CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

Central California has to be one of the prettiest spots in the country. It offers Mountains, desert and oceans, all within a few miles. Linda and I spent 2 weeks in Gilroy. We stayed Betabel RV Park, its a very clean campground with all the usual amenities, including live entainment on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

We visited Monterey several times because of the beautiful views of the oceans. Fishermans wharf still seems to have a lot of seals in the harbor for the tourists to look at. Monterey also offers Cannery Row but it is more of an outside mall than a cannery. You can leave Monterey via Ocean View drive and take in some of the most awesome scenery. We also visited Carmel, with its quaint shops and stores. There is a beautiful old mission in Carmel that is worth seeing. Its a high dollar town, but when you had Clint Eastwood as your mayor, its gotta be high end!!!

We visited Mission San Jaun Bautista, which is part of the El Camino Real, which is the old path that connected all the missions. Its an interesting little mission with lots of flowers and a few old buildings from when it was a town.

Pinnacles National Monument was just a short drive and a beautiful country drive, at that. We hiked several of the trails. We took Balconies Cave trail, it offers a cave that you must take to complete the trail. This a talus cave created by huge boulders that formed a roof over a narrow canyon. These caves are narrow and twisty with low ceilings and uneven footing. You must have your own flashlights and gear and be prepared to scramble over rocks and wade through water. Linda and I only went in so far, as we didn't have our gear with us.

No trip to Central California would be complete without a trip down Highway 1 to Big Sur. The views of the Ocean are spectacular. We packed our lunch and made a day of it.

SEQUOIA & KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS

Given the names of these parks, you would expect giant trees and huge canyons - and you won't be disappointed. Yet the whole of the parks is even greater than the sum of the famous parts.

Rising from 1300' to 14,494' these parks protect a spectacular elevational range. This span from low to high means dramatic shifts from hot foothills to shady forests to the cold High Sierra. It means extraordinarily diverse plants and animals living in the extremely varied conditions. It means steep roads and trails that climb mountains, and cold rivers that plunge down from their heights.

There is diversity, too, in the caretakers of this landscape. Bordering these two national parks is a national monument, which is a part of the national forest

Linda and I drove through the two parks, as the side roads were still closed. We took two day trips to cover as much ground as we could. It seemed that every corner we went around offered another great view. We saw bears both days,a coyote, marmot and many squirrels and rodents. If you find yourself in this area, it a must see kind of place. The Kings River was spectular in its self, wild rapids and awsome waterfalls.