Fear on High!

We left the coastline today (and, thankfully Hwy 1!), and started making the turn back to Auburn and Sacramento. Once we got on the road, we had a 2 1/2 hour drive to Visalia, CA. David's family is from there, and that is where his great uncle Mack was from (a little background for those of you who don't know - Mack was killed when his P-38 fighter crashed on the coast of England after coming back from escorting bombers in WWII - David has done a lot of research about the 55th Fighter group and Mack - we even went to the 55th reunion in May). We stopped at the Visalia cemetary and paid our respects to Mack, his Great-Grandfather, and Great-Grandmother, whose ashes are in the Mosilium (see picture of David).

Our lunch stop was in Visalia at Togo's Sandwiches, and we happened to get there right when the high school students were on their lunch break. Watching all of them made us glad we were out of high school! :) We took a short stroll through downtown Visalia, which is a very cute place!

Then, it was off to Three Rivers, CA, where we are staying tonight. The hotel couldn't check us in right away, so we headed straight for Sequoia National Park. We got to see all the beautiful Sequoias (which are slightly similiar to the Muir Redwoods - the major differences are that the Sequoias are shorter, have a wider circumference, and are a lot older). We saw General Sherman, the biggest tree in the world (meaning that it has more volume than any other tree). There was a Park Ranger who was giving a talk about the Sequoias, and he encouraged us to hug one before we left. So, Allyson, the third pic is for you - I'm a treehugger! ;) Also, we noted that there was a chat about Marmots at the Giant Trees Museum, but we missed it (Sorry, Nadine, David made me put it in there!).

Our last stop in the park was at Moro Rock. When David was about 6 or 7, he and his family took a trip up to Moro Rock. David was CONVINCED that his father was going to dangle him off the side of the rock, and therefore crawled, kicking and screaming, to the rock. Needless to say, he did not climb all the way up the rock that day, but he conquered his fear today. David climbed all the way to the top of Moro Rock, which at it's highest is 6,725 feet in elevation. The fourth picture is of him climbing (and he's only about 1/2 of the way up). Unfortunately, David did not get any pictures of him at the top (except for one he took of himself with his phone), because I was not about to climb that thing. I made it to about 1/3 of the climb before I was clutching the handrails and plastering my body against the rock. I can admit it - I'm 26 and scared to death of situations like that. :) So, I climbed down and waited for David at the bottom. Yay for David for making it to the top, though - he felt so good!

Once David conquered Moro Rock, we headed back to the hotel for another early night. Tomorrow is Yosemite!