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| 8) Yosemite National Park |
Another
national park you should visit, is Yosemite National Park ! The best way
to enter Yosemite is from the east, over the Tioga pass of 10.102 feet
or 3080 m high. Once entered, you'll see beautiful nature around you: in
the beginning still mountain-views with beautiful lakes, and more to the
west, mainly woods and rocks. There are also sequoias (mammoth trees),
the largest trees (in mass) on the 'face of the earth ! Standing next to
one of those, you feel very small ... .
In the
Yosemite Valley, there 's a tourist village, where many of the hiking routes
start. If you 'd like to see waterfalls of about 2600 feet or 800 m (the
water falls in 3 times: Upper falls, Middle falls and Lower falls), come
in spring or early summer, when they are the most impressive. The melting
of ice and snow in the upper mountains cause a wild stream of water. In
fall, the falls are dry, so you don't really have to stop there. But you
must stop a few miles further to see the mountaineers climb the 'El Capitan',
that is believed to be the biggest monolite on the earth. The walls are
almost perfectly vertical, and it takes 2 days to climb this rock of 3280
feet or 1 km high; the mountaineers have to sleep in nets. Don't forget
to take your binoculars or a camera with a great zoom, because they look
like flys, and can hardly be seen.
Make
sure you go to 'Glacier Point', so you can have a great view over the Yosemite
Valley and over large parts of the national park. The sunset is amazing
here, and you can ask questions to a real ranger, who invites you to stay
till after the sunset and listen what he has got to say about the stars
(no pollution of light !).
Anyhow,
if you come to Yosemite, don't forget to bring good hiking shoes; it can
take a walk before you see the most amazing things (sequoias, ...).
| 9) Monterey + Carmel |
Pebble
beach exists mostly out of villas of rich Californian families (but nothing
special compared to those in Beverly Hills) and golf courses. The most
interesting things about the 17-mile drive are the views over the sea and
the cliffs, but the weather has to be good to enjoy these totally. You
can also enjoy yourself with the gulls, and if you're not to noisy, even
the squirrels who come and beg for bread.
The
most famous tree of the 17-mile drive is the 'Lone Cypress', 
a
cypress standing alone on a bare looking hill. It has become one of the
most important points of recognition of California. The 17-mile drive ends
in Carmel, a very special village that tries to remain old-fashioned. It
has got no neonlights, no advertisement posters, no traffic lights, no
house numbers, no parking meters and no mailmen. Every citizen has to pick
up his own mail at the post office. There are even rules about eating on
the street and high heels ! (no fastfood here) You can also take a look
at the 'Mission San Carlos Borromeo', an old mission post with a little
church built in the 18th century.
Monterey (the city) has got also a lot to offer to the tourists: the Fisherman's Wharf, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and lots of other things that 've got to do with the ocean. Just take a look in the local tourist center, and you won't know what to do first !