When Peter started planning this trip he found that there were quite a few places that we wanted to visit that were difficult to get to if you didn’t have a car. One of these was Sequoia National Park to see the giant redwoods. He finally found a shuttle that ran from a small town called Visalia. Getting there required a flight from Seattle to Fresno, then an Amtrak train to Hanford and a bus to Visalia.
We left our Bellevue hotel in beautiful sunny weather, walking to the Transit Centre. We took this photo to prove that it doesn’t always rain in Seattle.
The shuttle to Sea-Tac (Seattle-Tacoma airport) cost $2.50 for a 45 minute trip. We have found public transport in the US to be very reasonably priced and a great way to get around. The flight to Fresno had us travelling across some very interesting countryside. Just after leaving Seattle we flew past Mt. Rainier.
As we got closer to Fresno the pilot informed us that we were flying over Yosemite National Park.
When we left the airport at Fresno it was like walking into an oven. It was 38 degrees and quite a shock after the low twenties of Seattle. We had an hour wait for the train so we thought we would have a look at downtown Fresno. “A look” was enough. We don’t like to judge a town on a quick look, but downtown Fresno was not very appealing. The train station is usually on the outskirts so we were probably not in the best place. When we got back to the station we were informed that the train was delayed an hour. Luckily there was a bar across the road which served very refreshing lemonade for Claire and beer for Peter.
The train trip to Hanford was a trip through the orchards, market gardens and vineyards of California. We had some time before the bus to Visalia and experienced one of Hanford’s Mexican restaurants, the food was good.
Finally the bus ride to Visalia was similar to the train trip through very fertile territory.
Next day Sequoia national park.
No comments:
Post a Comment