Our Travelscapes #1

Hi All... It's 1:30 pm on Sunday (June 30) and we've just pulled into our RV site in Benicia, CA which is just across the Bay from San Francisco. Tomorrow we get up early to catch the 6:30 ferry into SF. On our way here to SF, we have done Sequoia Nat'l. Park, King's Canyon, China Camp (where all the Chinese laborers lived during the California Gold Rush days). While in Sequoia Nat'l. Park we drove through a "controlled burn" to clean out the underbrush. We read that the Sequoias themselves are so thick they rarely suffer much from forest fire but there is heavy forest of other types of pine, etc. that has to becontrolled. In fact, some of the oldest and largest Sequoias have lived through as many as 40 forest fires! The smoke was so thick on both sides of the mountain road, we weren't able to see more than 15-20 feet ahead of us. They had set up an escort system where 2 vehicles at a time were led through the worst of it (maybe 2-3 miles) by a Ranger in a truck; then we were able to see well enough to go on without the escort. It was really fascinating to be in the midst of it yet knowing everything was perfectly safe. Yesterday we did Yosemite which, while pretty with beautiful enormous rock formations and the Merced River running all through it (lots of rafters riding the whitewater), it was considerably smaller than I expected. The weather was glorious; bright sun, but pleasantly cool with a breeze. Would have liked to bottle it up as we have had most of our days since leaving Sun Lakes still in the high 90s. Not much break from AZ so far. El Capitain, famous challenge for climbers, is the highest rock formation in the Yosemite and we saw 7 different people on the rock. Without binoculars or a scope they just look like ants so it's hard to spot them. Many folks standing around the area weren't even aware there were people up there until we, and a few other folks with binoculars, pointed them out. We made a few bucks charging $.25 a look on Roger's telescope which he set up in the viewing area. :>):>) !!! El Capitain is 7500+ feet straight up from sea level so you do the math! It's way up there and anybody climbing it either has a lot of guts or NO brains!!! Most of the rock is sheer face and it's amazing they get to the top. It usually takes 2 days; sleeping overnight on a ledge! So Congratulations to Chris and Majo who got married Saturday afternoon; I'm sure we missed a great party! Bob & Liz.....How was the lasagne??? Are my plants dead yet? We'll be here in San Francisco until next Sunday morning (two different campgrounds) and then on to Lassen Volcano Nat'l.Park and Mt. Shasta (No. California) and then on to Oregon. Hugs.... Dennie & Roger