2011-05-26--28: Driving from California to Yellowstone West, Montana

It is a rather long drive from the west coast of California, to Yellowstone Park. Maybe we have been spoiled by fantastic scenic drives for too long, and maybe that´s why we found part of the last couple of days driving sometimes a bit boring.
We will be back with some text around the highlights, and there were highlights!

We put toghter some pictures for you in this link:  Avenue of the Gigants to Rexburg, Idaho

2011-05-23--25: Napa Valley, Highway 1 and Avenue of the Gigants

We do not have time to update the blogg with text right now, but will probably be able to do it in the next couple of days.
There are some pictures if you click this link: Napa Valley to Avenue of the Gigants

201105-21--22: San Francisco

We choose a camping close to San Francisco, as we didn´t want to drive around in the crowded city with a big RV. One of the services of the camping was a full day sight seeing to San Francisco, so we signed up for the trip as soon as we registered. The trip was really good, and we learnt a lot about the history  of the city and we got to see a lot. First stop was Golden Gate Bridge.

We then continued through Golden Gate Park - the largest man-made park in the world. Next stop was Pier 39 and Fisherman´s Warf. Kind of touristic, but nice.










 

We had a very good seafood meal at Bubba Gump (yes - it has a Forest Gump theme), with wonderful view over San Francisco Bay.

Fresh crab, shrimps and fish - can it be better?

After lunch we headed towards China Town - a rather large community in San Francisco, and drove through areas with the architecture that gives San Francisco it´s charm.

We didn´t get the chance to go with the cable cars, but there are still 3 lines operating the steep hills of the city.


More pics from San Francisco: San Francisco

2011-05-19--20: Yosemite National Park, California.

We pulled into a camping close to the south entrance of Yosemite, and spent the night there. When we checked in we had a chat with the people that worked at the camping. We got the information that the park had been closed all day due to the weather conditions, but with some luck the weather would be warmer the next day and the park open.
We were delighted to see a blue sky in the morning, and even more happy to find the park and most roads open.

We spent two full days, and a night in the park and loved every minute of it! It is sooo beautiful!! We would have loved to stay for longer time for hiking.

Also in Yosemite there are gigantic sequoia trees. In Mariposa Grove you can find the most majestic.This one, that Anne gives a hug, is not one of the biggest - but big enough to impress.

Bears are common in Yosemite. We woke up during the night - a lot of noise created by bears trying to get into trashbins. We also heard a couple of shots during the night, but were assured that it was rubber bullets aimed to sting and scare away bears from the camping areas.

More pictures (although they do not do justice) from beautiful Yosemite: Yosemite


Official link to Yosemite National Park: Yosemite National Park

2011-05-16--18: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, California.

The drive from Las Vegas was amazing. We drove through Mojave desert and up in the Sierra Nevada mountains and experienced dramatic changes in climate and nature. On narrow, steep and curvy roads we climbed up and down the mountains - the scenery was again fantastic.

From orange farms in the valleys to snow in the mountains - just within an hours drive.







 

Our plan was to enter Sequoia National Park from the south, and drive through the park to Kings Canyon National Park which borders to Sequoia. Unfortunately there were some roadwork that made it impossible for vehicles of our size to drive the road at the moment, so we had to turn around and drive to the entrance of Kings Canyon.

When we got to Kings Canyon, much of the park was covered in clouds - and it was cold and snowy. We didn´t think we would experience that in California end of May.

We got to see the gigantic sequoia trees in Kings Canyon and they were really impressive. The biggest tree we saw was General Grant - 1700 years old, and 33 meters around the waist. These trees survives fire in average every 13th year.















Link to some pictures: From Las Vegas to Kings Canyon

Official webpage for the parks: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

2011-05-15: Las Vegas

We arrived in the afternoon to the big gambling centre - Las Vegas, and stayed at a RV site just behind famous Circus Circus hotel and casino.
The first thing we did was to take a walk and get some tickets to a nice show. We got tickets for Mystere, by a group called Cirque du Soleil. The show was really fantastic and we enjoyed every minute of it.
Link to the official show page: Mystere

Regarding Las Vegas we can only say that it is not our "cup of tea", so we continued driving towards sunny California.

We will update this post later, but there are some photos available on this link: Las Vegas

2011-05-14: New friends

 After driving through Zion National Park, we wanted to find a nice RV park to stay the night. We soon found what we where looking for - a really nice place close to a river.

From left: Dennis, Sam, Erika, Diane, Jimmy and Dixie

Very soon we got in contact with two very nice couples - Dennis and Erika with their dog Sam, and Jimmy and Diane with their dog Dixie.

We spent the evening around a camp fire, and during the night the convinced us to stay another day. The guys offered us a fantastic day in an ATV (All Terrain Vehicle).
These ATV´s are a lot of fun! They are rather powerful - speed around 65 MPH and can climb more or less any hill.

We had a lot of fun during the ride, and are very grateful that Dennis and Jimmy took it a bit easy with us rookies.

Dixie to the right - Jimmy to the left

We had another magic night at the camp fire filled with discussions, stories and laughter. We would have loved to stay with our new friends, but must continue our journey. Next stop is Las Vegas.


Dixie loves riding the ATV!
















You find some more pictures if you click this link:New friends