Day 3 Yosemite and up to see the giant sequoias at Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias 

Our lodge is on west Yosemite and not too far from the mariposa grove. 

It was a bendy jaw dropping drive in parts to wowona village. There is an imposing Victorian hotel here under reconstruction 

And a visitor centre. 

We continued on to the wowona parking area and from here you catch a free shuttle bus up to the mariposa grove. A ten minute drive up winding sheer drops to the drop off spot. 

There are several paths to hike and we chose the 2mile round circular hike to see the “grizzly giant “as the tallest widest sequoia in this grove is named. It is the 5th largest sequoia tree in the world.

210 feet tall and 31 feet across it’s base. It is about 1800 years old

On the way round you pass the fallen monarch, the bachelor and 3 maidens trees. And also you can walk through one tree. The Californian tunnel tree.

There are fires here regularly and we saw huge sequoias burnt black and many others that survived burnt only slightly 

Plenty of squirrels chipmunks and little black birds were up there.

The giant grizzly tree was almost at the top of the hill and we kept stopping to catch our breath. The walk round up and eventually down was worth the effort. The trees are so large that it is difficult to capture them on the phone screen 

I hope you get an idea of what their majestic presence is like.

Day 2 Yosemite 

No snow yet 👌we gingerly descended the 6000 ft mountain round hairpins at least we were rockside for a while

Eventually we reached Yosemite valley and stopped in quite a few places. The sun was warm and we saw loads of reflections in the river. 

We then took the very tricky Tioga road that climbs up to over 9000 feet. I’m pleased I wasn’t driving 

We stopped at Olmsted Point WOW is all I can say. From here you look over granite pavements down the valleys and get a view of the dome from the back view.

Also you can view lake Tenaya so beautiful 

It was very cold up there.51*f

 The hard journey has been so worth the effort. Next stop the Tuolumne meadows and visitors centre.

The meadows are being left to restore themselves

Now it was nearly 3 pm and we had 60 miles to go to return to our lodge. We dare not go up there in the dark so we needed to go no further.( This road leads to Lee vining where we stayed by mono lake and couldn’t get into Yosemite because of the snow.)

What a lovely day again 😎

Day 4 Yosemite valley 

It’s my birthday today! No WiFi for messages but family cards to open .., thank you soooo much xxxx

For my birthday treat we were having lunch at a 1930 hotel called the Ahwahnee. It is being renovated at present but everyone can explore the inside. I found it dark and cold in the restaurant but warmer elsewhere

It was an experience very pleasant and a valet parked your car!

The Yosemite valley is an easy drive and full of tourists. We saw 3 climbers way up high on the sheer face of the mountain. Their orange hammock is suspended up there and they are above it. How scary!

The light at tunnel view in the morning was so clear on the return late afternoon it was cloudy. Last night it rained and so the visibility is so good today until about 3pm when the clouds started to appear in the valley. 

We spent a long time in the valley by the stream and saw Yosemite falls. No water in the falls! Wrong time of year 

The bridal falls had more water in them today

The El Capitan granite is the largest one piece of granite in the world. 

I think we have explored all of Yosemite that we can without hiking long trails 

We have done very short trails but really enjoyed what we have seen. We got back just as the rain started but it soon passed over 

Tomorrow there is glacier point to see. Our last full day.

Day 5 Yosemite up to Glacier point 

Not a cloud in the sky as we set off early at 8,30am. 

Being 6000 feet up the mountain and close to the turn for glacier road we only had 1700 feet to climb round bends and sheer drops. Ugh😩

But the road was good and wide. 

First stop was to see the sentinel rock and other granite rounded tops what a view

At the glacier point the view was amazing 

You can see the whole of Yosemite Valley from up there from a dizzy view 

The river way below meandering and the meadows. We were directly above the Ahwahnee hotel. The half dome was so stunning from up there 

These are my photos 

The fluffy clouds in the blue sky all added to 

A perfect last day at Yosemite We left the very best until last 

Yosemite national park is stunning and all we ever hoped it would be❤️❤️❤️

At last we have been able to visit Yosemite

Copperopolis is a small town we stopped at for a coffee and cake on the way to Yosemite west entrance. It had a lake, lake Tullouch 

We had passed countryside full of small tree orchards maybe nut trees.

The lady who served us said she had lived there for 30 years and no fires until a recent one. But they were all safe thank goodness 

There were banners saying thanks to the firefighters.

The old Mexican men sitting outside said snow in Yosemite. They tried to speak with an English accent” good day today”😂

We were in The foothills of the sierras

As we started to climb there were steep hairpin bends and so we took them very slowly letting faster cars overtake!

The views were scarily lovely. At the top it was small hills and more comfortable driving. We just paid $40 for 2 coffees and a mug! How much was that mug? Hope we don’t break it!

At the entrance to the park a sign said winter weather Monday through Thursday 

We are here until Saturday oops

A very young ranger marked our map to show us where not to miss. He suggests where to go tomorrow as he can’t promise conditions for the following days to reach up there! 

But the area we are exploring now seems safe driving and we are seeing all the big trees again. We are both so happy to be here at last.

We took our first pic of the half dome from a viewing point. The sun obligingly shone on the rocks

It is a steep climb up to our lodge at 6000ft 

We won’t be doing that after dark!

“246 miles turn right”

As we left our hotel on the 101 route it said this!

