California or Bust!

On Wednesday, the 13th, we headed west toward California and the Giant Sequoias.  We opted to leave the “house” behind and made reservations in Three Rivers, California for a cute little cabin for two days. 

It’s been a while since we weren’t able to just hook up to our belongings and take them with us, so we had to remember what to pack for the trip.  First off, we realized we would have to use our Wal Mart “Samsonite” (plastic bags) since all our suitcases are in the barn back home in Texas.  Oh well, it wasn’t like we would be having to tote our “Samsonite” past a registration desk in a hotel, so all was well.  We managed to remember the phone chargers, but I forgot to take the charger for the camera battery (oops).  The only other thing I forgot was the fingernail polish, which isn’t exactly a necessity, so we did pretty good.

We pulled out of Fallon around 9:00 in the morning, ready to knock out the 300+ miles to the Sequoia National Park. 





The Fall colors were really pretty!


And we marveled at this beautiful lake out in the middle of nowhere.

We checked out the gas prices in the first town we came to in California.  Wow!

We had a yahoo map to follow, the road atlas handy and the GPS system hooked up, never really noticing that our route would take us straight through Yosemite until we drove right up to it!  Isn’t it amazing those little details that just slip by you?  We’re so smart!

Well, Yosemite was gorgeous, of course.  But the road was so curvy and steep in places that we were doubly glad we weren’t pulling the fifth wheel.

As far as the park, I’ll let the pictures do the talking:


















These were just a few out of over 200 pictures I took in the more than two hours it took to get through the park.  We were awestruck by the beauty all around us, but it was a hard drive with lots of twists and turns.  So many that by the time we got to Three Rivers that evening, my back and neck muscles were aching from keeping myself braced in the seat all day from the constant swaying from side to side. 

After leaving Yosemite, the roads straightened out a lot and the landscape changed to foothills, then orange / lemon groves and vineyards.  Pretty!



We finally made it to Three Rivers and our destination for the next two days, the Sequoia Village Inn, just before dark and boy oh boy, were we ready to get out of that truck!

Three Rivers makes me think of quaint little town in the Swiss Alps.  It’s just beautiful and cozy and friendly.  There was a black and white cat lazing on the porch of the office across the street and an orange cat that made herself at home around all the cabins, including ours.  I loved this little town. 
It was too dark to get pictures by the time we settled into our cabin, so I put the camera away for the day, got myself a beer and headed outside to sit at the table, gaze at the stars and smell that wonderful mountain air.  Heaven!

So that takes care of our trip to Three Rivers.  I’ll stop here and start another post about our trip into the park.  I know, I’m w-a-a-y behind, but I’ll get caught up today.  Hang with me, folks!