National Parks Week! (and a bit more about trees!)

So today is National Parks Week here in the good ol' USA. Which somewhat bizarrely (to us) seems to include a promotion to encourage Americans to visit their local National Park ... without getting out of the car!!

Now, don't get me wrong, I am all for getting people into the great outdoors who might not usually do so, but isn't part of the point to get away from the conveniences of modern life - like cars and things! To enjoy nature, walk or wheel in quiet tree lined glades, explore mountain territory, or even just smell the damn flowers! But how are you going to do that from a car? Ironically American National Parks seem to me to be extremely well suited to those less able to walk long distance, or indeed walk at all, as they usually seem to have excellent disabled parking and at least some paved trails from car parks directly to at least some of the major attractions - waterfalls, in Yosemite, the General Sherman tree in Sequoia, of which there will be more later, and even the delights of the Everglades can be experienced on an air boat. But you do have to get out of your car!

Ok, enough, before I offend someone (if I haven't already, in which case I apologise). Lets get to our latest National Park visit, the magnificent Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park. I have to be honest I expected an experience pretty similar to Redwood NP, given the tress are of the same genus (learnt that word from Nareesa), but it was a completely different place! For a start the trees are at 2000m above sea level (or about 7000ft for my American friends). We climbed for nearly an hour up switchback roads with such stunning views we could have stopped every few hundred metres - and the park does rather helpfully provide pull offs for you to do so - ah, perhaps this is what they mean by visiting without leaving your car! But seriously, getting out and enjoying the air, the views and the simple splendour of one of the world's great wildernesses, is a must do!

And then at the end of the climb we were able to have yet another peaceful walk amongst these amazing giants, the difference between these and the coastal ones being that these are bigger in girth and volume, even if the coastal ones are a bit taller. They are all magnificent and again we were enthralled to feel that we had the place to ourselves once we were no more than 500 metres from any car park.

The exception was our visit to the General Sherman Tree the world's largest tree by mass or weight. The footpath to that was bit of a zoo and it did feel like about 80% of the parks visitors that day were there. Which is fine, it was great visit and a spectacular tree, but give me the quiet footpaths away from the crowds with trees only marginally smaller any day. There was a queue for getting your own selfie in front of the tree, which I stood in for all of a minute before remembering that I am not a complete knob and left everyone else to it.

We still got a silly selfie of course, just not in front of the GS sign.

We saw countless signs to tell us that snow chains might be needed at any time of the year and sure enough a ranger told us that snow was expected tomorrow. So we timed this rather well, and still the temperature dropped from 23ºC at the bottom to only 10ºC at the top. We had glorious blue skies most of the day.

I can see why I have been close to Sequoia a few times but never visited though. Its a bit of a drive in, one road through (which is very twisty) and so it takes a good few hours of concentrated driving. Having left Paso Robles early that morning we still didn't get to our overnight stop in Dinuba until nearly 6pm - hence no blog last night!

The road into Kings Canyon is still closed for the winter, but to be honest we didn't really have the time as it is a road in, turn round and the same road out - about 2 or 3 hours I think. But we did manage to get views from an overlook, and as usual it leaves us something to come back for. It is the USA's deepest canyon (deeper than the Grand Canyon) and is described by some as similar to Yosemite. Yep, I will have to come back.

Anyway, if you are ever in the area I can absolutely recommend this magnificent National Park. But two small pieces of advice if I may; find accommodation close to the park to maximise your time in it, or even go mad and camp in the park (there are several campgrounds) and, get out of your car!

Last night we stayed in a a fairly anonymous little town in the fruit growing San Joaquin valley. Nice enough nhtotel and a Mexican bar round the corner serving cold Mexican beer and good Mexican food. I'm no aficionado, but it tasked damn good to me (the beer helped!). One of those curious and I guess unusual times when I am in a minority - in fact I was the only white boy in the bar! Another great find, without any sort of plan.

And a lovely sunset too across the road from our hotel. Flat here! And so close to the Sierra Nevada.

With a relatively short driven day today we stopped in Bakersfield on our way east (well, a bit south first as it happens) and stopped at the randomly selected Kern County Museum. What a revelation! Outdoor museum, set in 16 lovely acres with historical buildings charting the history of the area. A bit like Beamish in the north east of England but without the crowds. Until a large group came in just as we were leaving I think only counted 6 people other than us in the place. Best 10 bucks I have spent on a museum in a long time! Fabulous.

We even heard about the Bakersfield sound (similar to Nashville, but from the streets, not the music industry - thats what it said anyway). most famous exponent Merle Haggard. I'd heard of him but didn't know he had 40 number 1s in the fifties!

Nareesa chose a suitable suit for me!

From there we have finally turned east, out of the valley and over the bottom end of the Sierra Nevada mountains - only 4000ft here! So it is we have briefly returned to moderate temperatures. But it remains dry, we have found a perfectly decent Baymont Motel in a railway town of Tehachapi. Sittin' in a railway station, got a ticket for my destination...

Your two eejets in Tehachapi.

And there is Indian cuisine next door in a Bar & Grill. Not sure how that works yet but we are about to find out. Did Salvador Dali visit?

I've got far too many pictures to cram into the blog today but here's a few anyway. The scale of these trees is hard to convey.

Get one of these. $80, lasts a year, limitless entry to all US National Parks for you and anyone else in the car. Or two of you on motorbikes! Bargain! (Day entry to Sequoia was 30 bucks!). And for once this is not American hyperbole. It really is America the Beautiful.

Have I found the art for our trip?! (or every damn trip?!). Sean, will this do?

Finally a few of the moved or reconstructed buildings at the brilliant Kern County Museum.

Outside Merle's house

Pumping gas

Waiting for another train

The old courtroom. I need a chair like that. And a spittoon?

A destination during the Great Depression. Dust Bowl Housing Units.

Signs of the times.

A last view from Sequoia into the San Joaquin valley.