Welcome to Big Blend Radio's California Sequoia Country Show. Home to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Giant Sequoia National Monument and Sequoia National Forest, and the Charming Historic Agricultural Communities that make up to Larry County. Welcome everyone. Today on California Sequoia Country Show, we're talking about the end of summer. It doesn't feel like summer is actually ever going to leave, and we don't necessarily want it to, but you could go and cool off up in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Giant Sequoia National Monument and Sequoia National Forest, and then go down to the communities of Tulare County and have some food, fun, music, art, history, you name it. There is a lot going on, and we've got three special guests joining us. We've got Suzanne Bianco from Visit by Celia, and you can go to visitvisalia.com. All the links I talk about are in the episode notes. How are you, Suzanne? I am well. Thank you for having me today. Good to have you back. We got Cynthia Kawasaki-Yee, and it is World Ranger Day. It is July 31st that we're recording for our September, I mean, our August 1st episode, so we got to wish our World Ranger Day, and if we had cake, we'd be serving it to you. Welcome back, Cynthia. Happy to be here. Yes, and so Cynthia represents the National Parks, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, so what's the weather like in the parks? Is it nice and cool, or is it heating up in certain areas? It's been really nice, it's starting to heat up again, but it's definitely cooler up into giant forest and grant grow, so it's a nice way to cool off once you get up into the Sequoias. Is the water in the river still really cold? Like, does it ever stop being cold? I don't know that it stops being cold. Yes, it's so cold. And the Marmets are still running around, you know, guiding traffic. Marmets are still running around. I hear there's little baby Marmets now. Out and about as well. And so actually speaking, yeah, we just got noticed that you no longer have to tarp your vehicles in Mineral King because they believe that Marmets are less likely to eat your vehicle parts once the babies are out. So fun, but like something I learned this now. Well, actually, Mineral King, so that is an area we rarely talk about. That's a little bit off before you get to the park, right? You kind of, it's within park, but it's near three rivers, California, where your main gateway is to Sequoia. And that's a little bit of a different adventure, isn't it, for folks? Yeah, so a few miles before getting to the Sequoia entrance station, you year off and go up the Mineral King Road and you enter the park that way. It's a really special area, higher elevation. I feel like spring is later in the summer there. It just stays very green. It's very cool. And then a lot of people use that area to access the wilderness. And so that's a lot of hiking to do there. We do have an open campground that people can go camp. We have giant Sequoias, it's really pretty area. Cool, how was your Buffalo Soldier event? That just happened like two days ago, two, three days ago? Yeah, and that was on Sunday, July 28th for National Buffalo Soldier's Day. We had a celebration to rename the Brigadier General Charles Young Tree. So it was previously the Colonel Young Tree, but he was posthumously promoted in 2021. And so we got to rename the tree with this new title and celebrate him. We had one of his descendants, a great nephew. Lawrence Young was in attendance. We had historian and author Brian Shalom, who has a series of Buffalo Soldiers books. We had a Colonel from Fort Irwin from the Army join us. So it was a really fun-filled day. Mrs. Zian was actually in attendance as well, a representing visit by Sylvia. It was really fun. We had over 100 people in attendance. It was just a great celebration, a great, it was really special to be able to honor Charles Young. That's still, we still continue to celebrate him here at Sequoias Canyon. He was the first acting superintendent that is African-American descent, right? That's right. A lot of history, a lot of history. And he built the road. Him and his troops built the actual road going up into the park. So yeah, he did a lot, he did a lot. We also have Cassidy Collins here from Tularee Chamber of Commerce. How are you doing Cassidy? - Good morning. I'm happy to be here. I'm doing great. Thanks for asking. - Good, good to have you there. And how is Tularee? Is it nice and warm and toasty? Is it time to go to the movie theater? - Nice and yes, the movie theater sounds great right now. We're a little bit, you know, lower on the valley floor. A little more warm down here. But we're hanging in there. We actually got a little bit of a cooler front this week. So we're enjoying it. - Yeah. I do love the galaxy theater there at the Tularee Outlet Center. And because the seats do all kinds of wild and cool vibrations and sound effects. - Oh yeah. - It's so cool. - And you can just take a nap if you want to. It's amazing. - Is it true that you can get wine there now? Like when you go to the movie? - Oh yeah. Old Bar and they even just got the new Tequila from Mark Wahlberg. His brand is there and it's good. I've tried it. - Okay, well this is good. We got cake in Tequila. This is going really well for end of summer. I want to go to Suzanne because we're talking about theaters. And in Visalia, you