Journeying through California towards Yosemite 

We followed the red trees route 101 through many miles of fir trees and found the road to be very windy following riverbeds

Further south the road was straighter but not easy very bumpy and no one keeping to the 65mph speed limit 

We saw many birds of prey and some vineyards, orchards, pick your own fruits, strawberry fields. The grass was yellow and no longer the tall trees.

We stopped for a coffee in a warm wind like a hairdryer’s. We were now on more populated areas of California lots of Mexican music rather than country music 🤣 and a few palm trees

We passed a grass fire on a hillside near houses

We now met the smoke again and passed a grass fire close to our route. It was smoky all over the hills and valleys and towards Stockton where we were headed 

San Pablo bay was a bird watchers paradise 

We saw large birds of prey and egrets flying over close to our car 

We were crawling along in a jam of vehicles

Stilts, egrets, a pelican, all on huge marshlands

We stopped for petrol and it was hot 75*f.

Not far to go now and much more traffic than we’ve been used to 

We passed acres of farmland with thousands of wind turbines on them.

Our hotel is for one night only as we have a lodge to live in in Yosemite from tomorrow. 

My photos are all from my phone through the car window as we travelled xxx

The Red Trees California 

Here are some of my photos taken on my mobile phone and a video if it works!

All I can say is walking through giant trees makes you feel tiny and insignificant in comparison. It was almost impossible to capture the whole tree as they were so tall.

You all need to come to experience them the photos give you an idea. They are gigantic and hundreds of years old .

Also the north Californian coastline with grey sands. It’s cool here at the moment but a nice change from the heat we’ve been in.

North California has a unique beauty of its own.

We looked around eureka old town and harbour before we returned to our hotel

PLEASE NOTE

We move on tomorrow and it will be the last day for WiFi for a week so don’t worry we are ok just not able to communicate 

I will write my blog but won’t be able to send it until we leave Yosemite. A WiFi free birthday for me!

On leaving Klamath falls we realised how lucky we had been as we woke up to smoke everywhere. The rain and wind 2 days ago had cleared it while we were here and now the smoke was back.

As we travelled up the west side of the lake

We saw a pelican and a great blue heron. Egrets cormorants and gulls ducks geese all along a floating harbour chain

We travelled extensively through a forested volcanic area for miles  ( along the 140.)we passed the brown mountain lava field.

There were lakes and ski stations and campgrounds until the landscape changed.

We descended the cascade mountains and we found that now we had fields and deciduous trees cattle and horses. 

We stopped at a Starbucks for coffee to keep us awake 😉

by then the smoke had cleared.

Next  we arrived the highway 5 then left at grants pass to join the 199 south to the redwoods and crescent city.

We crossed the border to California “ have you any produce with you”. no ….well actually we had 2 bananas 😉

Now we found giant trees and also fire  damaged hillsides 

They are giants so gigantic it makes

You feel so small 

The road winds through and around them

What a sight!

We stopped briefly to see the pacific coast in crescent city and battery lighthouse in the distance 

Then returned to our route to eureka on the 101 coastal highway 

It is called the redwood route and is the redwood national park and it follows the coast line closely so you get amazing views 

over the ocean. 

So now we are in Eureka California for 2 nights before we head for Yosemite national park.

We had a good journey and stopped saw some sights too so we had made a day of it.

But tired now 😎

day 2 crater lake

Woke up to a much better day sunshine and clouds but fresh and clear 48*f

( sorry they only do Fahrenheit in USA )

As we have travelled up the side of the long Klamath Lake we have spotted pelicans flying on a v formation, egrets, herons,  deer, geese , cormorants,swans and birds of prey

It is wetlands and marshy.

Oh dear up at the rim of crater lake it was 39*f cloud level and although not so windy as yesterday you were lucky to see everything or anything depending on the conditions. But at least it wasn’t pouring down with rain. It was cold up there again .

We stopped at the lodge and viewed the lake from upstairs sitting in rocking chairs 🤣

Then in the couple of hours we were up there it changed all the time and colours sun and shadows changed 

We walked a small way along the rim viewing wizard island. 

On the way down on our return the temp was now 50*f and sunshine away from the chilly mists.

We learn about fossilised steam… never heard of this!

We enjoyed the countryside and I tried again to achieve a woodland photo🤔

Hope you enjoy my photos xxxx sending love 

Crater Lake on a trolley bus

We booked a trolley bus ride around the crater rim today 

We woke up to a huge drop in temperature and rain !

The trip was very enjoyable the guide on the bus told us many things about the geology history botany and animals the weather etc

As we were high up we were in the clouds and so it appeared foggy but made for good photos when the bus stopped at various points 

It lasted 2 hours and towards the end the visibility was non existent so I suppose we were lucky we got some good shots 

This is our first day of rain! 39*f we dressed in trousers and jumpers and rain gear ….not tee shirt and shorts.

We went out for a steak last night at roosters in Klamath falls. It was so tasty and good to have fresh veg and fruit.

The sunset as we left was deep pink candyfloss. 

At the restaurant and at the hotel people were listening to the first trump / harris debate. We have seen posters and banners occasionally and they have almost all been for trump “ make America great again”😩🌳

As the rain set in and the sky was full of it we returned to Klamath falls 

I tried to direct vince to a wildlife viewing spot marked on the map but we ended up going in a huge circle and the road we needed to return to the hotel was closed!

Never mind 😉