Sequoias

From the Mojave Desert (Valley of Fire) to the western slopes of the Sierra Nevadas, the landscape has changed dramatically.

You have to look closely. I mean really closely. Closer. The tree in the center, in the center of the burned section, there are two people standing. THAT'S how big some of these trees are!

If you haven't watched the video on Facebook of Tim standing at the base of a tree and me walking toward him, you should. It only comes close to showing the size of the Sequoias in Sequoia National Park.

We ended the evening in Santa Cruz and ate dinner at the end of the pier. I got suckered into the destination, but the food was average.

A Lot of Ground

We skipped Yosemite. There. I said it. It's one or the most magnificent places on Earth, but it's covered in smoke. Between breathing and taking photos, we decided to move on. We left St. George and cruised I-15 into Nevada to Valley of Fire State Park, a state park in southern Nevada. It amazes me how different landscapes can look in a matter of a couple of hours--from the canyon valley of Zion to the red and striated rock of Valley of Fire. It was a little out of the way, but so worth it. The climate also changed dramatically. It was comfortably in the 70s in Zion. By the time we got to Valley of Fire, it was approaching the mid-90s. Mind you, it was a dry heat. Yeah, I hate when people say that too, but it really is not as miserable as Missouri in the summer. There was, however, this at the start of the Fire Wave trail.

Get ready for another photo overload.

Sorry those photos were in no particular order. I've been trying to integrate the photos Tim and I take and add in some from a DSLR camera. That part's no fun.

We left on the Valley of Fire Highway headed west back to I-15. From there we tried to move as fast as we could with a quick pitstop in Vegas for our first In-n-Out fix. We continued on I-15 to Barstow, got on CA 58, through the Mohave Desert to Bakersfield then north on CA 99 to CA 65 to Porterville where we'll spend the night before making our way to the Sequoias.