This is the third installment on my “Travel Thursday” series of “Over the Rainbow” and our journey from Ohio to California and back in 1966. You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
It was mid-September, and Mom, Dad, and I had just finished visiting their friends, the Manning family, and my great-aunt, Nellie Lilly, in Washington state. We were on our way south toward California. Next stop was Crater Lake National Park in Klamath County, Oregon. The lake was formed from a massive volcanic eruption about 5700 B.C. (according to Wikipedia). We arrived just before the snow covered everything, and the view was breathtaking . . . 
. . . even to a four year old child.
We checked out the view, took lots of photos, and encountered local wildlife. It seemed the chipmunks had no fear – especially if they were fed – and the deer was injured, but didn’t get too close to us.
As we drove through Oregon toward California, we encountered logging operations.
On toward Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon. According to the newspaper article, trees at Sequoia were over 3500 years old with the General Sherman being the tallest at a little over 270 feet high with a circumference of a little over 100 feet.
We were in awe at the size of those trees! One hollowed out tree was on its side, and I thought it was really neat how people walked into the tree without having to duck! It was that big around!
And as we traveled on toward southern California, we saw these sights:
Olive trees and citrus trees – along with trucks taking fruit to wherever they needed to go in order to be processed and shipped. We saw grapes going to wineries. Some of this I remember and some I don’t. Mainly we saw long stretches of highway!
But the journey is only beginning for me – soon we will be “Over the Rainbow”! Stay tuned for the next installment!
Sources: personal knowledge and written description published in the Beavercreek News (Beavercreek, Ohio), Oct. 19, 1966.
Photos: Photographer on all photos – Gene Amore; all photos – print, slide, digital in the possession of Wendy Littrell to be used as needed. No reprints without permission.
Copyright for this blog post 2011 Wendy J Littrell.
No part of this blog post may be used or reproduced without explicit permission from the author and must be linked back to this blog.
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