Mom and Dad left Sunday morning 09 Nov. to journey to Northern California to pick-up Sarah from her 18 month mission in the California Santa Rosa Mission.
The first stop was in Bakersfield. Mom and Dad visited the new home of the their friends, April and Walter Steimle who had recently moved there. Dad has worked with Walter for the past 8 years in the Stake Presidency. All four enjoyed a wonderful lunch and then went to church.
Then it was on up Highway 99 to Visalia and lovely visiting and a nice dinner with Dad's brother Craig and his wife Claudia.
After spending the night in Visalia, Mom and Dad headed east up the west face of the Sierra Nevadas to take a loop through the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
The west face is typical chaparral and of course somewhat dry, as is all of California these days. The road is windy in climbing from the Central Valley up to over 7,000 ft. As one goes higher the trees and scenery get more grand.
Our one stop was to take the trail to the General Sherman giant sequoia. It is judged as the largest (by volume) living thing on earth.
These are VERY large trees. The video shows just a couple of common specimens.
Mom and Dad hiked for a couple of miles on the Congress Trail which winds through some of the most impressive stands of trees in the forest.
At the crest of the loop one can look into Kings Canyon and Great Western Divide of the Sierra Nevadas.
From here the road drops down into Frenso. Then it was about a 4 1/2 hour drive to Santa Rosa to see Sarah at the mission home at 7:30 pm.
Man, this all happened before you picked up Sarah? You know how to make the most of a trip. So fun that you got to see some good friends and family along the way. And you even got in some outdoor adventuring! All the photos make me want to go back to Northern California and explore. The video really puts the scale of that grand tree in perspective. What a magnificent day trip!
ReplyDelete