour or so. Imagine a place that is three -times the size of the entire state planted with  an endless variety of produce. The Valley is about fifty miles wide and about four-hundred miles long. It was once an inland sea which left behind some awesomely fertile land. So, couple that with a fantastic growing climate and you can see why plants love this place!

(Here is a list of what is grown here, in no particular order, Grapes, Lettuce (71% of the nations supply) Walnuts, Almonds, Pistachios, Oranges, Lemons, Strawberries, Peaches, Nectarines, Tomatoes, Carrots, Cotton, Winter Wheat, and Cows, for milking. Yup, California leads the nation in milk production)

          Now, mind you, not every square mile of this is planted, they needed to leave some room for cities, towns, and roads and some areas are better suited than others for planting, but I hope that you can grasp the seemingly limitless vastness of this Region.

          Oh, I almost forgot,

          This stuff is really good too!

Hope you enjoyed these, thanks for reading! Feel free to forward the blog to anyone that you think may enjoy it. It’s def not a private blog!