November 22nd 2012
Fresno - San Mateo
Again, relatively early start as we had pretty busy schedule
(well, plans). We had coffee and J. had some breakfast at the motel. And we
left into horrible fog. We could see more then one city block. There was almost
no traffic (Thanksgiving). We were already on the road to Yosemite
(road number 41). We were just hoping, that the fog will be gone, otherwise we
would not see anything from the park. As we drove, we crossed small hill and
suddenly, all the fog was gone. There was nice sunny day as far as we could
see. Miracle!
It was about an hour and quarter to the entrance of the
park. We were going up gradually so it was pretty pleasant, as well the views
were nice. We passed though couple of villages (settlements) mostly catering to
tourists and visitors of the park. There was as well the casino.
The park entrance, and more people on the road that we would
expect and like to see.
When we passed the gate, there was an intersection. To the
right was short drive to the Giant trees. As it was still open (it closes in
winter), we drove there and took a walk (about 1.4 miles) to see some big trees
(with names). It was pretty nice, but to our surprise, there was a lot of
people and they were pretty noisy (children).
The end of our walk (not end of trails) was another giant
tree with the doorway cut in the middle. There was some odd couple (see picture
of white fur) looking at it. The information next to the tree was talking about
different approach to tourism in thirties’ etc. To attract people, they cut the
whole in the tree and people could drive through it. Oh well …
Hi from us, again:
Something pretty:
The main part of Yosemite
Park is in the valley,
where we were heading. It was nice drive (again more people then we expected). We
saw covered signs and some closed roads (even it was sunny and there was no
snow). Still, it was something to enjoy.
To enter the valley, there was a tunnel. Without knowing we
are almost there, we stopped and were able to overlook the valley. It was
incredible.
There was another viewpoint just after the tunnel. There we
got another surprise, it was smaller parking lot, but it was full (including
two buses). We looked around (quickly) and were somewhat disappointed by the
number of people.
In a minute, we got to the parking lot of the waterfalls.
Again too many people (I even had to wait in the line for the restroom). Short
walk to see the falls. They were incredibly high, so it was hard to absorb it.
Some couple was climbing the rocks (to get closer) with two small dogs. People
are crazy.
Then we stopped (there was plenty of pull offs and stops) by
the meadows. It was somewhat frosty (and pretty cold outside). It looked really
pretty. We watched the river for a while and then just admired all the beauty
that was surrounding us.
On the way back to the car, we saw this duck playing on the
truck (it is not duck):
We tried to drive through the village, different stations
and campground, but it was confusing and pretty busy. Again, we could not
believe how many people was spending Thanksgiving day in the park. And again,
the incredible landscape and beauty of nature was damaged and stained by
people’s creations. Too bad. Pictures of rock formations along the road and the
gallery in the village.
After we walked around a bit and visited the center, we had
a sandwich in the car and left. It was pretty drive, sun was out and it was
really enjoyable. We stopped few time, J. took some incredible picture and we
did like it.
We had to leave. There was a tunnel again (we were taking
different road) and somewhat different views. It is quite hard to describe the
park (as it is with most of them). It is really amazing and great, but the
settlements and people’s activity are ruining it.
Going, going and going. We were slowly going down and
getting closer to our destination.
We changed our plans (as I said before) and were planning to
arrive in the evening. It got dark, but at that time, we were already on
freeway. And driving. Going. The sky was pretty.
Some lights, few glimpses of cities. Nothing special. We
were getting tired and just looking forward to be finally “home”. We crossed
the toll bridge (five dollars on San
Mateo bridge) and did not have problem to get to our
apartment. The area looked nice. We parked, found the apartment … and did not
find the lockbox. We looked around, read the email again, but there was
nothing.
We were somewhat lost, J. tried to call them, but it was
holiday. At the end, we drove to nearby Denny’s and had a dinner there (J. had
fish and I had a burger). We looked on internet for some cheap motel and ended
up driving to Redwood City.
It was pretty bad. People were noisy and around six in the morning they were
collecting garbage. It sucked again.
And … few miscellaneous pictures:
