Out West - Part II

When we last left our intrepid heroes they were battling Montezuma's revenge in the Mission. Usually I steer clear of gastronomic discussions on the internet and I can't imagine this is going to make more inclined to read the rest of this post, but the water in the San Fran Bay Area isn't always kind to the system of us, Eastcoasters. But I digress . . . so our last day in SF was spent seeing some of the city's more distinctive neighborhoods. We breakfasted in the Mission, lunched in the Castro, and thriftshopped in the Haight. Nick departed in the afternoon and Amanda and I picked up our rental car so that we could leave first thing the morning for Yosemite.




The next morning, we drove across the Bay Bridge at dawn, escaping all traffic. Despite Amanda's best internet-research efforts, we were unsure what we were going to do in Yosemite. We hoped to snowshoe thinking that hiking wouldn't be a possibility. We didn't know where we'd rent snowshoes, whether we'd need snowchains to traverse the roads, or if we'd have enough daylight to do anything.

Turns out, we were worried for nothing. The drive was an hour shorter than we thought, the roads were clear of snow, and we didn't need snowshoes to enjoy the park. After conferring at the visitor center, we set out on the trail to Upper Yosemite Falls. It looks kind of like THIS!!!




Yosemite was blessedly empty and the weather was great. After our hike, we rushed to a clearing in the valley for a view of Half Dome at sunset.




After the sunset we drove around some of the campgrounds and spied a wolf and, in the next moment, an elk in its path. We captured the scene here. Its very blurry but it has notes pointing out the animals. The next morning before leaving the park, Amanda and I did some more exploring and saw Mirror Lake and the Happy Isles.



Then we drove south towards Sequoia and Kings Canyon Nat'l Parks. The road out of the valley provided a fantastic view. And more wildlife right beside the road.