campgrounds and big trees

Sometimes we have a specific campground picked out - usually one that gives Passport America (50% off!) discounts. But sometimes there isn't a discount campground near where I want to park the RV. So then we aim for national or state parks. These tend to be prettier campgrounds, with more space between spots, etc. And they definitely cost less than a full price private RV park / campground. These tend to not have full hookups, and usually don't have internet, but we can forsake that for a nice site and a campfire (none of the private campgrounds we've stayed at yet allow fires!). But we recently found out one big con - when you look at the picture, you think "wow, pretty site." What you can't get from a picture is the smell. OMG, we were downwind from where fishermen clean their fish and dump the yuck. Fish guts roasting in the sun - that was NASTY!!

More bike touring - we headed into the Sierra Nevada Mountains for some fun on twisty roads. It was great riding! Very scenic, fun twisty roads, mountains, waterfalls and rapids...

Just the other day, Greg's dad asked us if we were going to see any of the big trees. Yep - we went through Sequoia National Forest and Sequoia National Park. And yep, we saw lots of big trees. And I mean BIG!! Do you see Greg and the bike in this picture? These trees weren't even the biggest we saw!


I was just trying to get my arms around the size of these trees. {giggle} ok, bad pun. But you gotta admit - these are some huge trees!

Along the road, we would catch occasional glimpses of some of the snow-capped mountains in the area. In Sequoia N.P. and in Kings Canyon N.P., there are a total of twelve 14'ers - a 14'er is a mountain over 14,000 feet high. That's a lot of high mountains in a relatively small area!