Yosemite

September 20 Once again we were on the road this time for a brief tour of Yosemite. This is one place that I would love to be able to hike and explore and see off the beaten path, camp with the climbers in Camp 4 and scale El Capitan with them but it is not to be.

Anyways we climbed back into Yosemite on 120 and took the turn off for the main visitors center off 41. We dropped down into the valley along the Merced River and found the parking lot.

 There were lots and lots and lots and lots of people here. The place has its own bus systems. After getting parked up, we took the ten minute walk to the visitors center. Maybe I have been in so many of these places that they all seem about the same but lacking at the same time. There is information but in little bit sized pieces that are dumbed down into cutesy little visual aids.

 After looking at the visitors center and getting the stamp and post cards, we went back to the trailer. As I was pulling out of the lot, I had to stop for some pedestrians and one young lady looked at the license plate and then mined O-H with her arms. I yelled I-O out the window and she gave me the thumbs up. It made my day.
We stopped just up the road so we could take the board walk through the meadow and enjoy the sites of Yosemite.

Half Dome

The two rocks above are Cathedral Rocks

 Below is Yosemite Falls. The falls are powered by snow melt and since this is September, we're a little late in the year to see even a trickle of water.

 A company called Escapes rents these coolly painted camper vans. We have seen them in a lot of places in California.

 We went out on the little bridge over the Merced and captured this great shot of Half Dome.

A picture of El Cap. Lots of climbers were up on the rock wall.

After lunch among the peaceful sleeping granite, we headed for the exit and started the climb out of the valley headed for Fresno. The bearings were starting to squeak and gave a burning smell as we rounded one of the steep corners. I knew they all needed to be greased so I began to look for a place to pull over. There is a long tunnel and a pull off before it but it was full so we continued through and found a large pull off on the other side. Becky and I greased up the bearings and we continued on our way. Here are a few pics she shot while I was digging out the grease gun. 

El Capitan

El Cap and Half Dome.

 Once we got out of the snake that was 41 and dropped out of the mountains, we were back in the desert with tumbleweeds and everything. The road straightened out and I was able to put on the cruise control. We stopped at a road side fruit stand and I snapped this pic just north of Fresno.

We ended up at Blackstone North RV Park. I highly recommend this place. It has nice paved sites and it was quiet. Full hook ups and cable tv!