have the Fox Theater which is like a jewel of a piece of architecture but also history in theater because I think it was even built at the time when we didn't even have talking pictures or it came at when that happened. I can't remember which of it. But it's pretty historic in showing the central valley. It was like one of the first I think in the central valley. - Well the Fox, of course the Fox Theater Company built a lot of these theaters around California that have this sort of Spanish exterior design but the inside of the theaters are all different. And this particular one has a Southeast Asian flair to it. So there's pagodas and elephants and stars embedded in the ceiling. So it's a really wonderful theater. Built for originally four movies but now it's a performing arts theater for us. So our symphony plays there. We have different performances there and it's a great, it's a great theater. On the historic walking tour, we have a self-guided walking tour that takes people through some of the sites in the downtown area. And most of the time you can only see the exterior of the Fox Theater. But the Tularee, or sorry the Visalia Heritage organization is hosting a special behind the scenes peak tour inside the theater. And so that is on August the third. It's a wonderful opportunity to get to see some of the secret spots inside the theater. Even the projection room with has the original projection material of equipment. And might talk about some of the, you know, maybe the haunted things that are happening. The people think happened there or I don't know. It should be a lot of fun but not a lot of people get a chance to see a behind the scenes tour of this, you know, historic iconic place in my site. So we're really excited about that. - And when's that happening for everyone? - August third. - Okay, August third. So you better get there now. - Yeah, yeah. - Turn around. But this is cool about the historic walking tour. So one of the things I love about Tularee County is the amount of history. I mean, you've got things like black bark going through on robbing people on the stagecoach. I mean, come on, that's cool history. I know we're not supposed to like the villains but come on, you can help that, right? But you've also got civil war history which is fascinating about the entire county. Native American history, so much like multicultural history which is one of my favorite things about the area but being able to do these walking tours, I can buy Celia. I think that is really awesome that you can do that but then you've got all the public art in towns like Exeter, Tularee, you have amazing public art, Borderville has it, Dinuba. So can you touch a little bit on this walking tour? 'Cause you've got public art mixed in there too. Yeah, so most of our communities do have a map or information about the public art or the self-guided tours you can take. Stop by the visit by Celia office and we'll give you a free walking tour map. It can also be found on our website but it's a whenever you have an hour or hour and a half of time, depending on if you want to stop at some of the restaurants along the way, you can take a walking tour and learn a little bit more about the history here in by Celia, it goes back or in this area really, that goes back to the mid-1800s. So, and when you talk about the Native American culture, you know, the Tularee County Museum has one of the largest Native American basket collections on display, so that's a great place to stop in. Up in three rivers, they have the Native Voices exhibit that just opened up the three rivers museum. Tularee Museum is a, the City of Tularee Museum is another fantastic resource. So, lots to do and it can be done on a visitor's timeframe, you know, it's self-guided. So, if you've got a couple of hours in the morning or later in the afternoon, you can certainly stop by, get a map and go see some of these great sites. - I think it's a really good way to get to know the area before you go out too. And it's cooler when it's really hot, you know, and I'd say that also when you go to the parks, if you can't always say get their sunrise, like so you can see the animals, right? I'm one of those people, I cherish those days, like we would drive up, no matter where we were staying in Bicellia or three rivers. You're up early, I'd drive through the dark in the morning and drive up that road slowly. I would behave since, that was very good. And then all of a sudden you'd see the sunrise up from the valley, right? And you just, there's places you can pull out and just, it's like, wow. And then you think sunrise is here and then you get in the forest, you're like, what happened? Let's talk again. But that's when all the animals and the birds and everybody's starting to come out to play and it's a good time to get there. So you could do something before the visitor's center's open but, Sonia, that's a thing too. They are like museums, right? For folks to get their bearings. And you've got two, right? Two on three. How many do you have between the two parks? - We have five. We have one in the footholds, once you get to China. - There'll be a need to get back. We have the Law School Visitor Center that's open in the summer season. Then we have the King's King Visitor Center in Grant Grove and then also one in Cedar Grove. It's a small little visitor center. We have that. We do have a Ranger Station Mineral King but it's