Hi.
This morning we were in Bakersfield, CA. As we drove away, we realized that we could barely see the mountains to the east, the mountains to which we had just spent the day to the east of, yesterday. The tops of the mountains were just a faintly darker color than the sky. Turns out that this valley has some of the most polluted air of the country. It is surrounded by two mountain ranges, and it's hot, so there is an upper air inversion most of the time. In the winter, when it's a bit cooler, the air is a little better, but it's a big problem year round.
The area is the source of many fruits and nuts. They grow apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries, citrus, berries, almonds, pistachios and more around here. Even corn, which I thought belonged to the midwest. In fact, 13% of the nation's agricultural products come from here.
The undeveloped land is brown and scrubby, with cactus and tumbleweed and many types of trees that I don't recognize. Most of the greens are a greyish green.
We visited two national parks today, sort of: Kings Canyon and Sequoia. I say "sort of" because we really only went to a very small part of either. The drive there was pretty and thrilling, if you get a thrill from driving on a fairly narrow winding road hundreds of feet above things about 20 feet to your right. Or you could just close your eyes. Actually I didn't do too badly. I seem to be a little less afraid than I have been in the past.
The reason we went to such a small part of the parks is twofold. First, there are no roads to most of the land in these parks. The vast majority of the parks is for wilderness hikers. The other reason is that the major road through the parks is so twisted and has such sharp turns that large vehicles, such as our bus, are not allowed to go there.
But we did see some of it. We had lunch at a picnic area called Big Stump because it has a big stump of an old sequoia tree. It has a huge diameter, maybe 25 feet or more. We went to a place we could walk and saw the biggest known sequoia tree, named General Grant. I think it is 167 feet tall and the diameter of its base is 40.3 feet. That may have been the largest, but there are a lot of really big ones in the area. You can even walk through one that has fallen and hollowed out over the years, without stooping. I did find walking around there very tiring. I had to keep stopping to rest a bit. I think it was because i am used to walking on flat ground, and this was pretty hilly. But also, we were at about 6,000 feet above sea level, and since at home we are at about 350 feet, that is a big change.
There is a difference between sequoias and redwoods. The sequoias are a lot fatter around, and redwoods are a lot taller, like about 100 feet taller. The sequoias grow inland, and their needles are in large clumps around the tree, with large sections of the trunk showing. Redwoods grow along the coast and their needles, although very high from the ground, grow in a shape more like a Christmas tree.
After we left the park we drove to Fresno. We stopped at a local fruit stand, but the fruit needed a couple of days on the kitchen counter to fully ripen, so I didn't buy any.
Our guide told us some things about Fresno. It is just about the geographical center of California. A bank in Fresno introduced a new concept in credit cards, and their card turned into Visa over the years. Fresno had the first modern landfill, the type where they add dirt over additions to the garbage--sort of a composting idea. They used that landfill from 1937-1987.
And so we have had dinner and are about conked out.
Tomorrow will be a long day.
Sent from my iPad
This morning we were in Bakersfield, CA. As we drove away, we realized that we could barely see the mountains to the east, the mountains to which we had just spent the day to the east of, yesterday. The tops of the mountains were just a faintly darker color than the sky. Turns out that this valley has some of the most polluted air of the country. It is surrounded by two mountain ranges, and it's hot, so there is an upper air inversion most of the time. In the winter, when it's a bit cooler, the air is a little better, but it's a big problem year round.
The area is the source of many fruits and nuts. They grow apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries, citrus, berries, almonds, pistachios and more around here. Even corn, which I thought belonged to the midwest. In fact, 13% of the nation's agricultural products come from here.
The undeveloped land is brown and scrubby, with cactus and tumbleweed and many types of trees that I don't recognize. Most of the greens are a greyish green.
We visited two national parks today, sort of: Kings Canyon and Sequoia. I say "sort of" because we really only went to a very small part of either. The drive there was pretty and thrilling, if you get a thrill from driving on a fairly narrow winding road hundreds of feet above things about 20 feet to your right. Or you could just close your eyes. Actually I didn't do too badly. I seem to be a little less afraid than I have been in the past.
The reason we went to such a small part of the parks is twofold. First, there are no roads to most of the land in these parks. The vast majority of the parks is for wilderness hikers. The other reason is that the major road through the parks is so twisted and has such sharp turns that large vehicles, such as our bus, are not allowed to go there.
But we did see some of it. We had lunch at a picnic area called Big Stump because it has a big stump of an old sequoia tree. It has a huge diameter, maybe 25 feet or more. We went to a place we could walk and saw the biggest known sequoia tree, named General Grant. I think it is 167 feet tall and the diameter of its base is 40.3 feet. That may have been the largest, but there are a lot of really big ones in the area. You can even walk through one that has fallen and hollowed out over the years, without stooping. I did find walking around there very tiring. I had to keep stopping to rest a bit. I think it was because i am used to walking on flat ground, and this was pretty hilly. But also, we were at about 6,000 feet above sea level, and since at home we are at about 350 feet, that is a big change.
There is a difference between sequoias and redwoods. The sequoias are a lot fatter around, and redwoods are a lot taller, like about 100 feet taller. The sequoias grow inland, and their needles are in large clumps around the tree, with large sections of the trunk showing. Redwoods grow along the coast and their needles, although very high from the ground, grow in a shape more like a Christmas tree.
After we left the park we drove to Fresno. We stopped at a local fruit stand, but the fruit needed a couple of days on the kitchen counter to fully ripen, so I didn't buy any.
Our guide told us some things about Fresno. It is just about the geographical center of California. A bank in Fresno introduced a new concept in credit cards, and their card turned into Visa over the years. Fresno had the first modern landfill, the type where they add dirt over additions to the garbage--sort of a composting idea. They used that landfill from 1937-1987.
And so we have had dinner and are about conked out.
Tomorrow will be a long day.
Sent from my iPad
Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
