July 1st I took off on my V-Strom for Hanford after ensuring that the automatic feeders were working so the dogs wouldn’t starve. Originally this was going to be a backpacking trip as the ultimate goal, but with my left leg going bad it had turned into a sight seeing trip.
The destination in Hanford was a return trip to the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture (http://www.shermanleeinstitute.org/) which is middle of farmland in Mr. Clark’s backyard. This gentleman had developed a taste for Japanese art in his travels and decided to build his own museum, next to his Japanese garden. The garden is unfortunately private, but the public has access to the museum for a small fee. Access is supervised by a docent. The museum is small, sort of like the now defunct Guggenheim in Las Vegas, but worth a visit if you’re headed in its direction. I enjoyed the current exhibition on Kyoto Beauties, especiallyt the interpretations of Komachi and Okiku.
Made a return trip to Brewbaker’s in Visalia for dinner. Their sampler is huge and catches you off-guard since they include their three site brewed sodas. Chug them at the end to look tough. Around the corner was a Regal cinema where I stopped to watch the Terminator movie so I could ensure that I was sober when I rode back to my motel.
July 2 was a late start to Sequoia. Even without the prospect of backpacking it was an enjoyable ride through the Three Rivers entrance which I hadn’t used in years. Having just read the graphic novel Alan’s War I had to visit the Sherman Tree (photos at http://ikemi.info/graphics/ShermanTree/index.html). They have built a very robust trail that has an elevation loss equal to the height of the tree, so you can get a feel for its size. Fortunately I was able to handle the short hike with enough medication.
Next I dropped leisurely down to Cedar Grove and stopped at Zumwalt Meadow, which I had never bothered to check out before. It’s a pleasant little hike around the meadown, starting on a plank path above the meadow and continuing on the high side on a path cut into the rock. A very scenic return for a hike just over a mile. (http://ikemi.info/graphics/ZumwaltMeadows/index.html) Not too far away I also stopped at Roaring River Falls, which is a real if small waterfall a short walk from the parking lot. It helped compensate for not being able to hike to Mist Falls.
I stopped at Sentinel Campground where I found some friends who always come at this time of the year, and bummed a beer off of them. It’d been about 3 years since I’d seen them last, so it was good that we linked up. I promised to come around next year and stay for a couple of days. I hope I can do that. It was back up the road after that, which is no problem on a motorcycle with no traffic. The climb up from Sequoia had been the oppsite, following large motorhomes up and past Crystal Cavern.
Before heading to Fresno I made a quick stop at the Grant Tree. The descent from the top was completely traffic free-everyone was heading into the park. At the Grant Grove visitor center they told me that the parks are still pretty busy.
I followed my Nuvi to Full Circle Brewing which looks like it’s inside of an old but very large garage or depot. They seemed to have better brews than Sequoia (last tasting 2 years ago) but they don’t serve any food. It was already pretty late so I satisfied myself with only tastes of their 11% brews and settled down with a red.
Fresno didn’t quite work out. Turns out the Shinzen Japanese Garden doesn’t open till 5:00, the Kearney Museum only opens on weekends, and the Meux Museum was closed because of broken AC. I did go to the Fresno Metropolitan Museum, but it turned out to be mainly a kid’s musuem at this time. I did enjoy the exhibit on the illustrations of Doug Hansen and the small exhibit on William Saroyan. The museum does own Ansel Adams prints, including the Manzanar ones, but doesn’t normally display them. Oh well.
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