LOS ANGELES AND FRESNO, CA

Jan 28th - Feb 1st

In our last post on Phoenix we forgot to mention that we got together with our friends Bob and Twyla. They are former neighbors of ours, I was going to say "old neighbors" but for some reason I'm more sensitive to that word than  I used to be, and I don't mean "neighbor". Anyway we had a great lunch with them and caught up with all the changes in our lives since we last met. Bob said he bought a BMW M4 and was picking it up later that afternoon. It belonged to a lady who lived in their area. Boys and their Toys. Sandy says I should be careful what I say about "boys and their toys": She says to just look in our garage. 

Nice car Bob!

From our campsite in San Dimas you could see the San Gabriel Mountains, and they have plenty of snow this year.

We left the Lazy Daze at the factory to have a couple things taken care of and headed up to Big Bear Lake. We had never been there before. I can see why some people like southern California. In a couple hours you can either be surfing in the ocean, skiing in the mountains or doing whatever in the desert. Lots of options.

It's was plenty green in the north LA area on our way to Big Bear.

We started to see snow at the 4000 foot level, here we were at about 6000 feet and it was 50 degrees.

Big Bear Lake.

There are lots of cabins along Big Bear Lake as I'm sure this is a real popular spot in the summer.

There were some business's open but most were closed. 

From LA we drove up to Fresno, CA for a couple days. The main reason going to Fresno was to stop at the Sportsmobile factory and pick up a swivel base for the passenger seat in the RV.

As long as we were in Fresno I got on the internet to see if we could get into Kings Canyon. It looked good to get into the visitors center and Grant's Tree, so off we went and bought some tire chains  and headed out. Some areas require you to be carrying chains at certain times of the year.

It was also really green in the Fresno area.

That is the west side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the back ground. Lots of snow, in fact it's the most they've had in 14 years.

Like Big Bear, the snow started at about 4000 feet, but the good stuff was at 6000 feet and higher.

The entrance to Kings Canyon.

This is the visitor's center and if you look real close you can see my head in the middle of the picture.

The visitor's center has a corrugated roof and as the snow slid off it left this unique snow tube wall. It was 45 degrees at 7000 feet and the snow was melting fast.

Sandy standing at one end of a fallen hollow log that was used as living quarters in the very early 1900's.

This was a half mile trail that looped around Grant's Tree. It was so quiet and peaceful. Not many people come here this time of year.

Grant's Tree is the 3rd largest tree by volume in the world.

Dave standing at the other end of the hollow log.

The fires last summer got into the park, but in the areas we were in did not see any damage close to the big trees.

This picture is from the parking lot. We sent this and another picture to three of our friends  and Sandy asked if these trees made her look slimmer. Brother-in-law, John said "absolutely", good move John. Pat said "you do look slim and trim!!" and Jane said "you look taller too!". They all made her happy.

It was a great way to spend the day. The only thing that would have made it better was if the restaurant was open. It normally is, but they tore it down and are building a new one that will be finished in the spring. They had a great chef salad that we were looking forward too.

Until next time,

Dave and Sandy