Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park

California is so diverse....Yesterday we were in the high desert at 4000+ feet with little that is green but still very beautiful....Today we are due west but over the Sierra Nevada Mountain range where all of the rain falls. Everything here is green and lush with crops growing everywhere. Oranges, nuts, olives, peaches, cherries and lots of grapes. Mostly raisin grapes I think..Envision driving through a grove of orange trees in blossom...The smell is a sweetness you can't describe until you have been there. We stayed at an Elks Club in Visalia a town filled with the most colorful blooming plants. From here we rode the motorcycle to Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks. We left sea level at 90 degrees and were traveling in the park with snow banks all around us. We can tell you about the big trees.We can show you pictures but all of this does not tell the story. They are magnificant! It takes 25 people holding hands to surround the base of the General Grant tree. These trees can be 3000 years old, 40' at the base, 275' tall and still growing. It was hard to keep the bike on the road when you see them...You see a stand of huge pines and in the middle you see a reddish velvety monster trunk dwarfing everything. In the park we got to take a couple short hikes to view the back country. We were lucky that we were early as there were not many people in the parks. We took a back road home as short cut. Little did we know that it would be 31 miles of hair pin turns! What fun on a bike...scraped the pegs many times. The Tail of the Dragon in NC has nothing on Rt CA 245!