Yosemite and More May 31 – June 8, 2008
Yosemite National Park; Kings Canyon National Park;
Sequoia National Park; Cambria, CA and Monterey CA
Preface
We love cruising, but since we are going on a trip to Egypt in September and only had one more week of vacation available this year, we had a tough time trying to decide what to do for our short vacation. In 2002 we had really enjoyed our trip out to Utah and Arizona to visit several national parks, so we were looking at doing something along that line again. For me, the decision was obvious. I have always wanted to take Carol out to Yosemite National Park in California. I went to Yosemite 50 years ago with my parents on a vacation and always remembered it to be the most beautiful place I had ever been. Now, I was finally going to be able to return and share this beautiful part of the country with my wife. I mapped out a route that would take up to some of the most beautiful natural beauty that can be found anywhere in the world. This was going to be a really nice vacation.
We flew non-stop from Miami to San Francisco on a 7:45 AM flight. We arrived early at 10:30 AM California time and began the long trek to get our luggage and get to the rental car area. We had some issues with the luggage carousel getting jammed up which delayed the start of our adventure. The way the San Francisco Airport is laid out, it requires a very long walk to get to the BART tram terminal. Once there, we had to wait for the tram to take the very long ride out to the rental car station. As a result we didn’t get on the road until after noon.
Day 1 – Yosemite (Link to Yosemite website)
I had gotten a portable GPS for Christmas and was looking forward to using it to help navigate through the unfamiliar California roads. Thank goodness I brought it. The San Francisco highway system is pretty complex and having the GPS allowed us to not have to be constantly checking maps. The traffic was surprisingly heavy for a mid-day trip on a Saturday. There was also a lot of construction that didn’t help. Once we got away from the big cities, we finally felt like we were really on vacation. The hills and bare terrain are quite different from what we are used to in South Florida. Quite nice for a change.
We stopped for lunch and then looked forward to our final leg of the drive to Yosemite. For some reason the GPS directed us to take some back country roads. We were concerned because we were the only people in sight; but it was a pretty drive. It finally did take us back to the road we had originally thought we should be on, so our confidence in the GPS was confirmed. There was quite a long delay in an area where there was a major rockslide six years ago. Reconstruction was going on, but since it was a one-lane road it took a long time to get past the detour.
We usually like to stay inside the parks if possible; but to do that you usually have to make the reservation at least a year in advance. Since we had just decided on this trip in early January, there were no rooms available in the National Park hotels other than at Wawona, which was too far out of the way from the main Yosemite sights. In doing numerous searches of hotel and review sites, we found that the Yosemite View Lodge was the highest rated and only about a mile outside of the park entrance. In addition the rooms had air conditioning and a TV, something not available in the park lodges.
At 4:30 PM we finally arrived at our hotel for the next four nights, the Yosemite View Lodge. http://www.yosemite-motels.com/yosemiteviewlodge/index.htm The hotel is on the Merced River and has an older and newer section. We had chosen a deluxe room since it was in the newer section and had a river view. Walking into our room, we could tell that we had made the right choice. It was a really nice large room with a huge spa tub and an electric fireplace for ambience.
We walked over to the sliding door and couldn’t believe that our patio was only about 20 feet from the beautiful rapids on the Merced River. What a view! What a lovely sound of rapids right outside our door! We had chosen to come in early June because the waterfalls would be flowing better and the temperatures would be milder, but I hadn’t realized that we would be seeing white water rapids just outside of our room. We had definitely made the right choice for hotels at Yosemite.
While Carol was unpacking she realized that the one thing she had inadvertently left at home was her camera. We were both disappointed, since Carol’s pictures complement mine. After she had unpacked and I had walked around the hotel taking pictures of our new home, we headed down to the restaurant. One of the few complaints we had read about the hotel was the restaurant food. Being in the town of El Portal, CA, there aren’t many dining options, so we didn’t have a choice. The facility is free standing and nicely decorated for a lodge restaurant. The menu was limited but we were pleased that they had a soup and salad bar with all meals. We had a light dinner and were pleasantly surprised that it was quite enjoyable. We struck up a conversation with a couple at the next table, Ed and Mary, who had also just checked in. We told them what we had eaten and that it was good. They took our advice and ordered the same thing.
The hotel also had a pizza restaurant, which was supposed to be very good according to all the reviews I had read. We knew we would try it at some point before we left. After dinner, we walked over to the lobby to check out the store. They had a nice souvenir shop as well as food and drinks. With the three-hour time difference we were exhausted. We went back to room and forced ourselves to stay awake until 9:00 PM.
Day 2 - Yosemite
We arose after a wonderful night’s sleep to the sound of the rushing Merced River. I had opened the patio door in the middle of the night because the air conditioner had cycled off, based on the thermostat program that had been set by the previous occupants. This worked out fine since it was in the 60’s and made for a very refreshing sleeping environment. Carol had brought breakfast bars, so we did not have to waste any time in getting on the road to Yosemite.
The entrance to the park is around a mile from the hotel. The drive in was just lovely. It travels along the Merced and with the river being so full; it was difficult not to stop at every turn out to take pictures. When I was here 50 years ago, it was later in the summer and the river was low, so it had been flowing at a much slower pace and without the rapids we were now seeing. What a difference! I am so glad I took the advice to come during this time of year.
Rather than driving immediately to the parking lots, I wanted to go to the Tunnel View area to see the valley from the most photographed perspective. What a view! It is oh so gorgeous, but the morning is not the time to go for pictures because of the early morning haze. I knew we would be coming back on this road several more times while we were there, so I hoped that we would be having good weather to capture it.
Since we were in the park before 9:00, we were able to get a very good parking spot. It was close to everything including some of the tram stops. The free trams, which are hybrid busses, are the best way to get around the park. They are very convenient and take the hassle out of getting to the different areas.
