Dear Faithful Readers:
The Habers are once again on the road. This is a two part trip; the first part (which is just finishing) has covered the 3 national parks indicated by the subject matter of this report. The second part will continue in Oregon and will concentrate on wine; more on that later.
I assume most of you have been to at least one national park so you have a general idea what this past week has been like; lots of beautiful scenery (mountains, waterfalls, etc.) coupled with fairly rustic accommodations and mediocre food. Yes, I know, we came for the scenery but we’re spoiled (especially one of us!) (Do not even ask what went on this morning when there was no orange juice!!)
The 3 parks are different in nature so we didn’t feel like we were repeating ourselves. Yosemite is the largest of the 3 and as such has much more to see and do. The word Yosemite comes from a mispronunciation of an Indian word for grizzly bear. It is truly majestic. There are large granite slabs/mountains and many gorgeous water falls; (as many of you know, I have a thing for water falls). There are many hiking trails of varying degrees of difficulty. I got Marty to go on one easy hike; about 90 minutes worth. The view at the end was incredible; it’s the pay-off you get for the work you did. We hiked to Taft Point and the Fissures; there were no fences or railings at the top; a sheer drop down a cliff; rather frightening (but gorgeous). At Yosemite we started by taking a 2 hour tram ride in Yosemite Valley (which is where most of the major sights are); it gave us a good orientation to the Park. Everything else we did via Haber Tours. One of the reasons I selected Yosemite was that I had attended a lecture at the Met on Ansel Adams who took amazing photos here. There’s a little Ansel Adams Gallery at Yosemite; I bought a poster with 3 of his photos. Yes, I’ve taken my own photos but I’m not attaching any (for various reasons; too boring/long to go into right now). We saw a bear and a coyote in Yosemite.
Kings Canyon and Sequoia are about 4 hours south of Yosemite by car. They are contiguous to each other but it takes about an hour to get from one to the other. We are staying in Sequoia. Kings Canyon has beautiful mountains; actually reminded me of the Alps; also there’s a canyon. Sequoia has incredible sequoia trees. They are huge and red in color; not to be confused with redwoods. The latter are actually taller but sequoias are wider; they are really amazing. Today we saw the General Sherman Tree which is the largest living tree in the world based on volume. There’s an entire Great Forest of sequoia trees. We also went to Crystal Cave today which was carved by an underground river. It has milky white marble formations (which are estimated to be 10,000 years old) in the shapes of curtains, domes and columns. It was a 30 minute ride to get there followed by a 15 minute walk down a winding twisty path. Marty felt that constituted his hike for today but I got him to walk some more later on; harsh task master that I am!
The weather has not been ideal. There’s been an unusual cold spell. Yosemite was a bit warmer. We would start out with jeans, t-shirts and a light jacket; the latter would be gone by the afternoon. In Kings Canyon and Sequoia (even though they are further south), it was long sleeve shirts and those jackets never came off. Plus it’s been quite foggy here. The roads are all very twisty (lots of switch backs); it’s been quite a challenge (for me the passenger!)
So that’s a brief (?) overview. Based on our experience I would recommend Yosemite over Kings Canyon and Sequoia but if you have time, see them all.
Marty cannot wait to get concrete beneath his feet and to get to those wineries. The next part of our trip is a wine tasting one; Marty has made appointments for private tastings at 6 wineries in the Willamette Valley (south of Portland); 2 per day. Portland has become a “foodie haven” and I have made dinner reservations at the “hottest” restaurants. I had some in-put from Paul–an arbitrator friend of Marty’s who is not only a “foodie” but grew up in Portland and still has some contacts there. For those of you who have heard the story of the $75 glass (yes, glass) of wine I had some years ago, it was Paul who bought it for me. I have great faith that the meals (and the wine) will be wonderful and that Marty will be much happier on the second part of this trip. I don’t think we’ll be going to any other national parks for a while. Then again, not counting Arcadia in Maine (where we went for Craig’s wedding), we haven’t been to a national park since 1995!
That’s it for this edition of The Haber Travel Report. I hope you found it informative (and entertaining). Hope all of you are doing well. Don’t forget to send your comments.
Much love,
Your Travel Correspondent, AKA Tyler’s Granny (for that is where my priority and love go these days!)
Leave a Reply