Left Hanging

I am so sorry that I didn't finish our trip blog earlier.  Here's the end of the trip in a nutshell:

We were supposed to stay in Lee Vining until Sunday.  We woke up Saturday morning and had a hard time coming up with something to do.  We drove the June Lake Loop, which is a 16 mile loop around four lakes about 5 miles from where we were staying.  Including stopping for breakfast, this took us about an hour and a half. 

We then drove up to the top of Tioga Pass back in Yosemite.  We didn't plan this in our trip, but that weekend was free National Park weekend.  The park was busier then when we had stayed there earlier.  All together, that took us an hour.

Back at our cabin at 1:00pm I looked at Scott and said "what should be do now?".  At the same time, we both said "head home!"  I ran down to the front desk and asked if we could still check out and not have to pay for Saturday night.  She said no problem, credited my credit card, and told me that we have about 15 minutes before the maid went home so we needed to hurry.

Suddenly we were on our way home.  We stopped at a camera shop in Carson City, and again in Reno, to pick up some filters we had used in our photography class earlier.  We also stopped for dinner and at Scheels in Reno.  Back on the road, we were set to arrive home late.  Luckily we were able to get the UofO game on satellite radio so that killed part of the drive.

We spent Sunday doing laundry, grocery shopping, and putting things away.  It was so nice to have that extra day at home before heading back to work.

Yes, back to work.  Two days down, three more to go this week.  I am excited though because we are having friends from out of town visit tomorrow night!

One last picture from our trip.  If you look close, you can see that the first "E" in Yosemite is made of duct tape.

Thanks for joining us on this journey.  I am going to try to keep this blog going on a regular basis.  Don't hold me to that, but if you have a few minutes, and nothing better to do, check back.

The Devil’s in the Details – September 24, 2010

Scott got one of those National Park Passports, you know the ones you get stamped when you go to a National Park, a National Monument, a National …. This has become his new obsession. Reading the maps for this area, he discovered the Devil’s Postpile National Monument is not very far from here and he decided this was where we were going today.

One thing about this time of year, we seem to be in between two seasons; the summer season and the winter season. Devil’s Postpile is located in Mammoth Lakes, California. Mammoth Lakes is a busy tourist town. In the summer you have to ride a shuttle all around town. In the winter, it’s even busier and the shuttle makes even more stops farther up the mountain. We came in too late for the summer season and too early for the winter season. There is no shuttle running right now. We got to drive right to our hiking trailhead.

The trail to Devil’s Postpile is only about .4 miles from the parking lot. It’s only about 70 degrees here today, be it feels much hotter against the rocks. Devil’s Postpile gets its name because the rocks separated in such a perfect manner that pioneers said it could only be the work of the devil. It is quite amazing to see the perfection in the way the rocks broke apart.

The perfect rock formations at Devil's Postpile

The perfect hikers at Devil's Postpile

After that hike, we drove about a mile down the road and hiked into Rainbow Falls. The hike to the falls wasn’t so bad because it was all downhill. Unfortunately, that means that it’s all uphill on the way back. The waterfall runs about the same all year long because it is feed by melting snow, and surprisingly, there is still a fair amount of snow in these mountains.

Can you see the rainbow in Rainbow Falls?

We stopped at several of the stores in Mammoth Lakes on our way back through. I left Scott in the local camera shop talking to the photographer, who seemed to have a lot to say, while I went to the bookstore. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get him out of there. We did manage to get out of the store, but the photographer followed us. I started to think he was coming with us.

Mammoth Lake Village is full of fun sculptures

We have drove by this a couple of times and each time Scott wanted to stop.  Finally today we stopped for a picture.  By the way, Smokey (and Scott) say "only you can prevent forest fires!

As with the change of season, a lot of the local businesses will close down this weekend. I guess this place is not very busy during the winter months. I am glad we came at this time of year; no crowds and some great end of season sales at the shops!

Show Me A Good Time – September 23, 2010

Scott made a comment yesterday that he never gets to choose where we spend the day. To that, I handed him the visitor directory and gave him the reins to plan the day. Boy, does my husband know how to show me a good time!

After breakfast, we drove south on Hwy 395 to the town of Lone Pine. This was quite the drive. I am pretty sure it ended being about 100 miles one way. By the way, there wasn’t much to see for 100 miles.

