The big news here in California is the weather. It's bad. When we were in Death Valley we didn't know what the outside weather was like because we didn't have electricity. So, no TV, no radio, no internet, therefore, no news. When we left Death Valley we drove along the snowy mountain highway to Bakersfield. We didn't know that the highway had been closed and that motorists had been stranded for hours in their vehicles just hours before us. We were oblivious; happily driving the marshmallow along the snowy road, like two Canadians would. We saw it on the news later that day. Who knew that snow closed roads in California? Isn't that a Stratford thing?
Our next destination was Sequoia National Park, home to the General Sherman-the largest tree (by volume) in the world. It is 279.4 feet tall, with a circumference of 102.9 feet, and a diameter of 36.5 feet at the base. With a full tank of gas, we headed for the park.  |
| This is a picture of the tree we didn't get to see |
These giant sequoias grow high up in the mountains. When we got to the ranger station, the ranger told us that we needed chains on our tires in order to reach the site of the General Sherman. The storm we went through dumped 2 feet more of snow on the road the day before and it was not passable without chains. In the small town at the park's entrance we saw stores renting chains, and we scoffed at that. It is hard to imagine that back in Bakersfield it was lush and green; oranges were being picked off trees and less than 2 hours away we needed chains on our tires.
The park was scenic, so we walked a short trail down to one of the mountain rivers, then saddled up and headed for the Pacific Coast. We're going to drive along highway 1 to Big Sur. We'll be living life on the edge-literally! One hundred feet of coastline road washed into the ocean near Big Sur and we want to check it out.
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| Foothills-deceptively pretty mountains (treacherous at the top) |
Prickly Pear cactus in Bakersfield
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