I woke John up at 5:30 this morning. Wow. We took showers and packed up. Once on the road we stopped for groceries for Yosemite at this little grocery store near the hotel. If we had gotten the Tilapia our ice chest would have overflowed. We did get a pepper grinder. We have been making do for pepper with this ancient salt and pepper shaker that the spices are stuck to the inside. Plus I have been keeping extra salt and pepper packets from McDonald’s.
Next - car wash. We went to a cool sounding place - Buggy Wash. The bugs were off and windows were clean. Great job!
Next, gas. Gas prices in Nevada are high. Not as high as California though. John paid $3.96 for gas. They advertise the cash price here.
Finally on our way at about 9:00. We decided to take a slight detour so I could see Lake Tahoe. Boy did that scramble John’s GPS’ (TomTom) brains. The water of the lake was such a deep blue. It was not easy to get a picture of because of all the trees around the lake, but l managed to get a couple. What was amazing is that we followed the shore in Nevada and then suddenly it was California. The difference was the casinos. They were there on one side of the street and not there on the other. We were entertained for a long time by the TomTom telling us to turn around, when we knew we wanted to come into Yosemite from the east not the west. It kept pushing back our arrivial time when if we didn’t go back it would be shorter.
The colors of the mountains changed to more grey and suddenly ahead of us was Mono lake. It had a bittersweet sense about it. The water of this lake is very alkaline, and the area seems very barren, yet somehow beautiful.
We began our ascent into Tioga pass area. The mountains took on a greener hue and whiile it was very rugged, more and more trees seemed to appear out of rock. As we approached Yosemite, there were two waterfalls on the left.
We entered Yosemite and went to the visitor’s center at Tuolomne Meadows. There were meadows, lakes, streams and lots of trees. The meadows are pretty flat and it would make for a pretty easy hike, but there are lots of mosquitos.
We stopped for lunch by the side of the road, and then stopped Olmsted where I saw something in the distance and pointed it out to John. I said, “Look at that little curvy bump!” Turns out it was Half Dome in the distance. Which I am climbing tomorrow.
We continued on our way, stopping from time to time for pictures. We went through tunnels and John honked his horn, just like he did in Zion, just like his Dad did, and just like my Dad did. It was fun. Zion tunnels had holes cut out as view points as you pass by which were cool, especially since there were no lights in the tunnel.
We got quite a surprise when we checked into Curry Village. We had reserved a tent cabin there, which was a bit pricey. If you don’t have a tent, or mattress, or grill, or tuhbs to organize all your stuff, these tent cabins are perfect. They have cots, with linens, a safe, electricity, and screened windows. You can walk around in them. The bathrooms have showers, and only one broken potty, but that’s another story. However, you have to put everything you brought that is food or has a scent in the bear locker. Everything. So for us, that meant the cooler, the food tuhb, the food bag, the toiletry tuhb, the toiletry kit, the coffee, everything. Plus, you have to park pretty far away.
On top of that there is no cooking in the village. We will have to take our grill and food and dishes to a picnic site to cook our dinner and eat. The village is really set up for eating in their restaurants.
We then went to the Visitor center, and barely made it there before it closed at 5:00. There are so many people here that you have to park about a 15 minute walk from the center. There are shuttles but we haven’t gotten the hang of them quite yet. I got my stamp and we had a chance to ask some questions.
We did go to a picnic spot and make fajitas. There was a meadow on one side, right in front of Glacier Point, and forrest behind us. It was a very nice picnic.
I had to confess to John that I was being a bit grumpy because of the upcoming hike. I’m worried I won’t make it, and I really want to. I’m worried I will slow him down and keep him from making it. I know I’m putting all this pressure on myself, and he helped me focus on the imporant thing - we will be hiking together and we will be having fun.
We made the regular get-ready-for-bed noises, being careful to put all our stuff in the bear locker. Tomorrow, we do it! Half Dome!
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