Just before we got to Lone Pine, we stopped at the Manzanar National Monument. This area was used as a relocation center during World War II. Not much is left of the buildings, but the visitor center was an amazing display of the life at the center. In addition to the visitor center, we drove around the grounds taking the auto tour.

Walking to the Visitor Center.  This whole area was covered with barracks that held approximately 10,000 Japenese during World War II

The monument created by the Japenese while they were living here

We then continued on to Lone Pine. Our first stop was the film museum in Lone Pine. They had props and movie posters for over 400 movies filmed in Lone Pine and the Alabama Hills. Most of the movies were old westerns. The museum was kinda cheesy, but it was worth the visit.

Visiting the film museum

My hero!!!

We didn’t realize until we got Lone Pine, but Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States is also located here. We went up a road that takes you to the base camp for all the hikers going to the top. The base camp is located at about 8,500 ft so that means it’s quite a hike to the top at 14,505 feet.

This is as close as we got to the top of Mt. Whitney

On the way back down the road, we drove through the Alabama Hills to the famous arch located there. The arch appears in several movies, none of which I had ever heard of.

Does this arch look familiar to anyone else?

The Alabama Hills were fun to hike around in

How does my husband top all of this adventure? He took me to the Mobile gas station for dinner. Yes, I said the mobile gas station! Actually, they have a really good restaurant located in the mini-mart, and I have the t-shirt to prove it. It was really busy. I think it was busy because they usually have live music on Thursday nights, but I think that ended last week.

I’ll be sure to ask Scott what he wants to do tomorrow!

Travel Back in Time – September 22, 2010

There is surprisingly a lot to do around the area of Lee Vining. We stopped by the Chamber of Commerce and the lady there was so nice and she gave us a whole list of things to see and placed to go. Now we have to narrow it down.

We started out by going to the ghost town of Bodie. We have been to ghost towns before and have learned to not expect much. Maybe a couple of buildings, some piles of rocks, a few markers of what used to be there. Wow, Bodie was so much more. There are approximately 70 labeled buildings, and equally that amount of non-labeled buildings. In its heyday in the 1880’s, Bodie boasted a population of about 10,000 people. Most of them worked in the gold/silver mines or in the town. By 1910 most of the mine had stopped producing and the town was abandoned. The mine was shut down in 1938.

Some of the buildings in Bodie

Scott standing by the Fire Station

Me standing by the local prostitute's house

We took advantage of the mill tour. I had no idea how a mine worked and how they milled the gold and silver out of the rock. The tour was an experience in itself. The woman who gave the tour pretended to be the mill owner’s wife in 1905 and we were all new employees. As we went through the process of how the mill worked and what the different jobs were, we had to decide if it was the job we were going to take. I decided at the end that I would find a man who worked in the mine and be his wife. That would be a whole lot easier than the jobs she explained.

Listening to some of the job descriptions

We then spent sunset at the Mono Lake Tufa Towers. One of Mono Lake’s most characteristic features is the tufa towers that line its shores. Because the lake has no outlet, trace amounts of salts and minerals brought into the lake by freshwater streams have accumulated over the centuries, leaving Mono Lake with a salinity two to three times that of the Pacific Ocean. Tufa formations are the result of the combination of minerals in fresh and salt water. Over the years the calcium carbonate solidifies into rocky towers.

Some of the Tufa Towers

Waiting for the sun to set

Everyone else waiting for the sun to set

Scott thought it would be nice to go out at sunset and take pictures of the Tufas. He wasn’t the only one who had this idea. There were at least 100 other people lining the shores to take pictures. This included an entire tour bus of people on a photography tour. In the end, the sun set behind a cloud and the whole thing was anticlimactic. At least we can say we tried.

It was a beautiful moon rise and a great way to spend the last few hours of summer

So many choices for things to do tomorrow.

On Top of the World – September 21, 2010

Being on vacation for a week has caught up with us. Between the two of us, we had one clean pair of underwear. I let you figure out who won that coin toss.

We spent the morning making several trips to load the car. I am really not sure where all these bags came from. We then spent two hours doing laundry at the public laundry mat, catching up on our blog, writing a few postcards, and regrouping.

Doing laundry (it was a slow picture day!)

After seven days in Yosemite, we left the park today and drove east. The drive took us through the park, over Tioga Road. Tioga Road is the highest road in the Sierra Nevada range. Our destination for the next five nights is the town of Lee Vining, California.

The summit of Tioga Road

Leaving Yosemite

Going down Tioga Road.  Not much to see.

