Since I was a kid, I have wanted to see the Giant Sequoias. How can I have lived in California for 36 years and never seen these giants? The granaddy of all of them is the General Sherman Tree, which is the largest living thing (by volume) on the planet. And, btw, is probably at least 2,300 years old.

Holly and I went to Sequoia National Park over the Fourth of July Weekend...I will leave out all the cliches about feeling small when standing next to the giant trees. It's sort of like saying that I felt large when I was standing next to an ant.

We did a quite a bit of hiking (many miles in total) and since we went on some of the lightly-used trails, we saw two bears. One was about 30 yeards from us (too close!) and the other was probably at least 150 yards, across a pristine meadow. And we saw a couple deer, which is always a good thing.

We also did some of the 71-mile trail that goes across Sequoia National Park to Mt. Whitney...however, we stopped and turned around before we got to Mt. Whitney...about 70 miles before, to be accurate about it.

Anyway, for those who haven't seen it, Sequoia should be added to the "must see list." It is not as spectacular as Yosemite or Glacier, and doesn't have the wildlife and fantastic scientific oddities of Yellowstone, but the trees alone are worth the trip. And overall, the crowds were minimal, even though it was a holiday weekend and the hotels in the park were sold out.

We also had a tour of the Crytal Caves at Sequoia, which was pretty cool. They have lighted the cave, but the all the actual fixures are completely hidden. At one point, the tour group gathers in a big room deep in the cave and the guide turns off all the lights. It was, of course, blacker than black. Could not see even the mere outline of your hand in front of your nose.

btw, Holly and I took pix on the trip, but it's so much easier to link to what's already on-line at Google images search, so that's why other folks' vacation pix are on my blog.