Scenes from California
OK I give up. With every intention of getting the blog caught up from our sailing Summer and a great Fall, I have finally realized that we’ll never remember what we did today, if I keep focusing on yesterday. So while catching up the old, we’ll also be posting the new. To that end, here’s what we were up to last week.
We arrived to Fresno from Richmond two Sundays ago and spent the week exploring the local lakes. First we holed up high above Pine Flat Lake. This remote resort community on the outskirts of Fresno enjoyed a boom back in the 50’s but not much has happened since. From it’s heyday, the motels and marinas now show their age, but the place is still beautiful.
Sunrise on Pine Flat Lake
We picked up mid week and then made our way south to Lake Kaweah for another 2 days of work at the Horse Creek State Park. Lodged in the foothills of the Sierras, it was a great place to work out in the wild.
We had stayed in the area through the week in anticipation of taking a National Park tour over the weekend. Bright and early on Saturday morning, we drove into the Sierra Nevadas towards Sequoia National Park.
The misty morning gave the groves of giant Sequoias an air of mystery to add to their already extremely impressive magnificence.
Land of the Giant Sequoias
One Big Tree – cut down in the 60’s so it didn’t fall on some park guest cabins. Finally someone got smart and suggested moving the cabins instead of cutting down the 2,000 year old trees
Perspective – General Sherman is the largest (but not tallest) tree in the world. The widest tree, General Grant, is just down the road.
Through the afternoon, the fog thickened and rain kept spitting, so we decided to bypass King’s Canyon and start west. The intended destination was Big Sur, but Jimmie Shell had just arrived in Monterey so we rearranged the schedule for a stop in town.
We arrived just in time for dinner and searched for an easy meal. Buffalo Wild Wings was hopping so we pulled in. At the entrance, the manager told us it was their opening night and we needed tickets just to get in. With some smooth talking, we quickly found ourselves sitting at the bar with piles of free food and $3 Petron margaritas in front of us.
Living large at B’Dub
3 hours later, we were confirmed B’Dub fans. I called it a night, but Tim and Jimmie explored Cannery Row and wrapped up the evening with a BB King lookalike at Cuz’s Sportsman Club.
Sunday morning, we hit the beach at Fort Ord State Park, we walked through the ice plants to the ocean and watched seals playing in the surf.
Fort Ord
After breakfast, we dropped Jimmie off to meet up with Keri, who’d just finished a conference and Tim and I drove out to Toro Park for a local mountain bike ride. We could feel the fact that we hadn’t exercised in a month and the 1600 foot climb was excruciating. The 4 mile skinny single track was even more so! But it was good to be back on the bike.
High above Monterey
On a whim, we decided to check out the nearby Laguna Seca County Park for camping. We found ourselves high in the hills overlooking the Mazda Raceway next to some more top local mountain bike trails and powerful 4G. I am no motorhead, but even I thought the racing red Porches were very cool. Not a bad spot for the week.