Wine and Really Really Big Trees

Hey all! It's been awhile (we've been camping and not had wifi) so I thought I'd catch you up!

Monday

We left San Francisco on Monday and drove up to wine country. On our way out of town we went over the Golden Gate Bridge, but unfortunately it was so foggy we could hardly see it. First we stopped at Muir Woods to see the towering redwood trees. We walked the trail a bit through to the Cathedral Grove and admired the impressive height of the trees.

We had booked a tour at a winery in the Sonoma Valley called Benzinger. It was really good; they drove us around the vineyard and explained to us the differences between different types of wines and a bit about the wine making process. All the while making sure we had plenty of wine in our glasses. Then we were able to go down into their nice, cool cellar and try some wine straight from the barrel which was cool. Then he gave us some of the exact same wine except "matured" and bottled so we could compare the differences (I couldn't tell a difference). Then we were treated to a formal wine tasting where we tried 6 different wines. 

That winery also had a sister winery called Imagery (the owners are brothers) so they had given us a voucher for a free tasting there as well, good anytime. But since we were there already we decided why not! And went over there too. We made it there 20 minutes before they closed and they quickly treated us to all 5 wines on their tasting list. 

After that we sobered up a bit with a lovely Italian dinner in Sonoma before driving out to our camping area which was a few hours south east of Sonoma. 

Tuesday

We started Tuesday by visiting Yosemite National Park. We were a bit disappointed by the park in general because it was super crowded and the way they had random road closures seemed to make it worse. We had a nice picnic lunch on a beach facing El Capitan which is a really impressive cliff face. Then we drove through the park with the idea that we would do some hiking but the traffic and parking was so terrible we just turned back around and left. On the way out we stopped at a really nice viewpoint (Tunnel Viewpoint) though where we were able to see El Capitan and Half Dome Rock

That evening we drove several hours to  a very remote campground (seriously, we definitely needed the 4WD and even then it was a bit iffy) called Nelder Grove in the Sierra National Forest and that turned out to be really cool. It has a ton of the giant sequoia trees there so that was neat, but more about those later. We found a really great site right next to a small brook and with lots of trees around. 

Wednesday

Wednesday we drove to Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Parks and found a place to camp there for the night. For the afternoon we decided to drive over to King's Canyon and check that out a bit. It kind of reminded me of Yosemite a bit, but with less people. But it was down in a canyon with some cool waterfalls and neat hiking trails. 

Then later we were able to do a short hike straight from our campsite which took us to General Grant, which is the 2nd largest tree in the world (by volume; there are taller and older trees). It was pretty huge. Those Giant Sequoias just get really massive at the base. I have a picture with a random one with my arms out for perspective to see how large the tree is, and this one wasn't even one of the biggest!

Thursday

We started the day by driving south through the Sequoia National Park and then doing a short walk to see General Sherman, which is the LARGEST tree in the world! They estimate it to be about 2200 years old. So that was pretty cool. Before we left the park we also did a short detour up to see Crescent Meadow which is surrounded by big trees, and on the way there, we drove through a tree! One of the big trees must have fallen right across the road and instead of moving it they just cut a large hole such that vehicles could drive through it. Kinda crazy! I'm sure it was easier than moving that massive thing though. 

Then we drove towards LA and were surprised to see several fires on our way in. One was super close to the road and we saw emergency vehicles driving towards it. The other seemed to cover a lot of area and we saw several helicopters flying around and over it. Kinda scary! We decided to stay the night at a campsite in Malibu. It's right on the beach and pretty nice; I'm excited to be able to hear the ocean waves as we sleep. We had a nice dinner at a beach cafe just up the road and then we spent some time walking on the beach before turning in for the night.

And that brings us to the present! Next we head to San Diego and Tijuana!