Trees, trees, and General Grant! May 15

We were going to get off early this morning to see the Mariposa Grove trees in the early morning sunlight. That was before we realized it would be almost 1 a.m. before we got to bed, after viewing the moonbow. We did get off before 9 a.m., by skipping breakfast and eating only a rice cake with peanut butter on it. We figured a little jaunt around The Mariposa Grove, looking at trees, and we would be off to a lunch before we knew it.

We saw the sun glimmering through the big trees

…we WERE glad we had not had more than 2 cups of coffee, because before we new it we were going further and further along the trail than we had intended. But the “Faithful Couple” beckoned us! The statement on the description of trees, said something like the extra walk would pay off, and we would be thankful we did it!

This is one of the very young Sequoias.

Kids would have fun playing inside of the part of the trunk of the tree

So many interesting things to stop and take a picture of! Look at this bark!

And this looks like something was set the stage for

And doesn’t this look like a nose?

I have to find out what is pretty protrusion are among the big sequoias

All this moss all of the trees can you believe it?
…a picture of the “Faithful Couple”.

The Faithful Couple at last

We persevered and made new friends with this Indian family

This is the Indain (from India) son and his mom that walked that trail with us!

and we all DID get there….and when it was over, and we were in the a/c in the car, we were thankful for our emergency chocolate!

From there, we went on to have lunch and continue driving to our destination of Kings Canyon National Park.

This giant had to be photographed in two parts because I couldn’t possibly get it in the frame of the camera!

This giant Sequoia is named after Ulysses S Grant. It is said to be just a youngster at 1800 to 2000 years old. The General Grant tree is called “The Nation’s Christmas Tree”, and the nearby town hosts a special Yuletide celebration under its snow -laden branches every year.

Just one more interesting trunk of a tree that looks like an elephant’s foot to me!
To bed now, and in the morning plan the next two days adventures at THIS information center! ‘Night!