Best Western Hi-Desert Inn Tonopah

We are in a little town called Tonopah, our halfway stop between Las Vegas and Mono Lake. It is clearly a trucker's town, not much going on here apart from motels, a couple of gambling halls and drinking joints.

We checked into the Tonopah Motel, which is a typical dingy motel, just like the ones they portray in the movies!!! Definitely cheap ...

... Point, and a quick dip of the toes in Tenaya Lake, then back on the road.

We had to then go into Yosemite Valley, which was new territory for us, to go back out on highway 140 to Midpines. The road fell from over 9950 feet at Tioga Pass to a little over 4000 feet. My ears were really painful! The views were fab, but we just needed to get there and stop!

We had to make a little detour, as a huge landside had demolished ...

... headed back up to Horseshoe Lake. This is definitely a strange place. There are loads of dead trees, which we assumed at first, was due to a forest fire. Instead it turned out they had died as a result of carbon dioxide poisoning. The place is full of carbon dioxide gas! There are warnings not to lay face down in the area! This gas is a result of the volcanic activity underground! Wow! We followed on with this ...

... hard to say good-bye to new friends, to a place that surrounded me with beauty every moment of the day and night, and while keeping me busy, still offered a calm and peaceful respite from a life that had become much too frantic and rushed - the opposite of mindfullness. The ocean pulls me ever more strongly, each visit I make. Driving back, I almost got on the wrong freeway entrance. I am not used to going east! My last day of work, I finally got word ...

... and they've just built a massive hanger bigger than any hanger ever built ever in the history of hangers. So something weird is going on there. We also passed the dirt track leading to the "Deadly force authorised" signs - although we didn't fancy the 40 mile round trip down dirt tracks to get to them! So instead we had a beer and watched the dust devils float across the valley.

... below sea level. It was interesting going from over 3,000 feet to 190 feet below sea level to back over 3000 feet. After driving through the valley, we went to Scotty's Castle. Scotty lied about a mine he had in Death Valley that got him into a partnership with another man named Johnson? The two built a small mansion in a canyon that empties into the valley. A natural spring provided cooling and hydroelectricity when work began back ...

... was more of a flicker. No matter, there was plenty of us to do as long as you like walking, fresh air and the somewhat over hyped threat of being mauled by a bear. I should point out that it is the threat that is over hyped rather than the experience, although I'm no expert thankfully. First thing you do on check in is watch a video of lots of bears breaking into cars to steal picnic baskets and such like. Then you get the bear lecture and a key to your bear ...

... lunch on a deck with views - instead, the patio is poorly situated for dining experience, with views of the gondola wheels, and rock climbing area). After we were stuffed, we opted for the shortest of the hikes - 1.6 miles to the vista points. Being out of shape, high altitude, and intense heat made it difficult to climb, but we made it to the top. I will upload the some of the photos shortly, and you will ...

... hour valley tour. We rode in open air busses to all of the waterfalls, stopping to dip our feet in the cool rivers and enjoy the wonderful vistas. We learned that Yosemite Falls is the tallest waterfall in North America. We learned that although called "black" bears, the Yosemite bears can also be brown and blonde. We were also shown the old, narrow stage coach road. We were told that if two stage coaches met ...

As we approached some vacant run-down buildings on the flat barren land that stretched as far as we could see, I scrambled to find my dad's oversized watch to put on my wrist and synchronize it with the clock in the car. My intent was to stay abreast of my alien abduction status (lost minutes on your watch means abduction likely occurred, so says X-Files). We turned the corner and I pressed my face against the window for the entire 96 miles of our travels on Southern ...