We stopped at one of the park tour ticket booths to see what guided tours were available. We decided on a 2-hour valley tour. It would give us a nice overview and would be a good way to find out what was available. We took a tram over to Yosemite Lodge where the tour started. The tram for touring was open and was towed by a tractor truck type of vehicle. It would be a much better way to see the sights and take pictures than from the closed park busses.
We had a guide named Linda, who had only been in Yosemite for a couple months. She was a geologist and had been working at Grand Teton National Park for several years. She did a nice job of telling us lots of interesting facts about the park. Since she was a geologist, she went into a lot of detail about how the area was actually formed. She provided everyone with a pleasant tour and an educational experience.
We found out that we were quite lucky in that the North Road, that is the one that passes closest to El Capitan, the largest granite monolith in the world, had just recently been reopened after being closed for repair. Like most large objects, it is difficult to be able to appreciate its size from pictures. It is amazing how large it is and how steep it is. Looking up at it and seeing climbers that look like ants on the side of the huge rock really gives one an appreciation for its size. I will never understand what compels a person to want to risk their life doing something that looks oh so difficult. But it does make for great entertainment for those down below watching.
The tour made two stops, one at Valley View and the other at Tunnel View. Valley View was nice in that it was on a small lake, which made for lovely vistas with reflections of the mountains and trees in it. It was one of many great places to stop for pictures in the park. It is such a lovely park that there are beautiful photo ops everywhere.
Our next stop was back to Tunnel View. It was much clearer than when we had been there earlier; but also much more crowded. It is a popular spot since it is the best place to photograph the valley. There are also lots of cars going through the tunnel to and from the South side of the park; as well at up to the Glacier Point area. Tour busses were stopping as well as numerous cars. It is definitely a popular place.
The scenery from the tram was just so beautiful. Both sides of the valley with steep granite walls; and waterfalls pouring down onto the valley floor were just so lovely. We passed a little church on the path.
The Royal Arches The Chapel
After the tour, we took Linda’s advice and went to the Visitor Center area. There are several buildings there. The museum was mainly about Indian heritage in the area and not particularly interesting to us. The Ansel Adams Gallery is also in that section. It has lots of photos for sale and other souvenirs. I was disappointed that most of the photos were black and white. I appreciate black and white photos, but not for capturing this beautiful national park.
The main attraction here is the Visitor Center, which has a very nice store and a theater that shows a nice 20 minute movie. It was very good quality, but I would have preferred for it to be a bit longer and show more scenes of the park. It is worth taking the time to see. The Visitor Center also has an exhibit area with a diorama of animal life, geology and some other interesting displays.
We decided that it would be easier to go back to the parking lot to get the car to go over to the historic Ahwahnee Hotel. It would have required taking a couple of different park busses and going through many stops to get there. On the way to the parking lot we stopped at the Village Store. It is a huge store with all types of souvenirs, camping supplies, clothes, groceries and pretty much anything you could want while visiting Yosemite. We love looking at souvenirs, so we checked out the offerings to see what they had. That way, we knew what we could get later on, if we didn’t find something we liked better elsewhere.
The Ahwahnee is the luxury resort in Yosemite. It is very expensive and its restaurant has an excellent reputation. We walked around and checked out the lovely National Historic Landmark. It is a really nice place. After seeing how nice it was, I went over to the restaurant to see if we could possibly get reservations for dinner. Nothing was available for the whole week, except for very early or very late seatings. Next time we visit there, we will plan ahead and make reservations well in advance.
All day we had been seeing Yosemite Falls from a distance and were ready to get up close and personal with it. On the way out of the park, we stopped at the Lower Yosemite Falls viewing area trail. The fall is the tallest waterfall in North America and 6th tallest in the world at 2,425 ft. There are three separate drops to the fall with two main ones, and a smaller middle fall. The upper falls trail is considered a difficult trail, so we knew it wasn’t on our to-do list. The lower trail is very easy and there are beautiful views as you walk up it. There is some climbing as you get close to the falls, but overall, it is an easy trail and well worth doing. We were fortunate that the wind was not blowing in the wrong direction or we would have gotten soaked. Looking up at the magnificent falls, it was hard to believe that it dries up to a trickle during part of the year. There is a bridge that crosses over the small river coming from the falls. This is the perfect viewing spot. Even with the wind being pretty cooperative, I had to clean off the lens regularly.
Our first day in the park had been a wonderful experience. We were tired and ready to get back to the hotel, relax and get ready for tomorrow’s exploring. Once again we went to the Yosemite View Lodge Restaurant for dinner. This time we requested to have a table outside by the Merced River. We think it’s the best area of the restaurant for a most enjoyable dinner. After we sat down, our new friends, Ed and Mary, sat down at the table next to us. Carol and I had a nice dinner, and we finished it off by sharing a yummy apple dumpling with ice cream for dessert.
Day 3 - Yosemite
We woke up early so we could get on the road to head to the southern part of the park. It looked like we were going to have another beautiful day, thank goodness; since we were going to some special places. Yosemite is a huge park, as large as the state of Delaware. Once again we passed by the Tunnel View area; but this time we were there to go through the tunnel to get to the other side of the mountain. The road to Wawona was very curvy with lots of drop offs. This kept Carol stressed, so she worked on her counted cross-stitch so she wouldn’t be noticing the potential impending doom. I found that the GPS was extremely helpful to alert me to the curves in the road ahead, so I knew in advance how fast I could go around them.
It took almost an hour to get to the Wawona Information Center, which is on the Wawona Hotel grounds. We inquired about where to find the shuttle bus to the Mariposa Grove. The helpful and quite friendly ranger told us to go around the corner and park in the store parking lot next to the gas station. There we could catch the bus to the Grove. There is also a parking lot further up the road toward the Grove where some people drove to catch the bus. I had no desire nor could I see why I would want to drive any further than I had to. I had had enough driving for a while. We were fortunate that the bus was there waiting to load passengers. There was only one other couple waiting for the ride. This part of the park is much less traveled.