not as interpretive as some of the other sites. Law School Visitor Center, though, that one we just reopened. It was fully remodeled for, it took a few years but it reopened last year. And so really recommend that. Really great exhibits in there. The Giant Forest Museum is just, you know, your first site that you see once you get into Giant Forest. You park as a great way to start your trip. - Yeah, but I definitely recommend that seeing the sunrise and if you don't make it in by sunrise, stay at your sunset. It's just beautiful times of the day to explore the parks. It's really quiet in the morning. So if you do make it up early enough, there's not very many visitors. You have a place to yourself. You get to see the wildlife just here. You're not, there's not so much, you know, hustle and bustle of vehicles and shuttles and everything roaming around. So it's just a really special time of day to be here. - And I missed it but Sunday we saw a bear up in the tree and I did, I was with someone who said, did you see the bear? And I said, no, I didn't see the bear. So yeah, along the road to Moro Rock. - Yes, I've seen them there. Yes, yes, yes, yes. - That's always a real excitement. - My favorite one is the bear that we saw just sitting in a younger one, eating berries and just pulls in and looks at me like, these are mine, these are not your berries. I'm only the one who's allowed to eat them. I'm like, it's like they have their own blueberry patch, you know, and they do, they're so, they're cute but we must be aware of this in the fall as we, and I know we'll talk about that next month but it's gonna start where they're going after grubs in the woods and they're hungry. So don't mess with them, right? We do not mess with the bears. - Never mess with the bear, never a good idea. - No, Moro Rock for sunrise, is that doable? I'm thinking for all those people that are like, we're having a smoothie, we're powering it up, we're going up, Moro Rock, have you done it Cassidy? - I have in the daytime, but I need to go for sunrise now that we're talking about this. I'm thinking already like this weekend, can I do it? Like, am I doing it Sunday and it's free. - It's a free on Sunday? - Sunday, August 4th. - Why, why, why, what are we celebrating? - We're celebrating the Great America Outdoors Act that was passed in 2020. And so it really just brought in a lot of funding for infrastructure and access to national parks. And our parks are actually greatly benefiting from some of that funding. So we're able to really reconstruct some of our facilities like our water treatment plants, our wastewater treatment plants, and just a lot of infrastructure that's pretty outdated. So we're really thankful to this Great America Outdoors Act and we'll actually be highlighting one of our projects that's nearing completion this weekend. - Oh, exciting, exciting. And then we didn't need to say August, August 25th is the National Park Service at birthdays. So again, we're looking for cake. Bring cake to all the rangers. Listen, rangers are the rock stars of the parks, beyond the animals, they're the other form of wildlife I'm getting. But you cannot get into park. Every time I'm going to a park and I'm talking with a ranger or they're taking us around somewhere. And you know, most of the public information specialists like Cynthia are like, please let me take you around the park 'cause we have to do all the press releases. We want to be out of the office. We want to go on a hike. And, but you don't get very far because every single person in the park that sees that ranger hat has 10 questions for you, right? You guys are the rock stars. - So fun to be out in the field. That's how I'm filled out in the park, talking to visitors and answering questions and they want to take photos. And you get to meet all the little kids and I always carry Virginia Ranger stickers with me to hand them out. And it's just amazing how you can impact someone's visit to a national park just by saying hello and answering a couple questions. And it really brings my day whenever I get to do that. So it's nice to leave the office and get out and interact with visitors. - I love that it's World Ranger Day. And we think about that it's global and the American, you know, National Park Service is what spurred national parks around the world. And I grew up in Africa and I'm like, look at all this how we said it came from the national parks came from Africa, so we started doing our tour and coming out, you know, obviously doing all the parks we do. So it's really to me, it's an American treasure when we talk about that. It's their iconic and you have like two of the most iconic parks in the system and two of the oldest parks in the system. And I think September is a holiday, isn't that September? That's when we saw-- - You show up with Lansing. - Yeah, September 28th is National Public Lands Day. So another fee free day. So we have a couple opportunities for folks. It can be a little pricey to get into the parks. It's $35 for a vehicle, but if you want to save that money and come on a fee free day, really recommend it, we like to make these parks accessible to all. So take advantage of those opportunities. - You know, August is American Adventures Month. And if you're gonna go on an American adventure, number one road trip, number two, you definitely have to include national parks in an American adventure, I'm just