Comfort Inn And Suites Visalia

Said goodbye to our huge room and plasma tv and set off on the 8 hour
drive
to Three Rivers, just outside Sequoia. Went to church before we left, very modern with a few songs we knew,
the people were lovely but the service was different to say the least...

Stopped
at McD's near where the first commercial spaceship launched, Charlotte
dropped her McFlurry spoon on her leg at the apparent shock of spotting
a KFC ...

... can’t quickly dive over 3 lanes to ensure you go the right way? That’s when I take a deep breath, keep going, and thank my lucky stars that this gas guzzling nation only pay about 3.5p a gallon for their fuel.

We ploughed on with the drive, stopping to do a supermarket picnic shop and get coffees in a very upmarket area. We’ve quite taken to shopping in Trader Joe’s so sussed out the nearest one, courtesy of Mr Sat Nav ...

Yesterday we spent most of the day in the hotel because it was too hot. We did look at the museum though and at sunset we went to Zabriskie Point where there was amazing views.

Today we drove 6 hours through amazing mountain scenery to Visalia where we're staying at the Marriott Hotel. The book describes Visalia as charming and presentable but it’s more like dated and dull. Everything here is shut by 4pm on a Saturday!

... Marmots & a Coyote). Kings Canyon is Massive! It takes ages to drive around. We had to fill-up in a 1928 petrol pump; It was really interesting to see how it worked. At the Ranger Office we inquired about the trails and the kids picked up the young Ranger program. We did Meadow trail collecting sugar cones along the way and hoping to see ...

... always some who will try to take their 39 footer in. I'm sure they were wishing they had not done so. The speed limit went from 25 mph to 20 then to 10 so you knew the curves were sharp. Again we were travelling along the edge of a narrow mountain road with sometimes guardrails, sometimes not. Going up was worrisome, coming down was hair raising...but enough said, it was worth the trip.
The sequoias are the largest trees on earth. The redwoods which we saw last week ...

... one town we passed they were advertising "Good second hand housing". In the yard were a couple of double wides and some trailer homes in various states of disrepair, most probably at least 20 years old.
Tomorrow we will take a shuttle to Sequoia National Park. They strongly recommend no motorhomes go into this park. It is 101 F here today (for those of you too young to know what that is it is about 39 C) We are very glad to have air conditioning in our motorhome.

After a couple of days travelling staying in Oakurst and Three Rivers filling up on groceries water and fuel we stayed in Three Rivers a campground in the foothills of this national Park. It was now in the 90s and it was a great base to base to visit the Sequoia National Park. Another mountainous park it was a vertiginous and hair pin filled trip over more passes and mountain tracks ( 2 hours rather than 6 ...

We found a great couple to stay with in Hanford, a good stopping point between LA and San Francisco.

We enjoyed a nice evening with them and they mentally prepared us for the cold we were about to experience camping & were kind enough to send us on out way with an additional quilt in hand!

... routes would be open. When asked if we could have a map he pointed out routes of interest on his map, which were closed. Lots of nodding was involved whilst we backed away thinking...idiot. First stop.... Grant Grove to see the General Grant Tree, a mighty Sequoia towering in at 81.1m with a whooping 8.85m diameter, making it the second largest of the Giant Sequoias - I love that they have their own section of Giant Giant trees! For some ...

... zabroniony?[kilka sekund ciszy]... Poproszę jakiegoś kierowcę, żeby cię podwiózł." Kazała mi stanąć z boku, i faktycznie - pierwszy kierowca płacący za wstęp do parku stał się naszą "ofiarą". Zgodził się zawieźć mnie na pole namiotowe. Był to Hiszpan, który prawie nie mówił po angielsku. Dostał dzień wolnego od biznesowej delegacji. Zawióz ...