This was a three part trip: we started out visiting Darrolyn and Randy in Santa Barbara, then
picked up Bill and Adelina in Sacramento to spend some time in South Lake Tahoe and visit Marc and
Kathleen in Incline Village, then on the way back, Kimberly and I went through Sequoia and Kings Canyon
National Parks.
Darrolyn and Randy have modified their house to remove the traditional lawn...
...and replace it with native California plants. They have a huge front yard with paths.
The back yard is nice as well. We had a lovely lunch together and talked for hours catching up.
A farewell shot of the four of us.
Then we picked up Bill and Adelina in Sacramento, and went on to South Lake Tahoe. The first night,
we were looking for something to do ...
... and we ended up at this magic / comedy show that was a lot of fun. Most of the rest of the time
we were in the casino.
We took a side trip to Incline Village to visit Marc and Kathleen in their new place, and we
started out playing a little bocce on their village courts.
Here's Bill "The Italian Stallion" showing us how it is done.
Back at Marc and Kathleen's, we had a little cooking party and chatted while we played with the cat.
Back in South Lake Tahoe, the four of us go out for a nice Italian meal in the view restaurant at
Harrah's while the sun sets in the background.
After dropping off Bill and Adelina back at Sacramento, Kimberly and I spend the night in Fresno,
and the next morning we head to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
On the hike out to the General Grant tree.
There is a picture from over 100 years ago of this same log being used as a shelter by miners.
That's the General Grant tree in the background.
You can walk around to the back side and see some fire damage.
The iPhone camera is great, but doesn't do it justice.
The obligatory picture with the sign.
These cute little chipmunks were everywhere, competing with the squirrels.
At the lookout point, we get another tourist to take a photo of us.
We happen upon a ranger talking about how this cross-section shows the rings, and
shows the trees are regularly fire-damaged and heal themselves up.
Kimberly...
...the Ranger...
...and Wade.
The sign with all of the stats on the tree.
We went out past several other trees, but didn't take a lot of pictures.
We ended up at the south end at Moro Rock.
There's no way we were going to try to do the climb; we were already feeling the altitude
just walking around.
