Trip Across The USA 2000

California

I am sorry for the weird expression on my face.  Next to
me is an "Ex Con" named Leon "Whitey" Thompson who does
tours of the "Rock" where he spent four years doing "hard time"
for bank robbery.  His total time in various prisons was
25 years.  He has gone "straight" and has written books about
his life in Alcatraz.

The cell bock is in the upper building behind the
administration dock building in the foreground

Inside one of the main cell blocks

One of the cells.

In a section of the lower tier of Cell Bock "D" is the "Hole"
which is a few solitary confinement cells for trouble makers.

Napa Valley - Grapes being processed

Our hotel in The Napa Valley.
It looks just like Tuscany, Italy

Grapes growing

Our hotel in Yosemite, the Ahwahnee

A rock climber all fitted out.

The type of rock faces that they climb

Sequoia National Forrest
A dead tree that fell over

The largest tree in the world
It is 35 feet wide and 2,500 years old

The General Sherman Sequoia tree.

The Tunnel Log.  The General Sherman
is FOUR times the size of this tree.

Please note the section above within the red square.
That is the elevation reading on my GPS (Global Positioning System).
You can see that it shows a MINUS before the 243
which means that at that time we were 243 feet below sea level.

The sign speaks for itself

A view at Bad Water Location.  A slight
amount of salt water in the foreground.
Salt flats are in the background

A view from our oasis hotel - The Furnace Creek Inn