That's me. That's the biggest tree in the world--not the tallest or the widest in diameter, but the largest in weight and volume. This is General Sherman. Once again, pictures do not do these giants justice. I'm still twenty feet from the tree (because people are stupid and might carve their names in the tree or something equally as stupid). I know people are stupid because they have carved their names in other trees/benches/fallen trees/etc. All of that to say, this tree is huge and even me standing in front of it doesn't do it. Try this one...
Do you see the people at the bottom? Yeah. It's that big.
These giant Sequoias are in Sequoia National Forest, specifically, in the Giant Forest. We left Fresno this morning and drove through the tip of Kings Canyon and into Sequoia National. As we descended from an elevation 6,000 feet we met Pokey. We have a story to tell about Pokey...
Once upon a time, there was a bear named Pokey. He liked to walk on the road because the smooth concrete was much easier to walk upon than the jagged rocks of the mountains.
When Pokey would hear cars coming, he would dash for the bushes...
Well, at least as fast as Pokey could dash.
"Are they gone?" asked Pokey, as he poked his head above the rock wall.
"Maybe if I hide, they'll go away."
"Awww who am I kidding? I'm a bear. I'll do what I want!"
And that is the story of Pokey the bear. It was so bizarre. As we rounded the corner, there he was...walking down the road. All through Yosemite, there were signs that said, "Speeding kills bears." (By the way, Tim reeeaaallly wanted one of those signs, but 1) he's not a thief, and 2) we couldn't figure out how to get it home. :)) The only thing we saw in Yosemite was a couple of deer. We were completely surprised by this creature walking along the road. Do not fear, I got the pictures from the safety of my car with the lens barely (no pun intended) out the window. Tim had his finger on the switch to put the window up and his foot on the gas, just in case Pokey got mad. Some fool got out of his car and stepped up on the wall when the bear disappeared for a few seconds. We almost started videoing the guy because we were sure he was going to get mauled. He got lucky.
The drought is real, folks. If a grove was not being watered by way of irrigation, the landscape looked like this...
In the orange, avocado, almond, walnut, and these groves...
...the trees were bright green from irrigation. These are pomegranate trees. The pomegranates aren't ripe yet so they aren't the bright red we are accustomed to seeing, but the flower and the remnant of the flower on the bottom of the fruit gave it away. There were acres and acres of grapes as well.
Tonight we ate seafood. In fact, I had abalone.
It was good but not worth the price. It tasted like a cross between a scallop, clam, and squid. Now that I can say I've tried it, I won't order it again. Tim had the oysters...
They were giant, plump, and delicious! Tomorrow, we will see the Hearst Castle and part of Big Sur. That's all for now.
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