Geo: 38.2988, -122.285We were only to be in Kings Canyon for one night, and today was our day to drive south to Sequoia National Park. The road connecting the parks is called the Generals Highway, and the distance is only about 25 miles...at least as the crow flies. We'd been told the day earlier, by a ranger, that the road was closed by snow and had little prospect for opening any time soon. Much of the road crosses Forest Service land, vice Park Service, and they do not make snow removal a priority. The only other way to reach Sequoia would have been to drive back down into Fresno, in the San Joaquin Valley, and then down and around, coming up from the south. Even going that route, there was no guarantee the road would be ... read more

Geo: 37.8772, -119.727We were all up shortly before dawn, though none of us slept particularly well. Something about cabins that are more than 125 years old...not only are they authentic, but the walls are very thin. A card game among the family next to us had us up later than we'd hoped. Nonetheless, we awoke to gray skies and a steady, cold drizzle. We filled up at breakfast and then hopped in our car for the 45-minute drive north, up and down into Yosemite Valley. We climbed from 5,000 ft to over 7,000 ft at Badger Pass (where there was still eight to 10 feet of snow along the road) and then steadily down into the valley. By the time we reached the valley floor, the clouds were very low and we did not even catch ... read more

Geo: 37.7792, -122.42As expected, our internal clocks had us up well before the sun, so we were dressed and sitting down to a huge breakfast of sourdough French toast, pancakes, hash, etc. by 07:30am. We had pre-booked some hop-on-hop-off tour tickets, and a tour of Alcatraz, and we were able to eat and be waiting at Union Square for the first tour bus to arrive shortly after 08:30. We lucked out, and we had bright, warm sun all day. With the hop-on-hop-off, we're able to at least acclimate ourselves to "the sights," and then return to areas that look really interesting. Our initial loop included the ubiquitous Chinatown, ferry docks and piers, over the Golden Gate bridge (the wind aboard the open-air upper deck of the bus was tremendous), Golden Gate Park, downtown, North Beach, and ... read more

Geo: 37.805, -122.273... read more

Geo: 39.2906, -76.6096... read more