From the Redwood forest to the Palm Springs desert

As we left Crater Lake, it became cloudier and drizzlier as we approached the Redwood Forest.  The conditions on the Pacific coast are perfect for these beautiful giants to grow.  We were so lucky to run into a park ranger who recommended that we drive a smaller road through the forest rather than Rte. 101.  We were so glad that we did!  It was amazing to drive through the forest in the rain, but also we walked along a short trail called the Stout Trail.  While there, Mike and I just touched some of the trees, and amazing feelings went through us.  I cannot really describe what we felt, except to say that you could feel the wisdom of the trees.  That may sound crazy, but it's true!  When you think that some of them were around when Christ was born.....what wonders they've seen!

On the way down to San Francisco, we drove right through wine country.....Mendocino County.  We stopped at the most beautiful winery:
Even more exciting, at the recommendation of the woman at the winery, we had lunch at Rustic, which is Francis Ford Coppola's restaurant at his winery.  He has a museum there which has a lot of memorabilia from all of his movies, and also his Oscar and Golden Globe awards:

Then we began the long drive to San Francisco.  It was a beautiful, clear blue sky day, but as soon as we approached the Golden Gate Bridge, you guessed it:  fog!!!
I was so impressed with the architecture of the buildings there:
Of course the first night, we had to ride on a cable car:

Fisherman's Wharf was so pretty at night:

I have to say that I felt that San Francisco was such a safe city.  I don't always feel that way in a city, but I felt extremely safe there at every moment.

One of my favorites was the Ferry Building and all of it's many different booths:

I also loved Pier 39.....it reminded me so much of the Navy Pier in Chicago:

Street cars were almost as much fun as the cable cars.....and I must say, they were a whole lot smoother!!

Now this is another fun sight you just don't see every day in New Hampshire......sea lions were everywhere on the pier:

San Francisco was a beautiful city....one that I would definitely return to!  Then we were off to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.

When we got to Yosemite, the very first thing you notice is the very famous Half Dome:

      Now this one might be El Capitan......my son would know!  

I have to say that as beautiful as Yosemite was, there were way too many people for us to really enjoy it.  Someone referred to it as the Disneyland of National Parks.  We were happy to head south to King's Canyon and Sequoia the next day.

Let's just say that the drive to the end of King's Canyon was one of the scariest drives we took, and we took many scary mountain drives.  It was so beautiful, as has been so many of the places we've been so lucky to have seen!

Sequoia was beautiful as well........we discovered that the Redwoods are the tallest trees on earth and the Sequoias are the widest:

Me standing in front of the General Grant tree.

One of the absolutely amazing experiences came just as we were getting ready to leave Sequoia National Park.  I was coming down the stairs with my luggage, when Mike called my name.  Suddenly I looked to my left, and there was a beautiful mule deer not ten feet from me.  She looked me straight in the eye, and I looked at her.....we just stood there like that for a moment or two, just gazing into each other's eyes.  Then other people walked by and startled, not only her, but the other three deers who were there as well!

As beautiful as these three parks were, for me they became rather claustrophobic.  I was very glad to get down out of the mountains to head south to Indio, which is near Palm Springs.  We were meeting with my friend, Beverly, who lives in nearby Cathedral City.  The great thing about this is that Bev and I have been writing letters to each other for more than 30 years, and have only seen each other a handful of times in those 30 years.  It was great to catch up with her, but can you believe we were so busy gabbing (who, me, gab??) that we never took any pictures!!!

Where we stayed was wonderful, though:

 

We have had so very many gifts along the way on this trip......little and big gifts.  Whether it is an amazing sunrise or sunset, an encounter with elk or deer, or even tarantula spiders, which you will read about in another blog, we have been blessed.  We've had the most glorious full moons over the Joshua Tree National Park, the Grand Canyon, and in Palm Springs and Colorado.  Many, many wonderful memories we will carry forward with us from this trip.

~Karen