We got here last night around 5:30pm and checked into the Lake View Lodge Cozy Cabin #14C. I will post pictures later of our cozy cabin. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the Wawona Hotel. The history of the place was amazing. I even survived the shared public bathrooms and showers. But now we have our own small kitchen, which I used to cook dinner last night. We have our own bathroom. We have internet, which means we don’t have to drive to post our blog. We even have TV. Yes, I am happy that I got to see the season premiere of Glee last night.

Scott is finishing breakfast and then we are heading out into town (a block away from here) to find out what all there is to do and to plan the next few days. By the looks of it, it should take about 20 minutes to see the entire town.

Divide and Conquer – September 20, 2010

Normally we don’t spend a vacation day going our separate ways, but we decided that we had different priorities for Monday. Scott really wanted to climb Half Dome while we were here, and I really wanted to read my bookclub book. (I’m not fooling anyone, I know I can’t even hike the trail to Half Dome, let alone climb the dome).

Scott headed out about 3:30am from our hotel. He was nice enough to set off the car alarm, twice!, prior to leaving, so everyone knew he was leaving. He arrived at the parking lot about 5:00am and had to hike about a mile just to meet up with the trailhead. The Valley Shuttle stops at the trailhead, but it doesn’t start running until later in the morning.

This is Half Dome taking the day before Scott's hike.  The trail starts at the bottom right and winds through the valley, ending up on the back side of the dome where the cable system is.

Once he got to the trailhead, the hike to Half Dome is just over 8 miles one way. The last 700 feet of the hike is straight up a cable system that was put in place in the 1920’s. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday you have to have a permit to hike the cable system because it gets so busy. The permits are $5 and are sold out six months in advance. Because Scott hiked on Monday, he didn’t need a permit.

Getting ready to climb the cable system

The view from the top!

Proof that Scott was there.

After climbing the cable system, Scott was feeling pretty daring!

Made it back down the cable system!

People die every year on the cable system. Last year, one guy died because he got impatient and went outside the system, and another guy died from someone above falling and taking him out on the way down. It wasn’t busy when Scott was going up, but coming down it was busier so he used a rope system to tie onto the handles. People are both going up and down on the same system and it gets pretty scary in some places.

He got back to the hotel about 5:30pm, and was nice enough to bring pizza from the Village. It was such a nice change from the dining room food!

Me, I spent the day doing exactly what I wanted to. I slept in, read my book, walked around and took pictures, read my book, visited the pioneer/history museum, and read my book. It was quiet at the hotel in the afternoon and the weather was perfect. It was a great way to spend the last day here.

The old stagecoach ticket office in the pioneer museum

The last of the summer flowers at the hotel

Enjoying a good book!

Tomorrow is laundry, grocery shopping, and driving across the park to the East side. We can’t wait to see what is over there!

Another Dam Tourist Spot – September 19, 2010

We drove to the Northwest corner of the park, to view the Hetch Hetchy Valley. John Muir called the Hetch Hetchy Valley “a wonderfully exact counterpart of the great Yosemite Valley”. In the 1880’s the Hetch Hetchy Valley had been looked at as a potential site for a new reservoir. The fight to stop the dam would go on for 30 years. The 1906 earthquake and fires that devastated San Francisco were the deciding factor. The O’Shaughnessy Dam was completed in 1923, with additional height being completed in 1938. Today, the 117-billion-gallon reservoir supplies water to 2.4 million Bay Area residents. It also supplies hydro-electric power generated by two plants located downstream.

The O'Shaughnessy Dam from the upper road

It's pretty scary standing on the top of the dam looking down

The Hetch Hetchy Valley, and the dam built there, are controversy to this day. We have noticed that whenever this topic comes up, everyone has an opinion. Some say the dam should be removed and the Hetch Hetchy Valley should be restored to what it could have been. Others say to leave the dam. Removing it would just create another valley overcrowded with tourists and shops. Still, others say that it is the prime example of why there should be a dam placed in Yosemite Valley. One thing is for sure; the park service does not take the visitors to this area lightly. Before entering the dam area, you go through a park service entrance where they give you a numbered visitor sign to put in the front window of your car. The hours to the dam are limited and there are signs that state the area may be evacuated immediately in times of heightened security.