Upon arriving at the Mariposa Grove, which is a grove of giant sequoia trees, we were directed to the ticket booth for the guided tram tour. Since the grove is really spread out and it goes up a steep mountain, it isn’t easily seen in a short amount of time by foot. We were quite impressed with a display of the massive pine cones from the trees.
Similar to the tram in the valley, this was an open tram that was towed by a tractor. They provided headphones and a transmitter that played a pre-recorded program. It was a great way for everyone to be able to hear about what we were seeing. We made a couple of stops. The first was at a cabin in a grove of Sequoias. The other was at the largest tree in the park, the Grizzly Giant. Sequoia trees are not the tallest trees, but the largest. The diameter of these trees is massive. They are quite impressive. The tour took an hour and fifteen minutes and was well worth the minimal cost. At the end of our tour, we were able to hike through a tree to get down to the parking lot. That was a new experience.
After the tour, we went over to the Wawona Hotel for lunch. It is also a National Historic Landmark, but is quite different from the elegant Ahwahnee. Wawona is quite lovely, but more rustic. We had read that they have a very nice restaurant and thought that it would be nice to try it out. There was no way we would drive down there at night for dinner. Both Carol and I had the tenderloin sandwich and shared an apple - blueberry crisp with ice cream. We normally don’t eat desserts, but we have to try them when we go to a special place like this. It was yummy, and worth every added calorie. The hotel itself could use some maintenance; but it was nice to visit. I am glad that we didn't stay there because it is entirely too far to drive every day to go from there into the Valley.
On the way back to the Valley, we took the road to Glacier Point, which is another curvy road and climbs several thousand feet to the top of the mountains. It was much cooler at the higher elevation and there was lots of snow still on the ground. When we finally got to the end of the road at Glacier Point, it was very apparent why we had taken this long drive. The view of the snow capped Sierra Nevada Range in the background, the top of Half Dome right in front of you, Yosemite Falls, the Royal Arches and a 3,214 foot drop off to the Valley floor just takes your breath away. It is almost sensory overload with all that beauty in one place. I could have spent hours just sitting there taking in the beauty.
From there we could look down and see all the beautiful waterfalls and mountains we had previously looked up at. What a gorgeous perspective! What an incredible sight! And we were blessed with absolutely perfect weather to be able to experience what has to be one of the most beautiful panoramas on Earth.
Another benefit of being on the top of the mountain was that I was finally able to download email on my cell phone. It doesn’t take much to make me happy. The phones hadn’t picked up a signal on the valley floor or at the hotel.
While we were walking around we ran into our dinner buddies Ed and Mary again. They had just come from Bridal Veil Falls, which was our last destination for the day. They raved about it and asked us about the Mariposa Grove, because they were on their way to visit it right after they left Glacier Point. We told them about the winding roads and long drive. Since it was already 3:30, we advised them to not waste their time driving there that late in the day, since they would probably miss the last tour. They took our suggestion and adjusted their plans to go the next day.
We drove back down to the Valley and took the road to Bridal Veil Falls. It is the falls on the right side of the Tunnel View picture. It is not as tall as Yosemite Falls, but is quite pretty. The wind blows the water to make it swirl around and gently fall to the ground. It is pretty, but you also can get quite wet. Once again, we were lucky in that the wind was being kind to us.
It had been another wonderful day in nature’s paradise. We went back to the hotel and went to the restaurant. We weren’t able to get a table by the river, so we were disappointed. With this being our third day in a row in the restaurant, the same menu was getting a little boring; but we still had a nice meal.
Day 4 - Yosemite
Since we had seen the major sights the first two days of touring, we weren’t sure what to do today. Yesterday, I had asked the ranger at the entrance booth what area of the park in the Northern section would be the prettiest. He told me that the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir area would be the nicest. Having not researched this area, I didn’t know what to expect. The road to Hetch Hetchy started out okay, and there was a nice view of the Yosemite Valley; but it quickly deteriorated to a narrow country road in the middle of nowhere, that could use some repair. Had I not had the GPS, I would have been concerned that we had made a wrong turn; but we didn’t. It was slow driving and quite curvy. Fortunately the weather was great, so we were able to enjoy the scenery. Once we got into the higher areas, the narrow roads made for an exciting drive; and Carol got a lot of work done on her cross stitch! I did hope that the final destination would be worth it.
The terrain was much drier and rougher than what we had seen in the rest of Yosemite. Not as pretty, but different. There were lots of blooming yucca plants all over the mountains. When we finally got to the reservoir after the hour and a half drive, it looked better than I was expecting; but it didn’t compare to the magnificent sights we had already seen. There was a nice waterfall in the distance and some good sized mountains. The most notable thing was the huge dam. We walked out onto the dam to get a better view of it and the reservoir. It was a nice view, but the most interesting thing was the exhaust water. It was shooting out of the dam into the canyon wall under tremendous pressure. An interesting sight.
The area really was quite pretty and if we were into hiking trails, I am sure that it would be a great place to do that. It is a very secluded area that doesn’t get many visitors; so one can almost have this section of the park to yourself. I am glad we went, but would not recommend visiting here unless you had already seen the main areas of the park and have extra time, or really wanted to do some serious hiking.
The drive back to the Valley seemed to go much faster. It was nice to get back to the area we were more familiar with. By the time we parked, we were hungry so we went to the Village Grille. They had outstanding hamburgers. It really hit the spot.
We had seen all of the main Yosemite sights we could access other than the trail to Mirror Lake, which I had saved for that afternoon. It is a lake that exists in the spring and dries up in the summer. It is an easy one-mile walk. The only way to get to the trail is by taking the tram. Private cars are not allowed in that area of the park.
