Thanksgiving @ Sequoia National Park

Ok, this is a little outdated, but still, better late than never, right? =) The gang finally got our act together and went somewhere over the long thanksgiving break late last november. here's a few selected shots with breaktaking views. =)
Sequoia trees are commonly thought to be the largest tree species out there: larger than whales, and NPS says one of them is THE "world's largest living thing"!
one of the more "normal"-sized sequoias for size comparison.
We rented a nice navy blue Dodge Durango SUV for the trip to fit all 6 of us. Roomy!
We bought so much food (~$100) that it filled up the entire bear-proof food cabinet. As bears are sensitive to smells and may attempt to seek out the items, we have to keep all food and stuff with strong smells (eg toiletries) locked in this metal cabinet that can only be opened with a special human-hand-only handle. Pictures posted around the campsite showed smashed car windows caused by bears foraging for human food. nasty!
setting up our two tents: a small two-men and a bigger four-men tent.
Here is Jason, the brains for the trip. Thanks for all the planning!
the firewood/charcoal we bought from the supermarket is really cool. each log is nicely and completely wrapped in a plastic foil. simply place the entire package into the pit and LIGHT THE PLASTIC FOIL at two points. the foil will catch fire, slowly spreading the flames throughout and lighting the log as well. look ma, clean hands! ingenious!
We attempted to kidnap home with two nice (and unbroken) pine cones as souvenirs. unfortunately, we left them on the food cabinet overnight and was caught by a roving ranger the next morning. we were "advised" that bringing anything out of the park is illegal, and he confiscated the two lonely pine cones from us. =(
We did not cover many trails as we all "chose" to sleep our mornings away and the sun sets pretty early. We did, however, cover the Big Baldy trail and came back with brilliant pictures! the sun was setting by the time we reach the end of the trail, which is a huge granite boulder outcrop (hence, the name "big baldy") that is supposed to give a nice view of the surrounding landscape. but since the sun was setting, the clouds was setting too, and we were treated to a cloudtop view. only bad part of this was driving back to the campsite down the winding roads in the midst of these setting clouds, otherwise known as fog. could hardly see 5 meters in front. jason was the best for doing the tough driving with only koklim to accompany him while the rest of us slept in the back. =P

the "view" from big baldy.
the gang @ big baldy.
our three fairies...
magnificient sunset.

and of course, my current desktop wallpaper, darlings above the clouds: