Holiday Inn Exp Stes Dinuba

... I am looking forward to this experience in Thailand.

I have heard of many great things about Thailand and is looking forward to it. It will be exciting for me. I believe that this experinence abroad I would likely experience something I have never heard or seem before. This would be one of the cultural changes, I would likely benefits from Thailand.

Nach der hitzigen und kargen Wuestenlandschaft des Death Valley sind wir heute zurueck ins Baumland des Sequoia National Parks...Hallo Baumbart?!

Im Giant Forest gibt es unzaehlige Riesenbaeume, die wirklich jedes Auto winzig erscheinen lassen. Hier steht auch der groesste Baum der Welt (General Sherman :-)). Er ist zwar nicht der hoechste und auch nicht der breiteste, aber sein Gesamtstammvolumen (1500 m3) ist unuebertroffen.

... the 8 hour drive. 20 mins later we made it back to the tunnel
rock. Saw the Hospital rock, massive thing on top of a mountain. Saw
some massive Sequoia trees, big change from desert to forest! Road
works then caused us a lot of grief, waiting for half and hour to be
let into the Sherman tree parking area, 100 metres down the road where
clearly no road works existed. Saw the Sherman tree, the largest living
thing ...

... quicker than I should, to the base of Moro Rock, and we climbed at quite a pace to the top. Just caught the sunset and the most magnificent sky. We were at the highest point for miles and the scenery was breathtaking. Took a lot of pictures and, just as the light faded to a point where it was almost difficult to descend, we meandered back to the lodge to enjoy some wine. Tomorrow we planned on doing the Crystal Caves before heading to Yosemite.

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!

Scott

Last night at San Simeon was surreal, and felt quite dangerous. Me and Paul were playing pool and this guy came over, covered in tattoos, smelt of booze and smoke, and he asked us a lot of questions about where we were going, when etc, and invited himself in the pool game. At first I thought he was gay and thought we were too or something, but when he pulled out this medical tub of weed and asked us to smell it we assumed he was ...

Wie man sieht hat uns gestern kein Bär mehr erwischt, obwohl die Ranger die ganze Nacht um die Zelter geschlichen sind und einen gewissen "JJ" gesucht haben...

Heute lassen wir den Yosemite Nationalpark hinter uns (ein Wolf hat uns neben der Straße noch ein Stück begleitet- irre) und machen uns nach Fresno auf - endlich in Ruhe shoppen!!! Und die Zivilisation hat uns wieder! Obwohl ich zum Thema Yosemite abschließend schon sagen möchte, dass es ...

... USA style when 'Journey' was on!!

Sun 30th Aug

One night stay in the lively San Jose to rest before we headed for Half Moon Bay and the infamous Sam's Chouwder House. Great veiws and fish dishes helped us for our trip heading south down route 1, which runs parrallel to the Pacific. many a winding road watching the coastline and the surfers before we reached Santa Cruz.

... bear! Afterwards we went to Grant Grove to so see some Sequoias Trees. The following day we went to Sequoia National Park. The kids finished the young Ranger program and repeated their promises after the Ranger. They received a lovely badge and were really pleased with themselves. We saw the General Sherman Sequoia which is the biggest ...

... still pretty busy. Kids run everywhere clutching rolls of game tickets, while their harried parents run after them. Cameras are out everywhere and families gather into little clumps for pictures with the beach, the rides, the palm trees. We make our way through, hardened by our resolve to play pirate mini-golf. Oh the lure of cutlasses and cannons! We stop by an arcade to play MS PacMan and get sucked into Space Invaders for a few minutes and then reach our destination. Pirate mini ...