California native Rosemary McClure likes to say she was born with a suitcase in her hand. A longtime travel writer for the Los Angeles Times, she loves globetrotting as much as she loves sharing her world-wide finds with others. One of her favorite destinations, however, isn't far from her Long Beach, Calif. home -- Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks -- a majestic mountain loop that offers spectacular waterfalls, deep canyons, vast caverns and the world's largest trees.

Photojournalist and writer Jim Edwards has been published in newspapers and magazines such as the Washington Post, New York Times and Sports Illustrated for more than 25 years. The Riverside, Calif., resident first visited the great National Parks of his native California in the 1970s, and has since enjoyed America's "best idea" from coast to coast.