Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP - Santa Cruz Redwoods (8/13 - 8/15) POST 10

Monday 8/13 we arrived at the KOA in Visalia California. This campground is the closest decent one to these two National Parks. 

We took in a movie and a dinner at Black Bear Diner during our stay in Visalia. The ride to the National Parks is a pretty one. It's about sixty miles from the RV Park to the Visitors Center at Sequoia. We stopped at the main visitor center and picked up the booklets for the Junior Ranger Program. 

The main attraction in Sequoia is of course the giant Sequoia trees. We took the hike to the Sherman Tree. This tree is billed as the world's largest tree when measured by volume. It is 275 feet tall and over 36 feet in diameter. The Sequoia's are not the tallest trees but big in volume. Amazing sight. 

After lunch we shopped a little, completed the Junior Ranger books so the kids could be sworn in.

After the swearing in, we exited the park from Kings Canyon stopping along the way at a vista where you can see for miles. Beautiful trees, beautiful views, a nice way to end our NP tours.

Next day we headed west to Santa Cruz Redwoods RV Park where we met up with Magnus. This park in nestled in the Redwood Trees and is a small but very nice park. This was the turnaround point of our trip and the sad end of our trip with Jen and the kids. 

We went down to Santa Cruz to see the renovation on the Santa Cruz house and were treated by Magnus to champagne and a nice dinner in downtown Santa Cruz. This was the end of our trip with the kids. A sad day for us. Jen and the kids were glad to be home. We just hope there were some good memories created during our epic trip. Eileen and I have many good memories.

Seasoned Travelers! Our last park with Jen and the kids!

Bia A** Trees!

In front of General Sherman!

Rock Climbers!

The final Badge! (Sequoia and Kings Canyon)

Gorgeous views and Rock Piles!

Las Vegas/Orange Grove RV (8/11-8/13) POST 9

We left Bryce Canyon on Saturday morning and boogied to Las Vegas. The heat remained fierce so running the generator to put on the A/C units was necessary. This trip takes you through a small and beautiful northwest corner of Arizona on I15. The Virgin River Gorge. The highway is built above the river that carved this gorge. Really a beautiful ride.

We only had one night in Las Vegas and thanks to Jen we made the best of it. She bought tickets for all the of us to Circus de Soleil LOVE at the Mirage. After some shopping and a quick swim in the pool we went downtown to the show. This show is none stop acrobatics set to Beatles music. Hard to explain the amazing energy in this show. An hour and 45 minutes that went so fast I couldn't believe it. Great show and I would recommend it to everyone.

We hit the big pool at this Las Vegas Motor Coach  Resort in the morning then boogied to Orange Grove RV in Bakersfield Ca. Orange Grove was a one nighter. This is a small but very pretty campground with nice people. We played soccer with a green orange at the campsite. This was our boogie stop before Visalia Ca., the jump off spot for Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP's.

I would recommend Las Vegas Motor Coach Resort and Orange Grove RV.

Theater lobby at the Mirage Hotel. Great Show!

Orange Grove RV!

Before the Soccer Match. Orange Grove RV.