Yawn, still tired from the early rising but glad to have done it. Yosemite is an amazing place and thankfully all of the “elite” viewpoints are fairly close together, unlike Yellowstone. We managed to check out El Capitan, Half Dome, Cathedral Rocks, Sentinel Rocks and more – all within the one day.

Started out a bit rocky – figuratively and literally. Turns out Yosemite’s portion of Highway 140 was actually closed some time ago due to a rockslide (picture by Mare):

(yes, that’s a road under there – you can see it on the left side).

Thankfully they have a detour in place, but that is typically a 15 minute delay while you wait for a one lane bridge and roadway to be available.

However, we did make it to Cathedral Beach in time to see the sun come up:

Many great places to see and photograph, including Cathedral Beach, El Capitan Meadow, Cathedral Rocks Vista, Cook’s Meadow, Valley View and of course Tunnel View. Others too, but you’ll have to check out my Flickr feed when it’s up to see all the pics – too many to post here. Here’s a taste at least:

Elm Tree at Cook’s Meadow
Cathedral Rocks
Valley View

Had to “Ansel Adams” at least one pic, just for fun. Here’s the famous Tunnel View at early morning:

Amazing place, I would love to come back in the spring when the falls are running. Summer is a great time to go weather-wise, but by now most of the run-off is done and the falls are non-existant. Spring or winter are definitely the times to come – in fact most books say summer is the worst, photogenically speaking. Oh well, was still pretty spectacular even if not as watery as it could be.

Starting to head towards home tomorrow, although it will take a couple of days. We plan on staying in southern Oregon on the first night, then reaching home the next evening.

Hit the road from Vegas in the morning and headed to Yosemite, CA (OK so maybe we hit a couple slots first, but I’m technically not admitting it).

Drive was relatively uneventful other than some education. As I drive through each state I’m discovering certain tendencies from the local drivers. For example:

– Idaho drivers are reasonably fast
– Utah drivers are scary fast
– Arizona drivers are laid back
– California drivers tailgate, pass on the right, cut you off frequently, speed often and are probably packing

Something like that, but it’s a learning process. I’m sure I’ll really get critical as I go.

So there are a lot of Wind Generators in California:

No really, there are a LOT of Wind Generators in California:

Guess they got tired of stealing our power.

Long drive to Yosemite, well actually Bootjack. Yes, that’s really the name. The B&B that we are staying at (Highland House B&B) lists its address as Mariposa but I think that’s just to stop the cowboys from staying there ;). Not only that, but it is over an hour from Yosemite park and is located at the end of a 2 mile long dirt road. Dirt, heat, lack of rain and Mini do not mix well. Let’s just say it was caked by the time we got to the B&B. Nice place, though, overall. Lizzie was our hostess (not the owner but definitely the one that ran the place) and she was very accommodating.

Hitting the sack early to get up for sunrise to snap El Capitan and whatever else we can with the early light. Course, being an hour out we will be up at 4:30 for the privilege. I feel so lucky…

When in Vegas, no wait, that’s not it… what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Lame expression, let’s post some pics instead:

And how about a 7 storey, 1 block long parking lot dedicated just to staff parking:

We walked around for most of the day, riding the monorail when we could and stopping to gamble in glorious air conditioning when we couldn’t stand the heat anymore. Eventually it got dark out and we were able to check out the fountains at the Bellagio and the Eiffel Tower at night:

We also went up the Eiffel Tower at Paris and got some shots of the strip at night (well, half of it):

Went back to the MGM after all of that and tried not to lose some more money, boy we tried ;). Off to Yosemite tomorrow, looking forward to seeing it, but not looking forward to the 8 hours or so of driving.