May 16 &-17, 2015
Written May 18+
Dear Diary, Friends, and Families, Sometimes
unplanned events happen, even in our new Fresno life. Last
Thursday evening, we got an email from friends who were visiting nearby
national parks. We had last seen Pedro and Isabelle almost three
years ago in their spectacular apartment
in Lyon, France. They had hosted us with wonderful meals and
great wine -- and good stories. They were now on their way to
Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks and offered to stop by Fresno
for a lunch. That arrangement proved too complicated, so instead
we volunteered to meet them in Kings Canyon for more leisurely
dinner. We had never been in Kings Canyon and , even if the lodge
cafe seemed to offer only simple fare, we could bring decent wine.
After Saturday morning breakfast with Mamo, Marianne and I headed
east. The gate to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks is about an
hour drive.
![d150516_01_Path.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_01_Path.jpg)
A
standard stop on the way to the parks is the Centerville Fruit
Stand. The stone fruit season is just starting, and we filled
bags just in case cafe offerings were too limited.
![d150516_02_centerville.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_02_centerville.jpg) ![d150516_04_start.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_04_start.jpg) ![d150516_06_dinner.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_06_dinner.jpg)
From website research, we had considered "Kings Canyon Lodge", but an
in-person examination confirmed our decision to go a bit upscale.
![d150516_07_badlodge.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_07_badlodge.jpg)
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Inside the park,
our first stop was "Grant's Grove". The Sequoias really are
spectacular, even if accessible ones like this get a bit crowded.
We counted six buses in the parking lot, all with foreign visitors:
French, Japanese, Chinese, and "other".
Farther into the parks and national forest, signs of the ongoing
drought were easy to find. Many of the evergreens had already
been killed by the bark beetles, an invading pest that preys on trees
whose sap has dried up for lack of water. Other parts of the
hills are covered in manzanita, the twisted, oil-filled, trees that are
notorious for creating uncontrollable fires. Summer will be long
this year.
![d150516_13_firefuel.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_13_firefuel.jpg) ![d150516_14_drought.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_14_drought.jpg) ![d150516_15_manzanita.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_15_manzanita.jpg)
Kings Canyon vistas were almost completely free of snow. Normally, in
mid May, these hills should be covered in snow.
![d150516_16_nosnow.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_16_nosnow.jpg) ![d150516_17_twistyroad.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_17_twistyroad.jpg) ![d150516_18_stillbare.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_18_stillbare.jpg)
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Nearing the end of the road, we reached Cedar Grove Lodge
and settled in. The room was basic, but clean and the river-side
setting was wonderful. (Personally, I would repeat the stay,
although Marianne would prefer a bit more luxury.)
![d150516_25_lodge.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_25_lodge.jpg) ![d150516_24_checkin.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_24_checkin.jpg)
The
lodge kitchen prepared their first dinner for the season, so we joined
Pedro and Isabelle and hoped for the best. Well, the setting was
nice, but the cook still needs to work on his BBQ technique.
![d150516_26_dinner.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_26_dinner.jpg) ![d150516_27_ready.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_27_ready.jpg)
Fortunately, we had brought along plenty of picnic cheese, crackers,
and fruit. (and decent wine). No one went hungry and we enjoyed
an hours-long meal while we caught up on histories and plans.
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Along the road and at our
lodge, I experimented with river pictures. I'm never sure these
are great art works, but they are reminders for us of the trip.
![d150516_37_forestwater.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_37_forestwater.jpg)
![d150516_30_water1.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_30_water1.jpg) ![d150516_34_water3.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_34_water3.jpg) ![d150516_35_faststream.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_35_faststream.jpg)
The shot I considered my "best":
![d150516_38_waterbest.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150516_38_waterbest.jpg)
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Sunday
morning we had our breakfast and bid our friends bon voyage. They
were on their way to Yosemite, three or four hours away, but we would
linger locally for our morning.
The
Kings Canyon road ends about ten miles past Cedar Grove and we had that
part of the road almost to ourselves. Their were a few cars in
the end-of-the-road parking lot, but that must have been for hardy
hikers who were out in the wilds. For us, looking at the looming
granite cliffs from the bottom was enough.
Along the way back, we paused at Zumwalt Meadow to allow Marianne some
time for "zentangle" drawing in as inspiring a location as one could
imagine. I tried to capture the setting "on film", from the
peaceful river across to the cliffs thousands of feet above us.
![d150517_50_drawing.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150517_50_drawing.jpg) ![d150517_52_kingsriver.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150517_52_kingsriver.jpg) ![d150517_54_gnarled.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150517_54_gnarled.jpg) ![d150517_55_myview.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150517_55_myview.jpg)
The rock walls here compare favorably with their more-famous cousins up
at Yosemite, at least that was our impression.
![d150517_56_cliff.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150517_56_cliff.jpg) ![d150517_57_rock.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150517_57_rock.jpg) ![d150517_59_morerock.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150517_59_morerock.jpg)
![d150517_65_flower.jpg](picts/thumbs/d150517_65_flower.jpg)
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With that, we headed home, glad that it would be a short trip.
Thanks to Pedro and Isabelle for giving us the call and causing this
spontaneous mini-vacation.
Now we look forward to another friend visit starting Tuesday, but that's another story.
John and Marianne
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