saying. And then you should go to the communities, right? Suzanne, the communities are part of that. And I think we all talk about small town America. And, you know, we look at what's going on with malls and things like that, where we're losing our stores, we're losing storefronts, we're losing all kinds of, I mean, we're just in a change globally, right? But when you go to places like Tulare County and you go into all the agricultural communities, you're going into an actual coffee shop that is mom and pop owned. You're going into, you know, actual stores. You can actually meet the owners, you know, a lot of times. And I think that is something very American, when you say Suzanne, for people to go and have that experience beyond the computer. - Absolutely. And I think you'll see a vibrant, we call it the downtown area here in Visalia. Tulare is the same. All these communities are really vibrant, growing very full storefronts. There's nothing, you know, boarded up or, you know, whatever people might think of small town, maybe America. It's a vibrant happening community outside of the park. So people can go up and spend their day in the parks, enjoy all that great outdoors, then they can come back into these communities and enjoy some great restaurants and some entertainment, some really wonderful museums and cultural exhibits. And, you know, just really round out their whole trip with, you know, some experiences of California that are not Disneyland and they're not San Francisco, but really what the rest of California is like is right here in Tulare County. - Ah, that's it. And tell us a little bit about Tulare for everyone, Cassidy, in regards to small town America, because you've got some great boutiques, you've got thrift stores, you've got, or they don't call them thrift stores anymore, do they? That just changed. - I call them thrift stores still. - Okay, I don't know, everything's changing in terminology, so. - They can get their words. But I still go thrifting on the weekends, right? That's like my favorite hobby. But yeah, we have, I mean, we have a coffee shop almost on every corner in this town, a little mom and pop shop. So this is a highly caffeinated city. We also love our dairy. We have Rosa brothers here and they, you know, they got a lot of the ice cream. And speaking of entertainment, we have galaxy theaters here. You come down from the mountain and, you know, stay at your hotel, you can catch a movie at galaxy. It's very close by. And yeah, and then we do have a, like, just stuff happening all the time. Our downtown right now is being renovated. We're getting a lot of art coming in, more art than we already have. And then some new restaurants and bars coming in down the street. So, and the amphitheater being built. So if anyone wants to catch a concert, check out speed entertainment. There's gonna be some concerts coming up here in the fall and the next season. So, yeah, you can plan your trip, you know, ahead of time and get some good entertainment in there as well. But Celery has a lot to offer. Soul County is amazing. I love how vibrant we are and how many options we have to go have fun and stay close by too. - Yeah, and everyone discover the sequoias.com. That is the website to all the communities, the parks, the forest, everything. That's linked in the episode notes. And if you go to Tulare, you can have a taco instead of inside of a plane. You can go. - Yes, you can't plan taco. We have a-- - I like tacos on a plane more than snakes on a plane. I'm just saying. - I would say too, yes, I agree. - Yeah, no, no. Let's talk a little bit about some more of the events. We talked about the parks having these fee-free days, but the parks, you know, we talk about rangers. One of the ways to explore the parks is to go on a ranger tour, right? You still do, you know, do you do like, I don't know if you have the ranger campfire stories and things like that anymore, or what-- - Yeah, we have evening ranger programs. We have ranger walks, so you get to, you know, learn about sequoias and just the ecosystems and different fun facts about the parks, all with a park ranger. And so we have everything. All of our ranger walks and programs are posted on our website on nps.gov. We have an event calendar and you can look there to see what programs are happening the day that you're coming to visit. You can also stop by a visitor center and learn about what programs are happening that day. If you're camping, really great experience, you know, after sunset, getting to go to the amphitheater in each district and seeing a ranger talk or seeing a program. So really special experience and, you know, you get, it's part of that park experience, right? Especially for camping. - Especially for kids, you know, it's like, ooh, this is all for me, like real entertainment, you know? And you're learning something. You don't realize that you're actually learning as a kid, you know, before we hit that stage of like, ew, I don't want to go to school, you know? So this is something to go in and, but it does instill, you know, kids too, as they grow up to continue going to parks and then pass it down through their families and maybe even become a park ranger, what got you to become a park ranger since it's World Ranger Day, even though this is airing the day after. - Yeah, I didn't visit a national park until I was in college and that just really made a huge impact on