California part 2, in which Fogg has some scarey driving moments!

Well folks we are safely back in LA after 10 days , well 7, in a small van that took us over 1400 miles along some of the most scarey roads either of us have ever driven on. They were also some of the most beautiful and they took us into two of America's most iconic National Parks, Yosemite and Kings Canyon/Sequoia. Photo one shows El Capitan an enormous hunk of granite that rises several thousand feet above the valley. Yosemite was in the true sense of the word, awesome. Despite the crowds and the traffic and the soaring temperatures (100F) we explored shady meadows, the 5th highest waterfall in the world and deep valleys towered over by huge granite cliffs.
The remaining photos are taken in Sequioa/ Kings Canyon where we marvelled at the giant trees, some of the largest living things on earth. This is the base of the General Grant, the Sherman tree was too big to get in a picture. The GG is also known as the American Christmas tree and is the 3rd largest tree in the world, allegedly!!

Kings Canyon was approached as the afternoon wore on, should we go as it was getting late and we had a long drive back to the campsite? We are so glad that we did as this place was like no other we had seen before. We entered at 7000 feet and the road fell to 4000 feet on some of the steepest
and narrowest inclines that himself has driven on. But it was all worth it and I am sure that the pictures give an indication of the beauty and majesty of this place.
Best wishes from Phileas

Hi from Fogg . I have little to add to this. Phileas' powers of persuasion are formidable as are her map reading skills. The journey we took was fantastic despite the fact we drove through a fire fighting exercise in the middle of Kings Canyon and for a short while visibility was down to a short distance. In this photo the smoke can be seen rising into the mountains.
On our return journey the setting sun was in our eyes and Phileas was on the drop side of the mountain!!!!!!!!!! At one moment Fogg lost all sense of where he was and had to rely on Phileas' screams to help with the navigation! We made it though and it was worth every sweat, scream and gasp. So we are now back in LA having spent the last night of our adventure in the RV camp at Pomona. Here we met some more kind, generous Americans, Dick and Cay. They were both very interesting people with a great love of English literature and travel amongst other things. As the water system on our RV broke down it was comforting to have camp neighbours who offered
help and advice.

This last photgraph was high up in Kings Canyon and shows the kind of road we travelled on but in this case the road had a small stone barrier to avoid the drop, which was the exception rather than the rule.

So, this is Fogg, tired but happy having conquered not only this road but the Los Angeles six lane freeways!!!, wishing you well.