Day 73: Yosemite National Park to Kings Canyon-Sequoia National Park, CA

After letting the boys sleep in, we packed up and drove South towards Fresno, CA. We went down the mountains and through some very dry looking landscapes. Lots of dead-looking grass and thirsty looking trees. As the signs in all the campground bathrooms remind us: “California is in a drought! Do your part to conserve water!” It is easy to see how one match, cigarette or lightening strike could be devastating in a place like this.

We eventually ended up back into a fruit producing valley area as we drove past orchards upon orchards of almond and peach trees and saw vineyards growing table grapes. We even saw our first lemon and orange groves. We stopped at a farm stand to stock up on peaches and fresh cucumbers.

Table grapes.

Almonds.

Then back up into the Sierra Nevada mountains we went. Up, up, up. We drove through Kings Canyon National Park and the Sequoia National Forest to end up at the absolutely packed Sequoia National Park. There are people everywhere! Park access is free today for American citizens (it is always free for us since we have a parks pass, lol) and the campground is full of celebratory campers with large families camping together, summery tunes blaring and BBQs smoking.

Tonight we attended a ranger-led stargazing program at the nearby Wuksachi Lodge. It started really late so we tried (completely unsuccessfully) to have the boys rest after dinner until the program. Unfortunately the stargazing ended up being cancelled because of cloud cover but we did learn some neat star trivia from Alex, Guide to the Stars before he called off the program. Did you know that the days of the week were named for the first seven planets? Likely in Latin but it works if you say them in English or French, also note that the sun and moon used to be thought to be planets. Monday = Moon Day, Mardi = Mars Day, Mercredi = Mercury Day, Jeudi = Jupiter Day, Vendredi = Venus Day, Saturday = Saturn Day, Sunday = Sun Day (this last one is pretty obvious). We also learned that Antares is a red star (cooler temperature so it appears red) that is located near Mars in the sky and is so often confused for Mars that this is the reasoning behind its name. Antares = Ant-Ares = Not Ares = Not Mars. The name Antares literally means Not Mars. I never knew that! So even though we did not actually see any stars, it was an interesting evening of learning nonetheless.

Happy 4th of July everyone!