me. And it was thanks to a lot of female rangers that I met through those trips and experiences that really helped shape my career and build opportunities for me. So yeah, I went to school for special events and tourism, never thought I would be a park ranger, but here I am, almost 10 years old. - And now, and you've got a young son that you take into the park. So does it, do you see that excitement for him going into the park and that maybe that'll rub off on him and you'll have a junior ranger become an adult ranger? - Yeah, he's definitely more of a national park child than a Disney child. We've tried both this year and he was not a fan of Disneyland but you getting on the trail has been really fun with him. He's very outdoorsy and he's too. So that's just the stage that he's in right now. So we'll see with the future holds. - It's Family Fun Month, so go to the parks. And then Suzanne, I always bring this back to you about Family Fun, Visalia, and Tularee County has. We talked about a lot of museums. There's children's museums, interactive museums. There's a lot of family-friendly restaurants too, wouldn't you say? I mean, take your kid to the Flying Taco. That's family-friendly. That's fun, you know? - Absolutely, that's a lot of fun. I'm actually hungry now for tacos. Yeah, Tularee County does have a lot of different things. There is at Mooney Grove Park, which is sort of in the, it's in Visalia, but sort of in the hub of the county. It has a newly opened accessible park. So it is an inclusive park for all abilities. And so that's really exciting. They also opened up a dog park there that has a zigility training, I don't know what they're called, but like where your dog can do the agility. - Yeah, yeah, that's agility. - Yeah, and in September, there is an event that is going to benefit the Mineral King Preservation Society. So Mineral King is part of Sequoia National Park. And the Tularee County Museum is called In a Landscape Classical Music in the Wild. And pianist Hunter Noak will bring a nine foot Steinway piano into the outdoors. So outdoors at Mooney Grove and attendees will be given some headsets and they are encouraged to wander around and explore the outdoors while listening to Hunter play the piano. So it's a really amazing opportunity to have a different kind of classical music experience, being encouraged to wander around and explore the outdoors while hearing him play. So that is on September 15th. Should be a wonderful event. It's a Sunday afternoon. So people in town visiting the parks on Saturday have something to look forward to on Sunday afternoon. Mooney Grove Park is a oak preserve. So a lot of wild oak trees and a grassy outdoors. So you can bring a blanket, lay on the ground. People can even lay under the piano and put their hands on the piano and feel the vibrations of the piano being played. So a unique experience and a fun opportunity for entertainment. - You know, I wanna say I'm gonna make sure to link our episode that we did an interview with Hunter Noak a few years ago. I'll make sure to link that in the episode notes for everyone. He was in Hawaii, Volcanoes National Park doing this very similar thing. And he was an artist in residence with the National Parks Arts Foundation. So I'll link that for people to hear. I mean, it was an amazing interview and he's incredible. His music is just, it's, yeah. He's definitely connected with nature. So I'll make sure that is in the episode notes. So that is a unique thing. I think for kids, I mean, I'm not a parent, but I know that I was definitely, I could get bored pretty quickly. So that's when the brat mode would happen for me and it hasn't lasted, like, well, yeah, it has lasted, can become a brat. - But that's funny. - The interactive kind of things. I mean, Cynthia, is that right? If it's interactive, it helps kids to actually understand maybe more what they're learning and have more fun and be more focused, right? So that kind of experience and then the museum you have where kids are being interactive in Visalia, that museum is really cool too. - Yeah, a lot of interactive museums in the area too. Mooney Grove has their, you know, the buildings that are outside that they've moved on to the lots of kids can, you know, go into the old schoolhouse or climb up into the caboose or look at some of the farm equipment. I mean, there's a lot to do there. There's the museum at Adventures down at the Tulare, or the World Ag Expo International Agro Center that's a hands-on place for kids to learn more about agriculture. The Children's Museum here in Visalia is a fantastic museum with lots of hands-on. Kids are encouraged to touch field to understand how things work. In fact, the museum is having a book signing. They're releasing their first book. It's in The Adventures of Anne and Otis. Otis is the museum's mascot. So they'll go on some adventures in the museum. So they're excited to have their first book be published. They're doing a little book signing coming up this weekend as well. So that is lots of fun. - Awesome. And I want to go over to you Cassidy with the Ag Ventures. Have you gone and sat in one of those little tractors and wheeled around? - Yes, there's so much to look at there. You could spend all day. There's a lot of hands-on stuff for the kids, lots of learning. And then right next door is an antique museum of all those tractors and just everything, how agriculture