The lake is actually in two parts. The first one I came to was pretty small and due to the current making waves, the lake did not have a mirror effect that would make for a lovely photo. Although it was not what I had been hoping to see, it was quite a lovely view. We could see Half Dome in the background from a different angle than we had been used to seeing.. There were many different paths to take, so it wasn’t really obvious which way to go. After a wrong turn, I finally found the bigger lake. It also had a current going through it. After walking around it a bit more, I found a lovely section that was smooth as glass creating the mirror effect. It was a lovely sight and well worth the walk.
We had pretty much finished seeing Yosemite, although I don’t think it is possible to see enough of Yosemite. It is the type of place that I could set up a lawn chair and just sit for hours taking in all the beauty. Especially since the weather had been just perfect for us. We went by the Village Store to pick up our last souvenirs and then started the drive out of the park. I had to stop at the Lower Yosemite Falls trail to get one last look at that lovely sight. Across from the lower falls trail, is another great view of Half Dome. There are just so many different views of these well known rock formations.
I also had to stop again further down the road to get a last look at El Capitan. Quite a few people were sitting out in the meadow watching mountain climbers. It is so hard to even find them on the giant piece of granite. With the help of my telephoto lens, I was finally able to capture them; but they were so small that they were really difficult to see. At last we had to leave to go back to the hotel to pack for our next destination.
Since we had been to the restaurant for three nights in a row, we decided to go to the pizza parlor. Carol recommended getting a pizza to go and eating on our patio beside the river. What a great idea! Eating pizza and drinking a Fat Tire Beer beside the rushing Merced River made for a perfect dinner. It doesn’t get much better than that!
Day 5 – Kings Canyon and Sequoia (Link to park website)
One of the routes to Kings Canyon is by using the Wawona Road. We had no desire to repeat that stressful drive. The GPS suggested a route that went a different way that appeared to be over straighter roads. It turned out to be a much better road and a much easier drive for me. On the way we stopped at a roadside fruit stand. It was a really nice one with very friendly owners. They had samples so we could try the different varieties of fruit they had. We ended up getting some super sweet Prima Donna Plums and some delicious peaches. The stand had a cute wishing well where we could wash the fruit with a misting sprayer. The fresh fruit was delicious.
The terrain in that area was quite different from what we had experienced in Yosemite. As we continued the drive and got closer to Kings Canyon National Park, it was very cloudy. I thought that our good luck with the weather had run out. I was even more worried when we ran into heavy fog. Going through a canyon in fog would be really disappointing. We finally got to the park entrance after a slow drive through the fog. I asked the park ranger if there would be fog in the canyon also. She told me that the weather at the entrance could be totally different from the canyon since it was an hour and a half drive. I hadn’t realized how far it was to the actual canyon. We stopped at the very nice Grant Grove Visitor Center and checked out the souvenirs. We also changed from our shorts into our jeans, since it was much cooler there than we had expected. We then headed out to Grant Grove, which was only a mile from the visitor center. We were pleasantly surprised that the skies were clearing up. Maybe we were getting lucky again.
There were many more sequoia trees there in that small grove than we had seen in all of Yosemite’s Mariposa Grove. It was a short walk to see a bunch of the giant trees. The highlight of the sequoia grove is the General Grant tree, which is called the Nation’s Christmas Tree. It is a massive 2,000 year-old tree. In the grove it isn’t considered extremely old, since there are 3,000 year-old trees there, also. It’s a great place to stop to see lots of sequoias in a short amount of time. They also have a tunnel tree that can be walked through.
After spending about a half hour there we got back in the car to head for the canyon. The drive was just unbelievably beautiful. It was also quite curvy, as we were continually going up and down the mountains. The weather had also greatly improved, and we had just marvelous weather for the rest of the day. We would climb to 7,000 feet and drop back to 2,000 feet only to go right back up to 6,000 feet. There were many scenic overlooks and turnouts, and it was very difficult not to stop at every one of them to appreciate the vistas. The views down to the King River snaking through the mountains were just gorgeous. It is such a shame that they can’t truly be captured in a photograph. I so wish they could, so I could better relive this drive through them.
As we drove down from the mountains, we got closer to the river and could see it rushing through the canyons as we looked down the steep rocky cliffs. Just beautiful! As we got further down we came to a ranger station with a little store in it. It was beside the King River where the water rushed under a bridge and over the rapids. It seemed like a great place to rest from the strenuous drive, so we stopped for some ice cream. It really hit the spot!
The ranger told us to be sure to stop at the two falls that are fairly close to the road. The first one, Grizzly Falls was right next to the road and was a very pretty spot. The fall was not tall and spectacular like we had seen in Yosemite, but it was wide and quite a lovely sight. As we drove along the river we would see some gorgeous rapids with large drop offs. It really was such a pretty drive.
We then came to Roaring River Falls. From the parking lot the views of the canyon were very impressive. We were surrounded by huge granite cliffs. There was a short walk along some very loudly roaring rapids until we came to the falls itself. I could certainly understand why it is called the Roaring River. Although it is not a tall falls, it is quite spectacular in that the lower fall that can be seen from the viewing area is an awesome display of the power of the water rushing off the mountains. It pours into a pool and then storms down another series of deep drop offs below the viewing point.
We drove a little further and came to end of the King’s Canyon road. We stopped and walked around to take in the beauty of this oh so beautiful canyon. A short walk took us to a relatively peaceful lake in this land of roaring rapids. It was such a peaceful beautiful spot.
I am still amazed that we were pretty much by ourselves as we visited the tranquil setting. During our drive we just saw a handful of other tourists. Kings Canyon is not as spectacular as Yosemite; but in many ways it is more beautiful. In looking at the map during the planning phase, I was worried that the extra driving through the mountains might take too much time away from other parts of our trip. I am so glad that we decided to take the time to explore this very special and incredibly beautiful National Park.
We then had to drive back on the same road we had come in on so we could get to our hotel for the night in Sequoia National Park, which is adjacent to Kings Canyon. The drive out of the canyon was much faster, and it gave us a different perspective of this lovely area. The skies were also beginning to cloud up which made for some beautiful pictures.
