Giants in the snow

In planning our trip, we had been disappointed to find that all of our options for seeing giant sequoias were inaccessible due to snow, so it was very excting to learn that the road to the mariposa grove had been cleared and opened just in time for our designated big tree day. We packed up, said goodbye to the river tumbling past our balcony and drove into Yosemite for the last time. After a brief stop at the lookout above Bridal Falls to say goodbye to the valley, we drove through a tunnel in the mountain to the road leading to the Mariposa Grove in the south of the park. The drive took us up to 6000ft, past the Badger ski area. There was a surprising amount of snow about, and it was obvious that the road had only just been cleared. We drove into the Grove and spent a lovely morning walking among the giant sequoias. Another day of saying 'wow'.   

The snow made the forest quite magic. Thomas thought that it would make a perfect Christmas card, if you added robins and deleted some of the burnt trees (Sequoias need to germinate through fire - very familiar). We heard woodpeckers in the distance and saw spotted squirrels. After an impromptu picnic lunch in the car park we drove down out of the park and out of the mountains on to the flat farmland of the San Joaquim valley. We spent the afternoon driving towards Bakersville. We had a very American moment in Fresno when we stopped at a Starbucks to stretch our legs, only to find that it was a drive through. Never mind, this is the US, so there was another Starbucks three blocks away. We arrived in Bakersfield in the evening and had dinner in the diner next door. There was pie. It was good. Returning to civilisation meant a return to wifi, and thus some extensive catch up blogging. Apologies for the delay!