Your job: Decide to get out of town and fast. Our job: Help you find where you're headed. This week, NBCLA's Worth the Drive takes us to...
Wuksachi Lodge: That's just its short name. The hotel's full name may reveal where it is: The Wuksachi Sequoia Lodge. Okay, we gave it away.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: They're all around you. The sequoias? Remarkable. We can't add anything to that one-word summary, except to say that the largest tree on earth -- a noble specimen called the General Sherman -- is just about five hours away from LA. So close. See it.
Peak-adjacent poshness: The lodge is described, on its site, as "an upscale mountain resort," and that fits. It has plenty of Mission touches, the burnished coppers and warm woods, and a dining room with some truly massive windows. Was that a baby deer? Shhh.
The dining room: Elegant entrees meet campire-close eats. We enjoyed a hefty burger there years ago, with a slab of melty cheese we remember being about the size of the park pass taped to our car's windshield. A large slice. Pot-holder-size-ish.
Drive: Sometimes we semi-worry that some SoCalers -- not all, mind you -- may hear the word "sequoias" and think it would take a week of driving to reach them. But Three Rivers, the village that sits outside the park's entrance, is just over four hours away. That is only about six albums long, in album-driving math.
Snow: There's a lot up there at the moment -- hello, crunchy cold quiet walks in the woods -- and chains may be needed. Call 559-565-3341 to get info on closures and conditions.
1999: The year the lodge was built. It's been around a decade -- not a century, like a number of park lodges -- but it still feels comfy and lobby-cozy. But distinctly modern as well. It's a pleasing combo that -- shhh. Baby deer.