We came back through the Grant’s Grove area and then headed south to Sequoia National Park. The road was very nice and not as curvy as we had experienced earlier in the day. We stopped at a few turnouts and overlooks to take in the seemingly endless views of the beautiful forests. Since the clouds approaching were getting darker and hazier, I knew the weather would keep me from getting as good a photo as I would like to attempt when capturing the beautiful panorama.
Finally around 4:30 PM, we pulled up to the Wuksachi Lodge. http://www.nationalparkreservations.com/sequoia_wuksachi.htm It is the newest lodging in the park and is only nine years old. The lobby area is a freestanding building containing the restaurant, bar, store and meeting facilities. It is a modern well-appointed and very comfortable facility. The workers are very friendly and helpful. I had read positive reviews about the Wuksachi, but the place really exceeded my expectations. National Park facilities are normally not that nice. At check in, they told me that they could make dinner reservations for me, since they were required. The restaurant has a great reputation in the area, so that without reservations we would probably not be able to eat there.
The large pine trees and views of the snow-capped mountains from our building were really nice. What a great setting for a hotel. I was amused by a couple of chipmunks chasing each other near our building. This trip was the first time I had seen a chipmunk in their natural environment. They are quite cute. As they chased and tackled each other, they were chattering at each other. Very entertaining!
Chipmunks on log and wrestling
The only negative of this hotel was that the lobby is a good distance from the three buildings housing the rooms. We had to drive to the building parking lots to drop off our luggage. There are three separate parking lots, but only one of them has a direct path to the residence buildings. We were in the Stewart Building, which is the furthest away. It wouldn’t have normally been a big deal, but it was rather cold; and we didn’t bring heavy jackets. Also, since we were at 7,000 feet in elevation, the air was thinner, and it was more challenging to drag our luggage up the hill to our building.
The rooms were large, comfortable and clean. Most importantly, the beds felt great. Since we were only going to be there one night, Carol had arranged the packing where we would only have to get into one suitcase. This made it a lot easier.
It was time for dinner and I was anxious to get back to the lobby because they had told me that there was free Wi-Fi available in the lobby and bar areas. I would at last be able to check all of my email and bulletin board threads I had missed for the last five days. Since I was taking the laptop with me, I left my camera in the room although I hadn’t been without it since the trip started. Bad decision!
In reading reviews about going to dinner at the Wuksachi, I had been warned about how dark the walking trail is from the restaurant back to the rooms. Most people recommended bringing a flashlight to help get back. Since we didn’t have a flashlight and we were tired, we drove to the lobby. As we approached it, we could see a beautiful large doe grazing right in front of the lodge. People were stopped and taking pictures of it. That is everyone other than me, since the camera was sitting in our room. Oh well, not that big of a deal, since we had seen deer in other places, but it would have been a gorgeous picture with the lodge in the background.
Before dinner we ordered a couple of the special house drinks while I was catching up on-line. The drinks were just delicious. They were made with blackberry vodka and crème de cocoa. I finished my computer work just in time for our dinner reservations. We were seated in a great location in the far corner of the restaurant where we could see through windows on two sides. What a lovely view of this beautiful area.
The restaurant had recently put in a new menu, which looked just great. There were so many delicious looking items. When we asked the waitress about the soups and salads, she said that their tomato-basil soup was really good. I had a difficult decision deciding between it and the salad with prosciutto, pear and feta. The salad was too tempting and was just wonderful. I was regretting not trying the soup, because I saw several other people enjoying it. Since we were only here for one night, I asked our waitress if I could try just a tiny sample of the soup, so I would know what it tastes like. She said it would be no problem. To my surprise, she brought me a half bowl to try rather than a small sample. Way too much, but it sure was good. The service and food at this restaurant were just great. If I lived closer, I could see this lodge as a great getaway to relax at for a few days. Unfortunately we were only there for the one night.
As we were leaving the restaurant, we saw people looking out the windows. We rushed over and saw two large brown bears wandering around the area next to the lobby. Some people were walking on the sidewalk and didn’t even realize they were there. The bears really weren’t interested in the people. This was one great photo op -- for those who had their cameras! We waited for the bears to move back into the forest before heading for the car.
This had been a wonderful day, full of many great memories and we were ready to get to bed, since tomorrow would also be quite full and with lots of driving. For the first time during our trip, we had to use the heater in the room to make sure we wouldn’t be too cold. It was a much different environment from Yosemite.
Day 6 – Sequoia to Cambria
I woke up early, anxious to start the day exploring the lodge area and the Sequoia National Park. I wanted to walk around the Stewart Building to breathe in the fresh morning air, get some exercise and see if I could find any wildlife. I was surprised at how cold it was. There was frost on our car window, so I wrote the weather forecast.
Living in Florida, we don’t get to experience frost, so it was a reminder of previous life experiences. The walk was most enjoyable, but I only got to see one deer feeding at a distance. I walked down to the frost-covered lodge to get coffee and enjoy our brief time at the lovely facility before we had to leave.
After we loaded the car, I went down to the lobby again to check out. Some guests were talking about the different trails they had taken and were recommending the ones they took to each other. I wish I could have stayed another day to experience them myself. They did sound like nice trails. We drove a short distance to the Lodgepole Visitor Center. It was a really large nice facility, with a grocery store for campers to get supplies; and they were very helpful in giving us information on where to go for our short visit in the park.
As we drove to our first stop, the Giant Forest, I was thrilled to see giant sequoia trees all along the road. Previously we had only seen them in designated areas where there were groves. Sequoias were everywhere. I guess that is why it is named Sequoia National Park, but I just didn’t expect to see so many of them. Our first stop was at the Congress Trail. That is where the largest tree in the world, the General Sherman, lives. We took the short walk to the tree, passing other massive sequoias on the way. It is really difficult to take pictures of these trees because they are so big. I have an ultra wide-angle lens, but it was even a challenge using it at times to get the whole tree. As with the other groves we had been in, the grove had a walk through tree, but it went through the side of it rather than the core.
