I went to California in May of 2014 with my at the time girlfriend. We toured through 4000 miles of the state in a rented car for two weeks and we began our travels in San Fransisco. We drove north through the Sonoma wine country and stopped in the quaint town of Eureka and hiked in the Redwood forests there. Turning eastward we passed through Lassen Volcanic Park and hiked through a heavily wooded area at the base of one of the extinct volcanoes there. Turning south we entered into Nevada and visited Reno, the "biggest little city in the world" and passed by Mono Lake, which at the time was quite low in water volume. We entered the eastern gate of Yosemite National Park and spent several days enjoying the beautiful sights of the massive granite cathedral walls of the canyons and the waterfalls which spilled over their sides. Continuing south we stopped to see the enormous Sequoia trees in Kings Canyon and Big Sequoia parks and then headed toward Los Angeles where we caught up with a friend of mine who lives there. We enjoyed the buskers and musicians of Venice Beach and then after enjoying all of what there was for us in the city of Angels we headed north on coastal highway one toward San Fransisco passing through Carmel by-the-sea and Monterey. Once back in San Fransisco we spent a couple of days exploring the city, including the famous "Haight Ashbury" district, famous for the hippie days of the 1960's and being home to Jimi Hendrix's "little red house" and the Grateful Dead. California is without a doubt one of my favourite states in the U.S. and I will return again soon.
© Steve Tambosso - "The Wandering Fireman"
