Holiday Inn Fresno Downtown

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

... drug dealer. One of the first things I mentioned was that we were traveling to San Fransisco, and not knowing anything about this guy he instantly said 'hey I live there, we should all hang out at mine, when are you going?' it just started to feel really weird. I tried to avoid all questions like that, anything in depth about where we were going. We asked who he was with and he just said 'oh my mum lives across town' - definitely suspicious ...

... Reise wert war und dass das Essen und die Unterkunft nicht so toll waren vergisst man eh wieder. Die Natur hier ist dennoch einzigartig!!!<br><br>Trotzdem haben wir beim ersten Mc Donalds der zu sehen war Zuflucht gesucht - endlich Salat und Burger zu normalen Preisen! Mhhhhhh <br> <br>Wir sind für unsere Verhältnisse recht zeitig im Motel 6 angekommen - um 2:30 pm. Fresno ist etwas größer als wir gedacht haben. Sie haben hier ca. 500.000 Einwohner ...

... to pass the time and we arrived at Yosemitie only to be disapointed that the main road into the valley was closed due to fires. We did however travel a different route which lead us up the mountains to see some amazing rock features and lakes.<br><br>Headed back out of the park and towards San Jose another 180 miles, with the radio bursting with soft rock we knew we were road ...

... Marmots &amp; 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 ...

... my parents but that will have to wait for now. In college (UC Santa Cruz) I got a bit more independent travel experience but nothing too exciting, I mostly stayed in California except when visiting family in Oregon and Washington. All that being said I'd been something of a xenophile since I was a kid, foreign cultures, foods, sights, music and languages all fascinated me and I dreamed of one day being able to see all the places talked about in the National Geographic ...

... mountains, ie green mountains with high trees, etc, when you go to various overlooks all you see are these huge, granite monoliths as far as the eye can see. Quite amazing. If this is what is awaiting us, we are in for a real treat.

... und** h** wing and help us with whatev** we needed. Despite already knowing ev**ything we couldn't bring ourselves to disappoint h** so she went into a leaflet frenzy showing us ev**ything we should see. She had t**ribly shaky hands and watching h** try to highlight the freeway we needed with h** pen was n**ve racking to say the least. Th**e's an awkwardness in being English wh**e you have to try and pretend that you don't notice that anything's wrong in situations like these and ...

... but going into it allowed me to attain a goal that I had never achieved on my other trips through this area. I finally got to see the Colorado River during the day time. No, it wasn't that impressive, although it is picturesque to see this blue ribbon running through the desert. Still, after three trips over the river at night, it was great to be able to say that I have actually seen it.<br><br>After Laughlin, the rest of the drive was pretty ...

... be the best time to take an East Coast trip. It wasn't the fear of something happening on the flight that made us hesitant to go (although the events of September 11th did nothing for my fear of flying). Instead, we were concerned that we&#8217;d be stuck on the East Coast, much as other folks were just after September 11th. I remembered being in England during Princess Diana&#8217;s funeral and stressing about how I was going to make it back to the States. I didn&#8217;t want ...