This was a very long day. We began at 8 AM and 73 degrees with mostly sunny skies. The temps did get down to 66 in the park, but it was always very comfortable in shirt sleeves. We left Redding and headed west to Lassen Volcanic National Park. The plan was to drive in the west gate and out the south and that is what we did. We spent more time in the park than we had anticipated, which made the drive to Mariposa a long one. But we were enjoying the beauty of t...

The plan for today was to see Mount Shasta in all of its beauty, on our way to Redding, CA. So, we set out at 8:40 AM and 64 degrees with overcast skies, hoping that the clouds would lift and give us that spectacular view. Unfortunately, the clouds came down instead. We had rain off and on…not a downpour, but just enough to keep the windshield wet. Since we would not be in Shasta until afternoon, we still had hopes for a clearing.We drove miles and miles...

As hot as it has been in Fresno for the past 2 days, a cooling trend, combined with where we were headed, got us out of our shorts for the first time this trip and into genes. It was rather cool when we left our hotel this morning at 8:30 AM and pointed the car westward. I was a bit worse for wear today, considering the mountain climbing that I did yesterday, but it was worth it. I am glad I did it. No regrets.So we headed for the coast and the Pacific Coast Hig...

Today we visited Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The day was supposed to be another scorcher, which I found difficult to believe, since we were going to be in an immense forest. And fortunately, I was right. We enjoyed a pleasant 70-72 degrees all day long, while it was 99 degrees on the outside of the parks. We left the hotel at 7:45 and began the one hour drive through miles of orange groves and olive groves and vineyards.Lake Kaweah filled the valley...

We planned to put on a lot of miles today, and we did. We drove from Williams, AZ to Tulare, CA, which is about 520 miles. The only sight seeing we did was through the windows of the car, but there was much to see. We left at 7:45 AM and it was setting up to be a very hot day. By 9:45 the temperature hit 100 degrees (we wondered if the car display would do 3 digits, and it did) and that was only the beginning. It went as high as 109 degrees, but most of the trip...