The Presidian Hotel Visalia

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

... 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 ...

... 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. <br>The sequoias are the largest trees on earth. The redwoods which we saw last week ...

We drove from Midpines to Visalia today and have camped at the KOA campground. We again passed through the central valley with its many huge vineyards, orchards and herds of cattle. We managed to find a fruit stand on a side road where the fruit was set out and a sign with the price. There was a locked box to put in your money and a security camera. Judging by the houses on these farms I would conclude the farmers are not making much more than a subsistance living ...

... and vineyard. This one was called Benzinger vineyards, we were given a tour of the vineyards then we saw where the wine was processed, and no, it is not done by taking your shoes off and stomping on the grapes (although I would have liked to do that.) The wine would be placed into these large vats to ferment for approximately 12-14 days. Our next stop was a man made cave that is climate controlled, it was chilly in there, this cave was built ...

... just deer so we were really excited to spot the bear. It strolled across the road, one car ahead of us and sat on the hill next to us. It was only 2 minutes but it was really amazing. You are not really supposed to stop as there are warnings everywhere that people shouldn't do that. It allows the bears to get used to humans and then they can become problems and have to be shot. We didn't have a choice though as the cars ahead had ...

... these remaining groves became protected in 1890 and have become a tourist attraction ever since. From here it was an hours drive on the Generals Highway, racing against the setting sun to the South exit, Three Rivers. Sequoia National Park has a lot of areas to explore, just not in winter. On the way we couldn't help but notice some jerk in a pickup who'd been pulled by the Police, due to the beer on the side of the road next to him ...

... or whatsoever at all! I had to wait for 15 min and then a farmer stopped. He took me to the entrance of the park. He also gave me his phone number to call him when getting off the park, so he`d come and take me back to Visalia. Anyway I came up to the park rangers window to buy a ticket to the park. When a lady working as the ranger heard that I came there on my feet, her eyes started becoming bigger and bigger. And then she said: "But you know that it`s ...