oh, how i love the mountains. after a spectacular deal found by the deal-finder-wizard liz, four of us trekked south to stay in the quaint john muir lodge for a weekend among the giant sequoias. for those of you unfamiliar with the majesty of the sequoia, this behemoth of a tree boasts the largest mass of tree known to man. indeed, there are taller trees (california redwoods) and wider trees (bald cypress found in oaxaca, mexico), but the sequoia is considered the largest living tree because of its sheer volume. the general sherman tree (which we did not visit), is the largest living tree and it weighs in at 2.7 million pounds. the general grant tree (which we did see) is the third-largest tree in the world, and it is 267.4 feet tall and 107.6 feet in circumference at its base.

yes, these are some big trees.

back in the 1860s, one of the trees was cut down and parts of it were displayed at an exhibition in philadelphia... and the tree was dubbed the "california hoax" because easterners didn't believe that the parts all came from the same big tree!

at any rate, despite some sniffles, we had a lovely mellow time... we took a leisurely hike up a panoramic ridge trail, explored some of the sights in the area, snapped pictures of lots of lovely views, played set and uno by the fire in the lodge, climbed on sequoia stumps, and i took a trip down memory lane as i visited the hume lake of my childhood. the weather was brisk but not too cold; we didn't even have to deal with snow or chains.

how odd it is, by the way, to revisit a place you knew so well after years of being away. some things have changed (more access and more people), but much of it remains the same.