After a morning by our villas pool, we head up the aerial sky way via its rotating gondola, 8000ft later we emerge to pine forests, cool air and views which go on forever. We do though have to hike away from the top station to leave the rotund natives to thier up/photo/down routine and yet further still to gain the peace and quite this place deserves (I can guess why they are the size they are, but I'm not sure why they are as loud as they are?). Anyway it's nice up here and is a welcome change from the manufactured landscapes of the town visible like a patch work rug way below us.

Mariposa Grove has various hiking trails winding through the hills, the further and higher you go the quiter and more immpressive it becomes.

We steal ourselves for a four hour hike looping through backcountry valleys to the summit at 6800 feet and down again. Humbled by these enormous trees we feel like Lilliputians in the land of giants sharing the trails with more deer and squirrel than fellow humans.

To give you a feel for the size of these Sequoia, 'California Tree' has a tunnel cut through its trunk, a tunnel high and wide enough to allow a horse drawn stage coach to drive through it and despite this tree butchery, the giant lives on growing another foot in diameter every decade.

The view from the summit is impressive, although Kathy's vertigo does not let her get too close to the edge it does mean she doubles her pace on the way down. Back at the car and we are tired, the ascent was 3 hours constantly up hill, the descent easier but still one and a half hours, for the second day running we have covered over 8 miles. It is though worth every step.

It's a long drive. The sort of drive which inspires road trip B movies. We head out from under the shadow of THE Hollywood sign and make our way through Hollywood Hills Dollar$ville out onto the freeway. A freeway winding its way through a surreal magic mountain theme park backdrop painted on to over sized hills & canyons, it does not feel real. After a couple hours of our own tarmac roller coaster we pop out from between the hills and everything changes. Hundreds of patch worked miles, olive trees and vines stretch away in all directions, as flat as God's ironing board.

The car drives itself, straight and steady for another couple of hours, on through Fresno the landscape begins to change again. Rock scattered foothills give promise of things to come and another 50 miles through forested valleys brings us to Yosemite View Lodge. From the roadside this place looks like a prison block, a drab grey 3 storied lump. We are here for 5 nights and we are worried! Don't judge a book by its cover though, the room is huge, the bed is huge, there's an Olympic sized Jacuzzi bath in the living room and a double shower in the bathroom! The balcony views look up & down the steep wooded valley and the Merced river tumbles over rocks below us. This'll do!

We started out next to the Atlantic & golden beaches, have driven 6 hours through hills, plains and mountains yet we have barely covered this huge state, after America itself this is the 2nd largest economy in the world. Scary to think the man they have put in charge is an ex Austrian body builder turned actor, Arnold "The Governator" Schwarzenegger.

Only in America!