It's A Dead Man's Party

The 80's were dark! Perfect for Halloween. I made a playlist.

80s Halloween

Skeleton Dance!

Bewitching Interiors

So I'm loving this series of posts Design Sponge has been doing that deconstructs movies and translates them into attainable objects and style for real interiors.

The last two they did are perfect for the Halloween season, and are actually two of my favorite movies:

Living In: Edward Scissorhands

Living In: Rosemary's Baby

Working For The Weekend

This Vampire Weekend VS Mike Snow mashup should get you through to the weekend.

Sequoia/Kings Canyon Day Hikes

Here are the two day hikes we did, which I completely recommend:

• The Lakes Trail, Sequoia (Closes down in Winter)

We saw a mama bear and two cubs 5 minutes in the hike!

This is Heather Lake. One of several Alpine lakes at about 9500'.

I was literally too scared to stand on this cliff.

• Mist Falls, Kings Canyon.

Mist Falls. 100' of falling water. Gorgeous.

Did I mention it snowed when we left Tuesday morning? Beautiful!

Leaves In The River

"Fall is my favorite season in Los Angeles, watching the birds change color and fall from the trees." - David Letterman

People love to dis California, especially Southern California, on its lack of seasons, or the fact that we don't get these gorgeous displays of Fall foliage like much of the country. While I certainly wish we did get more variation in color and climate, there are definitely areas of California where you can see the leaves change color.

Check out this website: California Fall Color.

Modern Hiker points out that this weekend Southern Californian's can drive as close as Big Bear by visiting this Aspen Grove.

The leaves were just about changing color when I was up at Sequoia two weeks ago. The picture I've included was from the drive down the mountains in between the pine forest and upper foothills area.

I know, I know I still owe pictures and descriptions of the other two days from Sequoia, but that may not happen.

I'll leave you instead with the song and band that inspired the title of this post. Great fall music despite the temperatures in LA creeping up to the 80's and 90's this weekend.

Leaves In The River - Sea Wolf

They Might Be Giants

Moro Rock From The Highway

That's Me In Green. How Tiny Am I Compared To These Trees?

I'm On Top Of Moro Rock. That's The Great Western Divide Behind Me.

Fall In Sequoia

So, I've possibly committed a cardinal blog sin by not posting in 6 days. It wasnt a good idea, however, to start a blog prior to going on a road trip. I really did think I would have more time at the lodge to blog about each day, but I was so exhausted by the end of each day, Trevor and I passed out before 10 pm every night.

If you've never been to either King's Canyon or Sequoia National Park, you MUST go. It's beyond magical, and these trees, which are the largest living things in the entire WORLD exist there. It's incredible. It's marvelous. I felt so dwarfed and humbled by these giant living things. These trees must have spirits.

Day one, we stopped in Three Rivers at We Three Bakery (as recommended) and had a very basic breakfast outdoors under a magnificent giant oak tree. Ok, so it wasn't the most amazing breakfast, and we had to move inside to avoid being attacked by yellow jackets but nonetheless the wait staff was very friendly and apologetic since they seemed 'slammed'. However, it didn't seem all that crowded to me and I was delirious from the early morning wake up call and 3 hour drive. I just went with the flow and I drenched my eggs and potatoes in tobasco sauce.

The drive to Sequoia was gorgeous and the highway, the 198, meandered through foothills covered in oaks and various chaparral anyone from California would recognize. We decided to do all the 'park and walk' tourist sights on the first day and save all the more nature, longer hikes for Sunday and Monday. Lucky for us, it's fall, and the park was sparsely populated with only random Europeans and other American tourists. The best part of the drive is that all of the sudden, you enter the Giant Forest, and youre surrounded by gigantic Sequoias right out of The Land Of The Lost. We were tempted to pull over, because were were in such awe, but knew that we'd have our chance in just a few miles and kept patient.

Sight's we saw on the first day that I highly recommend are:

• Moro Rock - A granite dome with a 400 step stairway built in the 1930's. Amazing panoramic views.
• Tunnel-Log - A fallen Sequoia you can drive you car through!
• The General Sherman Tree - The largest living tree in the world! But not the biggest in diameter, that's The General Grant in Grant Grove. On our way back to the car, we saw a black bear!
• Crescent Meadow - This is a beautiful meadow and short hike thats surrounded by a Giant Sequoia forest.

Ok, so I think Ive bitten off more than I can chew thinking I could write about my trip in one night. I'll add more about my trip in the next few days....

On The Road Again

It's 5 am and I'm packed and ready to go! I kinda feel like a kid at Christmas. Trevor is still in bed because originally I said we should leave at 6 am. The drive takes about 4 hours to actually get to the park. One of my bosses suggested we have breakfast at We Three Bakery, in Three Rivers, CA. I looked up the bakery on Yelp and a few people had some harsh words to say. I guess I'll have to judge for myself.

What's a road trip without the appropriate music? The playlist I've started has mostly country music, which seems appropriate for being on the open road. But were headed to the forest, so feel free to leave some other suggestions! Ill continue to add to it throughout the year, but in the mean time, enjoy.

Road Trip

Vintage Postcards Of Sequoia

I've always been a sucker for epherma.

(the logging truck breaks my heart)

The Moon Is My Chandelier, The Road My Estate

Trevor and I leave tomorrow for both Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. I havent been in over a decade, which is a shame. I used to go to YMCA camp there every year, which are my last real memories of being in the park. I can already smell the dust, the fresh air, and the pine needles. I'm looking forward to seeing these magnificent trees and this wilderness that exists in such close proximity to Los Angeles.

(Im not even sure if the above picture is in Sequoia. I sorta got obsessed with finding vintage postcards of these giant trees and will put them up in my next post)

Links:

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park

Lodging alternatives to camping that are in the park.

Some random guy's hiking blog with good pictures of hiking trails within both parks.