The thrill of victory... the agony of, well, not exactly defeat

So, I'm being dramatic.  There wasn't a defeat.  Just a series of bad-ish days.

First of all.  I will never go back to Las Vegas.  I guess I should have known it wasn't going to be my sort of town.  I just wanted to use it as a stop-over on my way to L.A.   I bid for and won a decent hotel room for $30 (!!).  I should have known better.  But when I arrived, I was informed they were going to add on a $10 "amenity" fee.  I guess this is a usual kind of thing but I'm a Las Vegas novice.

And then my visit in L.A. lasted less time than I anticipated.  I stayed long enough for a yummy and fun two-margarita-dinner with Tim at El Coyote and a night at the Residence Inn Beverly Hills which had a kosher kitchen.

The next morning I drove to Malibu to eat breakfast at a spot I remember from a visit almost 10 years ago.  It's a place where locals hang out, so the people watching is amazing.  I saw a famous beach volleyball player and spied on him having breakfast with this teenage son and two friends.  That made the whole trip kind of worthwhile.  Plus, I got to oogle the Pacific Ocean which is never a bad thing.

From there, I drove north and east through the first of many agricultural regions in California.  I stopped at a KMart in Delano, CA.  Literally no one in the entire store, customers and employees alike, spoke english.  I felt right at home.

I spent the night in Visalia, CA.  My tent site was next to a family of four who lost their housing and planned to camp until the beginning of June when they thought they could get into a house.  They didn't have any food.  Needless to say, I shared what I had.  They didn't seem too thrilled with the donated lentils and almond milk.  So sad.

Thursday morning I made my way to Sequoia National Park.  This park is on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada range.  The foothills of this range are around 2000 feet above sea level.  Mt Whitney is the tallest peak in the lower 48 states and is over 14,000 feet!!

The Yucca were in bloom.  This stalk is over 8 feet tall!

Hillside of Yucca.



I toured Crystal Caverns with a friendly tour guide who was about 8 years old (okay, maybe 21) and was impressed that I had been to a cave in Argentina...



Crystal Caverns

Sequoia trees only grow on the western slope of the Sierra Nevadas.  They also only grow at elevations between 5,000 and 7,000 feet.  They can live to be thousands of years old and grow over 300 feet tall.  Needless to say, the weather at the higher elevations was different than in the foothills.

This picture was taken on the same day as the previous ones-- 
I swear.

That's me in front of General Sherman-- the largest tree in the world (by volume).  It's at least 2300 years old.

The roots of these trees are shallow which makes them prone to toppling.  Above is what the roots look like when they're unearthed.

I camped in the foothills in that grove of trees by the river.