We came to a General Sherman viewing area, where we could get a view of the whole tree from a distance. It was quite large, but with all the giant trees in this grove, it was difficult to tell that it was that much different from this distance. On the trail to get an up close view of the General Sherman, we came across some deer wandering around and grazing. They certainly weren’t scared of humans.
Once we got to the General Sherman, we could see that it was indeed a giant among giants. Looking at the information placards, it showed that the General Grant we had seen the day before was actually wider with a 40-foot diameter compared to 36.5 for the General Sherman, but that this one had more total volume. Anyway you look at this tree, it is huge.
We spent some time walking in this grove, since we had decided that we had seen enough sequoia groves for one week and wouldn’t be stopping at any more of them during the rest of the trip.
One of the places I had planned on visiting in Sequoia was Moro Rock. The view from the top at a 6,725 ft. elevation is supposed to be quite a view of the Great Western Divide. I didn’t know if or how much of this rock I would climb, since there are 400 steps to the top, which is a rise of 300 feet in elevation. To get to the top, it would be like climbing a 30-story building. Not something I had any intention of trying to do. My plan before I saw it was to just walk up a little ways and get a few pics and come back to the car where Carol was waiting for me. She is the smarter member of this family. As I walked to the start of the steps, it didn’t look like it was that far to the top. Of course I couldn’t see the top. I walked up the first level and thought that it wasn’t too bad, so I would go up a bit further. The views from there were just marvelous. The snow covered mountains and deep valleys were just overwhelming.
I climbed a little further up. Once I would get to another stopping spot where I could take more pictures, it would seem like the next stop wasn’t that far away. I had to see if there was a different view further up. I kept going up and stopping for about 20 minutes. I finally decided that I had gone up probably two thirds of the way, and my common sense was starting to kick in. I really didn’t want to kill myself just to say I climbed Moro Rock. The steps were getting narrower and I was getting a bit nervous about the whole thing. I had seen more of the beauty visible from Moro Rock than most people do, so I was happy.
On my way down I saw a fellow about my age kneeling down and having difficulty breathing and catching his breath. I asked him if he was OK and he said he was fine; but he didn’t look fine. I told him that he had a very long climb ahead of him; and that he probably shouldn’t attempt it, especially if he was already having issues. Some other folks came up and also checked on him. I don’t know what he decided to do, but I hope common sense kicked in for him too. This is not an easy climb, but what I saw was very much worth the effort.
I came back and found Carol sitting under a pine tree reading. I told her about my adventure and we got back in the car to head for our next destination on the Pacific Coast. The road out of Sequoia National Park was another very curvy twisty road due to our dropping from over 6,000 ft. of elevation to under 1,000 ft. The views were quite beautiful. I particularly liked being able to look up at Moro Rock from the other side of it. It looks a lot bigger when climbing it. I can’t imagine what El Capitan must look like when the climbers are hanging on the edge of it. I get dizzy just thinking about it.
The drive to Cambria would take over four hours including a stop for lunch. It did take a long time twisting and turning to get down from the mountains. The road looked like a snake. We also ran into some long construction delays in the middle of the state where we just had to sit and wait. Most of the drive was through brown grass covered hills. There were very few trees or anything green for that matter, other than irrigated farms along the way. It was interesting at first, but became boring rather quickly. The closer we got to the coast; we started to see grape vineyards. From that point the drive became prettier and more interesting. We aren’t big wine drinkers, but this would be a paradise for wine aficionados. There were vineyards and wine tastings offered everywhere. We were in the northern portion of the Central Coast wine region.
As we got closer to Cambria, it got much prettier with lots more trees and we were back in civilization. We finally arrived at our hotel for the night, the Best Western Fireside Inn. http://www.bestwesternfiresideinn.com/ The hotel was in a lovely setting right on Moonstone Bay. The room was large and comfortable and we had a nice patio area, which made it very convenient to unload our luggage easily from the car straight into the room. I was anxious to look around the property and to walk over to the beach. The hotel and its grounds were just gorgeous with lots of flowers.
I crossed the street and took the boardwalk through the undergrowth to get the best views of the coastline. It was quite a contrast from the last five days' scenery. Living in Florida, we don’t see rocky coastlines, just nice sandy beaches. The dark rocks with the waves breaking on them were a sight for sore eyes after seeing miles of desolate hills for the last several hours. I loved all the wild flowers. Every few minutes a group of pelicans would fly by looking for their next meal. I was very happy with my hotel choice.
When we checked in, we asked about restaurants in the area. He strongly recommended one right down the road named The Sea Chest. http://www.seachestrestaurant.com/ He alerted us to take cash since they don’t take credit cards. Since we had eaten a late lunch, we decided to take a quick tour of Cambria before we headed over to the Sea Chest. We were very impressed with the quaint town. It would be a nice place to come back and spend a few days. There were many interesting buildings and places to explore.
We spotted an eye catching structure with the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse lens in it. It was a massive lens that had been on a lighthouse further up the coast that had been partially destroyed in 1949. The lens was relocated to Cambria to be put on display after it was replaced with a modern rotating aero beacon. It was right next to the old Cambria Jail House.
After a short tour we headed over to the Sea Chest. When we drove by before we took our drive into town, it was pretty crowded with people waiting to get inside. We lucked out and were able to be seated right away.
We had a great meal and the service was superb. It was an excellent recommendation. I had brought my camera with me in case dinner took a long time, so I could get pictures of the sunset. We had finished eating before the sun went down, so after we got back to the hotel I was able to go down to the boardwalk for pictures. Several people had the same idea. The sunset was nice, but since we had a cloudless sky, it didn’t have the varying colors and textures I was hoping for. But it was a lovely sunset anyway.
