Lizard Breath and other tales

FRESNO, CA - - Here's a fat little lizard whose photo I put up especially for the Queen back home. Since she seems to like our house sitter better than us, Queen may be sitting on his lap and reading this later on. We found this specimen sunning himself on our climb up Mono Rock in Sequoia National Park.

While we were driving around the park we stopped at an observation point looking into Kings Canyon NP. There was an information plaque showing various mountains which could be visible if there wasn't the heavy smog/haze in the distance. As we looked, a couple next to us started a conversation: "Where's Mt. McKinley, I know we can see it from here," she said. "Look at the map, it's somewhere near here." He shook his head and mumbled something. Lydia and I looked at each other, but said not a word. No sense in telling her that Denali (Mt.McKinley) was at least 2,000 miles north. And she probably wouldn't be happy if we told her she probably meant Mt. Whitney...which is the highest point in California and isn't visible from where we were.