Kings Canyon and Sequoia

It is Tuesday evening now (at the EconoLodge in Visalia), after another day of National Parks: Kings Canyon and Sequoia. Again I feel I have only scratched the surface of some fantastic places which are preserving unspoiled mountains, forest and wildlife. The highlights of these parks are the giant Sequoia trees. They are the biggest in the world and so they are of course truly impressive. My pictures include "General Sherman", the biggest of all. He's the one on the left in the photo where I couldn'e get the whole thing in. Many are up to 2000 years old. It is worth bearing in mind, though, that these guys were still in short trousers when the Fortingal Yew was already 3000 years old (according to some anyway)!

More interesting wildlife today too, including another wolf, some little things I can't name, and (I'm pleased to say) a black bear which was happy just nosing about while I took a photo.

Yosemite.. and Squaw Valley

Yesterday was a long but excellent day. I got to the Yosemite National Park pretty early and generally just mosied around the valley, mostly in some degree of awe at my surroundings. The valley is just a small piece of the Nat. Park, but no doubt the most popular. Yosemite really merits a whole holiday on its own, especially if you want to include some serious rock-climbing - but there are lots of lesser challenges and things of interest. My pics can't do them justice, but I'll have a go with El Capitan (3000 ft rock face) and Half Dome. Despite the bear warnings I didn't meet any of those, but I did encounter some deer and a wolf just strolling along the road (maybe looking out for the deer I'd met earlier).

I've decided to have a look at the Sequoia National Park too, and so I drove in the early evening through Fresno and stopped over for the night in Squaw Valley (pop. 2691, elev. 1700 ft - but I think the population estimate is a serious over-estimate). I was beginning to think I'd driven too far into the wild but was pleased to come across the Squaw Valley Motel. Think "Bates" and you'll be pretty close, but it had everything I needed. Bear Mountain Pizza just along the road did me proud with the Polar Bear (garlic chicken) pizza - with extra anchovies and roasted garlic. This morning I found the local community library - who provide free internet access. Thanks for the tip Moira! Now I'm off to Sequoia to look at some big trees.

Sonoma to Yosemite

A longish journey through country varying from mile after mile of wineries, wide rivers, fertile flatlands to the foothills of the Rockies. I stayed overnight at the Vantage Lodge at Bucks Meadow, on the edge of the Yosemite National Park. My solo picture is of an intriguing sounding bar just back down the road a bit, by one of those rivers. It seems Scotch whisky has some low cost competition around here! It looks like a biker stop, & I wouldn't want be in their way after visiting that bar. In case anyone is interested there is a bartender job going!

Sonoma

It is Sunday morning and I'll be leaving Sonoma for Yosemite later today. Erica and John have been fantastic hosts again, and the neighbours have been equally welcoming here. Friday evening ended up in a pretty late-night session singing along to John's guitar and harmonica, or to the Rhapsody internet service. Lots of Elvis and Proclaimers stuff, I seem to remember! And that was after my induction to Wii tennis and 10-pin bowling. Yesterday we took a tour of some of the wineries in the Sonoma valley, taking many samples along the way, and visiting the Jack London museum. I'm very glad that John was doing the driving! Last night we had a very fine meal chez Maria, and with neighbour Nancy there too.

Thank you to all of you for a wonderful couple of days. My pictures are of Erica and John at Benziger winery, some of their vines, signposts to more wineries, and the moon from Maria's garden - with some of her very own Redwoods!

Carmel

Another quick update. Deirdre volunteered to drive down to Carmel yesterday, for which I am very grateful. we had a very pleasant trip, with lunch at Monterey's Fisherman's Wharf before a long walk with Ellie on the beach at Carmel. The swell and the waves are pretty powerful and impressive; so this isn't a place to go for a dip in the sea. But it is clearly a great place to go for a walk with a dog, especially one like Ellie who loves to chase balls and doesn't mind getting wet.

On the way back I had to take a photo of "Garlic World" at Gilroy - a town which apparently bills itself as the garlic capital of the world when they have their annual festivals in July! I'm afraid we didn't have time, though, to check out the menu.

In the evening D&D and I had a fine meal at the local Brewery restaurant, (after watching the VP candidate debate on TV) and before the late night arrival of Stephie from Tahoe.

Saratoga

Just a quick update here. I'm now ensconsed at the Anderson mansion in Saratoga with David and Deirdre and Ellie the chocolate labrador. Looks like we will be heading down to explore Carmel this afternoon. I think Ellie is looking forward to a walk along the beach!

On the road again

Yes I'm back on the move again. Yesterday's long journey from Glasgow to San Francisco worked out exactly according to plan, but it was via Edinburgh and JFK, and so added up to a pretty long day. I'm staying with Erica and John for a couple of days, and they have been fantastic in welcoming me to their part of the world and in providing a whistle-stop tour today. Highlight was of course our lunch at the Stinking Rose. This is a specialist garlic restaurant, and as soon as I heard about it I knew I had to pay a visit! My excellent lunch consisted of garlic,onion and potato soup (good stuff, but very different from the Nepalese stuff), roast chicken and potatoes with 40 cloves of garlic (no kidding) and then of course the garlic ice-cream (again no kidding!).
My pictures are of the Stinking Rose, me with the soup, Erica with the ice-cream, and some views of SF on what has been a beautiful sunny day. Perfick!