Los Angeles trip. Kings Canyon National Park.

This was the very first part of our trip. We didn't go straight to LA but decided to spend the first day in the Kings Canyon National Park.









This park is located to the north of the Sequoia National Park and they are actually connected, so you even don't have to pay separate fee.

We came there quite early and it was probably also not the most popular time for visitors due to the "winter time" as well as that it was a week-day. That's why we were lucky not to have any problems with parking and generally it was quite calm in the park.
First of all, I was surprised to see snow. To tell the truth, I have already prepared myself to spend the whole year not seeing it and wasn't at all sad about it.

It was even quite cold, I didn't expect that either:) One gets used to a nice weather pretty fast:) But the sun was shining and the landscape was fascinating, so I didn't suffer a lot. At the same time when you went a bit lower in the mountains, the snow disappered. We made the whole trip along the canyon, that was really very beautiful. At the bottom there is a river with that clear shiny water, you can spend hours just listening and watching it.

We didn't have hours though, the trip to the canyon took us several hours and the trip along the canyon itself 1 more hour one-way. When we arrived to the dead-end we decided to make a small stop for snack. And just after we unpacked our prepared things I saw a bear coming our direction! Probably I am too nervous about that but I wouldn't take a risk of trying to protect my food from the wild animal, that's why I insisted to withdraw and have our lunch somewhere else.

One of our stops during the exploration of the canyon was at the General Sherman Tree. It is the biggest tree in the world by it's volume. Which means that there are trees higher than that one as well as wider ones, but if you count the volume it is the biggest one. Quite impressively.

This photo was made with the Iphone panorama optiot, that's why I look a little bit like an ameba on it.

The way out of the park we took in the direction of Bakersfield, where we had an airbnb Flat booked. The way also lied by the lake the name of which I cannot recall now. But the lake was in reality not so beautiful as it looked at the map like.

By our way from the park we were observing the sunset which produced lots of beautiful views.

 Long after the sun was down we finally arrived to Bakersfield where we was awaited by our host Paulo. He appeared to be a very nice person, warm and polite. He also had 2 cats in the flat, however we mostly had a chance to get in touch with only one of them, the second was apparently to shy or scared. Paulo got the cats with the flat, the former tenant of the flat wouldn't take them with him.

 So far we have very good experiences with airbnb here in US (we had already lots and lots of good experiences in Europe and even in Russia though). The flats are mostly big, comfortable, with the separate bathroom, conditions are comparable to a good hotel. But it is probably even more about the level of the flats in US generally.