The reservior is not open to any kind of swimming or boating.  The lone boat belongs to the National Park Service

Looking down the dam wall

It wasn’t nearly as crowed as some of the other places we visited so far, but it was worth the drive out to see the history and dam itself.

We also stopped for a few minutes to check out the climbers on El Capitan. Over the past few days, there has been a lot of talk around the park of the first man with cerebral palsy to scale El Capitan. They figure it will take him 4-5 days to complete the climb. When we drove through the area where people stop to view the climbers, the cars were pulled over to the side of the road, in some places two cars deep. There were people all over in the meadow with their binoculars and telescopes to check it out. We never did find those climbers, but we did find several other groups.

I am sure that there were a hundred people on the side of the mountian, but we found these two

Our time in this part of the park is wrapping up. We only have one more day here at the Wawona area. The weather has been ideal and we have slept with our window open every night. The days are pleasant and have encouraged us to get out and see the park.

The Long Walk Home – September 18, 2010

Yosemite has an amazing shuttle system and they encourage you to take it everywhere to cut down on the amount of vehicle traffic. This morning we took the shuttle to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. Well, it was Scott and I and an entire shuttle of German tourists. There were others at the shuttle stop, but they were heading to the Yosemite Valley (which is in the other direction) and we told them they had to catch that shuttle at the hotel. They all took off running to catch their shuttle back at the hotel. Little did we know that the shuttle actually stopped at our stop as well. Oops.

Waiting at the shuttle stop with an entire bus load of German tourists.

Once we got to the Grove, which was just about six miles up the road from our hotel, we purchased tickets to ride the guided tram to the Upper Grove. It’s about a 1,400 elevation gain from the lower parking area to the Upper Grove. We decided the tram would be the way to go. The tour was interesting and we got more out of the trip by hearing the history as we went.

Riding on the tram, listening to the history of the grove

Looking up at the giant trees

This tree was carved out so that people could drive through it with a stagecoach full of tourists

Scott standing by the root ball of one of the fallen trees

These trees are so huge it's hard to get a full picture

After the tram tour, we decided that instead of taking the shuttle back, we would walk back to our hotel. It’s an easy 6.3 miles the tram driver said. Yeah, it an easy 6.3 miles from the half way point up to the Upper Grove. We were pretty much committed at that point. So we hiked up to catch the trail to begin the long walk back to our hotel. Up to this point, we were pretty disappointed with the amount of wildlife we had seen in the park. We have more wildlife in our backyard at home, or so we thought.

I know this is blurry, but it's not on any kind of zoom.  This guy came this close to Scott and his camera.

This litte guy followed us for a while during our hike back to our hotel

Of course, our hike is the longest one on the list

Shortly into the hike, a coyote came out of nowhere and crossed the trail right in front of us. I stopped and stared as Scott yelled at me to take a picture. It didn’t click in my mind what he was saying until the coyote was almost gone. Once you reach the actual trail, it’s pretty much all downhill. A couple of miles into this downhill journey, Scott noticed a nice sized black bear eating just off the side of the trail below us. Great! All these things are flashing through my mind. There is no way that I can run the two miles back up the hill. There is no place to go off this trail. We obviously can’t get past the bear without him moving. I have lunch in my pack (which I now believe was a strategic move by Scott from the beginning!). What does Scott do??? He picks up a giant rock and throws it at the bear!! I am pretty sure that isn’t the best way to let a bear know you are there. At this point, I backed up behind a dead tree and waited out most of the events. As I understand it, the bear looked up and Scott and started down the side of the hill, stopping a few times to check him out. I didn’t emerge until the coast was clear and I knew the bear was gone. Needless to say that made the hike even longer knowing that these guys could pop out at any time.

My shot of the coyote right before he got away

This guy is trying to figure out who is throwing rocks at him

Scott was quick to find all of the bear tracks along the trail on the way back

This is me not waiting around.  I was ready to be off this trail and back to our room.

We got back to our hotel and sat around until dinner. The hotel has it made because there is no place else to eat for 20 miles. This was our third night of eating in the dining room. Not the best night. We do really enjoy the piano player who sits in the lobby in the evenings and tells stories while he plays songs. A lot of his songs have to do with Yosemite and camping. We have learned more history from him than anyone else. By the way, he has a CD you can buy at the front desk if you are interested.

In case you are wondering how we are posting to this blog.  We drive about 5 miles up the road from our hotel to a place that rents cabins.  They have free wi-fi, you just have to get close enough to the building.

Posting a blog