Visalia, California

Sadly, we had to leave the California coast so we could get moving northward. However, we were rewarded at our next destination - Sequoia National Park. It was like wandering into a forest made for giants. A.MAZ.ING.

Kait and Andrew at Sequoia National Park.

We parked the RV in nearby Visalia, CA and took the car to Sequoia. Once we entered the park, the drive was crazy! The road zig-zagged up and down mountains. When the sign said, "Right turn 20 mph" you better take the turn at 15 mph! It took us an hour to get from the gate to the Giant Forest.

We didn't even get to the park until 4:30 p.m. so we stopped at the visitor's center and asked the ranger on duty if she felt we were arriving too late to really see anything that day. She said we had plenty of time and then rattled off five or six trails we could stop and hike on our way to the Giant Forest. She talked so fast my head was spinning!

Let's just say, that lady must have thought we waddled as fast as she talked because there was no way we could have done all of the things she said we should/could do before we made it to the Sequoias and before nightfall.

She did us another big favor by warning us about the bears and cougars in front of Kaitlyn. I wasn't sure we were going to be able to get her out of the car let alone to hike into the forest after that speech! LOL (She's a bit of a drama queen and a scaredy cat!)

I did my part by reassuring her that the bears and cougars wouldn't get us and if they did, she just needed to outrun one of us.

Here are some more pics but you really need to see this place with your own eyes!


Trying to wrap our arms around a Sequoia...not even close.



The General Sherman tree, largest in the world.

It's hard to believe trees this huge start from a seed the size of a piece of oatmeal. We would have loved to be able to spend more time in Sequoia and over at Kings Canyon National Park but California is a big state and we had more places to go....next up Yosemite!