Day 7 –Cambria to Monterey
I woke up early and took a quick walk on the boardwalk. The tide was out, and it was still a lovely sight to behold. It looked like we were once again going to have great weather. Our main reason for spending the night in Cambria was to tour the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, which was only about six miles away. http://www.hearstcastle.com/ It was the home of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. We were scheduled for a 9:00 tour that I had booked online. That gave us time to be able to enjoy the Fireside Inn’s continental breakfast. It was very good. I really liked this hotel.
We checked out and took the short drive up the Pacific Coast Highway to San Simeon and turned into the Hearst Castle property entrance. We parked and went into the reception area. It was a large building and had a huge store. The store had everything one could imagine to put Hearst Castle images on. It was very difficult to keep from buying so many of the unique items they had, but logic prevailed.
We walked to the back of the reception building where there were several pay telescopes set up to look at the castle on top of the mountain. When I first looked up at the mountains, I couldn’t even see the castle. Finally, I saw something that didn’t look like trees on the top of a mountain. It looked quite small. I took a picture with my main lens zoomed in and I could see some of it. Then I put on my telephoto lens and got a much better view. It was really far away. I now understood why the bus ride was going to be five miles long.
Included in the ticket price is a ticket to see the movie, Hearst Castle Building the Dream. It is approximately 40 minutes and is shown every 45 minutes. I knew that since we had a 9:00 tour we would have had to wait until well after our tour ended to see the movie. Therefore, I had bought the DVD online at Amazon a couple of months before this trip, and we had been able to watch it at home. The movie was entertaining and provided some good information to know before seeing the castle. Buying the DVD saved us a lot of time and is a great souvenir.
Just before 9:00 AM, we boarded the bus that would take us on the five mile trip up the mountain. It was a very weavy and narrow road. It was quite obvious why visitors can’t drive up to the castle in their own cars. We unloaded; and our tour guide, Robert Latson, began telling us all about the Hearst Castle. Throughout the tour he told us fascinating stories about the construction and goings on in the Castle. He provided us with an excellent tour. When Carol mentioned to him that we had been in Yosemite, he told her that he goes there on vacation all the time. He said that he always stays at Wuksachi Lodge and was glad to know we had liked it, too.
The Hearst house and grounds have numerous statues and artwork that Mr. Hearst imported from all over the world. Rather than writing about different rooms, I will just put a lot of pictures with descriptions. I will say that the best-known part of the house is the incredibly beautiful Neptune Pool. Flash photography is not allowed anywhere on the property so it was difficult to get some of the interior pictures, and others I couldn’t get at all.
The following pictures are from the grounds around this marvelous house and the Neptune Pool.
The following pictures are from the guest house, Casa del Sol, and its grounds
The Casa Grande (main house) Billiard Room
Casa Grande Assembly Room
Casa Grande Morning Room
Casa Grande Refectory Dining Room
The indoor Roman Pool
We got back to the car around 11:00. Our plans were to go to a restaurant that had been recommended to us in Big Sur, so we needed to get on the road. The ride up the Pacific Coast Highway is known for its beauty. It was difficult not to stop at all of the turnouts, so I limited myself to just the ones that were marked as “Scenic Lookouts”. The first one we pulled over to was really nice. There were several elephant seals playing. It was the first time I had actually seen the species. Our Hearst tour guide, Robert, had mentioned that elephant seals were on one of the beaches north of San Simeon, but I didn’t know which one it was. We just lucked out stopping at this one. A black bird got jealous that I was paying all of my attention to the seals, so he landed very close to me. I felt compelled to take his photo also. We could also see the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse from this spot. This was the lighthouse where the lens we saw in Cambria came from.
We stopped at another spot where the view was great but the interesting thing was the large number of squirrels that were crawling all over the place. I’ve never seen squirrels that didn’t pay attention to humans. I had to watch where I walked to avoid stepping on them.
We were getting hungry and we still had a little way to drive till we got to Big Sur. I saw a gorgeous beach and just had to stop to get some photos. This coast is just so beautiful and calls to be photographed.
At last we had arrived at our lunch destination, the Nepenthe Restaurant. http://www.nepenthebigsur.com/ Several people at my office had raved about the restaurant and told me that we just had to go. We found a good parking space in the very active and crowded parking lot. Since the restaurant occupies the top floor of the building, we had a long walk and a lot of steps to climb to get to it. It was well worth the effort.
It was a big restaurant with lots of outside seating with a great view. It was very crowded and I was worried that we might have a long wait. There was a wait list for outside tables, but they had an inside table right by the window with a great view for us. In looking at the menu, we had to order the Sweet Potato Pecan Fritters with a mild curry and lime dipping sauce. Oh my gosh, were they good! We also ordered their Famous Ambrosia Burger. Also outstanding. It was a most enjoyable meal, but I was anxious to walk around the outside deck and check out the views from this great location high above the ocean.
In addition to the views, there were nice decorations. I particularly liked a piece of driftwood statue that looked like birds.
I wish we could have spent more time there, but we needed to get to Monterey and do some touring in that area. We took a last look and trekked down the stairs to the car. We headed back up the Pacific Coast Highway. I stopped at another turnout to try to capture some more of the coastal beauty. I couldn’t believe how strong the wind had become. It was difficult not to get knocked down by it while taking pictures. This stop happened to be right next to the longest bridge on the Pacific Coast Highway. I had seen a story about it on the National Geographic Channel. It was a major engineering feat and very difficult to construct.
We got to our Monterey hotel, Hotel Pacific, at around 3:30 PM. http://www.hotelpacific.com/ It is an unusually laid out design in the old Monterey adobe style. The interior is modern and very nicely appointed. Because of the layout we had to go through a couple of buildings to get to our room. We walked in the door and saw the huge room with a cathedral ceiling, couch, chairs, large flat screen TV and fireplace. This was some room, and there was also a small balcony that was very pleasant. The location was close to the downtown historic section and Fisherman’s Wharf. I was very pleased again with my hotel choice.