got started. And it's crazy to see the equipment they used to use. Like these weird little gasoline engines that just like put every few seconds and just, you know what I mean? How did that even work? And they did it. And that's, you know, we wouldn't be where we are today without that technology. So it's really cool to go and just look at it and get to see it. - Yeah, now what about this fair? I hear that you have a big fair coming to town. - Yes, we have our Tulare County Fair coming up on September 11th through the 15th. So check it out. I think you can get tickets already. I'm not too sure, but put it on your calendar. It's gonna be lots of fun. Get the whole county together on that one and lots of rides, prizes, even-- - Good obtainment. Gotta have that. - Containment, yes. I don't know who exactly what they're doing yet. I can check for you. We do have concerts coming in October as well and there's gonna be some like Clay Walker, Rayland, Kenan Smith, they're opening the Zumwalt amphitheater on our Tulare. - Oh, cool. - So get your concert tickets, get your fair tickets, lots happening in Tulare. - Awesome, awesome. So the event, so you've gotta go to a fair. If you're in an agricultural community, you've gotta go to the fair. That just makes sense, right? So you've gotta do that, but speaking of festivals, all right, so there's food, beer and wine. So I'm gonna go over to you, Suzanne, kick this off, apparently you're having an October fest in your backyard. - Yeah, so well, September will kick off oddly, the October fest and the chamber-- - Actually, that's when it really, that actually is when it really started, not in October historically in Bavaria, it started in September, but-- - Interesting. - The October thing has to do with a king in the Y for, anyway, it's like a whole courtship story, something like that. - Okay. - Yeah, but it did start in September, so you're dead on right. - Yeah, so the, yep, the Visalia Chamber of Commerce will be hosting their annual October fest. It's one of the largest in, I'm gonna say the region, I'm not sure if it's the whole Central Valley, but a really large October fest, it's a lot of fun. It's great to go in, everyone's really friendly and, you know, you can meet lots of people there, listen to some music and of course, you know, taste all the different beers and food that are on tap for that event. I know that there are other October fests around just to emboss our farms, transforms into a pumpkin patch and corn maze, so for the Halloween season, September and October, it'll be the great spot for families to visit with their kids for the pumpkin patch, but older kids and adults will love going through the corn maze. I don't know if they've released the image yet from, they do those great, I don't know what you call it, they even help me out Cassidy, what's it called? Yeah, where they carve into the corn stalks, the maze is an image of some sort, yeah. So it's different every year, so if you've been once, you haven't seen this year's, you know, maze, so lots to do, and it's really, I think people are looking for, maybe it's pumpkin spice, I don't know what people are really looking forward to fall for, but. (laughing) - Hey, you know what, and beer and fall go really well. Beer and summer goes really well too, you know. - Yeah, beer and winter, beer and spring, yeah. - Yeah, yeah, sounds good to me. So Cassidy, you've got another big event that involves beer and wine, right? - Yes, we have our crush party coming up on October 11th. We're gonna have over 50 vendors from all across the San Joaquin Valley there, lots of wineries from all around, even as far as Napa, we have a couple who are involved, and then microbreweries that are local. So everyone comes together and they give out samples, so it's awesome for the foodie and the winey person to just walk around and, you know, have as much, the whole smorgasborg, and you get to mingle, and there's entertainment, so there'll be music, live music happening, and we do have a grand prize of 109 bottles of wine, a big wine tree, and so if you're lucky, you might come home with that. - I think you should just give it to me. (laughing) I mean, really, I can put it in the car and take it around the countryside and have a bottle a day, I don't know. - It's a lot of bottles of wine to fit in your car. - Yeah, it's a good, it's a good, like, you know, you're supposed to have a glass of wine a day, it's good for our heart health, but apparently not more than that. But I'm all for that, and cake and wine go well, I'm just saying. And then we have to celebrate the parks, you know, birthday, and we should be doing that all August, as far as I'm concerned. August is a good birthday month, I am just saying, but anyways, so that's cool. - The OC is a baby, and Jan all proceeds to that event go to the COS Foundation and to the educational part of the chamber, what we do with those programs. So it all goes back to students in education. And so. - Okay. - It feels good, you know, too. - Mine's a little lost though. - Yeah, it's a win-win. - I like that, I like that. I do wanna close up with the Dark Sky Festival 'cause you were talking about, you know, Ranger programs in the evenings, Cynthia, which I think is really cool because we forget about parks at night. And so much goes on. You never know what goes bump in the night, but if you look up, you might see some amazing