Hanford and Hazelwood

As in most years, I attend a meeting in Paso Robles, CA on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Last year, rather than returning home to Oakland, CA after the meeting, I headed northeast to Yosemite National Park to visit sights in the park that were not open when I visited earlier that year. This year, I decided to aim a little further south and revisit Sequoia National Park to more fully explore a few areas I had rushed by during my visit last fall.

So, after the meeting concluded, I had dinner with some friends and then headed north to King City for the night (lodging prices in Paso Robles were out of this world). Sunday morning, I headed east on California Highway 198 headed for Coalinga and then Hanford, the county seat of Kings County.

fullsizeoutput_6da0

As Hanford was the county seat, I thought that the downtown might house some interesting civic and commercial buildings. I was in luck, as you can see by the photos taken around Courthouse Square. Although the actual government functions moved to new buildings on the edge of town in the 1970’s, the 1890’s ere courthouse and jail have been remodeled into shops and offices. In the 1920’s a Veterans Hall and Municipal Auditorium were built on the other side of the square, while a Fox Theater was built on the west side. However, on a sleepy Sunday, the biggest attraction was the Superior Dairy ice cream shop on the east side.

fullsizeoutput_6de8

I finished the day and spent the night is Visalia, CA abd the next morning headed into Sequoia National Park. I only took a few pictures that day along the Hazelwood Nature Trail near the Giant Forest Museum, as I think that I felt the effect of the rapid climb of over 6000’ from Visalia to the park.

Pictures related to this page are here. All pictures from the trip are here.

email: [email protected]              SmugMug Referral Link                   © Alan Forkosh 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019,2022