A Memory Stirred

A few days ago there was a big storm in California that blew a big sequoia tree down.  Those trees are so big and old that it made the news. They're big, old, and unique to California.  I don't think they grow anywhere else in the world. Blaubeere saw it and commented that it was unfortunate because she would have liked to have seen it.  The article had made the news all over the place and I had seen the headline but hadn't read any of the articles.  So when Blaubeere said that I commented that she had seen it already.  Then I read the article and realized that the one she had seen was not the same one that had come down.  She had seen some in southern California.  This tree was in Calaveras Big Trees State Park, a ways west of Sacramento.  The park and trees we visited when Blaubeere was three was Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park, a ways west of Fresno and south of Calaveras Big Trees State Park.

Anyway, Blaubeere was only three and may not have much memory of the trip.  I thought it was a good time.  We camped in the park for two or three days with family.  And of course, while we were there we had to visit all the sights around the park.

They had tree tunnels at the park we visited, both downed trees as well as through trees still standing.  The tunnel through the standing tree that I remember had a tunnel too small for a modern car. It had been carved through back when wagons were the prevalent mode of transportation so the hole was a bit smaller.

The monster tree we saw was the General Sherman, considered the tallest tree in the world.  It currently stands at 275 feet call, measures 36 feet in diameter at the base, and weighs an estimated 2.7 million pounds.  It is a sequoia, not to be confused with a redwood, which tend to grow more to the north and more in coastal regions of California.  Sequoias tend to live longer than redwoods as well; 3,000 years as opposed to a mere 2,000 years.  The National Park Service claims the General Sherman is the world's largest living organism but that is subject to dispute.  Pando, the trembling giant, weighs an estimated 13.23 million pounds and covers 107 acres.  But anyway, that's a whole different story.

They had another tree that had fallen and been leveled so that you could drive up on it.  There was a short line and we, of course, took a turn.

At the time our family was much smaller, we only had two little girls.

One of the sights in the park was a big, granite dome rock formation called Moro Rock.  Very impressive.  The rock out-cropping has a set of stairs cut in some parts, poured in others, that is 797 feet long with 400 steps that follow natural ledges and crevices to the top.  That's just a few more steps than up the Statue of Liberty.

Yes, some of us did make the trek up to the top of the rock.  Quite a view.

While I remembered that my parents had been on this camping trip with us I had forgotten that my whole family had been there.  This was a family reunion with all my brothers and sisters there, along with all the grandkids.  Fourteen people. Not huge but cool nonetheless! We like family reunions!