Back in April Southwest was having a "too good to be true" sale on fall flights. Husband wanted to see the biggest trees in the world and I wanted to see the tallest waterfall in North America. So we bought $88 roundtrip flights to Fresno,CA to check out two National Parks.

We were off to explore Sequoia the first day.

And Yosemite the next!

We landed in Fresno and picked up our rental car. First stop was to a gluten free bakery that was closing within the hour. Husband picked out a box full of goodies.

Then it was off to his favorite fast food burger, In and Out, for a double double and fresh cut fries.

Next we headed to the brewery district. It was Octoberfest weekend so we checked out three different breweries.

Tioga Sequoia Brewing Co. They had nice aluminum recyclable cups here.

Enjoyed a live German band over at Full Circle Brewing Company.

Then we walked over to a nice small brewery called Procreations Brewing.

Heading to Sequoia National Park we had to pull over to catch the beautiful sunset.

We checked in to our "cabin" for the night. It was 90 degrees in Fresno but much cooler up in the mountains.

We stayed in the Grant Grove Cabins. This was our little "cabin" in the trees. No electricity, heat or running water so it was just like camping. With a much more comfortable bed!

We had alot to see in two days so our days started by 6am. I enjoyed a nice cup of tea in the morning listening to the birds.

Unfortunately most of Kings Canyon that we wanted to explore was closed for all of 2023. So we started our day over at the third largest tree in the world, the General Grant Tree.

It's also the widest sequoia tree!

Fires are very common here and there was lots of scenery like this along the way.

Even the big sequoias have scars from recent years fires.

Next stop was the Sherman tree trail and the congress loop trail. So many beautiful tall trees everywhere we looked.

I expected this park to be pretty empty on a Sunday. But no. This is a LINE to see the General Sherman tree!

Never thought so many people wanted to see the largest tree in the world!

It's estimated to be between 2200-2700 years old! And I stood right under it in awe of it's beauty.

Our next stop was a hike up Moro Rock.

The air quality was pretty terrible this day and I was having a rough time on this hike.

In the distance we could see a current forest fire.

Just before exiting the park we made a trek down to see the Kaweah River.

We were off to stay at an airbnb about 3 hours away in Oakhurst. Located in the Sierra National Forest.

Easy to tell why these signs were everywhere!

Another early start this morning. This day we had downloaded an audio guide to Yosemite. It works off of GPS so it would start playing based on our location for the day. Highly recommend! It was like having a private guide to the best spots to see in Yosemite.

Our first stop was Glacier Point. A fantastic view of the entire Yosemite Valley. Half Dome, Nevada Falls, Vernal Falls and Yosemite Falls all in one view.

If I could do it over again I would come to this point at the end of the day. The crowds were minimal in the morning but the sun made it hard to see and pictures didn't turn out great with the glare.

We made our way through the longest tunnel in California to tunnel view. All the major spots in Yosemite right in one picture!Yosemite Valley, El Capitan, Bridalveil Falls, and Half Dome.