stars in the Milky Way. So tell us a little bit about the Dark Sky Festival this year. - Yeah, the Dark Sky Festival is scheduled for September 6th through the 8th. And it's a partnership event between Sequoia Parks Conservancy and Sequoia and Keith's Canadian National Parks. There's a lot of great programming. Our Dark Sky's programs are really, you know, really popular and really something everyone should experience. Just the dark skies up in the mountains up at these higher elevations. There's just something different that you don't get to experience at either lower elevations in the city or community that you may live in. It's something different and unique and something that's really special about these parks. And so there's a star party that happens every year where you can go behind Rooksace Lodge and just tell us huge telescopes. And, you know, we have really people who are just experts in this field who are there to guide you and really guide you to what you should look for and let you know what you're looking at, what galaxies, what stars, and what planets you're looking at. And so really special programming is we'll be announced soon on the Sequoia Parks Conservancy website. But really save those dates. It's a really special weekend in the parks. And there's dark sky programs throughout the parks, not just in the giant forest. So really recommend putting that on your calendar. - Okay, last question. It is August is National Sandwich Month and Panini Month. Okay, so I know we talked about picnics last one, last time you were on the show, but I wanna know where you're going for a sandwich that says, okay, this is Tulare County goodness, right? And you can take it on a picnic. If you're gonna go have a picnic with it, I wanna know where you're going. But let's talk sandwiches because a good sandwich is like the best, right? So let's go to you Cynthia. Where are you going for a sandwich? Are you taking it into the park for a picnic? Are you gonna stay in the restaurant? Where are you going? - There's no sandwich like a Sierra sub sandwich for three rivers. If you're staying here, are you driving through recommended if they're open? You need to stop Icyra subs. It's one of our treasures here in the area. And definitely taking it into the park. I mean, I work in the park, so even if I bring it to the office, it's considered having a sandwich in the parks, but I would take it up to Giant Forest. I would take it, you know, to Crescent Meadow. I think that's a quieter area. There's picnic tables, or you just kind of find just a log somewhere on the trail and enjoy your sandwich there. - Yep, and do not share it with the bear. Or if you do, you better run back. Yeah, you better run. I'm just kidding. Don't do that either. Do not do that. Do not listen to Lisa on this podcast. Okay, so Cassidy, where are you going with your sandwich? Or where are you gonna get your sandwich? And are you staying in the restaurant? - I will probably get my sandwich from Bravo Farms. There's one here in Tulare and in Vicellia. So you have options. - And in Traver, yeah. - And in Traver, yeah. So, and then I would go up, I would probably hike up to Morro Brock and just sit somewhere on the edge of a rock somewhere safe. Cause I know we're not allowed to go too far, you know, off the shelf. (laughing) - Oh, just look at the park ranger on the show. You gotta walk. - I know. I know. - We have safety, a safety segment next month. I think it's happening. - Okay. - I think so. - And then I would just look at that great Western divide and eat my sandwich. (laughing) - Sounds good. That's a good view. I mean, you have to have a good sandwich for that. Don't know, no thin little, no. No, we want the sandwich, the sandwich. Okay, so Suzanne, what about you? - Well, I thought the top of the Darling Hotel at Elderwood Restaurant, and you could sit outside and look out toward this year in Nevada mountains and dream about what you'll see up in the national parks. But I probably would go to Pita Gabab across the street from the Darling and get a sandwich there. They have a gastropub and they have a market and the market they'll make some great sandwiches with a wonderful patio that you can sit out at and have your lunch and a great craft beer. So that might be where I would choose to go. - Oh, and being up at the top too, if you go up to the Darling Hotel, then you have the view of Downtown Bicellia, which is charming too. So yeah, can I say a taco is a sandwich, right? So I could go on the flying, I want to go on the flying taco. I'm sorry, I haven't got quite past that, but I did have wonderful sandwich at Hazel's across the street from the flying taco. But I was going to say cookies too, you could have the flying taco taco and then you could go across the Hazel's and have cookies. This sounds good. - Desserts, they're the best. - Yeah, every sandwich gets to have a cookie. So anyway, it's very important. Thank you all for joining us. Everyone, discover this at Quiz.com is the main website. Thank you ladies, take care and we'll talk next month. - Bye guys. - Thank you everyone. - Thanks for having me. - Thank you for joining us here on Big Blend Radio's California Sequoia Country Show. New episodes air every first Thursday at 4 p.m. Pacific time. You can keep up with the show at bigblendradio.com, but also plan your Tulare County Escape. Go to discover the sequoias.com. (upbeat music)
