Piccadilly Inn Shaw Fresno

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>

The drive from Castaic Lake to Fresno was very pretty. The Central Valley is always a very pretty drive past all the fruit farms and orchards. Mark was also a little more comfortable driving the RV which we had decided to call Harvey the RV. We got lost getting to Greg's house since the stupid GPS didn&#8217;t work but we finally made it. His parents came over to see us and it was great to see them after 12 years. We first met Greg in Germany back in 1992 and have been back to visit him twice ...

... 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 ...

... von den Stühlen gerissen, als wir die Speisekarte bekommen haben. Wir haben sogar einen Cocktail bestellt und haben hervorragend gegessen. Eigentlich wie bei uns daheim, große Portionen, geschmacklich hervorragend und Preis Leistung passt! Da siehts mans wieder. Man muss nur wissen wo man hingeht und so ist aus einem Missverständis ein vorzügliches Dinner geworden!!! Wär hätte das gedacht!<br><br>Frisch gestäkt und fast erfroren (die Klimanalgen ...

... USA style when 'Journey' was on!!<br><br>Sun 30th Aug<br><br>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.

... in mass in the world. <br><br>We left at 4pm and made our way to Vegas! The driving through Bakesfield we saw lots of orchards for miles and miles !!!!!! I know we've mentioned before but the Americans produce an unbelievable amount of food. We then drove through the Mojave Desert past thousands of wind turbines arriving in Vegas at Mid-night!!.

... in movies all his life, and he had his first experience eating out of one in Australia at the age of 27.<br><br> <br><br> Some Americans, knowing that America isn't well-liked in the world, say they're from Canada to avoid being hassled. Canadians typically sew the Canadian flag on their backpacks, and Americans who pose as Canadians also sew the Canadian flag on their bags. <br><br> <br><br> Many Europeans would rather travel to Canada than ...

... you could see Utah spread out below you. We stopped at sev**al points to look at the view, see the Natural Bridge (apparently technically an arch - picky!) and drove 7 miles to see a pinnacle the locals thought looked like a poodle but actually just looked like a rock. Th**e was so much to see h**e but I think we'd started to get canyon fatigue and rushed our way through it. I wish the parks had been broken up a bit so that we might have found them even more wond**ful but instead ...

... 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 ...

... boring. Eventually, we could make out that the desert landscape was slowly being replaced by pine trees and tall grass. The change in landscape told us that we were getting close to Flagstaff. It wasn&#8217;t long before we saw the lighted sign of Flagstaff&#8217;s Holiday Inn. We pulled in and checked into our room. After a nine and a half-hour drive, we were ready for some serious sleep. The sleep was needed because we had plans to do some hiking at the Grand Canyon the next day.