Sequoia National Park

We left Fairfield, CA on Monday, August 13^th and headed to Chowchilla, CA to stay for three nights. We had originally planned to visit Yosemite National Park. The park service reopened Yosemite the next day, after closing for two weeks because of a nearby wildfire. Although they reopened, the smoke was so bad in Yosemite Valley you couldn't see much, so we decided to wait until another day to visit.

We drove south to Three Rivers, CA on Thursday, August 16^th to stay at another campground for three days and visit nearby Sequoia National Park. 

On Friday we visited Sequoia and drove 17-miles up the scenic Generals Highway, from the entrance gate to the summit. It was a scary drive in our F-150 up this steep, narrow and winding road. It had more switchbacks than any road we’d ever been on before. Sequoia National Park was established in 1890 and was well worth a visit.   

The earth’s largest tree, named General Sherman, is here.   

We left Three Rivers this past Sunday and overnighted in Bakersfield. The weather continued to be dry and hot, in the upper 90s. We left early on Monday morning and headed to Needles, CA for an overnight stay. The Needles forecast was for a high of 115-degrees, but it only got up to 113. Walking outside felt like you were in a dry-heat sauna.

On Tuesday morning we crossed the Colorado River into Arizona and as we drove east along I-40 we noticed how green the desert was from recent rains. We had rain overnight at Meteor Crater, about 30-miles east of Flagstaff, AZ. That was the first time we’d seen rain in almost a month.    

We drove to Albuquerque, NM yesterday to spend a couple of days and visit our friends Kris and Jan who live here. We enjoyed dinner with them last night and hearing all about their summer trip to Alaska, driving up the Alaskan Highway. 

Steve & Julie Cornelius

Fairfield, CA

Our 9-night stay at the Travis AFB family campground has been fun but, the sky has been hazy, and then smoke-filled this past Friday night. There was a nearby grass fire.

We enjoyed a day trip last Wednesday to San Francisco with my sister Janet and her wife Nancy. We drove to Vallejo, only 15-miles from Travis, and took the passenger ferry from Vallejo to San Francisco. It was much better than fighting the traffic and then trying to find a place to park in the city. The ferry ride was about an hour each way.

We walked around San Francisco, including a stop to see the Millennium Tower, featured in last week’s episode of 60 Minutes. It leans because the footings didn’t go all the way down to bedrock.

We walked to the Mark Hopkins Hotel, but our favorite Top of the Mark bar didn’t open until 4:30 so we missed the view from the top. The we rode a cable car down to Fisherman’s Wharf for dinner at our favorite place for seafood, Scoma’s Restaurant. 

We drove to Sacramento to have dinner with Janet & Nancy. Afterwards, we went down to mid-town for dessert at Rick’s Dessert Diner and to celebrate Janet’s upcoming birthday. The German chocolate cake was yummy.

Yesterday we met Julie’s cousin Sandy in Woodland for lunch. It was great to catch up with Sandy.

We’re headed south tomorrow to spend three days in Chowchilla, CA. We may go to Yosemite National Park if the smoke clears out of the valley from the recent wildfire.

Steve & Julie Cornelius

Redwoods National Park

We left Salem, Oregon on Tuesday and headed to Klamath, California for a 3-night stay and to visit Redwood National Park. On the way down, we drove through some smoke from nearby wildfires outside of Grants Pass, Oregon.

We stayed at Klamath River RV Park, right on the Klamath River. It was a lot cooler (low-60s) and overcast every day we were there, compared to Washington and Oregon.

On Wednesday we drove a few miles up to Requa, on the other side of the Klamath River. We went up to the top of the hill to overlooking the mouth of the river where it runs into the Pacific. I was stationed there with the Air Force at the 777^th Radar Squadron from 1971 to 1973. The buildings are all gone now but I do remember that winding road going to the radar site.  

On Thursday morning we set out for Redwood National Park, but first we drove along the Newton B. Drury scenic parkway through Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

Then we went to see the Lady Bird Johnson Grove of redwoods. She attended the dedication of the Redwood National Park 50-years ago in 1968. It was a nice hike into the woods to see the grove of redwoods named after her.

The redwoods were huge—up to 380 feet tall. The oldest redwood is estimated to be 2,200 years old. However only 5% of old-growth redwoods remain.

We’re currently on our way to Fairfield, CA and the Travis AFB family campground for a 9-night stay. 

Steve & Julie Cornelius