I took a quick walk around the hotel to get a lay of the land to see what was around us. The wind was very strong here also and it made for a chilly walk. The Monterey Conference Center was right across the street. It had an unusual but quite colorful mural on the wall. Also right next to the hotel was the Casa Soberanes, which is a historic house. I was most fascinated with the cactus that was in its front yard. It was quite unusual. Only a picture can adequately describe it.
I was also please to find that there was an MST free trolley stop at the hotel. It takes tourists to all the main locations. Since it stops running at 7:00 PM, we wouldn’t be able to use it tonight to go to Cannery Row for some touring and dinner.
The last time that Carol and I were in Monterey was when we were on our honeymoon in San Francisco. Since we had already seen the wonderful aquarium and other tourist attractions in the area, we didn’t have any places that we “had” to visit. We drove down to Cannery Row to find a restaurant for later tonight and saw a crystal store called the Crystal Fox. http://www.crystal-fox.com/ We love glass objects and can’t pass up an opportunity to walk through a glass store. This was a very nice one, and Carol and I both found a couple of objects we couldn’t live without. It was the only buying indulgence we had for this trip. All of the things we had bought during the week were inexpensive souvenirs. We drove around some more and headed to the wharf and downtown area to see where we could go tomorrow to tour, since it was a bit early for dinner.
We had been craving Mexican food and decided to go to the El Torito Restaurant at Cannery Row. The setting with it hanging out over the rocks along the ocean was quite picturesque. The parking in this area was horrendous, but we lucked out and found a spot just about the time I had given up hope. Thank goodness, because we didn’t want to have to walk too far in the cold wind blasts. The view from the restaurant was very nice and the meal was outstanding. We headed back to the hotel and relaxed before our last day of vacation.
Day 8 –Monterey to San Francisco
The Hotel Pacific had a very nice continental buffet for breakfast. While Carol was packing for our drive to San Francisco and catching up on her reading, I decided to walk around the area a bit and get some photos. I was thrilled to find out that the wind had finally stopped. It had been howling when I woke up during the night. The historic area was just a few blocks away. There were so many beautiful flowers along the way as well as other interesting sights. I walked out onto Fisherman’s Wharf to see if it was something that Carol would be interested in visiting. When I got up in the morning, I had heard what sounded like seals barking. I found where those sounds were coming from. This seemed to be the main seal meeting place. They were a noisy crew.
When I got back to the hotel, Carol was packed and ready to leave. We loaded up the car and checked out. We asked if we could leave the car in the parking lot for a few hours while we took the MST tram around town. I could tell that trying to find a parking spot in Monterey would have been a challenge. They said it would be fine and we headed on our way. We hopped on the tram and went to the Monterey Maritime and History Museum. The main attraction was the historic Fresnel lens from the Point Sur Light station with 580 glass prisms. There was also as a nice assortment of other maritime memorabilia. I also took Carol over to Fisherman's Wharf to see the seals.
We then visited the Old Custom House, which is now a museum, before walking out onto Fisherman’s Wharf. The seals were still carrying on, which thrilled Carol. We are both fond of seals, probably because we were fascinated with them during our honeymoon in San Francisco.
For our last touring we wanted to go back to Cannery Row. We hopped on the tram and picked a stop in the middle of the tourist action. It was a lot more pleasant today with a normal wind level and beautiful blue skies. Since it was Saturday, there were lots of locals and tourists walking around enjoying the area. It was such a beautiful area with so many flowers blooming; as well as the rocky beach. We also had a great view of El Torito, where we had dinner the night before. There were so many different and interesting restaurants, bars and shops to look at. We checked out some of them and enjoyed the beauty of the area. It is a great place to chill.
We decided to have lunch there before getting on the road. We spotted the Bubba Gump Restaurant & Market. http://www.bubbagump.com/ It was a fun restaurant with a nice view of the ocean and very good food.
We caught the tram back to the hotel and headed for San Francisco. It wasn’t a long trip to our San Francisco hotel, so we weren’t in a rush. Not too far out of Monterey, we saw some hang-gliders out over the beach. When we saw some more farther down the road near a park, we decided to stop and watch them. Many years ago I was going to try to hang-glide, but the wind wasn’t right that day. I never did try it, but have always been fascinated by it. There were several people riding the wind currents and flying back and forth along the beach. This seemed to be a great way to hang-glide. Quite a bit easier than climbing a hill and waiting for a breeze.
We finally got back on the road and drove to our final destination, the San Francisco Airport Double Tree Hotel. Thank goodness we had the GPS. The traffic was so heavy it was not possible to be able to move over to the exit lane where we were supposed to get off; but the GPS did a wonderful job of rerouting us. Having seen how difficult and time consuming it was to get from the terminal to the rental car center when we had arrived eight days ago, I didn’t want to have to do it again at 4:30 AM. We had a 6:10 AM flight and wouldn’t be getting much sleep. We had decided to turn in the rental car that afternoon rather than in the morning and let the hotel airport shuttle take us directly to the terminal. That idea worked just beautifully, and saved me a lot of aggravation.
It was very difficult to get up at 4:00 AM, but it did get us back to our normal Eastern Time Zone schedule, since it was 7:00 AM on Florida time. I was so glad I had taken the rental car back early. This was a much easier way to end a vacation. And it was indeed over.
Recap
This was a wonderful trip in so many ways. We drove over 1,100 miles, but most of it was through incredibly beautiful scenery. It was exciting, relaxing and just a sensory overload of so much beauty. We have traveled all over the world, but some of the most beautiful places on Earth are right here in our own country. It is easy to understand why so many tourists flock here from overseas. When it comes to natural beauty the USA has it all and in every form.
To view our picture album in a larger format, click here.
Photographic
Equipment Used in Review:
Canon 40D digital SLR camera
Canon 17-85 IS lens
Canon 10-22 ultra-wide lens
Canon 70-300 IS telephoto lens