Cold & Rainy Days In Yosemite

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Trip Start Sep 15, 2007 Previous
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  Wawona, California, United States
Monday, October 22, 2007

From Sequoia/King's Canyon, Allison I started driving north toward Yosemite. Along the way, we stopped in Fresno to do some grocery shopping. While we were shopping I began to notice my chest was itching. Eventually, my entire body was itching, but I didn't have a rash and my skin looked completely normal. To this day Allison and I cannot figure out what it was, but it plagued me for the next three or four days. Allison doesn't think it was poison oak or ivy since there was no rash. My theory is that it had to do with a mystery bar of soap I used while taking a shower that morning. Lesson of the Day: Don't use unknown bars of soap in public showers. We couldn't make it to Yosemite before dark so we decided to camp at a place just before it called Bass Lake. Though, our map clearly showed a campground we could not find one anywhere. We drove around in the dark for a long time before going to a small fishing tackle/grocery store and asking for directions. We didn't get to the campground until late. We were both so tired we skipped dinner, and went to bed. We didn't pay the fee that night, so Allison went to check how much it was in the morning. It was $21! The hosts were supposed to come around and collect it, but they never did while we were there, so we sorta left without paying. We may be wanted fugitives in the state of California now. When we got to Yosemite we took a short walk to Bridal Veil Falls and then got a campsite. They had strict bear regulations like Sequoia. There was a sign at the campground that said they had 456 bear incidents this year causing over $82,000 in property damage. It rained the whole evening and into the night. Though, it probably wasn't our coldest night of the journey, it sure felt like it. The next day we hiked up to Vernal Falls. It was a really steep trail. The trail was crowded and there was construction on the other side of the small valley so it was really hard to feel like we were out in nature but the falls were really cool. The Yosemite Valley is really developed for a national park. It feels like your in the middle of a town or city. I've been told the east side is a nicer place to visit, because it is more quiet and less developed. But we didn't have time to go there, and the bus doesn't have the strength to climb over the Sierra-Nevada Range again. While hiking on the Vernal Falls trail we bumped into someone I worked with in Glacier. Small world! After another cold night in Yosemite, we set out for my brother's house in Anderson, CA. We took CA 49. It was a beautiful drive through the rolling foothills of the Sierras, and we passed through many cool small towns, but the road was so winding we didn't get nearly as far as we had hoped. With night closing in we decided to stay in a motel in a town called Auburn, where we gorged ourselves on pizza. The next day we continued to drive toward my brother Mike's house. We made a brief stop in Chico at the Sierra Nevada Brewery to get some lunch and then drove to Anderson. Since then we've been hanging out at my brother and his girlfriend Heather's house, eating excellent homemade food (it will be hard to go back to chili-mac), getting are butts kicked at horseshoes, and playing with their farm animals. Yesterday, they welcomed a new calf to the household! Tomorrow morning we are headed for the Redwoods and the California coast. I can't wait to spend the next few days listening to the ocean and combing the beach for treasure!
Silas

It seems like it's been so long since our last entry, I don't even know where to start! Like Silas said, the night we left Sequoia/Kings Canyon it took us forever to find a campground. We drove around for quite a while and finally just stopped and asked and were directed to a campground nearby. It was already dark when we got there-which I really don't like. If it's already dark you don't know what's around you and I always feel uneasy when I don't have a feel for my surroundings. I wasn't hungry and I was happy to hear that Silas wasn't either so we wouldn't have to spend time making dinner and then washing dishes (or, if it's up to me- waiting to do dishes till morning, and then wishing I had done them the night before) The next morning we needed to gas up before heading into Yosemite, so we headed back into Oakhurst and got gas, had breakfast, and got some coffee. While we were sitting there eating I noticed a truck that had pulled into the parking lot and kept opening and closing its door, but nobody was getting out. There were a bunch of birds in the parking lot, and I finally realized that the man that was in the truck was opening the door every time the birds would get close to him to try to scare them away. Silas and I watched this for about 5 minutes and even when we left the guy was still sitting there shooing away the birds.
We spent the next two days at Yosemite, and I have to say- it's not my favorite park out of the ones we've been to. I'm not totally writing it off though- I think a big part of it had to do with the weather- it was COLD and rainy almost the whole time we were there. And also, I think we were in the area that most people go to, next time I think we'll have to just skip the valley altogether.
The day we were leaving I took a shower at Camp Curry- kind of a little village with cabins, stores, restaraunts, etc. Silas had taken a shower the night before and found out that they were free and there was no time limit, so I was VERY excited at the thought of finally warming up. Unfortunaltely, the showers weren't hot. I'm not saying that they were cold, but definitely on the colder side of luke-warm. While I was in there I could hear other people starting their showers and making comments about how the water wasn't warming up, and I could hear moms making their kids take showers and the kids were actually crying because they were so cold. It was not pleasant...I think I would have rather stayed dirty if I had known.
We left Yosemite and drove all day and finally decided to stay in a motel that night. We were kind of thinking that if we got there by 7:00, we could watch Survivor, but we didn't get there till about 7:30, so we just downloaded it like usual. (we still haven't watched it though, so don't say anything!) The next day we drove to Silas' brother's house which is where we've been for the past couple days. Silas' brother and his brother's girlfriend have been totally spoiling us with their homemade/homegrown food. Fresh fruit and veggies from their garden, home made salsa and sauces, even home made sausage. Yum! Oh, and tonight I FINALLY got ahold of Jenny! We've been playing phone tag for the past month, just leaving messages on each other's voice mail, but tonight I finally caught her. It was really nice to hear about what's been going on in Missoula since we've been gone. One thing that was kind of cool was that she was actually on her way over to my house to water my plants when I called, so I was talking to her while she was in my apartment. Weird!
Tomorrow we'll be heading for the coast- I'm hoping the weather is going to be as nice there as it is here. (low to mid 80's) We're planning on just staying in one spot while we're there, which I'm definitely looking forward to. It should be a nice, relaxing week!
Allison

Post your own travel photos for friends and family Pictures

Horseshoes	Yosemite Valley	Driving in Yosemite	Silas at falls
Someone took our picture	Hike to Vernal Falls	Allison at falls	Vernal Falls
Stairs up cliff	Lunch spot	On top of falls	Feeding the calf

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